By IANS
Dubai : A series tally of 23 wickets against the West Indies helped England's Monty Panesar become the highest rated England spinner since Derek Underwood in 1977, it was announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) here Wednesday.
In the just concluded four-match Test series, Panesar took wickets at an average of 18.69 and moved into the sixth spot in Test bowlers rankings following the final Test at Chester-le-Street.
The Indian-origin bowler is now ranked joint sixth in the world along with teammate Matthew Hoggard, who gained two places having taken five wickets in the last Test.
Currently on 721 ratings points, Panesar, a slow left-armer, still has some way to go to being the top-rated England spinner of all time. That honour remains with Surrey legend Tony Lock, who reached 912 ratings points during a home series against New Zealand in 1958.
But that was when Lock was at the height of his career, bowling in tandem with off-spinner Jim Laker in one of the most successful bowling partnerships of all time.
At 25, Panesar has plenty of time to make his own mark in cricket history.
If Panesar continues his good form, he could easily move up to third spot by the end of the current English summer.
With three Tests coming up against India, he is just one rating point behind New Zealand's Shane Bond, who is fifth, and nine behind South Africa's Shaun Pollock and India's Anil Kumble at joint third.
For Panesar, it is a remarkable achievement considering he was ranked 33rd at the beginning of the series against the West Indies.
Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka is still the highest ranked Test bowler in the world with South Africa's Makhaya Ntini in the second spot.
Although the Caribbean side lost the series against England 3-0, there was some consolation for them as star batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul was named the player of the series. In the three matches, Chanderpaul scored 446 runs at an average of 148.66, including two centuries and three fifties.
Following his 136 not out and 70 in the fourth Test, the southpaw moved up three places in the ICC players' rankings for Test batsmen and is back into the top 10.
Chanderpaul's teammate Dwayne Bravo also had a successful series personally as the all-rounder moved up 12 places in the batting rankings to 27th position, his career best so far.
England's Paul Collingwood has moved up five places to secure 13th position. He is England's second highest ranked Test batsman behind Kevin Pietersen, who is ranked third.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting still tops the list followed by Mohammed Yousuf of Pakistan.
There are no changes in the list of all-rounders with Jacques Kallis of South Africa retaining the top slot followed by Andrew Flintoff and Pollock in second and third spot respectively.