Taylor, Williamson and Southee achieve career-best rankings as Sri Lanka batsmen slip
Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath has become the highest-ranked spinner in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers following the conclusion of the Colombo Test, which New Zealand won by 167 runs to draw the two-Test series at one-all.
Herath returned figures of six for 103 and three for 67 at the P.Sara Oval. For this performance, he has been rewarded with a jump of two places, which has put him in second position, ahead of Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal and South Africa fast bowler Vernon Philander.
Herath, whose 20 wickets in the series earned him the player of the series award, overall gained 56 ratings points in two Tests, which has put him 20 ratings points behind table-topper Dale Steyn of South Africa and six ratings points ahead of Saeed and Philander, who now share third position.
New Zealand fast bowlers Tim Southee, Doug Bracewell and Trent Boult are the other bowlers to achieve a career-best ranking.
The 23-year-old Southee, who played in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia in 2008, has broken into the top 20 for the first time in his career by jumping 13 places to 20th position following his match figures of eight for 120.
Bracewell has moved up three places to 38th position after his two for 13 in the second innings while Boult has climbed 16 places to occupy 48th position after claiming seven wickets in the match.
In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, New Zealand centurions Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson have achieved career-best rankings.
Captain Taylor, who won the player of the match award for his contributions of 142 and 74, has broken into the top 10 for the first time in his career. Taylor, who played in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2002, has claimed eighth place in the latest rankings after vaulting eight places.
Williamson, who captained the New Zealand U19 side in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2010, has moved up 13 places and is now in 35th position following his scores of 135 and 18 in Colombo.
The only Sri Lanka batsman to move in the right direction in the table is Angelo Mathews, who has gained two places and is now in 26th position.
The news for Sri Lanka’s top batsmen is not particularly positive. Kumar Sangakkara, after losing his number-one spot to Australia captain Michael Clarke earlier this week, has slipped further after his double failure in Colombo. The left-hander, who scored zero and 16, has dropped two places to fourth position, while captain Mahela Jayawardene has slipped three places to 17th spot, Tillekeratne Dilshan has slid four places to 30th position, and opener N.T.Paranavitana has fallen three places to 46th.
In the Reliance ICC Test Championship table, Sri Lanka and New Zealand have retained their pre-series positions but Sri Lanka has dropped two ratings points while New Zealand has gained three ratings points.
For more information go to www.reliancemobileiccrankings.com <http://www.reliancemobileiccrankings.com/>
Reliance ICC Test Championship table (after the conclusion of Sri Lanka-New Zealand Test series)
Rank Team Points
1. South Africa 120
2. England 117
3. Australia 116
4. Pakistan 109
5. India 106
6. Sri Lanka 96
7. West Indies 91
8. New Zealand 79
9. Bangladesh 0
Zimbabwe is currently unranked, as it has played insufficient matches. It has 167 points and a rating of 42.
(Developed by David Kendix)
Reliance ICC Test Rankings (after the conclusion of Sri Lanka-New Zealand Test series)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Rating
1 ( – ) Michael Clarke Aus 890! 52.15 890 v SA at Adelaide 2012
2 (+1) S.Chanderpaul WI 879 51.67 901 v NZ at Napier 2008
3 (+1) Jacques Kallis SA 855 57.26 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
4 (-2) K.Sangakkara SL 848 55.89 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
5 ( – ) Hashim Amla SA 845 49.66 876 v Aus at Brisbane 2012
6 ( – ) Alastair Cook Eng 835 49.37 836 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011
7 ( – ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 788 49.86 909 v WI at Headingley 2007
8 (+8) Ross Taylor NZ 785! 43.57 785 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
9 (-1) AB de Villiers SA 782 48.48 821 v Eng at The Oval 2012
10 (-1) Younus Khan Pak 761 51.69 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
11 (-1) Azhar Ali Pak 753! 45.27 753 v SL at Pallekele 2012
12 (-1) Graeme Smith SA 751 49.52 843 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010
13 (-1) Mike Hussey Aus 746 50.98 921 v WI at Kingston 2008
14 (-1) Misbah-ul-Haq Pak 720 45.68 771 v Eng at Abu Dhabi 2012
15 ( – ) T.Samaraweera SL 703 50.78 775 v SA at Cape Town 2012
16 (+1) Matt Prior Eng 689 43.04 698 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2012
17 (-3) M.Jayawardene SL 682 50.18 883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
18= ( – ) Ian Bell Eng 669 46.24 822 v Ind at The Oval 2011
( – ) Sachin Tendulkar Ind 669 54.60 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
20 ( – ) Marlon Samuels WI 668! 37.36 668 v Ban at Khulna 2012
Selected rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Rating
26 (+2) Angelo Mathews SL 642! 41.47 642 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012
27 ( – ) B.McCullum NZ 615 35.63 673 v Pak at Hamilton 2011
30 (-4) T. Dilshan SL 609 40.70 700 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
35 (+13) Kane Williamson NZ 578*! 32.71 578 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
44 (-5) Martin Guptill NZ 515 32.00 597 v WI at Kingston 2012
48 (-3) N.T.Paranavitana SL 492 32.58 547 v Pak at Sharjah 2011
50 ( – ) P.Jayawardena SL 462 30.76 510 v Eng at Galle 2012
61 (+2) Daniel Flynn NZ 420 28.22 432 v Ind at Hamilton 2009
81 (-8) Kruger van Wyk NZ 336* 21.31 375 v SL at Galle 2012
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge HS Rating
1 ( – ) Dale Steyn SA 858 23.98 902 v SL at Centurion 2011
2 (+2) Rangana Herath SL 838! 29.67 838 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012
3= (-1) Saeed Ajmal Pak 832 27.09 836 v SL at Galle 2012
(-1) Vernon Philander SA 832* 17.60 852 v Eng at Lord’s 2012
5 ( – ) Pragyan Ojha Ind 767*! 30.46 767 v Eng at Mumbai 2012
6 ( – ) Graeme Swann Eng 755 29.04 858 v Pak at Lord’s 2010
7 ( – ) Ben Hilfenhaus Aus 752* 28.48 757 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2012
8 ( – ) Morne Morkel SA 741 30.29 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
9 ( – ) Peter Siddle Aus 740 29.89 768 v Ind at Adelaide 2012
10 ( – ) James Anderson Eng 727 30.73 813 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011
11 ( – ) Abdur Rehman Pak 704* 28.40 739 v Eng at Dubai 2012
12 ( – ) Kemar Roach WI 698* 27.69 712 v NZ at Kingston 2012
13 ( – ) Stuart Broad Eng 670 31.93 783 v WI at Lord’s 2012
14 ( – ) Zaheer Khan Ind 652 32.14 752 v SA at Durban 2010
15 ( – ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 641 32.53 680 v WI at Mirpur 2011
16 (+1) Steven Finn Eng 609* 28.15 621 v SA at Lord’s 2012
17 (-1) Chris Martin NZ 604 33.97 669 v SA at Hamilton 2012
18 ( – ) Umar Gul Pak 584 33.66 642 v Eng at Dubai 2012
19 ( – ) Ryan Harris Aus 575* 23.63 614 v WI at Bridgetown 2012
20 (+13) Tim Southee NZ 572*! 35.04 572 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
Selected rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge HS Rating
38 (+3) Doug Bracewell NZ 445* 30.47 538 v WI at Kingston 2012
43 ( – ) N.Kulasekara SL 413*! 32.97 413 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012
47 ( – ) Suraj Randiv SL 372* 37.51 387 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2012
48 (+16) Trent Boult NZ 370*! 29.11 370 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
49 (-1) Jeetan Patel NZ 360* 45.60 368 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2009
50 (-1) James Franklin NZ 344* 33.77 679 v SL at Christchurch 2006
64 (+1) T.Dilshan SL 260* 41.18 268 v Eng at Colombo (PSS) 2012
68 (-5) Shaminda Eranga SL 238* 31.80 256 v NZ at Galle 2012
103 (-2) Angelo Mathews SL 90* 73.11 110 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2009
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts HS Rating
1 ( – ) Jacques Kallis SA 412 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 ( – ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 387 404 v Pak at Mirpur 2011
3 ( – ) Shane Watson Aus 321 /* 394 v SA at Johannesburg 2011
Selected rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts HS Rating
12 (-1) Rangana Herath SL 184 190 v SA at Durban 2011
21 (+3) Tim Southee NZ 153*/*! 153 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.
!indicates career-highest rating
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