Herath and Ashwin on the charge in the latest bowling table.
Contrasting performances with the bat have helped India’s Cheteshwar Pujara and England’s wicketkeeper-batsman Matt Prior to move into the top 10 of latest Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings for batsmen, for the first-time in their careers.
The latest rankings were released on Wednesday, a day after England’s magnificent fight back in the Auckland Test denied New Zealand a series win. The result left the series deadlocked at 0-0.
The hero of England’s great escape was Prior, who hit an unbeaten 110, his seventh in Tests to help save the day for his team. Prior’s effort has helped him jump four places to a career-best 10th position with best-ever 745 ratings points.
On the other hand, Pujara’s unbeaten 82 helped India script a six-wicket win in the fourth Test against Australia in Delhi, thereby registering a historic 4-0 series sweep. As a result, Pujara has jumped five places to a best-ever seventh position with 777 ratings points.
Inside the top 10, two senior batsmen, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Kumar Sangakkara, have also made upward movements. While Chanderpaul has moved up a place to second, Sri Lanka’s former captain Sangakkara is now ranked fourth (up by one).
South Africa’s Hashim Amla continues to lead the batting table.
Inside the top 20, there have been two more positive movements with England’s Ian Bell being now ranked 17th (up by one), while New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has moved up six places to 19th.
Meanwhile, the bowlers’ table provides a lot of cheers for spinners who starred in their sides’ performances in the Colombo, Roseau and Delhi Tests.
While Rangana Herath has moved up a place to third behind number-one ranked Dale Steyn and second-placed Vernon Philander, India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is now at a best-ever sixth after jumping two places.
The other spinners to make upward movements are Nathan Lyon in 21st (up by eight), Shane Shillingford in 23rd (up by 18) and Ravindra Jadeja in 27th (up by eight).
Among the pace bowlers, the major gainers are Steven Finn in 17th (up by two), Tim Southee in 24th (up by two), Ishant Sharma in 31st (up by three), Trent Boult in 37th (up by five) and Shannon Gabriel in 47th (up by 18).
Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 27 March after Colombo, Roseau, Delhi and Auckland Tests)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
1 ( – ) Hashim Amla SA 903! 52.11 903 v Pak at Centurion 2013
2 (+1) S.Chanderpaul WI 880 51.81 901 v NZ at Napier 2008
3 (-1) AB de Villiers SA 879! 50.50 879 v Pak at Centurion 2013
4 (+1) K Sangakkara SL 866 56.98 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
5 (-1) Michael Clarke Aus 860 52.33 900 v SL at Melbourne 2012
6 ( – ) Alastair Cook Eng 792 49.04 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
7 (+5) C Pujara Ind 777*! 65.55 777 v Aus at Delhi 2013
8 (-1) Jacques Kallis SA 756 56.10 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
9 ( – ) Younus Khan Pak 748 50.74 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
10 (+4) Matt Prior Eng 745! 45.46 745 v NZ at Auckland 2013
11 ( – ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 723 49.01 909 v WI at Headingley 2007
12 (-2) Jonathan Trott Eng 719 50.03 856 v SL at Cardiff 2011
13 (-5) Ross Taylor NZ 718 42.55 785 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
14 (-1) Azhar Ali Pak 713 42.26 753 v SL at Pallekele 2012
15 ( – ) Graeme Smith SA 696 48.62 843 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010
16 ( – ) Misbah-ul-Haq Pak 687 43.19 771 v Eng at Abu Dhabi 2012
17 (+1) Ian Bell Eng 666 46.44 822 v Ind at The Oval 2011
18 (-1) Marlon Samuels WI 663 37.39 672 v Zim at Bridgetown 2013
19 (+6) B McCullum NZ 647 36.29 673 v Pak at Hamilton 2011
20= (+2) M Jayawardena SL 639 49.56 883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
(+3) Asad Shafiq Pak 639* 40.48 680 v SA at Cape Town 2013
Selected Rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
22= (+4) Chris Gayle WI 637 42.45 755 v SL at Galle 2010
(+2) MS Dhoni Ind 637 39.70 662 v SA at Kolkata 2010
24= (-5) Darren Bravo WI 634 44.56 709 v Aus at Port-of-Spain 2012
(-4) Virat Kohli Ind 634* 41.96 648 v Aus at Mohali 2013
26 (-5) S Tendulkar Ind 632 53.86 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
27 (+1) A Mathews SL 600 40.04 651 v Aus at Hobart 2012
28 (-1) T Dilshan SL 598 40.98 700 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
32 (+3) Ke Williamson NZ 584! 32.57 584 v Eng at Auckland 2013
35 (-6) David Warner Aus 574* 39.46 620 v SL at Melbourne 2012
36 (+4) D Chandimal SL 562*! 58.30 562 v Ban at Colombo (RPS) 2013
37 (-1) M Rahim Ban 556 31.62 584 v Eng at Chittagong 2010
39 (-1) Ed Cowan Aus 553*! 32.90 553 v Ind at Delhi 2013
40 (+3) Murali Vijay Ind 523*! 38.48 523 v Aus at Delhi 2013
42 (-3) Shane Watson Aus 505 35.34 729 v Eng at Perth 2010
43 (+3) Dean Brownlie NZ 504*! 32.80 504 v Eng at Auckland 2013
46 (-2) Nasir Hossain Ban 486* 44.28 499 v SL at Galle 2013
47 (+3) Phillip Hughes Aus 476 33.00 599 v Eng at Lord’s 2009
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
1 ( – ) Dale Steyn SA 905 22.65 908 v Pak at Johannesburg 2013
2 ( – ) V Philander SA 890*! 17.13 890 v Pak at Centurion 2013
3 (+1) Rangana Herath SL 831 29.52 838 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012
4 (-1) Saeed Ajmal Pak 819 27.60 847 v SA at Cape Town 2013
5 ( – ) Peter Siddle Aus 776 28.84 806 v SL at Hobart 2012
6 (+2) R Ashwin Ind 757*! 28.53 757 v Aus at Delhi 2013
7 (-1) James Anderson Eng 740 30.61 813 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011
8 (-1) Graeme Swann Eng 733 29.13 858 v Pak at Lord’s 2010
9 ( – ) Morne Morkel SA 715 29.97 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
10 (-1) Pragyan Ojha Ind 706 31.78 773 v Eng at Kolkata 2012
11 (+1) Ben Hilfenhaus Aus 693* 28.50 757 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2012
12 (+2) Abdur Rehman Pak 683* 28.40 739 v Eng at Dubai 2012
13 (-2) Kemar Roach WI 682* 27.71 712 v NZ at Kingston 2012
14 (-1) Stuart Broad Eng 664 31.92 783 v WI at Lord’s 2012
15 ( – ) S Hasan Ban 628 32.53 680 v WI at Mirpur 2011
16 ( – ) Zaheer Khan Ind 600 32.35 752 v SA at Durban 2010
17 (+2) Steven Finn Eng 590* 29.60 621 v SA at Lord’s 2012
18 (-1) Chris Martin NZ 588 33.81 669 v SA at Hamilton 2012
19 ( – ) Umar Gul Pak 569 34.06 642 v Eng at Dubai 2012
20 (-2) M Johnson Aus 565 30.93 825 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
Selected Rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
21 (+8) Nathan Lyon Aus 560*! 33.18 560 v Ind at Delhi 2013
22 (-1) James Pattinson Aus 551* 23.37 573 v Ind at Hyderabad 2013
23 (+18) S Shillingford WI 550*! 31.22 550 v Zim at Dominica 2013
24 (+2) Tim Southee NZ 543* 36.83 572 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
27 (+8) Ravindra Jadeja Ind 530*! 19.85 530 v Aus at Delhi 2013
28 (-2) Darren Sammy WI 517* 34.45 568 v Aus at Bridgetown 2012
31 (+3) Ishant Sharma Ind 505 37.99 671 v WI at Dominica 2011
35 (-4) Monty Panesar Eng 492 33.78 721 v WI at Chester-le-St 2007
37 (+5) Trent Boult NZ 474*! 30.82 474 v Eng at Auckland 2013
43 ( – ) N Kulasekara SL 399* 35.78 413 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012
47 (+18) S Gabriel WI 360*! 17.00 360 v Zim at Dominica 2013
48 (+2) Kyle Abbott SA 354*! 7.55 354 v Pak at Centurion 2013
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts HS Ranking
1 (+1) Jacques Kallis SA 374 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 (-1) S Al Hasan Ban 371 404 v Pak at Mirpur 2011
3 ( – ) R Ashwin Ind 321*/* 333 v Aus at Hyderabad 2013
4 (-1) V Philander SA 312*/*!312 v Pak at Centurion 2013
5 ( – ) Graeme Swann Eng 272 327 v Ban at Chittagong 2010
