Sri Lanka pace man claims best rating of career after another fine series
Bangladesh’s Shakib and Mashrafe break into top 10; Shakib knocks Oram off number-one all-rounder spot; Pakistan’s Salman Butt returns to top 20 of Reliance Mobile ICC
Player Rankings for ODI batsmenSri Lanka’s Nuwan Kulasekara has raced up the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers to second position with yet another good performance in his side’s successful series in Pakistan.
The 26-year-old fast bowler took impressive match figures of 3-17 off seven overs in the third ODI in Lahore to go with his previous match figures in Karachi of 2-31. Kulasekara’s jump of four places sees him overtake team-mate Muttiah Muralidaran and push Australia’s Nathan Bracken into third place. New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori still tops the table.
It’s a fine achievement for Kulasekara who has enjoyed a remarkable few months with Sri Lanka. Since securing a regular place in the team back in April 2008, he has played 24 ODIs taking 40 wickets at an average of 18.00. He has shown particularly good form during that time against the West Indies, India, Zimbabwe and now Pakistan.
Further down the top 20, Bangladesh’s top bowlers Shakib Al Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza have also made impressive gains to join the top 10. Shakib has climbed a substantial 15 places to take sixth position, while Mashrafe has also climbed 15 places to ninth place. They took three wickets each during the final ODI against Zimbabwe in Dhaka to aid them in their rise up the rankings.
Slightly further down, another Sri Lanka bowler, Ajantha Mendis, has climbed three places to 13th position while Pakistan’s Umar Gul has secured a leap of nine places to 16th spot. Gul’s rise comes after taking a total of 10 wickets at an average of 13.30 in his side’s three-match series against Sri Lanka.
Things are not so positive for Gul’s team-mate Sohail Tanvir, however, as the 24-year-old left-armer took just one wicket for 85 runs in the two matches he played in the series. Sohail slides 10 places down the tightly packed rankings to 17th as a result.
Meanwhile, Salman Butt has made good progress for Pakistan in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen. The 24-year-old’s 100 not out and 62 in the two Karachi ODIs have helped him take joint 15th place with his captain Shoaib Malik.
Shoaib has climbed one place in the rankings to share that position after a half-century during the second ODI.
Just above Shoaib and Butt, is South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs has who has taken 14th place with a jump of four places after his important contributions for South Africa in his side’s current one-day series in Australia.
Gibbs’s team-mate AB de Villiers has dropped four rankings places to 18th position but will be aiming to improve his position with the final two matches in the five-match ODI series against Australia.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting has regained fifth spot in the rankings while West Indies captain Chris Gayle still tops the table followed by India’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Further down the batsmen’s rankings Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan has shot up 14 places to claim 29th spot after two quality innings in the three-match ODI series against Pakistan. The 32-year-old managed 76 in Karachi and 137 not out in Lahore in the final match where Sri Lanka secured victory by 234 runs.
Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams has also risen in the rankings after his side’s series against Bangladesh, he has climbed 23 places to 47th and can look to improve on that position as his side heads into its one-day series against Kenya in Mombasa that starts on Tuesday.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Player Rankings for all-rounders, Bangladesh’s Shakib has also had a big impact. Shakib has knocked New Zealand’s Jacob Oram off the top spot and has also managed to push England’s Andrew Flintoff into third place.
The top five also includes Pakistan captain Shoaib and South Africa’s Jacques Kallis in joint fourth. Kallis will undoubtedly be keen to push his way back up the rankings with the final two ODIs in Adelaide and Perth looming large on the horizon.
Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Player Rankings (as of 25 January)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Average Highest Ranking
1 ( - ) Chris Gayle WI 783 40.63 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006
2 ( - ) MS Dhoni Ind 779 46.84 806 v WI at Kingston 2006
3 ( - ) S.Chanderpaul WI 769 ! 41.14 769 v NZ at Napier 2009
4 (+1) Graeme Smith SA 749 40.88 792 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
5 (+1) Ricky Ponting Aus 747 43.27 832 v NZ at Hobart 2007
6 (-2) Mike Hussey Aus 746 54.41 863 v NZ at Perth 2007
7 ( - ) Yuvraj Singh Ind 744 37.16 754 v Eng at Bangalore 2008
8 ( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 730 48.36 834 v Aus at Antigua 2007
9 ( - ) Mohd Yousuf Pak 716 43.19 777 v SA at Rawalpindi 2003
10= ( - ) Andrew Symonds Aus 708 40.34 778 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
(+1) Sachin Tendulkar Ind 708 44.26 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998
12 (+1) Jacques Kallis SA 705 45.44 816 v WI at Johannesburg 2004
13 (-1) R Sarwan WI 696 44.17 798 v Ind at St Kitts 2006
14 (+4) Herschelle Gibbs SA 689 36.16 750 v SL at Durban 2003
15= (+1) Shoaib Malik Pak 683 35.70 690 v WI at Abu Dhabi 2008
(+10) Salman Butt Pak 683 39.77 698 v SL at Karachi 2009
17 (-2) K Sangakkara SL 682 35.88 760 v Ind at Rajkot 2007
18 (-4) AB de Villiers SA 678 36.04 733 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
19 (+1) Virender Sehwag Ind 665 33.27 774 v NZ at Auckland 2003
20 (-1) Michael Clarke Aus 663 42.22 756 v SL at Melbourne 2008
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Econ Highest Ranking
1 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 754 31.74 4.16 790 v Eng at Christchurch 2008
2 (+4) N Kulasekara SL 749*! 25.42 4.21 749 v Pak at Lahore 2009
3 (-1) Nathan Bracken Aus 745 22.36 4.32 806 v SL at St George's 2007
4 ( - ) M Muralidaran SL 714 22.51 3.87 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002
5 (-2) Kyle Mills NZ 704 25.90 4.62 713 v WI at Wellington 2009
6 (+15) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 687 ! 30.05 4.02 687 v Zim at Dhaka 2009
7 (-2) Mitchell Johnson Aus 682 24.18 4.80 726 v Ban at Darwin 2008
8 (-1) Stuart Broad Eng 673 27.58 4.94 701 v SA at Trent Bridge 2008
9 (+15) M Mortaza Ban 671 29.82 4.57 678 v Ind at Port-of-Spain 2007
10 (-1) Andrew Flintoff Eng 662 24.69 4.38 755 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
11= (-1) Jerome Taylor WI 660 26.26 4.67 688 v SA at Cape Town 2008
(-1) Zaheer Khan Ind 660 28.63 4.84 700 v SA at Dhaka 2003
13 (+3) Ajantha Mendis SL 652* 10.88 3.68 659 v Pak at Karachi 2009
14 (-2) Brett Lee Aus 647 22.96 4.71 853 v SA at Melbourne 2006
15 (-2) Jacob Oram NZ 645 30.25 4.38 768 v Aus at The Oval 2004
16 (+9) Umar Gul Pak 640 ! 25.24 4.92 640 v SL at Lahore 2009
17 (-10) Sohail Tanvir Pak 639* 27.34 4.93 673 v WI at Abu Dhabi 2008
18= (-2) Daren Powell WI 636 31.60 4.70 686 v Aus at St George's 2008
(-5) Chaminda Vaas SL 636 27.54 4.18 861 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2004
20 (-2) Andre Nel SA 629 27.68 4.63 685 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating
1 (+2) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 403! 403 v Zim at Dhaka 2009
2 (-1) Jacob Oram NZ 368 383 v WI at Queenstown 2008
3 (-1) Andrew Flintoff Eng 366 544 v SL at The Rose Bowl 2004
4= ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 340 505 v WI at Bridgetown 2001
( - ) Shoaib Malik Pak 340 402 v WI at Brisbane 2005
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