The Stuart Broad Story- The International Cricket Council (ICC) released its new and updated roster of world rankings earlier this week. The update has caused some massive changes in the ranking. Courtesy of the dominating 2-0 victory that New Zealand achieved against West Indies in the recently played test series, the Kiwis moved up to the second spot in the world Test Ranking.
Who Was Ranked Where In Both Formats Of Cricket?
Their neighbours Australia, are seated at the top. India is ranked number three. Here are the top 10 ranked test teams in the world:-
- Australia
- New Zealand
- India
- England
- Sri Lanka
- South Africa
- Pakistan
- West Indies
- Bangladesh
- Zimbabwe
There have been some significant changes in the individual player rankings as well. New Zealand’s captain Kane Williamson for example, has moved up to the third spot in the list of best Test batsmen. Steve Smith tops the list while Virat Kohli is seated at number 2. Here is the list:-
- Steve Smith
- Virat Kohli
- Kane Williamson
- Marnus Labuschagne
- Babar Azam
- David Warner
- Cheteshwar Pujara
- Ben Stokes
- Joe Root
- Ajinkya Rahane
The Reason Why Stuart Broad Found It Really Funny
However, a certain change in the ranking of best Test bowlers has led to a hilarious troll on ICC. In the updated list, Stuart Broad has been moved up a step to occupy the number 2 spot. In the process, New Zealand’s bowler Neil Wagner has been dropped down to number 3. This is strange because the English bowler has not featured in a single test match since August 2020! On the other hand, Neil Wagner played a crucial role in leading the Kiwis to the 2-0 victory in the recent test. Although he wasn’t excellent, he was decent and has a big role to play.
Stuart Broad has displaced Neil Wagner to recapture the No.2 spot in the latest @MRFWorldwide ICC Test Player Rankings for bowling ?
Full list ? https://t.co/OMjjVwOboH pic.twitter.com/HYX1c6A5FH
— ICC (@ICC) December 15, 2020
After the roster was released, Stuart Broad commented on ICC’s Instagram post, “How? I haven’t played since August ?”. The comment has 4k likes and has gone viral in no time. Fans have started trolling ICC for their faulty ranking system. This blunder has clearly pointed out ICC’s inability to give perfect rankings.
There was a similar hilarious controversy when fans saw that Virat Kohli ranked above Ravindra Jadeja in the Test all-rounders list.
Stuart Broad has also been promoted to the 10th place in the all-rounders’ list.
In the earlier phase of the year, Broad had given a stellar performance with the bat against West Indies. The English pacer scored a less than run-a-ball half-century and showed that he could still play responsibly knocks when his team needs him to.
Stuart Broad’s bowling skills can never be doubted though. He is now one of the test legends of the England Cricket team. He recently became only the second English bowler (after James Anderson) to take 500 test wickets.
After India’s tour of Australia, the men in blue will host the England team for a four match test series which starts from 4th of February 2020. Stuart Broad and his team will probably look to better their rankings in that series.
