Dubai , 27 March 2008Fleming signs-off in career-best 13th place as Sri Lanka duo of Sangakkara and Muralidaran in danger of losing top slots
England left-arm fast bowler Ryan Sidebottom has entered the top 10 of the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers for the first time in his career after producing a performance than earned him the Player of the Series award against New Zealand .
The 30-year-old Yorkshireman jumps 14 places to 10th position after claiming 24 wickets in the series that earned Michael Vaughan’s side a 2-1 win. Sidebottom had entered the series in 44th position and gained 34 places due to his consistent performance with the red cherry.
Sidebottom’s team-mate Monty Panesar also consolidated his position in the top 20 when he lifted four places to 16th position after his series effort of 11 wickets, including 6-126 in Napier.
Leicestershire’s Stuart Broad is the other English bowler to make an upward movement. The 21-year-old, who took 8-250 in two Tests, climbed 23 places to 63rd spot.
However, Matthew Hoggard dropped two places to 13th position and James Anderson fell five places to 38th spot while Steve Harmison stayed in 25th place. Hoggard and Harmison were both dropped after the first Test Anderson bagged 8-283 in the two Tests.
New Zealand boasts three bowlers in the top 20 but all lost ground in the latest rankings. Chris Martin, despite his effort of 11-384, dropped three places to 18th position while Shane Bond and James Franklin – both of whom were not available for the series – dropped one and two places respectively.
Captain Daniel Vettori slipped three places to 24th position after his series effort of 7-383.
The list is still headed by Sri Lanka ’s Muttiah Muralidaran but his lead over South Africa ’s Dale Steyn is trimmed to just eight points after he managed six wickets in Sri Lanka ’s 121 runs victory in Guyana on Wednesday.
With South Africa involved in a Test against India in Chennai, Steyn can leapfrog Muralidaran if he succeeds in producing a good performance.
In the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming signed-off on a high after achieving his career-best ranking. Fleming began the series the series in 16th position and ended his illustrious career in 13th place.
Fleming, who celebrates his 35th birthday next Tuesday, scored 297 runs in the series. Overall, he represented New Zealand in 111 Tests and 280 ODIs scoring 7,172 and 8,037 runs respectively.
Fleming, who also played for Middlesex, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire in the County Championship , captained the Black Caps in 80 Tests winning 28 and losing 27. The man from Canterbury also captained the Black Caps in 217 ODIs with New Zealand winning 98 and losing 106.
It was under Fleming’s captaincy that New Zealand won the ICC Champions Trophy 2000 in Nairobi when it defeated India in the final.
Daniel Vettori is New Zealand ’s next highest ranked batsman. He fell two places to 28th position while Jacob Oram stayed in 38th place. Ross Taylor continued his upward movement and jumped six places to 52nd position.
Kevin Pietersen remains England ’s top ranked batsman after his contribution of 259 runs in the series helped him retain his 10th place while Ian Bell climbed one place to 19th spot after scoring 250 runs and Andrew Strauss jumped six places to 22nd position.
However, both Alastair Cook and Paul Collingwood fell three places to 17th and 20th respectively while Michael Vaughan slipped five places to 35th position after scoring just 123 runs in the series.
The batting chart is led by Sri Lanka ’s Kumar Sangakkara who leads Australia ’s Mike Hussey by a slim margin of four ratings points. Sangakkara conceded 17 ratings points after scoring 50 and 21 in the Guyana Test.
The 30-year-old from Matale will have to bat really well in the second Test at Port of Spain in Trinidad from 3 April to again widen the gap with Hussey otherwise he will have to surrender the coveted spot to the Australian.
In the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders, West Indies ’ Dwayne Bravo has achieved his career-best ranking. The 24-year-old from Trinidad climbed four places to enter the top five for the first time in his career.
LG ICC Test Rankings (as of 27 March)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) K.C.Sangakkara SL 916 55.99 938 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
( - ) 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 844! 52.39 844 v WI at Guyana 2008
8 (+1) Younis Khan Pak 799 49.14 856 v Eng at Leeds 2006
9 (-1) S.Chanderpaul WI 785 46.88 838 v SA at Cape Town 2008
10 ( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 784 49.74 909 v WI at Leeds 2007
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 ( - ) Stephen Fleming NZ 725! 40.06 725 v Eng at Napier 2008
14 (+1) Graeme Smith SA 706 48.54 756 v NZ at Wellington 2004
15 (+1) Rahul Dravid Ind 704 55.11 892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005
16 (+2) Ashwell Prince SA 687 42.72 756 v Pak at Centurion 2007
17= (+2) VVS Laxman Ind 679 44.20 753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
(-3) Alastair Cook Eng 679 43.46 711 v SL at Galle 2007
19 (+1) Ian Bell Eng 674 43.15 684 v SL at Kandy 2007
20 (-3) P.D.Collingwood Eng 668 42.54 730 v Aus at Adelaide 2006
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) M.Muralidaran SL 901 21.90 920 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 (+2) Chaminda Vaas SL 717 29.06 800 v Ind at Chennai 2005
8 (-1) Shane Bond NZ 688* 22.39 778 v WI at Auckland 2006
9 (-1) Shoaib Akhtar Pak 684 25.69 855 v NZ at Wellington 2003
10 (+14) Ryan Sidebottom Eng 665*! 26.60 665 v NZ at Napier 2008
11 (-1) Corey Collymore WI 646* 32.30 700 v Eng at Lord's 2007
12 ( - ) Zaheer Khan Ind 638 33.60 689 v Pak at Delhi 2007
13 (-2) Matthew Hoggard Eng 637 30.50 795 v SL at Birmingham 2006
14 (-1) Andrew Flintoff Eng 621 32.02 810 v Pak at Multan 2005
15 (-1) Mohammad Asif Pak 619* 23.13 710 v SA at Cape Town 2007
16 (+4) Monty Panesar Eng 617* 32.45 721 v WI at Chester-le-St 2007
17 (-1) Danish Kaneria Pak 614 33.90 723 v Eng at Multan 2005
18 (-3) Chris Martin NZ 609 32.66 643 v Eng at Lord's 2004
19 (-2) Irfan Pathan Ind 608 31.41 761 v SL at Delhi 2005
20 (-2) James Franklin NZ 594* 28.19 679 v SL at Christchurch 2006
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating
1 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 527 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 340 359 v Eng at Hamilton 2008
3 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 320 501 v Pak at Multan 2005
4 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 300! 300 v WI at Guyana 2008
5 (+4) Dwayne Bravo WI 265 /*! 265 v SL at Guyana 2008
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