Top-ranked Steve Smith’s phenomenal run has lifted him to new heights in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings as he has moved closer towards Don Bradman’s highest-ever ranking points after a match-winning double-century in the third Test against England in Perth.

The Australia captain’s innings of 239, which helped his team regain the Ashes by taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, has seen him reach a tally of 945 points to take joint second position in the all-time list along with Len Hutton. Smith had reached 941 points after the first Test in Adelaide before dropping briefly to 938 after the Brisbane Test.

Smith, who has gained seven points after his Perth performance to overtake Peter May, Ricky Ponting and Jack Hobbs and to within 16 points of Bradman’s tally of 961 points, has had a minimum of 918 points over the past 12 months, which is 25 more than what second-placed Virat Kohli’s current total. His batting average of 62.32 is second only to Bradman in terms of batsmen with at least 20 Test innings and by the time the fourth Test of the series starts on Boxing Day, he would have been the number one for two years.

Smith is already ahead of Bradman with regard to the number of Tests at the top. He has now been number one for 114 Tests, which is the fifth-most in a list led by Gary Sobers (189 Tests) and with Viv Richards (179), Lara (140) and Tendulkar (139) the others ahead of him.

Batsmen to reach career-best rankings after the Perth Test include Dawid Malan of England (up 47 places to a career-best 52nd) after his innings of 140 and 54 in Perth and Mitchell Marsh of Australia (up 44 places to 65th) after his score of 181. Jonny Bairstow (up one place to 15th) and Usman Khawaja (up two places to 19th) are the other batsmen to have moved up.

In the bowlers’ list led by England’s new-ball bowler James Anderson, Australia pace bowler Josh Hazlewood has gained one slot to move into the top five after finishing with eight wickets in the match. Pat Cummins of Australia (up four places to a career-best 39th) and Craig Overton of England (up seven places to 89th) have also gained in the latest rankings.

ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 19 December, after the third Test between Australia and England in Perth:

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank      (+/-)        Player                  Team      Pts         Avge     Highest Rating

   1          ( – )          Steve Smith          Aus         945!       62.32     945 v Eng at Perth 2017

   2          ( – )          Virat Kohli             Ind          893         53.75     895 v Ban at Hyderabad 2017

   3          (+1)         C. Pujara               Ind          873        52.96     888 v SL at Nagpur 2017

   4          (+1)         Kane Williamson NZ           855        50.62     893 v Aus at Perth 2015

   5          (-2)          Joe Root                Eng         852        52.37     917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   6          ( – )          David Warner       Aus         801        47.97     880 v NZ at Perth 2015

   7          ( – )          Hashim Amla       SA           795        49.87     907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   8          ( – )          Azhar Ali                Pak         755        46.62     787 v Aus at Melbourne 2016

   9          ( – )          D. Chandimal       SL           743!       43.94     743 v Ind at Delhi 2017

  10         ( – )          Ross Taylor          NZ           739        48.04     871 v Win at Hamilton 2013

Other selected rankings

Rank      (+/-)        Player                    Team     Pts         Avge     Highest Rating

15          (+1)         Jonny Bairstow     Eng         717        39.80     772 v SA at Old Trafford 2017

19          (+2)         Usman Khawaja  Aus         659        44.33     747 v Pak at Sydney 2017

52=        (+47)      Dawid Malan        Eng         501*!     35.07     501 v Aus at Perth 2017

65          (+44)      Mitchell Marsh      Aus         434*!     26.71     434 v Eng at Perth 2017

98=        (+7)         Pat Cummins       Aus         342*!     27.55     342 v Eng at Perth 2017

               (+18)      James Vince         Eng         342*!     23.17     342 v Aus at Perth 2017

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank      (+/-)       Player                    Team     Pts         Avge      Highest Rating

   1          ( – )          James Anderson Eng         892        27.35      896 v Win at Lord’s 2017

   2          ( – )          Kagiso Rabada    SA           876!       22.71      876 v Ban at Bloemfontein 2017

   3          ( – )          R. Jadeja               Ind          870        23.73      899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017

   4          ( – )          R. Ashwin              Ind          829        25.44      904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016

   5          (+1)         Josh Hazlewood  Aus         824        25.46      863 v Ind at Bengaluru 2017

   6          (-1)          Rangana Herath  SL           799        28.04      867 v Zim at Harare 2016

   7          ( – )          Neil Wagner          NZ           784        27.87      785 v Win at Wellington 2017

   8          ( – )          Mitchell Starc        Aus         782        27.52      805 v Pak at Brisbane 2016

   9          ( – )          Nathan Lyon         Aus         773        31.55      774 v Eng at Adelaide 2017

  10         ( – )          Dale Steyn            SA           748        22.30      909 v Win at Centurion 2014

Other selected rankings

  Rank    (+/-)        Player                    Team     Pts         Avge     Highest Rating

   39        (+4)         Pat Cummins       Aus         420*!     27.00     420 v Eng at Perth 2017

   89        (+7)         Craig Overton       Eng         145*!     37.66     145 v Aus at Perth 2017

All-rounders (top five)

Rank    (+/-)          Player                   Team     Pts         Highest Rating

   1          ( – )          Shakib Al Hasan  Ban         438        489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017

   2          ( – )          Ravindra Jadeja   Ind          415        438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017

   3          ( – )          Ben Stokes           Eng         372/*     396 v Win at Lord’s 2017

   4          ( – )          R. Ashwin              Ind          369        493 v Eng at Mohali 2016

   5          ( – )          Moeen Ali              Eng         326        409 v SA at Old Trafford 2017