South Africa’s Faf du Plessis and Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor have achieved their career-best rankings to date in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, which were released following the conclusion of the Harare Test between Zimbabwe and South Africa on Tuesday.
South Africa beat the hosts by nine wickets to win the one-off Test between the neighbours to retain the number one position on the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings table.
Narrowly missing out on his fourth Test 100, du Plessis scored 98 in the first innings, followed by five not-out in the second.
His performance has fetched him a gain of two places in the rankings table to push him up to 16th position. This makes the 30-year-old the third batsman from South Africa inside the top 20, with AB de Villiers in second and captain Hashim Amla in fourth places.
Taylor, whose figures from the match closely resembled those of du Plessis, rose seven spots to enter the top 20 for the first time in 19th position.
The 28-year-old, who represented Zimbabwe in two ICC U19 Cricket World Cups (2002 and 2004), scored 98 runs in the match, including a captain’s knock of 93 in the first innings.
Opening batsmen from both teams, Hamilton Masakadza and South Africa’s Dean Elgar, have also registered their career-best rankings to date.
Both players have gained seven places to occupy 55th and 58th positions respectively. Masakadza, who played the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2002 alongside his current captain Taylor, notched up 45 and 19 runs, while Elgar scored 61 and 21 for his side.
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— SuperSport
