West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite continues to be the highest ranked player from the region on the latest release of the ICC Test Batting Rankings.

The 25 year old, who made 66 and 20 in the second Test defeat to New Zealand, is up a place to 16 on 690 rating points.

Shai Hope at 31 is the next highest placed West Indian batsman on the list.

Top spot is held by Australia’s Steve Smith who continued his phenomenal run to move within 16 of the highest-ever ranking points record of 961 which is held by Don Bradman.

The 28 year old’s knock of 239, which helped his team regain the Ashes by taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, has seen him reach a tally of 945 points to take joint-second position in the all-time list, along with Len Hutton and ahead of Peter May, Ricky Ponting and Jack Hobbs.

His batting average of 62.32 is second only to Bradman in terms of batsmen with at least 20 Test innings and by the time the fourth Test of the series starts on Boxing Day, he would have been the number one for two years.

The top 5 of the batting rankings is completed by Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Kane Williamson and Joe Root.

Over on the rankings for bowlers, pacer Kemar Roach (20) is now the highest placed West Indian after taking 6 wickets in the two Test series against New Zealand.

Shannon Gabriel (21) and Devendra Bishoo (22), are also inside the top 30.

James Anderson leads the way ahead of Kagiso Rabada and Ravindra Jadeja.