Dubai, 22 November 2009
Ahmedabad Test centurions on the charge
New Zealand aims to leapfrog Pakistan in championship table
Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena has achieved the number-one ranking in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen for the first time in his career after an epic double-century in the drawn first Test against India at Ahmedabad earlier this week.
The 32-year-old fro
m Colombo scored a masterly 275 – his sixth double-century in 108 Tests – to leapfrog team-mate Kumar Sangakkara and India opener Gautam Gambhir.
Jayawardena, who during his mammoth knock became only the ninth batsman to complete 9,000 Test runs, is just 17 points short of becoming only the 25th batsman overall to reach the 900-point mark which, in ranking terms, is the benchmark for top batsmen.
Before Jayawardena, Australia’s Mike Hussey was the last batsman to reach the 900-point mark in the 131-year history of Test cricket when he achieved the rare distinction after the Sydney Test against India in January 2008.
Sangakkara scored 31 in Ahmedabad while Gambhir scored 1 and 114 which means that only seven points separate the two left-handers. With the second Test starting in Kanpur from Tuesday, both the stylish batsmen would be aiming to stamp their superiority over the other.
Also on the charge are the five other centurions from the Ahmedabad Test.
India’s iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar has moved up by one place to share 15th spot with England’s Kevin Pietersen, Tillakaratne Dilshan has achieved a career-best 18th position by improving his ranking by three places, Rahul Dravid has jumped five places to sit just outside the top 20 in 21st position, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has leaped three places to 30th spot and Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Prasanna Jayawardena has vaulted 20 places to 60th position.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, the only change in the top 20 is Harbhajan Singh who has slipped one place to sixth in the latest rankings while the gap between number-one ranked Dale Steyn of South Africa and Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralidaran’s has opened from 20 points to 31 points. Harbhajan took 2-189 in the first Test while Muralidaran had match figures of 3-221.
There is no change in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders as Jacques Kallis of South Africa continues to lead New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori and Mitchell Johnson of Australia.
Meanwhile, two series begin next week with the three-Test series between Pakistan and New Zealand beginning in Dunedin from Tuesday and Australia hosting the West Indies for a three-Test series with the opener in Brisbane from Thursday.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship table, Pakistan sits in sixth position on 84 ratings points with New Zealand four points behind in seventh place and the West Indies in eighth-position on 76 ratings points.
If Pakistan sweeps the series, it will rocket to 93 ratings points while Vettori’s side will slip to 74 points. However, if the series result is reversed, New Zealand will rise to 87 points and Pakistan will be guaranteed eighth-position on 74 ratings points irrespective how Australia and the West Indies series pans out.
Australia’s 3-0 win will earn it just one ratings point and will take it to 117 ratings points.
The schedule of the series is:
Pakistan v New Zealand
24-28 November: First Test, Dunedin
3-7 December: Second Test, Wellington
11-15 December: Third Test, Napier
Australia v West Indies
26-30 November: First Test, Brisbane
4-8 December: Second Test, Adelaide
16-20 December: Third Test, Perth
Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship (as of 22 November, prior to the start of Pakistan – New Zealand Test series and after the first Test between India – Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad)
Rank Team Rating
1 South Africa 122
2 Sri Lanka 120
3 India
4 Australia 116
5 England 105
6 Pakistan 84
7 New Zealand 80
8 West Indies 76
9 Bangladesh 13
Reliance Mobile ICC Test Rankings (as of 22 November, prior to the start of Pakistan – New Zealand Test series and after the first Test between India – Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player
1 (+2) Mahela Jayawardena SL 883! 54.67 883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
2 (-1) Kumar Sangakkara SL 846 55.18 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
3 (-1) Gautam Gambhir
4 ( - ) S.Chanderpaul
5 ( - ) Mohammad Yousuf Pak 818 54.86 933 v WI at Karachi 2006
6 ( - ) Michael Clarke Aus 808 49.35 855 v Eng at Headingley 2009
7 ( - ) Younus Khan Pak 801 50.09 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
8 ( - ) Graeme Smith SA 782 50.33 810 v Aus at Melbourne 2008
9 ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 779 55.88 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
10 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 755 54.66 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
11 (+1) Thilan Samaraweera SL 744! 52.12 744 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
12 (-1) Ashwell Prince SA 742 47.29 756 v Pak at Centurion 2007
13= ( - ) Andrew Strauss Eng 740 44.62 769 v SA at Johannesburg 2005
( - ) AB de Villiers
15= (+1) Sachin Tendulkar Ind 727 54.79 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 727 49.96 909 v WI at Headingley 2007
17 ( - ) Ramnaresh Sarwan WI 704 42.32 767 v Eng at Bridgetown 2009
18 (+3) Tillakaratne Dilshan SL 700! 43.88 700 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
19 (-1) VVS Laxman Ind 696 45.28 753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
20 (-1) Simon Katich Aus 687 43.33 720 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player
1 ( - ) Dale Steyn
2 ( - ) Muttiah Muralidaran SL 793 22.41 920 v Ban at Kandy 2007
3 ( - ) Mitchell Johnson Aus 786 28.80 825 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
4 ( - ) Makhaya Ntini SA 741 28.37 863 v Ind at Durban 2006
5 (+1) Stuart Clark Aus 710* 23.86 863 v WI at Bridgetown 2008
6 (-1) Harbhajan Singh Ind 706 30.81 765 v NZ at Wellington 2002
7 ( - ) Paul Harris
8 ( - ) Zaheer Khan Ind 650 34.03 689 v Pak at Delhi 2007
9 ( - ) James Anderson Eng 643 34.87 710 v Aus at Edgbaston 2009
10 ( - ) Graeme Swann Eng 634*! 30.39 634 v Aus at The Oval 2009
11 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 631 33.51 681 v Aus at Auckland 2000
12 ( - ) Brett Lee
13= ( - ) Stuart Broad Eng 617*! 35.78 617 v Aus at The Oval 2009
( - ) Peter Siddle
15 ( - ) Jerome Taylor WI 614* 35.55 717 v Eng at Kingston 2009
16 ( - ) Ryan Sidebottom
17 ( - ) Danish Kaneria Pak 605 34.57 723 v Eng at Multan 2005
18 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 603 31.08 742 v Eng at Headingley 2003
19 ( - ) Chris Martin NZ 587 33.78 643 v Eng at Lord's 2004
20 ( - ) Umar Gul
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts HS Rating
1 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 455 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 395! 395 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2009
3 ( - ) Mitchell Johnson Aus 342*/ 384 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
4 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 282*/*! 282 v WI at St George's 2009
5 ( - ) Stuart Broad Eng 278*/*! 278 v Aus at The Oval 2009