Bowlers get Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings boost; Pietersen, Ambrose and Broad also move in the right direction; consolation for Oram as he breaks into top five all-rounders
England pacer James Anderson marked a stellar series against New Zealand by gaining nine places in the latest Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers released today.
Anderson took 19 wickets in the three-match series at an average of 19.31, including the top seven Kiwi batsmen in the first innings of the third Test at Trent Bridge , setting up an innings win for his team inside three and a half days.
As a result of those match figures of 9-98, Anderson has moved up to 26th place in the rankings and is enjoying the highest rating of his career to date. Another good series against South Africa , who will play four Tests in England beginning on 10 July, could see the 25-year-old Lancastrian break into the top 20 for the first time.
Anderson ’s new-ball partner Ryan Sidebottom continued his remarkable progress in the bowlers’ rankings taking seven wickets in the match and gaining another 29 ratings points to give him the highest rating of his career so far. He didn’t gain any places on the ladder this time but has closed the gap to 29 points between himself in sixth place and South Africa ’s Makhaya Ntini in fifth.
If he can make the ball swing against the Proteas like he has done against the Black Caps, there is no reason why he can’t make it into the top five bowlers in the world before the English summer is out. It has been a truly remarkable 12 months for a bowler who, on this day in 2007, was ranked in 108th place.
For New Zealand , Iain O’Brien continues his good progress in Test cricket, gaining eight places to 51st on the bowlers’ list with his four wickets in England ’s first – and only – innings of the match.
The bowlers’ list is headed by Sri Lanka ’s record-breaking spinner Muttiah Muralidaran with Dale Steyn of South Africa very close behind and Australia ’s Stuart Clark in third position.
England ’s Stuart Broad is first and foremost a bowler and he has progressed four places to 63rd in the bowling rankings but he is also making his mark as a man with useful all-rounder capabilities having scored his maiden Test half-century at Trent Bridge .
As a result, Broad has gained 19 places to 80th in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen.
Kevin Pietersen’s 115 – his 12th Test century to date – was not enough to move him up in the rankings but he did gain 45 ratings points and is now just four points behind Pakistan’s Yunus Khan in ninth place. Good performances against South Africa in July and August will surely see him make progress back up the ladder.
It was a good match, too, for England wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose who moved up 12 places to 69th in the batsmen’s list while New Zealand’s Jamie How gained seven places to 51st, Brendan McCullum is up three places to 38th and Jacob Oram has also progressed three places and now sits in 32nd position in a list headed by Australia’s Michael Hussey.
Further consolation for Oram with his team having lost the series 2-0 is the fact that he has broken into the top five of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders. The 29-year-old Manuwatu man has overtaken the West Indies’ Dwayne Bravo into fifth place and now has Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka in his sights.
The all-rounders’ rankings are still led by Jacques Kallis of South Africa with Black Caps’ captain Daniel Vettori in second and Andrew Flintoff of England in third.
Reliance Mobile ICC Test Rankings (as of 9 June)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) Mike Hussey Aus 911 71.71 921 v WI at Kingston 2008
2 ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 895 58.72 942 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= ( - ) S.Chanderpaul WI 877 ! 48.59 877 v Aus at Antigua 2008
( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 877 57.14 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
7 ( - ) Matthew Hayden Aus 843 53.51 935 v Eng at Brisbane 2002
8 ( - ) 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 795 49.55 909 v WI at Headingley 2007
11 ( - ) Michael Clarke Aus 734 47.04 761 v Ind at Melbourne 2007
12 ( - ) Andrew Symonds Aus 718*! 45.96 718 v WI at Antigua 2008
13 ( - ) Graeme Smith SA 712 48.57 756 v NZ at Wellington 2004
14 ( - ) S.R.Tendulkar Ind 704 55.31 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
15 ( - ) Rahul Dravid Ind 701 54.88 892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005
16 ( - ) Andrew Strauss Eng 686 42.28 769 v SA at Johannesburg 2005
17 ( - ) Virender Sehwag Ind 681 51.75 854 v SA at Kolkata 2004
18 ( - ) Sourav Ganguly Ind 674 42.71 713 v Aus at Adelaide 1999
19 ( - ) VVS Laxman Ind 672 43.82 753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
20 (+1) R.R.Sarwan WI 665 40.55 697 v Eng at Old Trafford 2004
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 854* 21.29 856 v WI at Kingston 2008
4 ( - ) Brett Lee Aus 811 ! 29.49 811 v WI at Antigua 2008
5 ( - ) Makhaya Ntini SA 777 27.85 863 v Ind at Durban 2006
6 ( - ) Ryan Sidebottom Eng 748*! 25.11 748 v NZ at Trent Bridge 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 668* 22.39 778 v WI at Auckland 2006
11 ( - ) Monty Panesar Eng 647 31.99 721 v WI at Chester-le-St 2007
12 ( - ) Corey Collymore WI 627* 32.30 700 v Eng at Lord's 2007
13 (+1) Jerome Taylor WI 621*! 34.60 621 v Aus at Antigua 2008
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 (-3) M’thew Hoggard Eng 618 30.50 795 v SL at Edgbaston 2006
17 ( - ) Danish Kaneria Pak 614 33.90 723 v Eng at Multan 2005
18 (+1) Harbhajan Singh Ind 608 31.03 765 v NZ at Wellington 2002
19 (-1) Andrew Flintoff Eng 603 32.02 810 v Pak at Multan 2005
20 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 591 34.43 681 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 324 360 v Eng at Lord's 2008
3 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 302 501 v Pak at Multan 2005
4 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 294 300 v WI at Guyana 2008
5 (+1) Jacob Oram NZ 279 /* 289 v Eng at Lord's 2008
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