West Indies captain Jason Holder has achieved another milestone after moving up four places to a career-best 6th on the latest release of the MRF Tyres ICC Rankings for Test bowlers.
It comes after his five wicket-haul in the Antigua Test after the Windies recorded an impressive 10-wicket win over England to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
The Barbadian, who last week became the first Windies player since Sir Gary Sobers to top the list of Test all-rounders, added another feather to his cap by reaching a tally of 778 rating points – the highest by any Windies bowler since Courtney Walsh in 2001.
Windies teammate Kemar Roach, named Player of the Match in Antigua, was rewarded with a jump of eight spots to number 12, just one spot behind Shannon Gabriel, who also advanced one place.
Top spot among bowlers is held by Kagiso Rabada ahead of Pat Cummins, James Anderson, Vernon Philander and Ravindra Jadeja.
The presence of three Windies bowlers in the top 12 is reminiscent of the dominance of their pace bowlers in the past, and the best since they had four in the top 12 in mid-1996 – Curtly Ambrose (first), Courtney Walsh (fifth), Ian Bishop (seventh) and Kenny Benjamin (12th).
Among Test batsmen the West Indians to advance include Kraigg Brathwaite (up one place to 33rd), Shane Dowrich (up two places to 45th), Shai Hope (up five places to 46th) and Darren Bravo (up two places to 55th) after his determined 50 in 342 minutes.
India’s Virat Kohli leads the way with Kane Williamson, Cheteshwar Pujara, Steve Smith and Henry Nichols rounding out the top 5.