South Africa paceman Vernon Philander has edged closer to number-one ranked Dale Steyn in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers after his match-winning spell against New Zealand in the Cape Town Test.
The latest Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings were released on Monday following the conclusion of the Sydney Test in which Australia defeated Sri Lanka by five wickets to sweep the three-Test series. The second and final Test between South Africa and New Zealand will start on Friday 11 January in Port Elizabeth.
Philander ended the Cape Town Test with figures of five for seven and two for 76 to earn the player of the match award. His spells helped him collect 19 ratings points which not only gave him his career-best ratings of 859 but also allowed him to narrow the gap with Steyn to only 17 ratings points. Philander had come within 19 points of moving ahead of his team-mate but he slipped down the ladder after missing the second Test against Australia in Adelaide last month.
The only bowler inside the top 10 to improve his ranking is Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath, who has now gone up a place to be ranked fourth while bowlers outside the top 10 to make upward movements include New Zealand’s Chris Martin in 16th (up by one), Mitchell Starc in 43rd (up by three) and Trent Boult in 44th (up by three).
Australia’s Jackson Bird, who won the player of the match in the Sydney Test, has been rewarded with a jump of 40 places to 47th for his figures of four for 41 and three for 76.
Meanwhile, South Africa opener Alviro Petersen has broken into the top 20 of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen for the first time in his career.
Petersen has jumped 11 places to claim 20th position for his knock of 106 in the Cape Town Test against New Zealand. His ratings points of 655 are also his career-best to date.
Also moving up the ladder are Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardena in 22nd (up by two), New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum in 25th (up by three), Australia opener Phillip Hughes in 45th (up by eight), South Africa’s Faf du Plessis in 46th (up by one), New Zealand’s Dean Brownlie in 49th (up by 25), Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal in 53rd (up by 10) and Australia wicketkeeper Matthew Wade in 54th (up by five).
The Reliance ICC Rankings for Test batsmen is still headed by Michael Clarke, followed by Shivnarine Chanderpaul in second place and Hashim Amla in third. Amla achieved his career-best rating of 878 in the Cape Town Test against New Zealand.
There is no change in the top five of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders. The table is still headed by South Africa’s Jacques Kallis, followed by Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh in second place and Australia’s Shane Watson in third.
Mike Hussey ends his career in 11th position
Meanwhile, Australia batsman Mike Hussey has ended his Test career in 11th place in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen.
Hussey last achieved the number-one ranking on the batting table on 3 April 2008 and is one of seven from Australia after Don Bradman, Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Doug Walters, Neil Harvey to break the 900-point barrier. Hussey achieved the rare distinction in 2007-08 after the second Test against India in Sydney after scores of 41 and 145 not out.
Michael Clarke became the seventh from Australia to break the barrier during the series against Sri Lanka.
Later in 2008, Hussey achieved his career-best rating of 921 following the first Test against West Indies at Kingston. This put him in a joint 17th position along with Harvey in the Reliance ICC Best-Ever Test Championship Ratings.
Reliance ICC Test Championship Table
Australia’s 3-0 series win over Sri Lanka means it the third-ranked side gained three ratings points which has lifted it to 117 ratings points on the Reliance ICC Test Championship. This, in turn, means Australia has narrowed the gap with second-placed England to just one rating point. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, has lost four points but it remains in sixth place, 13 ratings points behind fifth-ranked India.
The Test Championship table as well as the Reliance ICC Player Rankings will now be updated at the end of South Africa-New Zealand series.
The Test Championship table is updated after every series, unlike the ODI or T20I Championship tables, which are updated after every match.
Prize Money
The side that is the number-one ranked team at the 1 April 2013 cut-off date will be in line for the increased prize money on offer for the top-ranked side.
A total of US $3.8m in prize money will be shared among the top four sides on 1 April 2013, 2014 and 2015, after the ICC Board approved a proposal in 2012 to substantially increase incentives in the form of prize money to promote Test cricket in the period leading up to the ICC Test Championship event in 2017.
Previously, the team that topped the table in the Reliance ICC Test rankings received a cheque for $175,000, but, from 2013, it will receive a minimum of $450,000, rising to $500,000 in 2015. From 2016 there will be further increases in Test prize money.
Upcoming Fixtures
South Africa v New Zealand
11-15 Jan – Second Test, Port Elizabeth
Reliance ICC Test Championship table (after Australia-Sri Lanka Test series)
Rank Team Rating
1. South Africa 123
2. England 118
3. Australia 117 (+3)
4. Pakistan 109
5. India 105
6. Sri Lanka 92 (-4)
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.
Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 7 January after Cape Town and Sydney Tests)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
1 ( – ) Michael Clarke Aus 887 52.54 900 v SL at Melbourne 2012
2 ( – ) S.Chanderpaul WI 879 51.67 901 v NZ at Napier 2008
3 ( – ) Hashim Amla SA 878! 50.83 878 v NZ at Cape Town 2013
4 ( – ) K Sangakkara SL 842 55.80 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
5 ( – ) Alastair Cook Eng 836 49.42 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
6 ( – ) Jacques Kallis SA 828 56.94 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
7 ( – ) AB de Villiers SA 817 49.26 821 v Eng at The Oval 2012
8 ( – ) Ross Taylor NZ 777 43.57 785 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
9 (+1) Younus Khan Pak 761 51.69 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
10 (+1) Kevin Pietersen Eng 759 49.42 909 v WI at Headingley 2007
11 (-2) Mike Hussey Aus 758 51.52 921 v WI at Kingston 2008
12 ( – ) Azhar Ali Pak 753! 45.27 753 v SL at Pallekele 2012
13 ( – ) Graeme Smith SA 730 49.25 843 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 ( – ) Ian Bell Eng 680 46.71 822 v Ind at The Oval 2011
18 ( – ) Marlon Samuels WI 668! 37.36 668 v Ban at Khulna 2012
19 ( – ) Darren Bravo WI 661* 46.77 709 v Aus at Port-of-Spain 2012
20 (+11) Alviro Petersen SA 655*! 42.65 655 v NZ at Cape Town 2013
Selected Rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
22 (+2) M Jayawardena SL 652 49.56 883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
24 (-4) T Samaraweera SL 629 48.76 775 v SA at Cape Town 2012
25 (+3) B McCullum NZ 620 35.52 673 v Pak at Hamilton 2011
27 (-2) David Warner Aus 614* 44.50 620 v SL at Melbourne 2012
29 (-7) Angelo Mathews SL 611 39.71 651 v Aus at Hobart 2012
31 (-4) T Dilshan SL 601 40.42 700 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
37 (-2) Kane Williamson NZ 570* 31.61 578 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
38 ( – ) Shane Watson Aus 563 37.02 729 v Eng at Perth 2010
45 (+8) Phillip Hughes Aus 496* 36.25 599 v Eng at Lord’s 2009
46 (+1) Faf du Plessis SA 494*! 102.66 494 v NZ at Cape Town 2013
47 (-2) Ed Cowan Aus 491* 32.81 507 v SL at Melbourne 2012
49 (+25) Dean Brownlie NZ 489*! 34.57 489 v SA at Cape Town 2013
51 (-9) Martin Guptill NZ 480 30.83 597 v WI at Kingston 2012
53 (+10) D Chandimal SL 476*! 40.55 476 v Aus at Sydney 2013
54 (+5) Matthew Wade Aus 464*! 42.41 464 v SL at Sydney 2013
63 (-3) Jacques Rudolph SA 417* 35.43 564 v Eng at Cape Town 2005
66 (-4) Daniel Flynn NZ 407 27.31 432 v Ind at Hamilton 2009
84 (-3) Mitchell Johnson Aus 331 22.62 477 v Eng at Lord’s 2009
87 (+10) BJ Watling NZ 308* 28.71 323 v Zim at Napier 2012
96 (+22) L Thirimanne SL 286*! 23.73 286 v Aus at Sydney 2013
97 (+35) D Karunaratne SL 280*! 28.57 280 v Aus at Sydney 2013
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
1 ( – ) Dale Steyn SA 876 23.68 902 v SL at Centurion 2011
2 ( – ) Vernon Philander SA 859*! 17.40 859 v NZ at Cape Town 2013
3 ( – ) Saeed Ajmal Pak 832 27.09 836 v SL at Galle 2012
4 (+1) Rangana Herath SL 809 29.95 838 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012
5 (-1) Peter Siddle Aus 800 28.51 806 v SL at Hobart 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 747 29.86 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
9 ( – ) Pragyan Ojha Ind 739* 31.62 773 v Eng at Kolkata 2012
10 ( – ) Ben Hilfenhaus Aus 721* 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 (+1) Chris Martin NZ 612 33.81 669 v SA at Hamilton 2012
17 (-1) Steven Finn Eng 611* 28.22 621 v SA at Lord’s 2012
18 ( – ) Mitchell Johnson Aus 600 30.63 825 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
19 ( – ) Umar Gul Pak 584 33.66 642 v Eng at Dubai 2012
20= ( – ) Tim Southee NZ 566* 35.04 572 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
(+1) R Ashwin Ind 566* 32.41 595 v Eng at Ahmedabad 2012
Selected Rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
25 ( – ) Nathan Lyon Aus 526* 32.16 548 v SA at Adelaide 2012
39 (-1) Doug Bracewell NZ 430* 31.93 538 v WI at Kingston 2012
43 (+3) Mitchell Starc Aus 403*! 29.32 403 v SL at Sydney 2013
44 (+3) Trent Boult NZ 401*! 28.79 401 v SA at Cape Town 2013
47 (+40) Jackson Bird Aus 376*! 16.18 376 v SL at Sydney 2013
51 ( – ) James Franklin NZ 352* 33.97 679 v SL at Christchurch 2006
52 (-2) Jeetan Patel NZ 345* 46.78 368 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2009
65 ( – ) T Dilshan SL 274*! 42.88 274 v Aus at Sydney 2013
76 (+3) Robin Peterson SA 202*! 33.80 202 v NZ at Cape Town 2013
80 (-4) D Prasad SL 185* 59.00 243 v Ban at Mirpur 2008
83 (-1) Michael Clarke Aus 169* 36.60 265 v NZ at Wellington 2005
84 (-2) Suranga Lakmal SL 165* 62.25 262 v Aus at Pallekele 2011
96 ( – ) Angelo Mathews SL 106* 70.45 110 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2009
98 (-1) Kane Williamson NZ 101* 53.00 138 v WI at Kingston 2012
109 (-1) Mike Hussey Aus 76* 43.71 140 v NZ at Hobart 2011
129 (+15) Nuwan Pradeep SL 22*! 157.66 22 v Aus at Sydney 2013
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts HS Ranking
1 ( – ) Jacques Kallis SA 399 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 ( – ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 387 404 v Pak at Mirpur 2011
3 ( – ) Shane Watson Aus 308/* 394 v SA at Johannesburg 2011
4 ( – ) Daniel Vettori NZ 290 412 v Pak at Napier 2009
5 ( – ) Graeme Swann Eng 288 327 v Ban at Chittagong 2010
