Ben Stokes's incredible unbeaten 135 and match haul of four wickets at Headingley have pitched him up 13 places to No. 13 in the rankings for batsmen and No. 2 for allrounders, while Jasprit Bumrah's remarkable 5 for 7 in North Sound have put him in the bowlers' top ten.

Both are career-best numbers for Stokes, though, technically, he was at No. 12 among batsmen on the day the Headingley Test ended, but slipped down one spot when the rankings were updated following the end of the P Sara Oval Test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, when Tom Latham moved up eight spots to eighth place as a result of his 154 in his team's only innings.

Virat Kohli continued to top the batsmen's chart, but the gap between him and Steven Smith, who missed the third Test because of concussion-related issues, stood at just six points.

Of the other batsmen in action in the three Tests, Kane Williamson (No. 3), Cheteshwar Pujara (No. 4) and Henry Nicholls (No. 5) held on to their spots, while Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne (up to No. 6), Joe Root (up to No. 7) and Ajinkya Rahane (up to No. 11) moved up within the top 15.

In the allrounders' list, Jason Holder remained at the top, with Stokes now 22 points behind him in second place, having pushed down Shakib Al Hasan, Ravindra Jadeja and Pat Cummins on his way up.

Cummins, however, was still the top bowler, while along with Bumrah, who climbed nine spots, Trent Boult, Kemar Roach, Josh Hazlewood and Ishant Sharma also moved up, while Jofra Archer continued his astounding rise, his six wickets at Headingley giving him a 40-place jump to 43rd after just two Test appearances.

Bumrah's seventh position came with a career-high rating of 774 points, while Roach moved up three spots to eighth position, Hazlewood three spots to No. 12 and Ishant, with a career-high 671 points, to 21st.

First impressions can be misleading, but, as Liverpool maintains a 100% record -- with Manchester City hot on their heels -- there may already be some heavy hints about how this season might develop. Interestingly, all three promoted clubs have already recorded a win, and it does not look as if there are any complete "no-hopers" this season, suggesting a mighty close battle to avoid the drop with possibly 10 teams involved. Here's my early club-by-club look at the Premier League.

Arsenal: Defeat at Anfield was a predictable reality check, but the Gunners have bought well during the summer transfer window and carry enough threat to make the top four despite a still-suspect defence.

Aston Villa: The win over Everton will give them real confidence. They've shown enough to believe they can hold their own after promotion to the Premier League.

Bournemouth: Form has been mixed, but the Cherries look to have enough quality players, including Callum Wilson and David Brooks, to stay clear of relegation again.

Brighton: Florin Andone's horrendous red-card challenge cost them a home defeat to Southampton, spoiling an encouraging start for new manager Graham Potter. I think it might still be a close call for them this season.

- When is the Champions League group-stage draw?
- ESPN Premier League fantasy: Sign up now!

Burnley: Spirit, determination, organisation and with the underrated threat of Ashley Barnes. Nobody's pushovers.

Chelsea: A much-needed first win for Frank Lampard at Norwich. Refreshing to see homegrown kids like Mason Mount starring, but they miss Eden Hazard and have not been that convincing yet, and they are especially vulnerable to counters.

Crystal Palace: Their win at Old Trafford is a reminder of how dangerous Roy Hodgson's team are away from home.

Everton: Poor, bland and wasteful in defeat at Aston Villa. Looks like scoring goals will be a big issue for Marco Silva's team. Only one so far.

Leicester City: Full of flair at times with James Maddison pulling the strings, but doubts over a defence missing Harry Maguire. That might scupper top-six chances.

Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp's "mentality monsters" keep winning without yet hitting top gear. They will take a fair bit of stopping.

Manchester City: No sign of the Rolls-Royce stalling. Winning with plenty to spare. The draw with Tottenham was a freak result. Pep Guardiola & Co. are worthy favourites to win the Premier League for a third straight time.

Manchester United: Look a bit better than last season with Harry Maguire calming the defence, but a home defeat to Crystal Palace suggests old frailties are still there. Finishing in the top four would be a success.

Newcastle United: After so much negativity, the shock win at Spurs was built on heroic defensive resolve. A sign that manager Steve Bruce might be starting to get a better tune from a previously off-key squad.

Norwich City: They've scored six goals in their first three games -- five of them from Teemu Pukki. That's grounds for quiet optimism despite a shaky defence.

Sheffield United: Will be happy enough with four points from their first three games. Hard-working and difficult to play against, but probably in a season-long relegation fight.

Southampton: Needed their first win of the season to calm nerves, but it was against a 10-man Brighton. Probable bottom-half toilers.

Tottenham Hotspur: Lost 13 times last season, so the shock home defeat to Newcastle was alarming. Had 80% possession, yet only two shots on target. Spurs are talented, but they slip up too often.

Watford: Bottom of the table, on a long losing streak and woefully out of form. Manager Javi Gracia is walking a tightrope.

West Ham: Recovering well from a 5-0 first-day drubbing from Manchester City. New striker Sebastien Haller from Eintracht Frankfurt could become a Hammers cult hero.

Wolves: Early-season focus has been on ensuring qualification for the Europa League group stages, and that might be affecting league form.

The last time an Australian Test tour took on the trajectory of the current Ashes series, starting with a victory before beginning to fall away, the response of a tiring and weakening team desperate for victory was to resort to the infamous, obvious cheating of Newlands.

With pressure compounding fatigue, a performance culture wearing away at weary minds and bodies, and anger at how circumstances and failings had conspired against them, that Australian team lost its way in the most awful and spectacular manner, while the rest of the world took the opportunity to raise a host of accumulated grievances.

Australia's current captain Tim Paine and vice-captain Pat Cummins were both part of that group, and in the deep anguish and frustration of Headingley, Ben Stokes' heroics and all, there was acknowledgement from that this time around, a different and better path must be taken. And that, for all of the difficulties of the past 18 months, there are now far more members of the team able to step away from events in the middle and remind everyone that this is, after all, a game.

"Someone like Matt Wade, he's been out of the side for two years and one of the first things he said this morning [before the final day] was, 'if we win or if we lose, you turn up on the building site and no one knows'," Cummins said. "So I think it's a good reminder that it's not the be all and end all. One lesson we learnt from Lord's probably on that night where we were really close to ripping the game open, we got really emotional and almost just wanted it too much, so I was really proud how everyone stayed quite level this game.

"When we bowled them out for 67 or they got a partnership we were quite even. I think it's the sign of a pretty confident squad. Painey's been brilliant. He walked straight into the change room and said it's one-all, it's all good, two more matches to go. Bowlers, him as a captain, everyone makes decisions and you reflect after the game and think, what could I have done differently?

"When you look at it - a couple of catches, maybe a run out, but when a batsman comes out and scores a hundred like that, hitting sixes from an offspinner out of the rough so cleanly, you've just got to say well done. Someone's had a day out, we'll be right."

Marshalling the bowlers, Cummins agreed that there were a few moments to ponder. Not least some profligate bowling with the second new ball, having imposed enormous pressure on England for over after over leading up to it. "That was one thing we spoke about was with the new ball," he said. "Obviously you feel like you're more in the game with wickets but that wicket almost felt like a one-day wicket or an Indian wicket where with the new ball it's a double-edged sword.

"If you're not absolutely perfect you can go for runs and I think if we reflect on that half-an-hour, they might have got 30 or 40 runs pretty quickly. But other than that I thought we were brilliant. We'll have a look at that but the second new ball sometimes is a different ball game to the first new ball.

"I think the most pleasing thing for us, one, we bowled really well, but as you said I feel like we've got really good plans and processes to all of them. Ben Stokes obviously had a day out today and was probably playing more like one-day cricket towards the end there but we saw yesterday they batted for 70 overs and kept them to two runs an over and always felt like we were in the game. All three games we've been in a match-winning position so we know how to do 99 per cent of it. Hopefully we can get over the line in the next one."

The approach taken by Paine to spread the field for Stokes all the way through his match-winning 76-run stand with the last man Jack Leach (contribution: one run) has been a source of some consternation in the wake of defeat. Paine has admitted that he should at least have spoken more with the bowlers about maintaining attacking lines and lengths with that field, rather than taking it as a sign to effectively put the cue in the rack against Stokes and only try to dismiss Leach. Cummins admitted that such fields tended to put any bowler into white-ball mode.

"Unfortunately yeah it is [like one-day cricket]," he said. "When the wicket's like that and the ball's still hard, it didn't feel like it was going to swing or seam so as a bowler your options are you're hopefully going to still snick him off so you've got the slips out there but other than that just trying to limit the damage. He's faced almost 200 balls and when he started going he's at the top of his game so it's certainly hard work but we still had our chances. Obvious thing is the wicket got better and better the longer the game went on. I would have liked to score a few more runs myself."

Runs will more than likely be available from a welcome avenue at Old Trafford, via the return to fitness and selection of Steven Smith. Cummins said that Smith had remained very much involved in the game since he was ruled out through concussion, making his impending recall all the more welcome. "I know last week at Lord's he said he was screaming at the TV from his hotel room watching the final hour," Cummins said.

"This game we were right on top and we've got the world's best batter coming in for the next one so it's great. I think from all reports he's going to play the tour match next week. What has he got? 100-odd, 100-odd and 90-odd so it's going to be great to be back."

Cummins had one more crucial involvement, firing in the return to Nathan Lyon that, had he held it, would have seen Leach run out with Australia triumphant by a single run. Here, once again, was a reminder why the refreshed Australian approach, forged out of the infamy of Newlands, should serve the tourists well at the pointy end of this Ashes series. "I probably didn't help him out with the throw there, it could have been a bit better," Cummins said. "But yeah, like everyone, you just want to win so desperately and the emotion gets to everyone slightly differently.

"Gaz obviously wears his heart on his shoulder so we've got to get around him. But I think the next ball he bowled after that was three reds [for lbw] so on another day he's the match-winner. It's that fine line, if you lived and died by a win and a loss you'd be out of this business pretty quickly."

Jasprit Bumrah's 5 for 7 - the least expensive five-wicket haul by an Indian in Tests - helped hurry India towards a record 318-run win over West Indies in Antigua. That five-for also helped Bumrah become the first bowler from Asia to take five-wicket hauls in South Africa, England, Australia and West Indies. And beyond the numbers, he impressed two Antiguan fast-bowling greats - Andy Roberts and Curtly Ambrose - with his clarity of thought, game sense and aggression.

So impressed was Roberts that, in an interview with the Indian Express, he called Bumrah the "best Indian fast bowler I have seen".

"In my time, it was all spin," he said, thinking back to the India attacks of the past. "Good ones, but they wouldn't win you matches overseas. India had Kapil Dev and some others, but we never thought they could produce someone as lethal as Bumrah. He's the best Indian fast bowler I have seen."

Roberts, part of the great pace quartets that also included Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Colin Croft and Malcolm Marshall, described how Bumrah's unorthodox run-up and action broke the mental rhythm of batsmen as they prepared to face him. But what made the India bowler truly special, he felt, was his game sense and thinking, which belie the fact that he only made his Test debut in January 2018, and has only played only 11 games in the format.

"When a bowler is running in, you should look at the batsmen. They are settling into a mental rhythm of their own in their mind," Roberts said. "They are visualising the bowler, his action, the leap, the load-up, the release and things like that. Their thought processes are conditioned in such a way that if he's a side-on bowler, the ball will come like that, if it's high-arm it would come in a different way. Or the longer the run-up, the quicker the ball will be. With Bumrah, the batsmen have little time to get into their mental rhythm.

"Look at everything else he does, he's classical. He moves two balls into the batsmen, and the other one goes away. Then two away from him, and then one into him. This is how we did, this is how fast bowlers have operated over the years. But the best one knows how, where and when to bowl. And Bumrah seems to have this awareness, which usually takes a lot of time to develop, a lot of experience. But how old is he? How many Tests has he played? He's a quick learner, isn't he?

"To me, it has been the most striking feature of him. Some call it maturity. I call it game sense. There seems to be clarity in his thinking, and that automatically shows in his bowling. Some bowlers, very skillful ones, don't develop it even 10 years after they had played the game. That's the biggest thing for a fast bowler, to learn how to use your head."

The game sense also impressed Ambrose, who said Bumrah's ability to size up and adjust his lengths according to surfaces and batsmen reminded him of his long-time new-ball partner Courtney Walsh.

"He's good at varying his lengths, depending on the surfaces and batsmen," Ambrose told the Indian Express. "I saw that in the World Cup, how he adjusted (and altered) his lengths according to the conditions and batsmen. That makes life difficult for batsmen.

"(In this regard), he reminds me a bit of Courtney (Walsh) a bit. He was wonderful in sizing up the length and bowling accordingly."

Ambrose also said Bumrah's quiet demeanour did not make him any less aggressive on the field.

"I'm not talking about body language here. I'm not talking about being hostile. Aggression is not always about what you show outwards. Some show, some don't. It depends on the individual's nature," Ambrose said. "To me, it's about how you bowl, the aggression of the delivery. And Bumrah shows a lot of it."

Could Bumrah have fitted into the fearsome West Indies attacks of the past?

Roberts suggested Bumrah's unconventional action would have added a different dimension to the attacks he was part of.

"It's the strangest action that I have seen on a cricket field," he said. "I need to study that for a longer time to understand the mechanics of his action. But if he were born here back in our days, we would have had him. A freak was the only element missing in our bowling line-up. In fact, Bumrah is the only variety of bowler we had never produced. Then I don't think even India would produce one like him again."

Ambrose went even further in his praise.

"At times, he rekindles memories of our prime," he said. "The pace, aggression, the hostility, the craft. The way he outclasses the batsmen, the way he out-thinks them. He could have been one of us, he's so complete a bowler that he could have played in any era."

Ramesh Powar, the former India offspinner who was removed as head coach of the India women's team after an event-filled four-and-a-half month stint from mid- to late 2018, has been appointed bowling coach of the India men's 'A' team.

For the time being, ESPNcricinfo understands, Powar's appointment with the 'A' team is only for the upcoming series against the touring South Africa A side, who will play two four-day matches and a series of one-day games from August 29 to September 20.

Powar, 41, played two Test matches and 31 ODIs during a career that spanned a decade and a half, and then turned to coaching, landing the India women's job in July 2018 in an interim capacity following the resignation of Tushar Arothe. Powar's contract was subsequently extended till the end of the women's World T20 later that year. He did not receive another extension, however, as a much-publicised fallout with Mithali Raj led to his ouster.

Mithali, who was left out of the XI for India's semi-final encounter at the World T20, which they lost, returned home and wrote a letter to the BCCI accusing Powar of trying to "destroy" her career. Powar then responded by saying that Mithali had threatened to retire if she wasn't allowed to open the batting.

Following the rather ugly sequence of events, the BCCI put out an advertisement inviting applications for the job, even as Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana wrote separate emails to the BCCI requesting that Powar continue in the job. That, however, didn't happen, and WV Raman has since been in charge of the women's team.

Rash strokes and poor decision-making cost Sri Lanka the P Sara Test. So says captain Dimuth Karunaratne.

It is a difficult summary to argue against, given the nature of Sri Lanka's demise on the fifth day in Colombo. Lahiru Thirimanne essentially ran himself out, attempting a single to midwicket off the fifth ball of the innings. Kusal Perera was caught in the slips slashing at a short delivery. Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews were both out playing defensive shots, but later, Dhananjaya de Silva was caught at second slip after advancing down the pitch.

The first innings had been disappointing as well. Sri Lanka were all out for 244, before New Zealand replied with a declaration at 431 for 6.

"It was a pretty good wicket in the first innings, and we didn't execute our shots very well," Karunaratne said. "The batsmen probably thought it was going to be a good, flat wicket and so the application wasn't there. Even me, after getting 60 [65], I played a rash shot [in the first innings]. It was a good wicket and you have to put up a good score on it. The Kiwis batted really well. They put up huge totals and put us under pressure."

Freedom has been a buzzword in Karunaratne's captaincy so far - his insistence that batsmen should be allowed to play their strokes is understood to be a key factor in the Test team's recent success. Following this Test, though, Karunaratne was critical of his team-mates' aggression.

"When I say players should be free, I don't mean that you just hit every ball that you see. It's about keeping your mind free. If you at any time feel like you should play the reverse-sweep but you stop yourself, your're restricting yourself. There are times when you can get runs from that shot, and when it's a safe option. It's about being relaxed. Freedom doesn't mean swinging at every ball. It's about playing with confidence. At times I felt our players really lacked patience. A Test is a very valuable thing, and batsmen should know how to play according to the situation. They should know how to handle that freedom."

It was on day four that New Zealand swung the match definitively in their direction, and on day four that Sri Lanka's bowlers struggled the most, allowing the opposition to score 186 for the loss of just one wicket in 48 overs.

"We got the wickets of the first three batsmen quickly, and I think we thought the other wickets would also come easily," Karunaratne said. "But they batted really well, and the pitch also dried out a bit, and the moisture that was there disappeared. It stopped seaming around. Despite that, I think we could have bowled better, and bowled tighter.

"But on the second day New Zealand bowled really well, drying up the runs by bowling on one side of the pitch. Apart from Suranga Lakmal and Dilruwan Perera our bowlers don't have much experience, but I think they've played enough first-class cricket to stack one side of the field and bowl to that."

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers understands Andrew Luck's decision to retire, although the Green Bay Packers quarterback doesn't see himself reaching that stage anytime soon.

What Rodgers can't comprehend was the reaction of Indianapolis Colts fans who booed Luck after the news broke while he was still on the sideline during Saturday's preseason game.

"I thought it was pretty disgusting," Rodgers said Monday. "He's making a really tough decision and then before that, he makes the decision, I don't know why that doesn't stay in house to kind of protect him a little bit. Although when I think about it, I thought it would've been more of a standing-ovation type thing and a thank you than boos.

"I, 100 percent, respect him immensely for his decision. I salute him for choosing quality of life. He's a fantastic player, he had a great career and he's got a lot to be proud of. Like many of us in this locker room, if not all of us, we all have interests outside of football. Andrew is an extremely bright guy, and I'm sure he'll have a lot of things to transition into. I know what it's like to deal with rehab and going through injuries. I've been on IR twice. It's tough. He was on it pretty much for an entire season and next offseason trying to get his arm back. Again, in my opinion, not playing with him but just reading what his teammates said, tough guy. What he went through to get himself back on the field is what it means to be a leader and I'm excited for him."

Rodgers called Luck's decision "very selfless, not selfish."

"If he's not going to play this season, he could have played this season and sat on IR and taken the paycheck," Rodgers said.

In recent years, Rodgers has talked about wanting to play into his 40s, and he gave no indication that has changed. Rodgers said he will know it's time to walk away when "the love affair with the game is not there and/or if your body is not just functioning the way you want it to."

"But hopefully that's many years from now," Rodgers added.

Rodgers, 35, is more than five years older than Luck and hasn't had as extensive of an injury history, though he has dealt with health issues on several occasions. His two stints on injured reserve came in 2006, with a broken foot when he was a backup, and in 2017, when he broke his collarbone.

He did not go on IR the first time he broke his collarbone in 2013. He said he dealt with those situations by seeing a light at the end of the tunnel because he knew he could return.

"I'm sure when you're going through stuff where you're not sure if you're ever going to play again -- like Andrew did, like Alex Smith might be dealing with right now -- I'm sure there's some tough days because, at some point, you start thinking about your post-career life and ability to move and functions," Rodgers said. "A lot of guys over the years have had to end their years because of injuries. Two of my favorite quarterbacks growing up, Steve Young and Troy Aikman, those are tough decision but I think they're decisions in the interest of your life at 40 and 50 and 60 hopefully. Again, I give him a lot of credit for making that tough decision, and I think he did it with enough time and lets them move forward with Jacoby [Brissett] and figure out what they want to do with their roster."

Rodgers, who suffered the third known concussion of his NFL career in last year's season finale, admitted that he has thought about his post-career health.

"Of course, of course," Rodgers said. "Anytime you've had a concussion or a couple of concussions, the following days you're always thinking about what it's going to be like, but I think with medicine the way it is and research the way it is, there's going to be more and more things that can help guys down the line to feel better, hopefully. And hopefully, we can do our job in the [NFL Players Association] and continue to take care of former players."