England’s Harry Brook has retaken the top spot in the ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings, moving back above teammate Joe Root after a fluctuating year in which the number one position has changed hands repeatedly between Brook, Root and Australia’s Travis Head. As of mid-September 2026, Brook leads the list with 861 rating points, comfortably clear of Steven Smith on 840 and Root on 816.
A Year of Shifting Positions
Brook first climbed to the summit of the Test rankings on the back of a gritty half-century in England’s 115-run win over New Zealand at Lord’s, a knock that stood out as one of only two fifties scored in the entire match. That performance came in front of a packed Lord’s crowd, on a pitch that offered inconsistent bounce throughout, and it was widely cited by former players as the innings that best captured Brook’s growing reputation as England’s most reliable batter under pressure in difficult conditions. He subsequently lost top spot to Head for a brief period before reclaiming it again, and in one notable update actually returned to No.1 without playing a ball, purely on the back of other players’ ratings points decaying or dropping following recent Tests. That quirk of the ranking system has drawn attention to how such lists can move independent of on-field performance in a given window. The ICC’s ratings model weights recent performances more heavily than older ones, meaning a rival’s older innings can drop out of the calculation and shift the order even when no cricket has been played in the interim, a mechanism that has repeatedly surprised casual observers of the rankings this year.
Smith and Root Close Behind
Steven Smith remains second on 840 points, a reflection of Australia’s dominant run through the current World Test Championship cycle, while Root sits third on 816 having spent time atop the list himself earlier in the year. Travis Head, fourth on 811 points, rounds out a top four dominated by Ashes rivals England and Australia, with Temba Bavuma fifth on 775 the highest-ranked player outside the two nations.
The Rest of the Top Ten
New Zealand pair Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell sit sixth and eighth respectively on 740 and 710 points, reflecting the depth of New Zealand’s batting during a strong run in the WTC standings. India’s Rishabh Pant is seventh on 713 and Shubman Gill ninth on 709, with Gill having climbed after a string of strong outings, while Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis completes the top ten on 706 points. The spread of nations represented, spanning England, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and Sri Lanka, underscores how competitive the format has become globally, with no single nation dominating the individual rankings the way Australia currently dominate the team standings.
Competing Views on Brook’s Status
Several former England batters have argued Brook’s aggressive, high-tempo approach makes him the format’s most dangerous player regardless of ranking fluctuations, pointing to his strike rate as evidence he is redefining what a No.1 Test batter looks like. Australian critics have pushed back, noting Smith’s superior consistency across conditions and suggesting ratings systems can overvalue short bursts of form; some have also flagged the oddity of players gaining rank position without playing, arguing it undermines the credibility of week-to-week rankings churn.
What’s Next
With Australia set to host, and then travel for, a heavy WTC schedule including their upcoming tour of South Africa beginning October 9 in Durban, Smith will have early opportunities to close the gap on Brook. England’s Ashes buildup and further WTC fixtures will similarly test whether Brook can consolidate top spot or whether the pendulum swings back to Root or Head before the rankings settle heading into 2027. For now, the battle for world No.1 remains the most closely contested individual race in the current Test cycle. The rankings volatility also feeds into a broader narrative around England’s batting depth, with Brook, Root and other top-order players trading form and rating points across a packed international calendar that has left selectors with the rare luxury of choosing between several batters in career-best form simultaneously. Australian selectors face a similarly enviable problem, with Smith’s consistency at the top of the order underpinning a batting line-up that has been central to the team’s dominant run through the current World Test Championship cycle. How the rankings settle by the end of the year will likely hinge on results in marquee series still to come, including Australia’s tour of South Africa and England’s continuing Ashes preparations.
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