Australia captain caps a record-breaking year to consolidate his lead at the top
Australia captain Michael Clarke has reached a career-best 900-points the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen after his side’s innings and 201 runs win against Sri Lanka in Melbourne on Friday which guaranteed Australia an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Clarke began the Test on 888 ratings points and earned 12 ratings points for his knock of 106 to become only the seventh Australia batsman to achieve the rare distinction as he retained his position at the top of the batting table. Don Bradman, Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Doug Walters, Neil Harvey and Mike Hussey are the other Australia batsmen to break the 900-point barrier.
Clarke has enjoyed a record-breaking year with the bat in Test matches and he has ended 2012 as the highest run-getter with 1595 runs from 11 matches. Clarke also broke former captain Ricky Ponting’s record of most Test runs by an Australia batsman in a year.
Clarke’s hundred in the Melbourne Test was his fifth for the year to add to his triple hundred and three double hundreds during the course of 2012. At 900 ratings points, Clarke is now 26th in the all-time batting ratings list.
Mitchell Johnson, player of the match in Melbourne, has also made an all-round impact in the latest rankings.
Johnson’s match figures of four for 63 and two for 16 has put him back among the top 20 bowlers’ list. He is now 18th after a jump of three places. Johnson was ranked as high as number two in the bowlers’ table in March 2009.
In addition to that Johnson’s unbeaten knock of 92 has seen him climb 13 places to 81st in the batting table. The combined bowling and batting efforts has put him back in the top 10 of the all-rounders’ table at 10th (up by four places).
Kumar Sangakkara, who became the second Sri Lankan batsman, and the 11th overall, to reach the 10,000-Test run mark has moved up a place to fourth in the batting table.
The others to move up the rankings include Angelo Mathews in 22nd (up by one), David Warner in 25th (up by six), Shane Watson in 38th (up by one), Ed Cowan in 45th (up by one) and Prasanna Jayawardena in 51st (up by one).
The bowlers’ table is still headed by South Africa’s Dale Steyn. Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath, who was wicketless in the Melbourne Test, has dropped a place to fifth, while Australia paceman Peter Siddle has moved up a place to fourth.
The others to make upward movements in the bowlers’ table include Nathan Lyon in 25th (up by three), Shaminda Eranga in 67th (up by five), Dhammika Prasad in 76th (up by seven) and Angelo Mathews in 96th (up by eight).
Jacques Kallis continues to head the all-rounders’ table, followed by Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan in the second place.
Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 29 December after Melbourne Test)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
1 ( – ) Michael Clarke Aus 900! 52.74 900 v SL at Melbourne 2012
2 ( – ) S.Chanderpaul WI 879 51.67 901 v NZ at Napier 2008
3 ( – ) Hashim Amla SA 875 50.69 876 v Aus at Brisbane 2012
4 (+1) K Sangakkara SL 850 55.80 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
5 (-1) Alastair Cook Eng 836 49.42 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
6 ( – ) Jacques Kallis SA 823 56.92 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
7 ( – ) AB de Villiers SA 808 49.11 821 v Eng at The Oval 2012
8 ( – ) Ross Taylor NZ 785! 43.57 785 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
9 ( – ) Mike Hussey Aus 762 51.52 921 v WI at Kingston 2008
10 ( – ) Younus Khan Pak 761 51.69 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
11 ( – ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 759 49.42 909 v WI at Headingley 2007
12 ( – ) Azhar Ali Pak 753! 45.27 753 v SL at Pallekele 2012
13 ( – ) Graeme Smith SA 749 49.53 843 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010
14 ( – ) Misbah-ul-Haq Pak 720 45.68 771 v Eng at Abu Dhabi 2012
15 ( – ) Jonathan Trott Eng 709 49.50 856 v SL at Cardiff 2011
16 ( – ) Matt Prior Eng 693 43.19 698 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2012
17 (+1) Ian Bell Eng 680 46.71 822 v Ind at The Oval 2011
18 (+1) Marlon Samuels WI 668! 37.36 668 v Ban at Khulna 2012
19 (+1) Darren Bravo WI 661* 46.77 709 v Aus at Port-of-Spain 2012
20 (-3) T Samaraweera SL 659 49.54 775 v SA at Cape Town 2012
Selected Rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
22 (+1) Angelo Mathews SL 640 40.92 651 v Aus at Hobart 2012
24 (-3) M Jayawardena SL 625 49.41 883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
25 (+6) David Warner Aus 620*! 44.68 620 v SL at Melbourne 2012
27 (-3) T Dilshan SL 616 40.75 700 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
38 (+1) Shane Watson Aus 569 37.02 729 v Eng at Perth 2010
45 (+1) Ed Cowan Aus 507*! 34.10 507 v SL at Melbourne 2012
51 (+1) P Jayawardena SL 466 30.64 510 v Eng at Galle 2012
53 (-2) Phillip Hughes Aus 461* 34.82 599 v Eng at Lord’s 2009
59 (-1) Matthew Wade Aus 423* 36.27 445 v SL at Hobart 2012
81 (+13) M Johnson Aus 335 22.77 477 v Eng at Lord’s 2009
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
1 ( – ) Dale Steyn SA 880 23.79 902 v SL at Centurion 2011
2 ( – ) Vernon Philander SA 838* 17.98 852 v Eng at Lord’s 2012
3 ( – ) Saeed Ajmal Pak 832 27.09 836 v SL at Galle 2012
4 (+1) Peter Siddle Aus 804 28.50 806 v SL at Hobart 2012
5 (-1) Rangana Herath SL 793 30.33 838 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012
6 ( – ) James Anderson Eng 759 30.39 813 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011
7 ( – ) Graeme Swann Eng 755 29.13 858 v Pak at Lord’s 2010
8 ( – ) Morne Morkel SA 745 30.20 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
9 ( – ) Pragyan Ojha Ind 739* 31.62 773 v Eng at Kolkata 2012
10 ( – ) Ben Hilfenhaus Aus 729* 28.50 757 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2012
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 657 31.93 783 v WI at Lord’s 2012
14 ( – ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 641 32.53 680 v WI at Mirpur 2011
15 ( – ) Zaheer Khan Ind 625 32.35 752 v SA at Durban 2010
16 ( – ) Steven Finn Eng 611* 28.22 621 v SA at Lord’s 2012
17 ( – ) Chris Martin NZ 604 33.97 669 v SA at Hamilton 2012
18 (+3) Mitchell Johnson Aus 602 30.63 825 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
19 (-1) Umar Gul Pak 584 33.66 642 v Eng at Dubai 2012
20 (-1) Tim Southee NZ 572*! 35.04 572 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
Selected Rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
24 ( – ) Shane Watson Aus 553* 30.06 633 v SA at Cape Town 2011
25 (+3) Nathan Lyon Aus 540* 30.96 548 v SA at Adelaide 2012
36 (-2) C Welegedara SL 463* 40.48 492 v SA at Durban 2011
65 ( – ) T Dilshan SL 258* 42.02 268 v Eng at Colombo (PSS) 2012
67 (+5) S Eranga SL 241* 37.93 256 v NZ at Galle 2012
76 (+7) D Prasad SL 198* 56.59 243 v Ban at Mirpur 2008
82 ( – ) Michael Clarke Aus 172* 36.60 265 v NZ at Wellington 2005
87 (NEW) Jackson Bird Aus 148*! 15.25 148 v SL at Melbourne 2012
96 (+8) Angelo Mathews SL 109* 69.45 110 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2009
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts HS Ranking
1 ( – ) Jacques Kallis SA 388 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 ( – ) S Al Hasan Ban 387 404 v Pak at Mirpur 2011
3 ( – ) Shane Watson Aus 315/* 394 v SA at Johannesburg 2011
4 ( – ) Daniel Vettori NZ 296 412 v Pak at Napier 2009
5 ( – ) Graeme Swann Eng 288 327 v Ban at Chittagong 2010
Selected Rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts HS Ranking
10 (+4) Mitchell Johnson Aus 202 384 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
