By IANS,
Dubai : A century against New Zealand at Old Trafford has catapulted England opener Andrew Strauss to seven places in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Test rankings for batsmen.
Strauss, who made 106 in the second innings of the second Test against New Zealand, is placed 16th in the ranking list.
Andrew Symonds’ important knocks against West Indies have lifted him up eight places to 12th position in the rankings.
However, there has been no change in the top ten with two Australians ruling the roost — Michael Hussey in first place and his captain, Ricky Ponting, in second.
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara is close behind in third place with Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan in fourth and South Africa’s Jacques Kallis in fifth spot.
The first ten in the bowling charts too retained their places. Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan leads the rankings followed by South African Dale Steyn.
Following a brilliant second-innings haul of 6-37, England’s left-arm spinner Monty Panesar has taken another of his trademark leaps, moving up five places to 11th in the bowling charts.
Indian Test skipper Anil Kumble has retained his position on the eighth spot.
As some consolation for losing the match, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori gained one place to 19th spot. Vettori is still placed second in the all-rounders’ rankings behind Jacques Kallis.
Rankings: Batsmen
Rank Player Team
1 Mike Hussey Aus
2 Ricky Ponting Aus
3 K.C.Sangakkara SL
4 Mhd Yousuf Pak
5 Jacques Kallis SA
6 Matthew Hayden Aus
7 S.Chanderpaul WI
8 M.Jayawardena SL
9 Yonus Khan Pak
10 Kevin Pietersen Eng
Bowlers
1 M.Muralithaaran SL
2 Dale Steyn SA
3 Stuart Clark Aus
4 Brett Lee Aus
5 Makhaya Ntini SA
6 Ryan Sidebottom Eng
7 Chaminda Vaas SL
8 Anil Kumble Ind
9 Shoaib Akhtar Pak
10 Shane Bond NZ
All-rounder
1 Jacques Kallis SA
2 Daniel Vettori NZ
3 Andrew Flintoff Eng
4 Chaminda Vaas SL
5 Dwayne Bravo WI