Abu Dhabi Test centurions on the move

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Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews who struck 91 and an unbeaten career-best 157 in the Test, has moved up 16 places to a best-ever 13th spot in the batting list.

 

Kumar Sangakkara has slid down one position to sixth, but remains the highest-ranked batsman on either side.

The latest player rankings also takes into account performances in the first Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at Abu Dhabi. 

The Test may have ended in a draw but there were a number of performers who were rewarded with jumps.

The other centurions in the Test, Misbah-ul-Haq and Younus Khan have also moved up a place each in their rankings. Misbah, who notched up 135 in the Test, is now ranked eighth (up by one). Younus, on the other hand, has moved up a place to ninth following his knock of 136 in the first innings of the Test.

Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath in fourth (down by one) and Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal in fifth spot(down by one) continue to be the highest ranked bowlers for their sides.

Left-arm fast bowler Junaid Khan, meanwhile, has continued his impressive rise up the charts.  He has jumped seven places to a best-ever 21st position following his spells of five for 58 and three for 93.

Harris makes it to top three in bowling ranking

Ryan Harris, star of Australia’s 281-runs win over England in the fifth and final Test at Sydney, has moved up two places to a career-best third in the latest Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers released on Monday.

Harris’ match haul of eight for 61, not only helped him claim the player of the match award, but also led his side to a 5-0 series whitewash.

Over the course of the Ashes series, Harris moved up three places. He gained as many as 80 ratings points from his match-winning performance in Sydney to end with a career-best 866. 

Harris at third position is now the highest-ranked bowler from Australia, with South Africa’s Vernon Philander still topping the bowlers’ table and Dale Steyn in second place.

The other Australia bowler to star in the Ashes triumph, Mitchell Johnson, has also continued his upward movement on the table. Winner of the LG ICC Cricketer of the Year Award in 2009, he has jumped three places to eighth to make a return to the top 10.

Johnson, named player of the series for picking 37 wickets, made an impressive return to Test cricket jumping as many as 14 places during the course of the series.

Overall, Australia now has three bowlers in the top 10, with Peter Siddle retaining his sixth place. 

For England, Stuart Broad continues to be the only bowler in the top 10, at 10th, down by one. In the top 20, James Anderson retains his 15th place, while Australia’s Nathan Lyon is now at 18th (down by one).

Outside the top 20 England’s Ben Stokes has continued his impressive run, rocketing as many as 36 places to 57th following his match haul of eight for 161, which included his best figures of six for 99.

Meanwhile, Australia opening batsman Chris Rogers has jumped 10 places to a best-ever 12th in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen. Rogers, who scored 119 in the second innings of the Sydney Test, moved up as many as 32 places during the course of the series.

The other centurion in the Sydney Test, Steven Smith, who stroked 115 in the first innings, has jumped 20 places to a best-ever 21st. Brad Haddin, on the other hand, moved up eight places to 23rd as he ended as the second highest run-getter in the series with 493 runs.

Stokes continued to make an all-round impact, jumping 27 places to 55th on the batting table to follow up his bowling exploits.

Australia captain Michael Clarke in sixth position (down by one) is the highest ranked batsman from his side. Clarke is also the only batsman from either Australia or England to feature within the top 10.

South Africa’s AB de Villiers continues to top the batting table followed by Shivnarine Chanderpaul in second place and Ross Taylor in third position.

The player rankings will now be updated after the second Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Dubai, starting from Wednesday, 8 January.

Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 6 January after the Australia-England series and first Pakistan-Sri Lanka Test):

Batsmen 

Rank     (+/-)       Player                 Team      Pts          Ave         HS Rating

   1           ( – )          AB de Villiers        SA           912!       51.71     912 v Ind at Durban 2013

   2           ( – )          S.Chanderpaul     WI          876         51.93     901 v NZ at Napier 2008

   3           ( – )          Ross Taylor          NZ          871!       47.51     871 v WI at Hamilton 2013

   4           ( – )          Hashim Amla       SA           868         51.34     907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   5           (+2)         C Pujara                               Ind          851*!    66.25     851 v SA at Durban 2013

   6           (-1)          K Sangakkara      SL           848         56.75     938 v Eng at Kandy 2007

   7           (-1)          Michael Clarke    Aus         817         51.40     900 v SL at Melbourne 2012

   8           (+1)         Misbah-ul-Haq    Pak         804!       47.44     804 v SL at Abu Dhabi 2013

   9           (+1)         Younus Khan       Pak         793         51.87     880 v SL at Lahore 2009

  10         (-2)          Graeme Smith      SA           785         49.56     843 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010

  11         ( – )          Virat Kohli            Ind          739*      44.32     748 v SA at Johannesburg 2013

  12         (+10)      Chris Rogers         Aus         694*!    40.42     694 v Eng at Sydney 2014

  13         (+16)      Angelo Mathews  SL           686!       44.66     686 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

  14         (-2)          David Warner       Aus         683         40.93     741 v Eng at Perth 2013

  15         (-2)          Ian Bell                  Eng         682         45.41     822 v Ind at The Oval 2011

  16         (-2)          Alastair Cook       Eng         677         46.51     874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012

  17         (-2)          Kevin Pietersen    Eng         674         47.28     909 v WI at Headingley 2007

  18         (-2)          Asad Shafiq          Pak         646*      38.37     680 v SA at Cape Town 2013

  19         (-2)          Jonathan Trott     Eng         641         46.45     856 v SL at Cardiff 2011

  20         (-1)          Darren Bravo       WI          636         44.68     709 v Aus at Port-of-Spain 2012

Selected Rankings

Rank      (+/-)       Player                 Team     Pts          Ave      HS Rating

 21         (+20)      Steven Smith        Aus         626*!    36.40     626 v Eng at Sydney 2014

  23         (+8)         Brad Haddin        Aus         618         36.67     637 v WI at Perth 2009

 24         (-3)          Azhar Ali               Pak         613         38.53     753 v SL at Pallekele 2012

  25         (-7)          M Jayawardena   SL           609         49.14     883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009

  30         (-6)          Shane Watson      Aus         601         36.33     729 v Eng at Perth 2010

  38         (+2)         D Chandimal        SL           571*!    56.00     571 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

  49         (+2)         M Hafeez              Pak         480         34.70     595 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2012

  51         (+1)         P Jayawardena    SL           464         31.23     510 v Eng at Galle 2012

  55         (+27)      Ben Stokes            Eng         441*!    34.87     441 v Aus at Sydney 2014

  64         (-7)          Jonny Bairstow    Eng         410*      26.95     461 v Aus at Chester-le-St 2013

  65         (-7)          K Manzoor           Pak         402*      29.80     467 v SA at Abu Dhabi 2013

  67         (+10)      Stuart Broad         Eng         399         24.21     505 v Ind at The Oval 2011

  69         (+4)         Michael Carberry                Eng         394*!    28.75     394 v Aus at Sydney 2014

  85         (-4)          Adnan Akmal      Pak         336*      24.62     377 v Zim at Harare 2013

  88         (-4)          Mitchell Johnson Aus         331         22.44     477 v Eng at Lord’s 2009

100        (+7)         D Karunaratne     SL           287*!    26.07     287 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

  103=     (+9)         George Bailey       Aus         274*!    26.14     274 v Eng at Sydney 2014

                (NEW)    Ahmed Shehzad  Pak         274*!    46.50     274 v SL at Abu Dhabi 2013

Bowlers 

Rank     (+/-)       Player                  Team     Pts          Ave      HS Rating

   1           ( – )          Vernon Philander SA           909         18.00     912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

   2           ( – )          Dale Steyn            SA           901         22.90     908 v Pak at Johannesburg 2013

   3           (+2)         Ryan Harris          Aus         866*!    21.56     866 v Eng at Sydney 2014

   4           (-1)          Rangana Herath  SL           826         29.58     838 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012

   5           (-1)          Saeed Ajmal         Pak         799         27.13     855 v Zim at Harare 2013

   6           ( – )          Peter Siddle           Aus         779         28.68     816 v Eng at Old Trafford 2013

   7           ( – )          R Ashwin               Ind          759         28.50     808 v WI at Mumbai 2013

   8           (+3)         Mitchell Johnson Aus         743         28.33     825 v Eng at Cardiff 2009

   9           (-1)          Pragyan Ojha       Ind          741         30.26     773 v Eng at Kolkata 2012

  10=       (-1)          Stuart Broad         Eng         729         30.31     783 v WI at Lord’s 2012

                ( – )          Trent Boult           NZ          729*!    26.54     729 v WI at Hamilton 2013

  12         ( – )          Morne Morkel      SA           707         29.91     776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011

  13         (+1)         Tim Southee         NZ          699!       31.44     699 v WI at Hamilton 2013

  14         (-1)          Abdur Rehman    Pak         696*      27.55     739 v Eng at Dubai 2012

  15         ( – )          James Anderson  Eng         683         30.67     813 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011

  16         ( – )          Kemar Roach       WI          649*      27.71     712 v NZ at Kingston 2012

  17         (+1)         Ben Hilfenhaus    Aus         627*      28.50     757 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2012

  18         (-1)          Nathan Lyon        Aus         618         32.52     648 v Eng at Melbourne 2013

  19         ( – )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        614         32.60     680 v WI at Mirpur 2011

  20         ( – )          S Shillingford        WI          613*      32.32     652 v NZ at Dunedin 2013

Selected Rankings

Rank      (+/-)      Player                 Team     Pts          Ave        HS Rating

  21         (+7)         Junaid Khan         Pak         605*!    27.54     605 v SL at Abu Dhabi 2013

  35         ( – )          Shane Watson      Aus         433*      31.83     633 v SA at Cape Town 2011

  53         (+36)      Ben Stokes            Eng         311*!    32.80     311 v Aus at Sydney 2014

  57         (+4)         Shaminda Eranga               SL           301*!    37.41     301 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

  61         (-7)          M Hafeez              Pak         293*      34.02     358 v SA at Cape Town 2013

  77         (-15)       Rahat Ali               Pak         208*      40.35     271 v Zim at Harare 2013

  83         (+7)         Suranga Lakmal  SL           173*      63.34     262 v Aus at Pallekele 2011

  92         (NEW)    Scott Borthwick   Eng         139*!    20.50     139 v Aus at Sydney 2014

  94         (NEW)    Bilawal Bhatti      Pak         133*!    42.20     133 v SL at Abu Dhabi 2013

  98         (-1)          Angelo Mathews  SL           107*      71.66     110 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2009

All-rounders

Rank    (+/-)        Player                  Team     Pts          HS Rating

   1           ( – )          R Ashwin               Ind          388*/    419 v WI at Mumbai 2013

   2           ( – )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        362        404 v Pak at Mirpur 2011

   3           ( – )          Vernon Philander SA           335*/ !  335 v Ind at Durban 2013

   4           (+1)         Stuart Broad         Eng         291        382 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2012

   5           (-1)          Shane Watson      Aus         260/*    394 v SA at Johannesburg 2011

Selected ranking

Rank         (+/-)         Player                  Team     Pts          HS Rating

   6           ( – )          Mitchell Johnson    Aus         246        384 v Eng at Cardiff 2009

   7           (+4)         Ryan Harris           Aus         215*/*! 215 v Eng at Sydney 2014