The 29-year-old, who finished with match figures of 36.4-8-122-6, has gained two places to 16th position in the latest rankings, a position he holds jointly with South Africa spinner Paul Harris.
Edwards is not the only bowler to have made moves in the latest rankings, India’s Harbhajan Singh is up one place to seventh. The off-spinner had a successful match, claiming figures of 57-21-101-6 and in the process passed the 400-wicket mark. His ascension to seventh has seen team-mate and the man of the series, Ishant Sharma, drop one place to eighth in the rankings.
Just outside of the top 20, West Indies captain Darren Sammy is up one place to 29th, meanwhile India’s Praveen Kumar has broken into the top 50 for the first time. The medium-pace bowler from Uttar Pradesh walked away with four wickets in the final Test and is now ranked 42nd.
The top three remain unchanged with Dale Steyn of South Africa still leading the way ahead of England’s Graeme Swann in second position and James Anderson in third.
There is positive news for West Indies hero Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who has risen to seventh in the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen following his match-saving 116 not out in the second innings in his record 133rd Test match.
The veteran Guyanese batsman, who won the ICC Cricketer of the Year at the LG ICC Awards in 2008, marked a welcome return to form as he foiled India’s attempts to win the series 2-0.
Meanwhile, fellow century-maker Kirk Edwards has entered the rankings in 60th place after the 26-year-old from Barbados joined an elite group of people who have scored Test centuries on debut.
The top five remain unchanged with Jacques Kallis of South Africa still leading the way ahead of India’s Sachin Tendulkar in second position. Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Tendulkar, who did not play in the West Indies series, have fallen back because a player loses one per cent of his ratings points for every Test he misses.
Despite winning the series, world Number 1 team India has lost two ratings points in the latest ratings points due to the fact that they drew two matches of the three-Test series against a side that was ranked 42 points and six places below. The rankings are weighted so that the amount by which a team’s rating changes after a series depends on the corresponding rating of the opponent.
Equally, despite losing the series, the West Indies have gained two ratings points. This is taking into consideration the relatively high rating of the opponents. Darren Sammy’s men remain in seventh position but are now just two ratings points behind Pakistan.