Philander achieves career-best second position

Dubai, August 21, 2012: South Africa’s fast bowler Vernon Philander has achieved a career-best second position on the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers after inspiring his side to a 51 runs victory over England in the third Test at Lord’s, which gave the Proteas a 2-0 series win, and, with it, the number-one position on the Reliance ICC Test Championship table.

The 27-year-old, who has been shortlisted for LG People’s Choice Award 2012, returned figures of two for 48 and five for 30. This performance has helped him leapfrog Pakistan’s off-spinner Saeed Ajmal into second spot and has put him just 29 ratings points behind team-mate Dale Steyn.

Philander backed up his marvelous bowling performance with scores of 61 and 35 in South Africa’s totals of 309 and 351, respectively. Apart from walking away with the man of the match award, the show with the bat has given him a boost of 40 places in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen and has put him in 92nd position, while the combined performance with the bat and the ball has given him a career-high seventh position (up by 14 places) in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders.

England’s Steven Finn is the other bowler to be rewarded with a jump. The 23-year-old fast bowler recorded figures of eight for 149 which have helped him break into the top 20 for the first time in his career.

Finn is now in 16th position (up by 10 places) and is the fourth England bowler after James Anderson (fifth), Stuart Broad (eighth), Graeme Swann (13th) and Tim Bresnan (20th) to find a place inside the top 20 bowlers.

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, South Africa’s Hashim Amla, who was adjudged player of the series for his aggregate of 482 runs (average 120.5), has reclaimed his number-two position, which he last held in February 2010.

Amla now trails number-one ranked Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka by 23 ratings points.

JP Duminy of South Africa and England’s Jonny Bairstow are the other batsmen to head in the right direction. Duminy, who scored 61 and 26 not out, has moved up seven places to 53rd position while Bairstow’s masterly knocks of 95 and 54 have helped him vault 101 places to 69th spot.

Batsmen losing ground after the Lord’s Test include Jacques Kallis in fourth (down by two places), Graeme Smith in seventh (down by one place), Alastair Cook in 12th (down by four places), Jonathan Trott in 16th (down by two places), Ian Bell in 18th (down by one place) and Andrew Strauss in 30th (down by one place).

There is also a change in the guard in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders where Kallis’ drop means Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh is back in number-one position.

Meanwhile, India hosts New Zealand in a two-Test series in Hyderabad from Thursday and there will be some movement on the Reliance ICC Test Championship table, irrespective of how the series pans out.

India currently sits in fifth position, five ratings points behind fourth-ranked Pakistan. A 2-0 victory will earn Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side two ratings points, which will put India on 106 ratings points, while pushing New Zealand to 76 ratings points (down from 80).

However, if the series result is reversed, then India will slip behind Sri Lanka into sixth position and New Zealand will reduce the 10-point difference with the seventh-ranked West Indies to just one rating point.

In case of a one-all series result, India will concede three ratings points while New Zealand will gain three ratings points.

India v New Zealand series schedule

23-27 Aug – 1st Test, Hyderabad

31 Aug-4 Sept – 2nd Test, Bengaluru

Reliance ICC Test Championship (as of 21 August, after England-South Africa series, before the start of India-New Zealand series)

Rank Team Rating

1 South Africa 120

2 England 117

3 Australia 116

4 Pakistan 109

5 India 104

6 Sri Lanka 98

7 West Indies 90

8 New Zealand 80

9 Bangladesh 0

(Developed by David Kendix)

Reliance ICC Test Rankings (as on 21 August, after England-South Africa series, before the start of India-New Zealand series)

Batsmen

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Rating

1 ( – ) K.Sangakkara SL 892 56.73 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007

2 (+1) Hashim Amla SA 869 49.95 872 v Eng at The Oval 2012

3 (+1) S.Chanderpaul WI 829 50.20 901 v NZ at Napier 2008

4 (-2) Jacques Kallis SA 822 56.94 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007

5 ( – ) AB de Villiers SA 806 48.85 821 v Eng at The Oval 2012

6 (+1) Michael Clarke Aus 771 48.77 855 v Eng at Headingley 2009

7 (-1) Graeme Smith SA 767 49.78 843 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010

8 (+1) Younus Khan Pak 761 51.69 880 v SL at Lahore 2009

9 (+2) Azhar Ali Pak 753! 45.27 753 v SL at Pallekele 2012

10 (+2) S Tendulkar Ind 749 55.44 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002

11 (-1) Kevin Pietersen Eng 746 49.48 909 v WI at Headingley 2007

12= (-4) Alastair Cook Eng 731 47.84 836 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011

(+1) Ross Taylor NZ 731 42.80 775 v Pak at Wellington 2009

14= ( – ) Misbah-ul-Haq Pak 720 45.68 771 v Eng at Abu Dhabi 2012

( – ) T.Samaraweera SL 720 51.29 775 v SA at Cape Town 2012

16 (-2) Jonathan Trott Eng 719 50.49 856 v SL at Cardiff 2011

17 (+1) Mike Hussey Aus 705 50.07 921 v WI at Kingston 2008

18 (-1) Ian Bell Eng 704 46.83 822 v Ind at The Oval 2011

19 ( – ) M.Jayawardene SL 693 50.43 883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009

20 ( – ) Ricky Ponting Aus 691 52.75 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006

Bowlers

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Rating

1 ( – ) Dale Steyn SA 881 23.50 902 v SL at Centurion 2011

2 (+1) Vernon Philander SA 852*! 15.96 852 v Eng at Lord’s 2012

3 (-1) Saeed Ajmal Pak 832 27.09 836 v SL at Galle 2012

4 ( – ) Rangana Herath SL 782! 31.72 782 v Pak at Pallekele 2012

5 ( – ) James Anderson Eng 761 30.39 813 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011

6 ( – ) Ben Hilfenhaus Aus 756* 28.03 757 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2012

7 (+1) Peter Siddle Aus 740 29.27 768 v Ind at Adelaide 2012

8 (-1) Stuart Broad Eng 727 31.02 783 v WI at Lord’s 2012

9 ( – ) Morne Morkel SA 724 30.36 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011

10 ( – ) Kemar Roach WI 712*! 27.69 712 v NZ at Kingston 2012

11 ( – ) Abdur Rehman Pak 704* 28.40 739 v Eng at Dubai 2012

12 ( – ) Zaheer Khan Ind 697 31.78 752 v SA at Durban 2010

13 ( – ) Graeme Swann Eng 683 29.58 858 v Pak at Lord’s 2010

14 ( – ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 678* 31.33 680 v WI at Mirpur 2011

15 ( – ) Chris Martin NZ 638 33.79 669 v SA at Hamilton 2012

16 (+10) Steven Finn Eng 621*! 28.15 621 v SA at Lord’s 2012

17 (-1) Daniel Vettori NZ 588 34.42 681 v Aus at Auckland 2000

18 (-1) Ryan Harris Aus 587* 23.63 614 v WI at Bridgetown 2012

19 (-1) Umar Gul Pak 584 33.66 642 v Eng at Dubai 2012

20 (-1) Tim Bresnan Eng 575* 30.05 657 v WI at Edgbaston 2012

All-rounders

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts HS Rating

1 (+1) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 404/*! 404 v Pak at Mirpur 2011

2 (-1) Jacques Kallis SA 390 616 v Pak at Durban 2002

3 ( – ) Shane Watson Aus 334/* 394 v SA at Johannesburg 2011

4 (+1) Daniel Vettori NZ 320 412 v Pak at Napier 2009

5 (-1) Stuart Broad Eng 318 382 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2012. —- ICC/thecricketer.com