Clarke regains top spot in Test rankings, no Indian in top-20

Dubai, Dec 18 (IANS) Australia captain Michael Clarke has reclaimed the top spot in the latest ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen while no Indian figures in the top-20 of the list.

Clarke, who entered the Hobart Test against Sri Lanka 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 game 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.

Other big gainers in the latest rankings are Australia’s Mike Hussey (9th), England’s duo of Jonathan Trott (15th) and Ian Bell (18th), Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan (24th) and India’s Virat Kohli (37th).

The batsmen to slip down the ladder are Kevin Pietersen in 11th (down by two), Thilan Samaraweera in 17th (down by two), Mahela Jayawardene 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 Jayawardene 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),

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.

IANS 2012-12-18 20:16:06