Dubai, 27 May 2008Following Jamaica Test Ponting closes the gap on Hussey as Clark reaches new high and Bravo moves into top five all-rounders
Andrew Symonds’ unbeaten 70 in the first innings of Australia’s 95-run victory over the West Indies in Jamaica slipped under most people’s radars in the light of Ricky Ponting magnificent 158 but his 79 in the second dig, as his team-mates fell around him, was perhaps one of the most important knocks of his career so far.
And those two contributions have lifted the Queenslander up eight places to 12th position in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen.
Given the rankings are weighted to favour individual performances that are important in the context of the match in question, the fact Symonds scored nearly half his side’s runs and gave his bowlers something to defend, counted in his favour when the latest rankings were calculated.
Symonds, who will celebrate his 33rd birthday on 9 June, is currently enjoying the highest rating of his career to date and will be looking to make further progress up the ladder during the rest of Australia ’s tour in the Caribbean .
However, he still has work to do before he catches team-mates Michael Hussey in first place, Ricky Ponting in second, Matthew Hayden in sixth and Michael Clarke in 11th.
Meanwhile, West Indies’ Shivnarine Chanderpaul has put a gap between himself and Sri Lanka ’s Mahela Jayawardena in seventh position in the batting rankings thanks to his gutsy 118 in the first innings at Sabina Park . The man from Guyana now has his sights set on Hayden in sixth spot with the Australian reportedly set to be available for selection for the second Test in Antigua after previously being sidelined with a heel injury.
Man of the match Stuart Clark is another player on the rise and if he continues the way he is going he could catch South Africa ’s Dale Steyn before the end of the current tour.
His eight wickets in this match, including 5-32 in the second innings, have widened the gap between him and Brett Lee in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers and given him the best rating of his career to date in third position.
Although the West Indies team was defeated at Sabina Park , the match was not without its positives for John Dyson’s men. For one thing, they managed to take all 20 Australian wickets and, as a result, the West Indies front-line attack is making steady progress up the Reliance Mobile ICC Rankings.
With eight of those wickets going to Fidel Edwards, the 26-year-old from Barbados has broken into the top 30 for the first time while Dwayne Bravo, in 33rd spot, is on the verge of doing the same. Daren Powell has moved up three places to 41st position.
Bravo has managed to break into the top five of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders at the expense of New Zealand ’s Jacob Oram. That list is still headed by South Africa ’s Jacques Kallis, followed by Black Caps’ skipper Daniel Vettori in second place.
Reliance Mobile ICC Test Rankings (as of 27 May)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) Mike Hussey Aus 921*! 74.83 921 v WI at Kingston 2008
2 ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 905 58.81 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
3 ( - ) K.C.Sangakkara SL 893 55.19 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
4 ( - ) Mhd Yousuf Pak 880 55.49 933 v WI at Karachi 2006
5 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 877 57.14 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
6 ( - ) Matthew Hayden Aus 851 53.51 935 v Eng at Brisbane 2002
7 ( - ) S.Chanderpaul WI 832 47.45 838 v SA at Cape Town 2008
8 (-1) M.Jayawardena SL 810 51.93 844 v WI at Guyana 2008
9 ( - ) Yunus Khan Pak 799 49.14 856 v Eng at Headingley 2006
10 ( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 750 48.60 909 v WI at Headingley 2007
11 ( - ) Michael Clarke Aus 737 46.45 761 v Ind at Melbourne 2007
12 (+8) Andrew Symonds Aus 714*! 45.38 714 v WI at Kingston 2008
13 (-1) Graeme Smith SA 712 48.57 756 v NZ at Wellington 2004
14 (-1) S.R.Tendulkar Ind 704 55.31 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
15 (-1) Rahul Dravid Ind 701 54.88 892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005
16 (+7) Andrew Strauss Eng 687 42.34 769 v SA at Johannesburg 2005
17 (-1) Virender Sehwag Ind 681 51.75 854 v SA at Kolkata 2004
18 (-1) Sourav Ganguly Ind 674 42.71 713 v Aus at Adelaide 1999
19 (-1) VVS Laxman Ind 672 43.82 753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
20 (-5) Alastair Cook Eng 669 43.03 711 v SL at Galle 2007
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Rating
1 ( - ) M.Muralidaran SL 897 21.95 920 v Ban at Kandy 2007
2 ( - ) Dale Steyn SA 892 21.60 897 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2008
3 ( - ) Stuart Clark Aus 856*! 20.77 856 v WI at Kingston 2008
4 ( - ) Brett Lee Aus 787 29.95 795 v Ind at Adelaide 2008
5 ( - ) Makhaya Ntini SA 777 27.85 863 v Ind at Durban 2006
6 ( - ) Ryan Sidebottom Eng 719* 26.06 724 v NZ at Lord's 2008
7 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 709 29.09 800 v Ind at Chennai 2005
8 ( - ) Anil Kumble Ind 708 29.06 859 v SL at Bangalore 1994
9 ( - ) Shoaib Akhtar Pak 684 25.69 855 v NZ at Wellington 2003
10 ( - ) Shane Bond NZ 675* 22.39 778 v WI at Auckland 2006
11 (+5) Monty Panesar Eng 662 31.78 721 v WI at Chester-le-St 2007
12 (-1) Corey Collymore WI 634* 32.30 700 v Eng at Lord's 2007
13 (-1) M’thew Hoggard Eng 624 30.50 795 v SL at Edgbaston 2006
14= (-1) Zaheer Khan Ind 619 33.60 689 v Pak at Delhi 2007
(-1) 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 (-2) Andrew Flintoff Eng 609 32.02 810 v Pak at Multan 2005
18 (+1) Harbhajan Singh Ind 608 31.03 765 v NZ at Wellington 2002
19 (+1) Daniel Vettori NZ 606 34.27 681 v Aus at Auckland 2000
20 (-2) Chris Martin NZ 599 33.05 643 v Eng at Lord's 2004
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating
1 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 495 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 348 360 v Eng at Lord's 2008
3 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 308 501 v Pak at Multan 2005
4 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 294 300 v WI at Guyana 2008
5 (+2) Dwayne Bravo WI 282 /*! 282 v Aus at Kingston 2008
ICC MEDIA RELEASE