Marco Jansen had dethroned Starc as the no.1 ranked Test bowler just a week before.
Australian pacer Mitchell Starc has dethroned South Africa’s Marco Jansen to become the new No. 1-ranked Test bowler, as the ICC shared the latest update on its player rankings on November 4, 2026.
Although Australia lost the Test series 1-2 to South Africa, the left-arm pacer has climbed to the top of the latest ICC Test Bowling Rankings, which was updated after the third and final Test between Australia and South Africa.
Starc starred for Australia, taking 9 wickets in the third Test in Cape Town, which South Africa won by 176 runs. Starc picked 6/72 in South Africa’s first innings, where they scored 329 runs thanks to 95 by Marques Ackerman, 78 by Aiden Markram, and half-centuries by David Bedingham and Marco Jansen. Then in the second innings of South Africa, Starc managed 3/65, as the Proteas made 387 runs.
This nine-wicket haul by Mitchell Starc proved to be influential as he became the No. 1 ranked Test bowler. He had claimed the top spot for the first time in August when he ended the reign of India pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
Jansen had removed Starc from the top spot after his six wickets in the second Test for the Proteas in Gqeberha. However, Jansen managed only three wickets in Cape Town, and hence, Starc managed to dethrone the South African pacer to become the new No. 1 Test bowler.
Another big movement saw Simon Harmer, South African spinner, moving 9 spots up in the Test rankings to reach the No. 7 spot. Harmer picked six wickets in Australia's second innings of the Cape Town Test and took a total of ten wickets in the match.
There was movement in the latest T20I rankings as well, where India’s Shreyas Iyer emerged as one of the big climbers, improving by two ranks to eighth overall in T20I batters’ rankings after leading his team to series victory in New Zealand.
Abhishek Sharma remains the no.1 T20I batter in the ICC Rankings, while Ishan Kishan is at No. 3.
(ICC inputs)