Following South Africa's poor showing in the two-Test Series in Sri Lanka, paceman Kagiso Rabada has lost his No 1 world ranking on the Test-bowlers' list.
The latest ICC rankings which were released on Tuesday shows England's James Anderson replacing Rabada at the top of the pile.
Meanwhile, Dale Steyn, who had made the top spot his for years, still waiting for the one wicket that will make him South Africa’s leading wicket-taker, has slipped by four to No 24.
Dimuth Karunaratne continued his climb up the batting rankings chart to reach No 7 after a Player-of-the-Series performance for Sri Lanka.
In the low-scoring series against South Africa, which finished 2-0 in favour of the hosts, opener Karunaratne was the biggest batting highlight.
He scored 158*, 60, 53 and 85 to total 356 runs in the two Tests, taking him up three places to a career-high 754 points in the ICC Test Player Rankings for batsmen.
With Dinesh Chandimal, their regular captain who missed the series owing to suspension, at No 8, Sri Lanka now have two batsmen in the top 10.
Angelo Mathews is also up four places to No 24 among batsmen, thanks to his fighting 71 in the second Test.
Other gainers in the Sri Lankan camp were Danushka Gunathilaka, up 36 spots to No 73, and Akila Dananjaya, the off-spinner, whose seven wickets vaulted him up 16 places to 39 among bowlers and up 25 places to 46 among all-rounders.
South Africa have been disappointing all around, and their inability to come to terms with the conditions is reflected in the changes in rankings.
Openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram have slipped to the edge of the top 10, while Hashim Amla is down three to No 14.
Only two players would be smiling from the visitors’ camp. Keshav Maharaj, the left-arm spinner, finished the series with 16 wickets, including a match haul of 12 in the second Test. He jumped five places into the top 20, settling at No 18.
Then, Theunis de Bruyn’s remarkable fourth-innings century in the second Test took him up 43 places to No 105 among Test batsmen. - African News Agency (ANA)
