Joe Root: England captain drops out of Test batting rankings top 10
- Published
Joe Root's last Test century was on 9 February against West Indies
England captain Joe Root has dropped out of the top 10 of the Test batting rankings for the first time since August 2014.
Root, 28, has fallen to 11th after a disappointing performance in England's first-Test defeat by New Zealand, where he scored two and 11.
The Yorkshire player's average in 2019 is 27.40 from 10 Tests, compared with 47.35 over his career as a whole.
Root was the world's number one batsman in August 2015.
Root has scored 16 hundreds in 87 Tests, but only three have come in his past 29 matches and he did not score a century in this summer's Ashes series against Australia.
His figures have also dropped since he took over the England Test captaincy in 2017. He averages 39.70 since succeeding Alastair Cook, compared with 52.80 beforehand.
After Monday's defeat at the Bay Oval, Root said he was "not too worried", adding that the captaincy was not to blame for his form.
"Sometimes players go through phases of their career where they are not as consistent or make the scores they would like," Root said.
"I'm not too worried about it and this game in particular I found two dreadful ways to get out - but I'm not far away."
All-rounder Ben Stokes is now the highest-ranked England player in the batting rankings after climbing to a career-high ninth, having already been third in the all-rounder rankings.
England in New Zealand: Joe Root denies he's under pressure after losing first Test