The 24-year-old open­er was 20th in the lat­est In­ter­na­tion­al Crick­et Coun­cil rank­ings re­leased on De­cem­ber 31, with fast bowler Ke­mar Roach the high­est-placed bowler at 28th in the rank­ings.

Brath­waite tal­lied 613 runs in eight Tests last year, av­er­ag­ing 55 and scor­ing one cen­tu­ry–a mag­nif­i­cent un­beat­en 142 in the third Test against Pak­istan in Shar­jah last Oc­to­ber which West In­dies won by five wick­ets.

The Bar­ba­di­an al­so scored 60 not out in the sec­ond in­nings to be­come the first open­er to fin­ish un­beat­en in both in­nings of a Test.

Left-han­der Dar­ren Bra­vo, cur­rent­ly in a stand-off with the West In­dies Crick­et Board af­ter be­ing sent home from the tour of Zim­bab­we for dis­ci­pli­nary rea­sons, is the next high­est-ranked Windies play­er at 30th with Jer­maine Black­wood ly­ing 46th and vet­er­an right-han­der Mar­lon Samuels, 49th.

Roach, mean­while, has re­mained in the top 30 of the bowlers' rank­ings de­spite hav­ing played just one Test in the last 12 months. The right-armer has strug­gled with in­jury and loss of form but re­cent­ly re­turned to ac­tion for Bar­ba­dos Pride in the West In­dies first class com­pe­ti­tion, and has tak­en 12 wick­ets in five out­ings.

Leg-spin­ner De­ven­dra Bishoo, mean­while is ranked 29th af­ter tak­ing 23 wick­ets in six Tests last year, in­clud­ing a ca­reer-best eight for 49 against Pak­istan in the day/night first Test in Dubai last Oc­to­ber.

Fast bowler Shan­non Gabriel, with 14 wick­ets in sev­en Tests last year, lies 40th while cap­tain and seam­er Ja­son Hold­er is 50th.

Aus­tralia cap­tain Steve Smith starts 2017 in the same po­si­tion he did last year–on top of the rank­ings–while In­dia off-spin­ner Ravi Ash­win leads the bowl­ing.

In the One-Day In­ter­na­tion­al rank­ings up­dat­ed New Year's Day, Samuels was the high­est-ranked West In­dies bats­man at 28th de­spite opt­ing out of the Tri-Na­tions Se­ries last No­vem­ber in­volv­ing hosts Zim­bab­we and Sri Lan­ka. Bra­vo is the on­ly oth­er bats­man in the top 50 at 47th.

In the ODI bowlers' rank­ings, wily off-spin­ner Sunil Nar­ine lies third with Hold­er in at 16th. They are the on­ly two West In­dies play­ers in the top 40.

South Africa's AB de Vil­liers sits on top the bat­ting while New Zealan­der Trent Boult holds the num­ber one slot in the bowl­ing. (CMC)