Dubai, 20 May 2008Hussey and Ponting resume battle for number one batting spot as Australia prepares to go head to head with the West Indies in three-Test series from Thursday
England fast bowler Ryan Sidebottom continued his fairytale progress in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings when he achieved his career-best position after another outstanding performance in the drawn first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s.
The 30-year-old Yorkshireman took 6-120 in a weather-marred Test and as a result jumped four places to sixth in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers.
Sidebottom leapfrogged Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka , India captain Anil Kumble, Pakistan ’s Shoaib Akhtar and Shane Bond of New Zealand . He now has fifth-placed Makhaya Ntini of South Africa firmly in his sights just 53 ratings points ahead.
As Sidebottom is still qualifying for a full rating (a bowler is eligible for a full rating once he reaches 100 Test wickets), he has a good chance of breaking in the top five if he puts up another strong performance in the remaining two Tests against the Black Caps. If he achieves that, he will become the first England bowler in the top five since Matthew Hoggard who slipped from those lofty heights last December while on tour in Sri Lanka .
In the last seven months, Sidebottom has maintained an incredible run of consistent performance in which he jumped from 115th position in October 2007 to sixth spot in the latest rankings. Since October, Sidebottom has taken 35 wickets in seven Tests and only six other bowlers, headed by South Africa ’s Dale Steyn (71 wickets in 11 Tests), have taken more wickets than him in that time.
Sidebottom was not the only England bowler to make progress in the right direction. James Anderson, who took 5-130 in the Test, climbed four places to 33rd spot while Stuart Broad was rewarded for his match effort of 3-139 by rising three places to 62nd position.
While England spinner Monty Panesar had a quiet Test by his high standards when he took 2-86, his opposite number and New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori had a productive Test.
The 29-year-old from Auckland took 5-69 in England ’s only innings and returned to the top 20 after leapfrogging team-mate James Franklin, Pakistan’s Umar Gul and Irfan Pathan of India .
In the Reliance Mobile Player Rankings for Test batsmen, England captain Michael Vaughan climbed three places to 32nd position after scoring his 18th Test century.
England openers Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss, who stroked half-centuries while putting on 121 runs for the first wicket, also improved their rankings by one place each and are now ranked 15th and 23rd respectively.
Kevin Pietersen, however, is in danger of losing his place in the top 10 for the first time since 2006 after another disappointing performance. Pietersen scored three and consequently conceded 22 ratings points to see his lead over 11th placed Australia vice-captain Michael Clarke trimmed to only 18 ratings points.
New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum has returned to the top 40 after hitting a run-a-ball 97 that included 13 fours and two sixes. McCullum, who was briefly in the top 40 back in 2006, has jumped four places to 38th position.
New Zealand ’s all-rounder Jacob Oram achieved his career-best fifth ranking in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders after leaping two places. Oram scored 28 and 101 with the bat and also took 2-45 at Lord’s. He can rise to as high as third if he claims a five-wicket haul or hits a century in the forthcoming Tests in Old Trafford and Trent Bridge .
Meanwhile, Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey will resume their battle for the coveted number one spot in Reliance Mobile ICC Rankings for Test batsmen as Australia prepares to go head to head with the West Indies in the three-Test series in Kingston , Jamaica from Thursday.
Hussey benefited from Ponting’s, Jacques Kallis’ and Kumar Sangakkara’s slump in form to claim the top position following South Africa ’s tour to Bangladesh earlier this year.
Hussey had entered the home series against India late last year in fifth place while Ponting had started in first place. However, by the time the series ended, Hussey had risen to third place while Ponting had dropped to fourth.
Hussey leads Ponting by 13 ratings points but as Mr Cricket is still qualifying for a full rating (a batsman is eligible for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings), his points tally at the top is likely to continue to rise if his willow continues to yield runs.
In a sharp contrast, Ponting can drop to as low as sixth if he fails to end his run of indifferent form as only 39 ratings points separate the Tasmanian from sixth-placed Matthew Hayden who is one of the five Australians in the top 20 batting list.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul is the West Indies ’ highest-ranked batsman in seventh place while Ramnaresh Sarwan is ranked 22nd and Chris Gayle, who will miss the first Test due to injury, is in 27th position.
Australia’s best bowlers in action in the series will be Stuart Clark and Brett Lee who are in third and fourth respectively in the Reliance Mobile ICC Rankings for Test bowlers while in Corey Collymore’s absence Jerome Taylor in 25th place is the highest-ranked West Indies bowler. Dwayne Bravo (34th), Fidel Edwards (36th) and Daren Powell (44th) are the other home team bowlers in the top 50.
If Australia sweeps the series, it will earn one ratings point in the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship while West Indies will drop to 76 ratings points. However, if Australia lost all three Tests, it would concede 10 ratings points while the West Indies would go up by the same amount.
West Indies v Australia Test Series
22-26 May – First Test, Kingston , Jamaica
30 May-3 June – Second Test, Antigua
12-16 June – Third Test, Bridgetown , Barbados
Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship (as of 13 May, prior to the start of England – New Zealand and West Indies – Australia Test series)
Rank Teams Rating
1 Australia 141
2 India 111
3 South Africa 109
4 England 108
5 Sri Lanka 106
6 Pakistan 94
7 New Zealand 91
8 West Indies 77
9 Bangladesh 1
Note: Zimbabwe has a rating of 12 but has not played sufficient number of Test matches over the new rating period to be included on the main table.
Reliance Mobile ICC Test Rankings (as of 20 May, after Lord’s Test and before the start of West Indies – Australia Test series)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) Mike Hussey Aus 912*! 78.14 912 v Ind at Adelaide 2008
2 ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 899 58.53 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
3 ( - ) K.C.Sangakkara SL 893 55.19 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
4 ( - ) Mohd 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 860 53.51 935 v Eng at Brisbane 2002
7= ( - ) S.Chanderpaul WI 810 47.24 838 v SA at Cape Town 2008
( - ) M.Jayawardena SL 810 51.93 844 v WI at Guyana 2008
9 ( - ) Yunus Khan Pak 799 49.14 856 v Eng at Leeds 2006
10 ( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 762 49.04 909 v WI at Leeds 2007
11 ( - ) Michael Clarke Aus 744 46.45 761 v Ind at Melbourne 2007
12 ( - ) Graeme Smith SA 712 48.57 756 v NZ at Wellington 2004
13 ( - ) S.R.Tendulkar Ind 704 55.31 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
14 ( - ) Rahul Dravid Ind 701 54.88 892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005
15 (+1) Alastair Cook Eng 688 43.82 711 v SL at Galle 2007
16 (-1) Virender Sehwag Ind 681 51.75 854 v SA at Kolkata 2004
17 ( - ) Sourav Ganguly Ind 674 42.71 713 v Aus at Adelaide 1999
18 (+1) VVS Laxman Ind 672 43.82 753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
19 (-2) Ian Bell Eng 661 42.70 684 v SL at Kandy 2007
20 (+1) Andrew Symonds Aus 656* 41.24 666 v Ind at Perth 2008
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave 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 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 777 27.85 863 v Ind at Durban 2006
6 (+4) Ryan Sidebottom Eng 724*! 25.93 724 v NZ at Lord's 2008
7 (-1) Chaminda Vaas SL 709 29.09 800 v Ind at Chennai 2005
8 (-1) 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 (-2) Shane Bond NZ 681* 22.39 778 v WI at Auckland 2006
11 ( - ) Corey Collymore WI 640* 32.30 700 v Eng at Lord's 2007
12 ( - ) Matthew Hoggard Eng 631 30.50 795 v SL at Birmingham 2006
13= (+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
15 (-2) Andrew Flintoff Eng 615 32.02 810 v Pak at Multan 2005
16= (+1) Danish Kaneria Pak 614 33.90 723 v Eng at Multan 2005
( - ) Monty Panesar Eng 614* 32.68 721 v WI at Chester-le-St 2007
18 ( - ) Chris Martin NZ 610 32.74 643 v Eng at Lord's 2004
19 ( - ) Harbhajan Singh Ind 608 31.03 765 v NZ at Wellington 2002
20 (+3) Daniel Vettori NZ 596 34.38 681 v Aus at Auckland 2000
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating
1 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 495 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 360! 360 v Eng at Lord's 2008
3 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 314 501 v Pak at Multan 2005
4 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 294 300 v WI at Guyana 2008
5 (+2) Jacob Oram NZ 289 /*! 289 v Eng at Lord's 2008
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