Smith and Morkel achieve career-best rankings PDF Print E-mail
Category: ICC Rankings
Written by ICC   
Monday, 18 January 2010 23:40
South Africa captain Graeme Smith and team-mate Morne Morkel have achieved career-best rankings in the ICC Player Rankings after producing match-winning performances in the fourth and last Test against England which ended in Johannesburg on Sunday.

Smith, who scored 105 in South Africa's innings-and-74-run victory which helped the Proteas to draw the four-Test series, has leapfrogged the Sri Lanka pair of Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara to occupy second spot in the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen.

Smith now leads Jayawardena by seven ratings points and trails his Indian counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni by 34 points. The left-hander had started the series in eighth spot and climbed six places after finishing as the leading run-getter in the series with 427 runs.

Besides Smith, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Mark Boucher are the other South Africa batsmen to move up the order. De Villiers has moved up by one place to 13th position, Amla has climbed five places to 23rd spot and Boucher has lifted six places to 36th spot.

However, Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince have lost ground with Kallis slipping two places to eighth spot and Prince also dropping two places to 29th position.

The news is not very good for England which is now without a batsman in the top 20 after both Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen lost ground following a disappointing Test at the Wanderers by their high standards.

Strauss, who scored a duck and 22, has slipped five places to 21st position while Pietersen has dropped seven places to 27th spot after scores of seven and 12 at the Wanderers.

Strauss had started the series in 14th spot while Pietersen had started the series in 17th spot. But Strauss managed 170 runs and Pietersen contributed 177 runs and consequently lost seven and 10 places in the batting chart, respectively.

Other England batsmen failing to defend their rankings include Alastair Cook, who has dropped five places to 28th spot, and Jonathan Trott, who has slipped eight places to 56th position.

Paul Collingwood is the only England batsman to make an upward movement. The 33-year-old Durham batsman scored 47 and 71 at the Wanderers to sit in 22nd spot after rising seven places.

In the Player Rankings for Test bowlers, Morkel has been rewarded for his match figures of 7/98 as he has rocketed nine places to a career-best seventh position in the latest rankings, which were released on Monday.

Morkel had started the series in 31st spot and has jumped 24 places after finishing as the pick of South Africa's bowlers with 19 wickets at 21.47.

Morkel had shared the man-of-the-match award with number-one ranked Dale Steyn who took 7/115 in the Test to extend his advantage over second-ranked Mitchell Johnson of Australia.

England fast bowler Stuart Broad has also climbed up the ladder. Broad took 3-83 and climbed three places to ninth spot.

However, the rankings of Broad's fellow fast bowlers James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom have taken a dive. Anderson has slipped seven places to 14th spot while Sidebottom has dropped two places to 20th position.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has slipped to seventh position in the ICC Test Championship table after suffering its fourth consecutive clean sweep against Australia in Hobart on Monday.

Pakistan conceded three ratings points for the series loss which has put it one ratings point behind sixth-placed New Zealand.

In contrast, Australia has gained two ratings points for its efforts and now sits on 118 ratings points, two behind third-placed South Africa and three ahead of fourth-placed Sri Lanka.

Australia players are also on the rise in the latest rankings. Vice-captain Michael Clarke has strengthened his position as Australia's highest-ranked batsman when he gained six places to rise to fifth, just ahead of India's Virender Sehwag.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who won the man-of-the-match award for his contributions of 209 and 89 at his home ground, has rocketed 13 places to seventh position. Simon Katich, who scored 11 and 100, has also improved his ranking by two places and he is now in 19th position.

The only Australia batsman to slip in the ranking is Mike Hussey who has dropped two places to 16th spot.

For Pakistan, Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik are the only batsmen to move in the right direction. The opener, who scored 102 in the first innings, has climbed six places to 38th position while Shoaib has lifted four places to share 47th spot with Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan.

The Pakistan batsmen to slip in the rankings include captain Mohammad Yousuf in 11th position (down by four places), Umar Akmal in 31st position (down by two places) and Imran Farhat in 42nd spot (down by three places).

Amongst the bowlers, Pakistan's Danish Kaneria has slipped two places to 16th spot while Australia fast bowler Peter Siddle has climbed 11 places to claim 19th position.

Australia off-spinner Nathan Haurtiz has also gained four places and is now in 30th spot while Pakistan's Umar Gul has dropped three places to share 26th spot with Fidel Edwards of the West Indies.

In the ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders, England's Graeme Swann and Australia's Mitchell Johnson have swapped places with the former now is third position. The list is still headed by Kallis of South Africa with New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori in second place.

ICC Test Championship (as of 18 January 2010, after the end of Australia vs Pakistan Test series)

Rank Team Rating
1. India 124
2. South Africa 120
3. Australia 118
4. Sri Lanka 115
5. England 107
6. New Zealand 81
7. Pakistan 80
8. West Indies 77
9. Bangladesh 13

ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 18 January 2010, after the conclusion of Johannesburg and Hobart Tests)

BATSMEN
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1. (-) Gautam Gambhir IND 877 56.73 886 v SL at Kanpur 2009
2. (+2) Graeme Smith SA 843! 50.89 843 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010
3. (-1) Mahela Jayawardena SL 836 53.96 883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
4. (-1) Kumar Sangakkara SL 835 55.10 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
5. (+6) Michael Clarke AUS 805 50.19 855 v Eng at Headingley 2009
6. (-1) Virender Sehwag IND 804 52.50 854 v SA at Kolkata 2004
7. (+13) Ricky Ponting AUS 783 55.67 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
8. (-2) Jacques Kallis SA 783 54.56 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
9. (-1) Shivnarine Chanderpaul WI 765 48.70 901 v NZ at Napier 2008
10. (-1) Ross Taylor NZ 763 42.15 775 v Pak at Wellington 2009
11. (-4) Mohammad Yousuf PAK 761 53.07 933 v WI at Karachi 2006
12. (-2) Younus Khan PAK 754 50.09 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
13 (+1) AB de Villiers SA 733 43.56 745 v Eng at Centurion 2009
14. (-2) Rahul Dravid IND 728 53.60 892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005
15. (-2) Sachin Tendulkar IND 723 54.72 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
16. (-2) Michael Hussey AUS 709 53.04 921 v WI at Kingston 2008
17. (-) VVS Laxman IND 708 45.50 753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
18. (-) Thilan Samaraweera SL 707 51.14 747 v Ind at Kanpur 2009
19. (+2) Simon Katich AUS 706 44.91 720 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
20. (+2) Chris Gayle WI 688 40.61 704 v Eng at Antigua 2009
BOWLERS
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1. (-) Dale Steyn SA 852 23.70 897 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2008
2. (-) Mitchell Johnson AUS 780 28.45 825 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
3. (-) Mohammad Asif PAK 757* 23.20 792 v Aus at Sydney 2010
4. (-) Muttiah Muralitharan SL 752 22.71 920 v Ban at Kandy 2007
5. (-2) Graeme Swann ENG 732* 30.69 756 v SA at Durban 2009
6. (-) Harbhajan Singh IND 712 30.82 765 v NZ at Wellington 2002
7. (+9) Morne Morkel SA 691*! 31.47 691 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010
8. (+1) Shane Bond NZ 676* 22.09 778 v WI at Auckland 2006
9. (+3) Stuart Broad ENG 673* 35.38 697 v SA at Durban 2009
10. (-2) Makhaya Ntini SA 671 28.82 863 v Ind at Durban 2006
11. (-1) Stuart Clark AUS 668* 23.86 863 v WI at Bridgetown 2008
12. (-1) Zaheer Khan IND 666 33.96 689 v Pak at Delhi 2007
13. (-) Paul Harris SA 648* 33.64 705 v Eng at Centurion 2009
14. (-7) James Anderson ENG 639 34.80 710 v Aus at Edgbaston 2009
15. (-1) Daniel Vettori NZ 613 33.61 681 v Aus at Auckland 2000
16. (-2) Danish Kaneria PAK 599 34.27 723 v Eng at Multan 2005
17. (-1) Jerome Taylor WI 598* 35.64 717 v Eng at Kingston 2009
18. (+11) Peter Siddle AUS 597* 31.53 617 v Eng at The Oval 2009
19. (-1) Chris Martin NZ 592 33.61 643 v Eng at Lord's 2004
20. (-2) Ryan Sidebottom ENG 590* 28.24 769 v SA at Lord's 2008


ALL-ROUNDERS
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating
1. (-) Jacques Kallis SA 441 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2. (-) Daniel Vettori NZ 412! 412 v Pak at Napier 2009
3. (+1) Graeme Swann ENG 306*/* 307 v SA at Durban 2009
4. (-1) Mitchell Johnson AUS 302 384 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
5. (-) Shakib Al Hasan BAN 282*/*! 282 v WI at St George's 2009

*Indicates a provisional rating
!Indicates currently on highest career points
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