South Africa aims to regain top Test ranking
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- South Africa aims to regain the Number One Test ranking in the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship when it goes head to head with England in the four-Test series at Centurion on Wednesday.
South Africa, which lost its coveted position to India on 6 December, will need to beat England by 2-0 or better to reclaim the top spot which it had taken over from Australia after Ricky Ponting’s side lost the Ashes earlier this summer.
A 2-0 or 3-1 series win will put South Africa on par with India but ahead of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point while a 4-0 series win will take Graeme Smith’s side to 127 ratings points.
In contrast, England has a chance to leapfrog South Africa into fourth position but for that to happen, Andrew Strauss’s side will need to win all its matches in the series. A 4-0 series win will put England alongside South Africa on 113 ratings points but ahead of the Proteas when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.
While a convincing 2-0 or 3-1 series win will strengthen England’s hold on fifth position, it will affect South Africa’s ranking the hosts would drop to 116 ratings points and possibly in third position, depending how the Perth Test between Australia and the West Indies pans out.
Meanwhile, rain has thwarted New Zealand’s chances of swapping places with Pakistan after the Napier Test ended in a draw. New Zealand, chasing 208 to win the Test and the series 2-1 in a minimum of 43 overs, was 90 for no wicket and required another 118 runs from a minimum of 23 overs when steady rain ended the contest.
A victory in Napier would have lifted New Zealand to fifth place on 84 ratings points while pushing Pakistan to sixth position on 78 ratings point. But in the end, the Black Caps had to settle for gaining one ratings point while Pakistan stayed sixth on 83 ratings points.
In the latest Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen issued on Tuesday, Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf and New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor have slipped one place each to sixth and 10th respectively.
The batsmen to gain most from the Napier Test include New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, who has achieved his career-best 25th ranking after improving by two places, Umar Akmal 38th (up by five places), Imran Farhat 39th (up by 10 places) and Faisal Iqbal 71st (up by nine places) while the batsmen to lose ground are Misbah-ul-Haq 45th (down by seven places) and Daniel Flynn 74th (down by four places).
South Africa boasts Graeme Smith (seventh), Jacques Kallis (11th), Ashwell Prince (13th) and AB de Villiers (14th) while England only has Strauss (14th) and Kevin Pietersen (17th) inside the top 20.
Batsmen from both the sides out of the top 20 and eyeing an upward movement include Hashim Amla (27th), Alastair Cook (28th), Paul Collingwood (31st), Matt Prior (35th), Ian Bell (36th) and Mark Boucher (50th).
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, Pakistan’s Danish Kaneria has climbed two places to 13th after match figures of 7-189 while New Zealand fast bowler Iain O’Brien has retired in 21st position after rising five places following match figures of 6-143.
Those failing to maintain their rankings include Mohammad Asif, who has dropped one place to fifth, Vettori, who has slipped two places to 13th, and Umar Gul who has dropped three places to 24th.
The bowlers’ list is headed by South Africa’s Dale Steyn while Makhaya Ntini, who will be playing in his 100th Test, is in fourth position followed by Paul Harris (ninth), James Anderson (11th), Graeme Swann (12th), Stuart Broad (14th), Ryan Sidebottom (16th) and Kallis (19th).
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Player Rankings for all-rounders, Kallis leads the field with England’s Broad in fifth position.
The series schedule is
16-20 Dec – First Test, Centurion
26-30 Dec – Second Test, Durban
3-7 Jan – Third Test, Cape Town
14-18 Jan – Fourth Test, Johannesburg
Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship (as of 15 December, after Pakistan-New Zealand Test series and before the start of South Africa-England Test series)
Rank Team Rating
1 India 124
2 South Africa 122
3 Australia 116
4 Sri Lanka 115
5 England 105
6 Pakistan 83
7 New Zealand 81
8 West Indies 76
9 Bangladesh 13
(Developed by David Kendix)
Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship (as of 15 December, after Pakistan-New Zealand Test series and before the start of South Africa-England Test series)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) G. Gambhir Ind 877 56.73 886 v SL at Kanpur 2009
2 ( - ) M. Jayawardena SL 836 53.96 883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
3 ( - ) K. Sangakkara SL 835 55.10 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
4 ( - ) Michael Clarke Aus 814 50.32 855 v Eng at Headingley 2009
5 ( - ) Virender Sehwag Ind 804 52.50 854 v SA at Kolkata 2004
6 (-1) M. Yousuf Pak 793 54.12 933 v WI at Karachi 2006
7 (+1) Graeme Smith SA 782 50.33 810 v Aus at Melbourne 2008
8 (-1) Younus Khan Pak 777 50.09 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
9 (+1) S.Chanderpaul WI 773 48.70 901 v NZ at Napier 2008
10 (-1) Ross Taylor NZ 763 42.15 775 v Pak at Wellington 2009
11 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 755 54.66 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
12 ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 754 55.61 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
13 ( - ) Ashwell Prince SA 742 47.29 756 v Pak at Centurion 2007
14= ( - ) Andrew Strauss Eng 740 44.62 769 v SA at Johannesburg 2005
( - ) AB de Villiers SA 740! 43.92 740 v Aus at Cape Town 2009
16 ( - ) Rahul Dravid Ind 728 53.60 892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005
17 ( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 727 49.96 909 v WI at Headingley 2007
18 ( - ) S. Tendulkar Ind 723 54.72 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
19 ( - ) VVS Laxman Ind 708 45.50 753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
20 ( - ) T. Samaraweera SL 707 51.14 747 v Ind at Kanpur 2009
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge Econ HS Rating
1 ( - ) Dale Steyn SA 844 23.70 897 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2008
2 ( - ) M. Johnson Aus 783 28.58 825 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
3 ( - ) M. Muralidaran SL 752 22.71 920 v Ban at Kandy 2007
4 (+1) Makhaya Ntini SA 741 28.37 863 v Ind at Durban 2006
5 (-1) M. Asif Pak 722* 22.22 743 v NZ at Wellington 2009
6 ( - ) Harbhajan Singh Ind 712 30.82 765 v NZ at Wellington 2002
7 ( - ) Stuart Clark Aus 696* 23.86 863 v WI at Bridgetown 2008
8 ( - ) Shane Bond NZ 676* 22.09 778 v WI at Auckland 2006
9 ( - ) Paul Harris SA 669*! 32.60 669 v Aus at Cape Town 2009
10 ( - ) Zaheer Khan Ind 666 33.96 689 v Pak at Delhi 2007
11 ( - ) James Anderson Eng 643 34.87 710 v Aus at Edgbaston 2009
12 ( - ) Graeme Swann Eng 634*! 30.39 634 v Aus at The Oval 2009
13 (+2) Danish Kaneria Pak 622 33.84 723 v Eng at Multan 2005
14 ( - ) Stuart Broad Eng 617*! 35.78 617 v Aus at The Oval 2009
15 (-2) Daniel Vettori NZ 613 33.61 681 v Aus at Auckland 2000
16 ( - ) R. Sidebottom Eng 610* 27.70 769 v SA at Lord's 2008
17 ( - ) Brett Lee Aus 609 30.81 811 v WI at Antigua 2008
18 ( - ) Jerome Taylor WI 604* 35.64 717 v Eng at Kingston 2009
19 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 603 31.08 742 v Eng at Headingley 2003
20 ( - ) Chris Martin NZ 592 33.61 643 v Eng at Lord's 2004
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts HS Rating
1 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 455 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 412! 412 v Pak at Napier 2009
3 ( - ) Mitchell Johnson Aus 323*/ 384 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
4 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 282*/*! 282 v WI at St George's 2009
5 ( - ) Stuart Broad Eng 278*/*! 278 v Aus at The Oval 2009
