His fellow Black Caps team mates may be struggling to impress against Australia in the current trans-Tasman test series, but that hasn't stopped Tauranga's Kane Williamson from climbing the world batting rankings.

The gallant right-handed batsman and former Tauranga Boys' College student has climbed to a career-high number five on cricket's batting list on the back of his latest century.

Williamson has climbed to number five in the world batting rankings. Photo: File.

Kane scored 140 - his 11th test century - and a 59 in New Zealand's loss in Brisbane to take his average to 47.19. That saw him move up two places from number seven.

The Bay of Plenty star has been the stand-out player for his country recently, becoming the backbone of their batting line up.

Captain Brendon McCullum will look to his other top order batsmen, including himself, to add some grit to their play and build totals around Kane for their next test against Australia at the WACA in Perth, which gets underway on Friday.

In an ironic twist, Kane's move up the rankings came a day after Australian coach Darren Lehmann listed the Black Caps star among his personal top-five of current test batsmen.

South Africa's AB de Villiers has reclaimed top spot from Australian captain Steve Smith, who scored 48 against New Zealand.

De Villiers now leads Smith by just one point, but the rise of Kane and Australian David Warner means the top seven batsmen are now separated by just 44 points.

The rankings are likely to shuffle throughout the tests series' across the Tasman and in India, where the home side notched a comfortable win against South Africa in the opener.

Warner's two centuries in the Brisbane test lifted him two places to seventh spot.

Mark Craig's gritty batting continues to be rewarded with the New Zealand all-rounder up eight places to number 57, while Tom Latham lifted two places to number 35.

However, there were slides for Ross Taylor (down four to 17) and BJ Watling (down two to 25).

The New Zealand bowlers all paid the price for disappointing efforts at The Gabba. Trent Boult (6), Tim Southee (11) and Craig (40) all slipped one place while Doug Bracewell fell six places to 47.

ICC WORLD RANKINGS:

Batting:

1. AB de Villiers (SA)
2. Steven Smith (Aus)
3. Joe Root (Eng)
4. Hashim Amla (SA)
5. Kane Williamson (NZ)
6. Angelo Mathews (SL)
7. David Warner (Aus)
8. Younus Khan (Pak)
9. Alastair Cook (Eng)
10. Misbah-ul-Haq (Pak)

Bowling:

1. Dale Steyn (SA)
2. James Anderson (Eng)
3. Yasir Shah (Pak)
4. Stuart Broad (Eng)
5. R Ashwin (Ind)
6. Trent Boult (NZ)
7. Vernon Philander (SA)
8. Mitchell Johnson (Aus)
9. Rangana Herath (SL)
10. Morne Morkel (SA)