Australian veteran Steve Smith is on the verge of reclaiming his place as the world's top Test batter after major changes in the latest ICC men's Test batter rankings.

New Zealand superstar Kane Williamson has regained the top spot in the ICC Test Batsmen Rankings published by the ICC on Wednesday (5 July).

Kane Williamson has topped the ICC Men's Test Batting Rankings but Steve Smith can reclaim the spot in his 100th Test at Headingley in the ongoing Ashes 2023 series which begins Thursday.

Smith put on an exceptional performance in the second Ashes Test at Lord's, where he scored his 32nd Test century and was named Player of the Match. This put him second in the updated rankings, just one rating point behind Williamson.

Smith was previously sixth on the list. As a result, Babar Azam, who was fifth with 862 rating points, has now dropped to sixth place.

England star Joe Root relinquishes the top spot after points of 10 and 18 against Australia, while injured New Zealand veteran Kane Williamson moved up a spot to secure the top spot, just a point ahead of Smith.
It is the first time Williamson has held the No. 1 ranking since August 2021, with the New Zealander having topped the list back in November 2015.

The Australian batsmen now occupy four of the top seven spots in the Test batsmen rankings, with Marnus Labuschagne (third), Travis Head (fourth) and Usman Khawaja (seventh) all within striking distance of first place ahead of the much-anticipated third place Ashes- Test against England this week at Headingley.

For England, their opener Ben Duckett (up 24 places in 18th) and captain Ben Stokes (up nine places in 23rd) have both made significant progress after performing well with the racquet in the second Test. While Duckett played shots of 98 and 83, Stokes hit 155 runs in the second inning.

For India, only one player is in the top ten. Wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant, who is currently out through injury after a car crash last year, is in tenth place. Rohit Sharma (12th) and Virat Kohli (14th) are the other Indian batsmen in the top 20.

Australian skipper Pat Cummins joins Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin by moving up two spots to second overall in the latest Test bowler rankings, while teammate Mitchell Starc also climbs two spots to move up to 14th place.

Cummins' rise is offset by a two-place loss for veteran seaman James Anderson from second to fourth place, while England newcomer Josh Tongue climbs a whopping 27 places to 59th after his impressive performance in London.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Shaheen Afridi has moved up to sixth place in the ICC Test bowler rankings with 787 rating points.