Josh Hazlewood Rises to No. 7 in ICC Test Bowling Rankings After Career-Best Durban Spell

Australia's Josh Hazlewood has moved up two places to No. 7 in the ICC men's Test bowling rankings. His rating jumps from 783 to 818. That is a gain of 35 points. He was ninth before the update.

The rise follows his career-best 6 for 49 in the first Test against South Africa at Kingsmead, Durban. Australia won that match by 214 runs. South Africa were bowled out for 206 while chasing 421. The spell also took Hazlewood to 311 Test wickets. He went past Brett Lee's 310 on Australia's all-time list.

Six bowlers are still ahead of him. Mitchell Starc leads on 865. Matt Henry is second on 861. Ollie Robinson (856), Jasprit Bumrah (853), Pat Cummins (846) and Marco Jansen (831) fill the next four places. Hazlewood is just 13 points behind Jansen.

Two bowlers fell behind him in the shuffle. Kagiso Rabada now has 799 and is eighth. Scott Boland has 796 and is ninth. Both slipped one place. Pakistan's Noman Ali is 10th on 777.

The update is good news for Australia's attack. Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood and Boland are all in the top nine. Nathan Lyon is 13th on 724. That gives Australia five bowlers in the top 13. No other team has more than two.

Hazlewood has also moved in the ODI list. He enters the men's ODI bowling rankings at 12th on 585. Afghanistan's Rashid Khan leads that list on 714. Hazlewood is five points behind Bangladesh's Nahid Rana (590) and one point ahead of Shoriful Islam (584).

Australia lead the three-match Test series 1-0. It was their fourth straight Test win at Durban. The win also took them to the top of the World Test Championship table on 81.82%. The series now moves to Gqeberha for the second Test. Hazlewood will look to keep his form going and push further up the rankings.