Marco Jansen is now the best Test bowler and the best Test all-rounder in the world. The South African left-arm fast bowler went to No. 1 in both ICC men’s Test rankings in the update released on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, after his all-round display against Australia in Gqeberha. He replaced Australia’s Mitchell Starc at the top of the bowling list and ended Ravindra Jadeja’s run of more than four years as the No. 1 Test all-rounder.
On the same day, Jansen went past 100 Test wickets in the series decider at Newlands, Cape Town. Here is how he climbed to the top, what the new tables look like, and what the change means for India’s Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah.
Marco Jansen’s ICC rankings at a glance
| Test ranking | New position | Rating points | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bowling | 1 | 876 | Up five places, from 6th |
| All-rounders | 1 | 451 | Up one place, from 2nd |
| Batting | 56 | Not published | Up 13 places |
Jansen is the first South African to top the Test bowling rankings since Kagiso Rabada in November 2024, and the first South African No. 1 Test all-rounder since Vernon Philander in August 2014.
How the Gqeberha Test took him to No. 1
The 2nd Test at St George’s Park did the damage. Rain wiped out most of the first two days, and South Africa were in trouble on day 3 when Wiaan Mulder fell with the score on 110 for 6. Jansen walked in and hit 85 off 100 balls. He added 132 for the seventh wicket with captain Temba Bavuma, and by the time he was caught off Scott Boland, South Africa were 242 for 7. Bavuma (179) and Simon Harmer (82) then put on 183 for the eighth wicket, and South Africa declared on 425 for 9.
Jansen then did the job with the ball. He took four wickets in the morning session of day 4 and finished with 5 for 33 as Australia were bowled out for 99 in 42.3 overs. Bavuma enforced the follow-on. Travis Head made 121 in the second innings, but Jansen took the last wicket an hour after tea on day 5, when Josh Hazlewood edged to Aiden Markram at second slip. His match figures were 6 for 67.
South Africa won by an innings and 31 runs to level the three-match series at 1-1. Bavuma was player of the match, but Jansen’s 85 runs and six wickets were what moved him in all three ranking lists at once. Our South Africa vs Australia Test series 2026 page has the full story of the series.
The new top of the Test bowling rankings
| Rank | Bowler | Team | Rating points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marco Jansen | South Africa | 876 |
| =2 | Mitchell Starc | Australia | 861 |
| =2 | Matt Henry | New Zealand | 861 |
| 5 | Jasprit Bumrah | India | 853 |
England’s Ollie Robinson is fourth. Jansen leads Starc and Henry by 15 points and Bumrah by 23, which is a small margin in a list where one big match can move a bowler 40 points or more. Australia’s Boland also gained three places to sixth after his 5 for 81 in Gqeberha, and Mulder rose 10 places to 43rd after five wickets in the match.
Jadeja’s long reign as No. 1 all-rounder ends
Jadeja first reached No. 1 among Test all-rounders in March 2022, after his unbeaten 175 and nine wickets against Sri Lanka in Mohali. He lost the top spot to West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder for a week that month, won it back before March was over, and had held it ever since. Wisden reported that he passed 1,150 days in a row at the top in May 2025, and the run went on for well over a year after that.
It was a long reign but not a record. Garfield Sobers was the top-ranked Test all-rounder for 4,402 days, from February 1962 to March 1974, according to Wisden.
Jansen now leads the list on 451 points, with Jadeja second on 422. That gap of 29 points is the kind Jadeja can close with one strong all-round Test.
A big week for South Africa in the rankings
Jansen was not the only South African to move up. Bavuma rose four places to a career-best second in the Test batting rankings on 818 points after his 179, with England’s Harry Brook the only batter ahead of him. If Bavuma goes top, he will be the first South African No. 1 Test batter since AB de Villiers in November 2015.
That raises a question South African cricket has not been able to ask for more than a decade: could they hold the No. 1 spot in all three Test lists at the same time? Jansen already has two of them. Bavuma is one place away from the third.
100 Test wickets on day 2 in Cape Town
Jansen marked his new ranking with another milestone. On day 2 of the 3rd Test at Newlands on 28 October, he removed Matt Renshaw for 74 and Cameron Green for 65 within two overs, ending a third-wicket stand of 126. Those two wickets took him past 100 in Tests, in his 24th match. A day earlier, he had made 52 and added 95 for the seventh wicket with Ryan Rickelton.
Australia still finished day 2 on 330 for 4, one run ahead, after an unbroken stand of 145 between Josh Inglis and Alex Carey.
| Marco Jansen in Test cricket (after day 2 in Cape Town) | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 May 2000, Klerksdorp, South Africa |
| Test debut | 26 December 2021, against India at Centurion |
| Tests | 24 |
| Wickets | 100 plus |
| Five-wicket innings | 5 |
| Ten-wicket matches | 1 |
| Best bowling | 7 for 13 against Sri Lanka, Durban, 2024 |
| Runs | 822, highest score 93 |
| Fifties | 6 |
His 7 for 13 in Durban in November 2024 bowled Sri Lanka out for 42, their lowest Test total. A year later, he was player of the match in Guwahati with 93 and seven wickets as South Africa beat India by 408 runs and won the series 2-0.
What the new rankings mean for India
For Indian fans, this update is about two players. Jadeja has lost the all-rounder crown, and Bumrah is fifth among bowlers, 23 points off the top. Both are in India’s squad for the two Tests in New Zealand: the 1st at the Basin Reserve, Wellington, from 19 to 23 November, and the 2nd at Hagley Oval, Christchurch, from 27 November to 1 December.
Those Tests give both men a clear chance to climb back. New Zealand are second in the World Test Championship table, and they have Henry, level second in the bowling list. A strong series for Bumrah could take him past Henry and Starc. A good all-round series for Jadeja could cut most of the 29-point gap to Jansen. Our India tour of New Zealand 2026 page has the full schedule with IST start times, and the WTC points table 2025-27 shows why these two Tests matter so much for India.
KhelGossip’s view: a ranking built on more than one match
It would be easy to say one Test in Gqeberha made Jansen No. 1. It did not. The rankings reward a body of work, and his includes 7 for 13 against Sri Lanka, a match-winning 93 and seven wickets in India, and now 85 and six wickets against Australia. Few players in the world can win a Test with the bat and the ball in the same match. Jansen has now done it against India and Australia within a year.
In our view, he will find the bowling top spot harder to keep than the all-rounder one. Only 23 points cover the top five bowlers, so one quiet Test could drop him to third or fourth. The all-rounder lead of 29 points is safer, because few players score runs and take wickets as regularly as he does.
For India, losing the all-rounder top spot is not a sign that Jadeja is in decline. He is still second, far ahead of most of the list. The bigger story for India is the two Tests in New Zealand, where Jadeja and Bumrah can win back rankings points and WTC points at the same time.
For the full Test, ODI and T20I tables, see our ICC men’s player rankings 2026 page.
Published 29 October 2026. Rankings from the ICC update of 28 October 2026. Main sources: ICC media release, Wisden (rating points) and The Herald (Cape Town day 2).
