West Indies captain claims number one spot in Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen from India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni
New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori slips to second in bowlers’ list; Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Kulasekara breaks into top 10 for first time
West Indies captain Chris Gayle has stormed his way back to the number one place in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after a series of fine performances against New Zealand.
The 29-year-old Jamaican has gained five places in the rankings to knock India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Australia’s Michael Hussey down to second and third place.
Gayle managed an impressive 135 off 129 balls – including nine fours and five sixes – in the final ODI against New Zealand in Napier and although his side lost the match there was some consolation in his elevation to the position of number-one ODI batsman in the world.
The big left-hander was last ranked number one nearly five years ago (in April 2004) but he has not been out of the top 20 since the middle of 2002.
Gayle’s ascension sees the likes of South Africa’s Graeme Smith and India’s Yuvraj Singh slip down the rankings, with Smith, currently ranked fifth, likely to fall even further with injury forcing him out of the upcoming Australia v South Africa five-match series due to start on Friday 16 January.
However, Hussey has the opportunity to push back up the rankings from third with the upcoming series against South Africa. Also aiming to clamber back up the rankings will be Hussey’s captain, Ricky Ponting, currently occupying seventh position in the table. A return to the top five is not out of the question for the Tasmanian.
South Africa’s AB de Villiers will also be looking to improve his current ranking of 14. The 24-year-old is currently struggling with a bruised hip but will be looking to take part in the first ODI in Melbourne on Friday.
De Villiers’ in-form team-mate Jean-Paul Duminy will also be eyeing a higher spot in the rankings. Duminy, currently ranked 43rd, has had an extremely good run with the bat in Australia and has the potential to climb the rankings in the coming weeks.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has slipped from the number one spot to second. Vettori briefly went top after a good start to the ODI series with the West Indies but his 0-45 in the final match in Napier has meant he has lost his place by the narrowest of margins.
Australia’s Nathan Bracken has replaced Vettori at the top of the rankings and will be looking to strengthen his hold at the head of the table as he prepares for the South Africa series. Bracken and Vettori are only separated by a single point and if Bracken performs well in the coming weeks there is potential for him to further cement his lead.
Meanwhile, Bracken’s team-mate Mitchell Johnson has gained one place to go fourth in the rankings and if he performs well against South Africa he, too, has the opportunity to leapfrog Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralidaran in third place.
It is better news for Muralidaran’s team-mate, Nuwan Kulasekara, who has broken into the top 10 for the first time in his career. The 26-year-old had been playing for his side in the tri-series against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe taking 3-13 against Zimbabwe on 12 January in Dhaka and gaining seven places in the process to take sixth spot.
Zimbabwe’s captain Prosper Utseya has returned to the top 20 after taking 2-22 against Bangladesh and 1-28 against Sri Lanka in his side’s recent involvement in the tri-series in Dhaka.
Bangladesh’s Saqibul Hasan has gained four places on the rankings to go 23rd and has a chance to improve his ranking further when the hosts face Sri Lanka in the final match of the series today.
Back in New Zealand, Mark Gillespie has gained 12 places in the rankings to go 37th after taking match figures in the final ODI against the West Indies of 4-58.
Looking ahead to Friday when Australia will face South Africa, the Proteas’ Makhaya Ntini will be hoping to be in the starting line-up at the MCG. The 31-year-old fast bowler is hovering close to the top 20, currently occupying 27th spot in the table. Captain Johan Botha will also be looking to improve on his current ranking of 32nd in the table.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for all-rounders, Gayle has increased his ranking by one to take fourth place, forcing South Africa’s Jacques Kallis into fifth spot.
However, there is no change in the leaders of the all-rounders, with New Zealand’s Jacob Oram in first place and England’s Andrew Flintoff in second.
Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Player Rankings (as of 14 January)
Batsmen
Rank (Change) Player Team Points Average Highest Ranking
1 (+5) Chris Gayle WI 783 40.63 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006
2 (-1) MS Dhoni Ind 779 46.84 806 v WI at Kingston 2006
3 (-1) Mike Hussey Aus 776 57.13 863 v NZ at Perth 2007
4 ( - ) S.Chanderpaul WI 769 ! 41.14 769 v NZ at Napier 2009
5 (-2) Graeme Smith SA 760 40.88 792 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
6 (-1) Yuvraj Singh Ind 744 37.16 754 v Eng at Bangalore 2008
7 ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 740 43.24 832 v NZ at Hobart 2007
8 ( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 730 48.36 834 v Aus at Antigua 2007
9 ( - ) Mohd Yousuf Pak 727 43.19 777 v SA at Rawalpindi 2003
10 ( - ) Andrew Symonds Aus 719 40.34 778 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
11 ( - ) Matthew Hayden Aus 711 43.80 854 v Ind at Centurion 2003
12 ( - ) S Tendulkar Ind 708 44.26 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998
13 ( - ) R Sarwan WI 696 44.17 798 v Ind at St Kitts 2006
14 ( - ) AB de Villiers SA 689 36.40 733 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
15 (+1) Herschelle Gibbs SA 682 36.18 750 v SL at Durban 2003
16 (+1) Jacques Kallis SA 679 45.27 816 v WI at Johannesburg 2004
17= (-2) K Sangakkara SL 677 35.91 760 v Ind at Rajkot 2007
(+1) Michael Clarke Aus 677 42.46 756 v SL at Melbourne 2008
19 ( - ) Shoaib Malik Pak 674 35.61 690 v WI at Abu Dhabi 2008
20 ( - ) Yunus Khan Pak 673 ! 34.50 673 v WI at Abu Dhabi 2008
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Rating
1 (+1) Nathan Bracken Aus 755 21.87 4.33 806 v SL at St George's 2007
2 (-1) Daniel Vettori NZ 754 31.74 4.16 790 v Eng at Christchurch 2008
3 ( - ) M Muralidaran SL 721 22.60 3.87 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002
4 (+1) Mitchell Johnson Aus 707 23.46 4.72 726 v Ban at Darwin 2008
5 (-1) Kyle Mills NZ 704 25.90 4.62 713 v WI at Wellington 2009
6 (+7) N Kulasekara SL 684*! 27.12 4.23 684 v Zim at Dhaka 2009
7= (-1) Stuart Broad Eng 673 27.58 4.94 701 v SA at Trent Bridge 2008
(-1) Sohail Tanvir Pak 673*! 26.00 4.81 673 v WI at Abu Dhabi 2008
9 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 662 24.69 4.38 755 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
10= (-2) Jerome Taylor WI 660 26.26 4.67 688 v SA at Cape Town 2008
( - ) Zaheer Khan Ind 660 28.63 4.84 700 v SA at Dhaka 2003
12 (-1) Brett Lee Aus 657 22.96 4.71 853 v SA at Melbourne 2006
13 (-1) Chaminda Vaas SL 652 27.54 4.18 861 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2004
14 ( - ) Jacob Oram NZ 645 30.25 4.38 768 v Aus at The Oval 2004
15 ( - ) Shahid Afridi Pak 644 35.04 4.63 685 v Ind at Dhaka 2008
16 ( - ) Andre Nel SA 638 27.68 4.63 685 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
17 ( - ) Daren Powell WI 636 31.60 4.70 686 v Aus at St George's 2008
18 ( - ) Stuart Clark Aus 632*! 27.82 4.90 632 v Ban at Darwin 2008
19 ( - ) Iftikhar Anjum Pak 626 31.53 4.90 632 v Ban at Karachi 2008
20 (+8) Prosper Utseya Zim 618 51.39 4.03 651 v Ban at Harare 2006
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating
1 ( - ) Jacob Oram NZ 368 383 v WI at Queenstown 2008
2 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 366 544 v SL at The Rose Bowl 2004
3 ( - ) Shoaib Malik Pak 342 402 v WI at Brisbane 2005
4 (+1) Chris Gayle WI 336 511 v Zim at Harare 2003
5 (-1) Jacques Kallis SA 327 505 v WI at Bridgetown 2001
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