England’s Joe Root has climbed to the number one spot in the Test batting rankings, surpassing his Ashes rivals Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head. Root’s impressive performance in the first Test against Australia at Edgbaston, where he scored a combined 164 runs (118 not out and 46), propelled him five places higher in the International Cricket Council’s rankings.

Labuschagne dropped to third place after a modest performance, including a first-ball duck in the first innings, while Head slipped to fourth despite a half-century in the first innings. On the other hand, Usman Khawaja, the man of the match from Edgbaston, moved up two places to seventh in the rankings after scoring 141 and 65 runs.

Among the English players, Harry Brook made a notable jump of five spots to 13th position following his scores of 32 and 46. In the bowling rankings, James Anderson maintained his position as the second-best bowler globally, while Ollie Robinson entered the top five after taking five wickets in the first Test.

In a thrilling final day at Edgbaston, both England and Australia were fined 40 percent of their match fees and deducted two World Test Championship points for slow over-rates. Despite the enthralling finish to the match, both teams were penalized for not maintaining an acceptable over-rate. Captains Ben Stokes and Pat Cummins pleaded guilty to the offense, leading to the proposed sanctions being accepted without formal hearings.

As this was the first match in the new World Test Championship cycle, England now sits on minus two points in the table due to the penalty, while Australia’s win earned them 12 points, leaving them with a total of 10. Additionally, all 22 players involved in the match incurred a 40 percent reduction in their match fees, which amounts to approximately £6,000 for the English squad.