Dubai, Dec 18 (IBNS) Australia captain Michael Clarke has reclaimed the top spot in the latest Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen that were released on Tuesday after the completion of the Hobart and Nagpur Tests.
Clarke, who entered the Hobart Test trailing number-one ranked Shivnarine Chanderpaul by just one ratings point, now leads the West Indian by nine points. Clarke’s knocks of 74 and 57 in the Hobart Test against Sri Lanka that was won by Australia by 137 runs, played a part in helping him race to the top.
England’s captain Alastair Cook, who was the other contender for the top spot, has remained in fourth position after losing 38 ratings points following his double failure in the Nagpur Test which ended in a draw. He now trails Clarke by 52 ratings points.
Other big gainers in the latest rankings are Australia’s Mike Hussey, England’s duo of Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell, Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan and India’s Virat Kohli.
Hussey has returned to the top 10 in ninth position after rising four places following his unbeaten knocks of 115 and 31 in the Hobart Test, while other batsmen to head in the right direction are Trott in 15th (up by three), Bell in 18th (up by three), Dilshan in 24th (up by four) and Kohli in 37th (up by four).
Batsmen to slip down the ladder are Kevin Pietersen in 11th (down by two), Thilan Samaraweera in 17th (down by two), Mahela Jayawardena in 21st (down by four), Sachin Tendulkar in 22nd (down by three), Virender Sehwag in 25th (down by two), Cheteshwar Pujara in 26th (down by one), Shane Watson in 39th (down by three) and Prasanna Jayawardena in 52nd (down by one).
The bowlers’ table is still headed by South Africa’s Dale Steyn while Sri Lanka’s spinner Rangana Herath has dropped two places to fourth whereas Australia fast bowler Peter Siddle, who was the player of the match at Hobart for his spells of five for 54 and four for 50, is now at fifth place with a best-ever 806 ratings points.
Also moving up are England’s paceman James Anderson in sixth (up by one), India’s spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in 20th (up by two), Nathan Lyon in 28th (up by two), Ishant Sharma in 32nd (up by one) and Chanaka Welegedara in 34th (up by five).
The bowlers to move downwards within the top 10 includes Graeme Swann in seventh (down by one), Pragyan Ojha in ninth (down by four) and Ben Hilfenhaus in 10th (down by one).
Jacques Kallis continues to head the all-rounders' table, followed by Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan in the second place.
India's Ravichandran Ashwin has moved up a place to sixth, while Siddle has moved into the top 10 of the all-rounders' table.
Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 18 December after Nagpur and Hobart Tests)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
1 (+1) Michael Clarke Aus 888 52.33 890 v SA at Adelaide 2012
2 (-1) 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 ( - ) Alastair Cook Eng 836 49.42 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
5 ( - ) K Sangakkara SL 832 55.64 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
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 (+4) Mike Hussey Aus 770 51.67 921 v WI at Kingston 2008
10 ( - ) Younus Khan Pak 761 51.69 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
11 (-2) Kevin Pietersen Eng 759 49.42 909 v WI at Headingley 2007
12 (-1) Azhar Ali Pak 753! 45.27 753 v SL at Pallekele 2012
13 (-1) 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 (+3) 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 (-2) T Samaraweera SL 691 50.36 775 v SA at Cape Town 2012
18 (+3) Ian Bell Eng 680 46.71 822 v Ind at The Oval 2011
19 (+1) M Samuels WI 668! 37.36 668 v Ban at Khulna 2012
20 (+2) Darren Bravo WI 661* 46.77 709 v Aus at Port-of-Spain 2012
Selected Rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
21 (-4) M Jayawardena SL 657 49.86 883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
22 (-3) Sachin Tendulkar Ind 653 54.32 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
23 (+1) Angelo Mathews SL 651! 41.76 651 v Aus at Hobart 2012
24 (+4) T Dilshan SL 645 41.30 700 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
25 (-2) Virender Sehwag Ind 630 50.05 866 v SL at Galle 2010
26 (-1) C Pujara Ind 617* 58.53 665 v Eng at Mumbai 2012
31 (+6) David Warner Aus 601*! 43.85 601 v SL at Hobart 2012
35 ( - ) Gautam Gambhir Ind 578 44.18 886 v SL at Kanpur 2009
37 (+4) Virat Kohli Ind 571* 38.73 589 v Eng at Ahmedabad 2012
38 ( - ) Mahendra Dhoni Ind 563 38.06 662 v SA at Kolkata 2010
39 (-3) Shane Watson Aus 543 36.33 729 v Eng at Perth 2010
46 (+3) Ed Cowan Aus 500*! 34.00 500 v SL at Hobart 2012
49 (+1) R Ashwin Ind 490*! 45.84 490 v Eng at Nagpur 2012
51 (+6) Phillip Hughes Aus 471* 35.57 599 v Eng at Lord's 2009
52 (-1) P Jayawardena SL 466 30.75 510 v Eng at Galle 2012
58 (+5) Matthew Wade Aus 445*! 39.80 445 v SL at Hobart 2012
71 (+4) Graeme Swann Eng 382 23.52 418 v Ban at Chittagong 2010
88 (-3) Nick Compton Eng 307* 34.66 320 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
89 (-5) Tim Bresnan Eng 304* 31.28 382 v Ind at The Oval 2011
90 (NEW) Joe Root Eng 301*! 93.00 301 v Ind at Nagpur 2012
94 (-2) Mitchell Johnson Aus 285 21.26 477 v Eng at Lord's 2009
98 (-4) Mitchell Starc Aus 270* 36.00 286 v SA at Perth 2012
112 (-3) D Karunaratne SL 220* 34.66 226 v NZ at Galle 2012
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave Econ 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 (+1) Saeed Ajmal Pak 832 27.09 836 v SL at Galle 2012
4 (-2) Rangana Herath SL 826 29.80 838 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012
5 (+5) Peter Siddle Aus 806! 28.67 806 v SL at Hobart 2012
6 (+1) James Anderson Eng 759 30.39 813 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011
7 (-1) Graeme Swann Eng 755 29.13 858 v Pak at Lord's 2010
8 (-1) Morne Morkel SA 745 30.20 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
9 (-4) Pragyan Ojha Ind 739* 31.62 773 v Eng at Kolkata 2012
10 (-1) Ben Hilfenhaus Aus 736* 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 ( - ) Umar Gul Pak 584 33.66 642 v Eng at Dubai 2012
19 ( - ) Tim Southee NZ 572*! 35.04 572 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
20 (+2) R Ashwin Ind 566* 32.41 595 v Eng at Ahmedabad 2012
Selected Rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave Econ HS Ranking
24 ( - ) Shane Watson Aus 555* 30.01 633 v SA at Cape Town 2011
28= (-1) Monty Panesar Eng 515 32.64 721 v WI at Chester-le-St 2007
(+2) Nathan Lyon Aus 515* 31.92 548 v SA at Adelaide 2012
31 (-5) Tim Bresnan Eng 507* 32.54 657 v WI at Edgbaston 2012
32 (+1) Ishant Sharma Ind 504 38.00 671 v WI at Dominica 2011
34 (+5) C Welegedara SL 476* 39.77 492 v SA at Durban 2011
45 (-2) N Kulasekara SL 377* 35.51 413 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012
46 (+7) Mitchell Starc Aus 376*! 29.20 376 v SL at Hobart 2012
65 ( - ) T Dilshan SL 246* 42.15 268 v Eng at Colombo (PSS) 2012
72 (-4) S Eranga SL 225* 38.33 256 v NZ at Galle 2012
82 (-1) Michael Clarke Aus 172* 36.60 265 v NZ at Wellington 2005
96 (RE) Piyush Chawla Ind 105*! 38.57 105 v Eng at Nagpur 2012
101 (NEW) Ravindra Jadeja Ind 98*! 39.00 98 v Eng at Nagpur 2012
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts HS Ranking
1 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 388 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 387 404 v Pak at Mirpur 2011
3 ( - ) Shane Watson Aus 301/* 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
6 (+1) R Ashwin Ind 277*/*! 277 v Eng at Nagpur 2012
10 (+1) Peter Siddle Aus 193 218 v Ind at Adelaide 2012
