Dubai , 4 March 2008 South Africa stays fourth after series win against Bangladesh ; Kallis and Smith rise but Player of the Series Steyn fails to displace Muralidaran from top slot
England has an opportunity to reclaim second place from India in the LG ICC Test Championship Table in the three-Test series against New Zealand starting in Hamilton from Wednesday. But to make that happen, Michael Vaughan’s side will have to produce a performance that matches the achievement of Ted Dexter’s side which toured New Zealand 45 years ago.
Dexter’s side in 1963 became only the second and last England team in 16 tours to sweep the series against John Reid’s Black Caps – winning by an innings and 215 runs in Auckland, an innings and 47 runs in Wellington, and by seven wickets in Christchurch.
England currently sits on 107 ratings points in fifth place and if manages to reverse its ODI series fortunes and blanks out Daniel Vettori’s side in the longer format of the game, it will earn four ratings points which will put it on a par with India but ahead of Anil Kumble’s side when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.
A 2-0 series win for England, which dropped from second to fifth place in the championship table after losing the three-Test series against Sri Lanka in December last year, will help it leapfrog Sri Lanka and South Africa into third place.
But a 2-1 win will keep it in fifth place though it will earn a rating point for the series win.
In sharp contrast, New Zealand can only swap places with Pakistan which is possible even if the series ends in a draw.
Meanwhile, South Africa ’s 2-0 victory over Bangladesh kept it on 109 points along with Sri Lanka but behind Mahela Jayawardena’s side in fourth place when the points are calculated beyond the decimal point.
In the LG Player Rankings for Test batsmen, South Africa ’s Jacques Kallis and captain Graeme Smith gained one and five positions respectively after their series against Bangladesh which ended on Monday as the top 20 list boasts four English and one New Zealand batsmen.
Kallis, who scored 63 runs in three innings, joined Australia ’s Ricky Ponting in third place while Smith, who featured in a world record first wicket stand with Neil McKenzie, jumped to 14th spot.
McKenzie rocketed 57 places to 63rd position after his contribution of 226 in a partnership of 415 with Smith in the Chittagong Test.
Kevin Pietersen in ninth place is the highest ranked batsmen from either England or New Zealand while his team-mate Alastair Cook is in 13th position and Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell in 19th and 20th places respectively.
Andrew Strauss is ranked 26th while Vaughan is down in 28th spot.
For New Zealand , Stephen Fleming will start his last series in New Zealand colours in 16th place and can easily rise as high as 13th position if he produces the form he has shown in the better part of his illustrious career as
Vettori in 30th place is the next highest ranked New Zealand batsman while Jacob Oram in 31st position, Brendon McCullum in 47th place and Mathew Sinclair in 53rd spot are the other notable Black Caps batsmen.
In the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, South Africa ’s Dale Steyn will have to wait for this month’s series against India to again take a shot at Muthiah Muralidaran’s top slot after narrowly missing the opportunity against Bangladesh .
Steyn finished the series as the leading wicket-taker with 14 wickets which earned him a well deserved Player of the Series award. But his series effort was not enough to take him past Muralidaran’s 907 points as the 24-year-old finished on 893 points which was his career-best achievement.
Steyn will now set his sights on the three-Test series against India which starts in Chennai from 26 March to overtake Muralidaran who himself will be in action in the two-Test series against the West Indies from 22 March in Guyana.
As far as the England and New Zealand bowlers are concerned, in the absence of Shane Bond, England ’s Matthew Hoggard in eighth place is the highest ranked bowler from either side. New Zealand ’s Chris Martin is in 14th place and just 14 points adrift of an absent Andrew Flintoff in 12th spot.
Left-arm spinners Monty Panesar of England and Vettori are separated by just five points. Panesar is in 19th place while New Zealand captain is sitting in 21st position and leading 22nd placed England fast bowler Steve Harmison by seven points.
England pace duo of James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom are currently ranked 36th and 44th positions.
In the LG ICC Players Ranking for all-rounders, Vettori is expected to swap places with second-placed Flintoff who leads by three points.
The all-rounders’ list is headed by Kallis who while gaining one place in batting chart, dropped one place to 20th in bowlers’ list.
The schedule for the New Zealand – England Test series is as follows:
5-9 March – 1st Test, Hamilton
13-17 March – 2nd Test, Wellington
22-26 March – 3rd Test, Napier
LG ICC Test Championship (as of 4 March, post Bangladesh – South Africa Test series and prior to New Zealand – England Test series)
Rank Team Rating
1 Australia 141
2 India 111
3 Sri Lanka 109
4 South Africa 109
5 England 107
6 Pakistan 94
7 New Zealand 93
8 West Indies 73
9 Bangladesh 1
Zimbabwe has a rating of 12 but has not played sufficient number of Test matches over the new rating period (since August 2004) to be included on the main table.
LG ICC Test Rankings (as of 4 March, post Bangladesh – South Africa Test series and prior to New Zealand – England Test series)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) K.C.Sangakkara SL 933 56.37 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
2 ( - ) Mike Hussey Aus 912*! 78.14 912 v Ind at Adelaide 2008
3= ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 899 58.53 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
(+1) Jacques Kallis SA 899 57.78 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
5 ( - ) Mohd Yousuf Pak 880 55.49 933 v WI at Karachi 2006
6 ( - ) Matthew Hayden Aus 860 53.51 935 v Eng at Brisbane 2002
7 ( - ) M.Jayawardena SL 835 51.93 836 v Eng at Birmingham 2002
8 ( - ) S.Chanderpaul WI 816 47.31 838 v SA at Cape Town 2008
9 ( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 804 50.40 909 v WI at Leeds 2007
10 ( - ) Yunus Khan Pak 799 49.14 856 v Eng at Leeds 2006
11 ( - ) Michael Clarke Aus 744 46.45 761 v Ind at Melbourne 2007
12 ( - ) S.R.Tendulkar Ind 737 55.57 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
13 ( - ) Alastair Cook Eng 711! 45.02 711 v SL at Galle 2007
14 (+5) Graeme Smith SA 706 48.54 756 v NZ at Wellington 2004
15 ( - ) Rahul Dravid Ind 704 55.11 892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005
16 ( - ) Stephen Fleming NZ 702! 39.73 702 v Ban at Wellington 2008
17 (-3) Ashwell Prince SA 687 42.72 756 v Pak at Centurion 2007
18 (-1) VVS Laxman Ind 679 44.20 753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
19 (-1) P.D.Collingwood Eng 664 42.76 730 v Aus at Adelaide 2006
20 ( - ) Ian Bell Eng 657 42.51 684 v SL at Kandy 2007
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) M.Muralidaran SL 907 21.77 920 v Ban at Kandy 2007
2 ( - ) Dale Steyn SA 893! 21.80 893 v Ban at Chittagong 2008
3 ( - ) Stuart Clark Aus 829* 21.88 843 v Ind at Perth 2008
4 ( - ) Brett Lee Aus 795! 29.97 795 v Ind at Adelaide 2008
5 ( - ) Makhaya Ntini SA 754 27.96 863 v Ind at Durban 2006
6 ( - ) Anil Kumble Ind 738 28.86 859 v SL at Bangalore 1994
7 ( - ) Shane Bond NZ 709* 22.39 778 v WI at Auckland 2006
8 ( - ) Matthew Hoggard Eng 695 30.01 795 v SL at Birmingham 2006
9 ( - ) Shoaib Akhtar Pak 684 25.69 855 v NZ at Wellington 2003
10 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 666 29.43 800 v Ind at Chennai 2005
11 ( - ) Corey Collymore WI 653* 32.30 700 v Eng at Lord's 2007
12 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 640 32.02 810 v Pak at Multan 2005
13 ( - ) Zaheer Khan Ind 638 33.60 689 v Pak at Delhi 2007
14 ( - ) Chris Martin NZ 626 32.47 643 v Eng at Lord's 2004
15 ( - ) Mohammad Asif Pak 619* 23.13 710 v SA at Cape Town 2007
16 ( - ) Danish Kaneria Pak 614 33.90 723 v Eng at Multan 2005
17 ( - ) James Franklin NZ 612* 28.19 679 v SL at Christchurch 2006
18 ( - ) Irfan Pathan Ind 608 31.41 761 v SL at Delhi 2005
19 (+1) Monty Panesar Eng 589* 32.76 721 v WI at Chester-le-St 2007
20 (-1) Jacques Kallis SA 586 30.91 742 v Eng at Leeds 2003
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating
1 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 527 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 340 501 v Pak at Multan 2005
3 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 337! 337 v Ban at Wellington 2008
4 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 276 281 v Ind at Chennai 2005
5 ( - ) Irfan Pathan Ind 259*/ 317 v Eng at Mohali 2006
-ICC MEDIA RELEASE