West Indies left-arm spinners Gudakesh Motie and Akeal Hosein continued their ascension in the ICC Twenty20 rankings, following strong performances in the decisive contest of their recently-concluded five-match series against England.

The curtains came down on the highly entertaining series at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium in Trinidad and Tobago last Thursday, where West Indies clinched a 3-2 victory. 

This achievement was attributed to the prowess of Motie and Hosein, whose spin and accuracy restricted England to 132, before the batsmen completed the four-wicket win in the final over.

Hosein's two for 20 from his four overs in the match, resulted in his move two spots up to an all-time high of fourth on the list. He surpassed the Sri Lankan pair of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana.

Meanwhile, Motie, with his three for 24, jumped 75 spots and entered the top 100 for the first time at 91st. Pacer Alzarri Joseph, who did not play in the last two matches of the series, is ranked at 19th, and fellow pacer Jason Holder is ranked at 26th, but no other West Indies bowler that featured in the series appeared in the top 100, as out-of-favour seamers Obed McCoy, Sheldon Cottrell, and Odean Smith are ranked 51st, 77th, and 85th respectively.

On the batting side, former West Indies white ball captain Nicholas Pooran and opener Brandon King, who achieved an all-time high placing of sixth during the series, are the highest ranked batsmen at 12th and 13th respectively.

Captain Rovman Powell, who achieved a career-best 23rd ranking during the series, is ranked 30th, while left-handed opener Kyle Mayers is 36th and fellow opener Johnson Charles is 51st. Sherfane Rutherford (71st), Shai Hope (89th), and Shimron Hetmyer (98th), are also in the top 100.

Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein and allrounder Jason Holder have achieved career-best rankings in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings after helping the West Indies to a series-deciding 17-run victory in the fifth Betway T20 International against England at Kensington Oval last Sunday.

In the latest weekly update to the men’s rankings, which considers performances in the last three matches of the series, Hosein moved up 15 places to 18th position after a haul of 4-30 that helped him finish with six wickets in three matches.

“It’s not something I pay close attention to. However, when I play or train, it’s always about aiming to become the best,” Hosein said while speaking with CWI Media.

“It’s about having that mindset of wanting to improve and wanting to be at the top, so definitely it is an aspiration of mine to be the number one bowler in the world someday. Therefore, this move means a lot to me. It shows that my hard work is paying off and that I will be rewarded if I perform well. It’s definitely a good feeling.”

Holder was the star performer with the unique feat of grabbing four wickets in four balls in front of his home crowd. He finished with figures of 5-27 – the best in a T20I at the historic venue. This took his tally to nine wickets in those three matches, as he advanced three places to 23rd with a massive gain of 20 rating points. Overall, he took 15 wickets in the five matches, a new record for the most in a bilateral series, and was named the Player-of-the-Series.

Left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell (up 10 places to 31st) is another West Indies bowler to move up in Wednesday’s update while England spinner Moeen Ali (up three places to 32nd) and Liam Livingston (up 33 places to 68th) have also advanced.

In the ranking for batters, Nicholas Pooran is up eight places to 18th after scoring 113 runs in the three matches including a knock of 70, while opener Brandon King (up 25 places to 58th) and West Indies captain Kieron Pollard (up 15 places to 60th) have also advanced. King made a stylish 52 not out in the first match as West Indies won easily, while Pollard had a crucial 41 not out off 25 balls in the final match.

“This definitely means a lot to me, because I put a lot of work into my craft. I work day in and day out, so moving up the rankings is important. The ultimate goal is to be the best. I do pay attention to it (the rankings) because it is a good way to track your growth,” Pooran said.

Rovman Powell made the most of his return to the team with a brilliant 107 in the third matchmaking him the third West Indian to record a century in this format. He followed up with 35 not out off 17 balls in the last game.

Speaking at the end of the enthralling series, West Indies assistant coach Roddy Estwick said the improvement shown was extremely pleasing.

“After the last couple of months that we’ve had, it’s really pleasing that we’ve won a series. Improvement for me is actually more important than winning the series because you’ve got to focus on getting to the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 and doing a lot better than we did in the last one,” he said.

“The crowds coming back to the stadium is very important. The players were a lot freer this time around. The bubble was still there but a lot more relaxed and you could see the players responding to it so credit to the medical staff of the Cricket West Indies.

“Akeal Hosein was really brilliant for us when the chips were down along with Fabian Allen. They turned the tide, put England under pressure, continued to get wickets and that’s all we can ask, that people put their hands up when they need to and lead and fight and battle.”