Dubai: England pacer James Anderson has the chance to top the ICC bowlers Test rankings as the team is set to take Ireland in their one-off Test at Lord's on Wednesday.
Anderson, who was overtaken by South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada in November last year and subsequently by the present number one Pat Cummins of Australia, is ranked second and has a chance to bridge the 16-point gap in the one-off Test before featuring in a potential direct contest with Cummins in the subsequent Ashes series.
Anderson's fellow England fast bowler Stuart Broad (19th) will be looking to retain a top-20 place, which he has maintained since 2009, while Moeen Ali (25th, 621 points) is only 12 points behind from his best-ever rating points achieved in August 2017.
Captain Joe Root is the highest-ranked batsman on either side in sixth place while Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler are in 26th and 27th places, respectively.
For Ireland, Kevin O'Brien's scores of 40 and 118 on debut against Pakistan and a subsequent half-century against Afghanistan have lifted him to 68th place while Gary Wilson is 140th in the batting table. Stuart Thompson is their highest-ranked bowler in 64th position with Tim Murtagh just two places behind. Boyd Rankin, who played one Test for England in 2014, would be looking to improve his 106th position.
In the ICC Test Team Rankings, England will remain in the fourth position with 105 points if they win the match but will go down to 104 in case of a draw and to 102 if they suffer a loss. Ireland will gain 13 points with a draw and 30 if they win, but will still need to play another five matches for a full ranking.
