Morkel and Tsotsobe on the charge in latest player rankings

[Faizan Lakhani]

South Africa fast bowlers Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe, and England batsman Jonathan Trott have achieved career-best rankings in the Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings which were released on Monday.

Morkel, who took 12 wickets in South Africa’s 3-2 series win over India, has vaulted 10 places to second position in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers while Tsotsobe has been rewarded for finishing as the leading wicket-taker in the series, with 13 wickets, with a rise of 38 positions which puts in 10th spot.

With Dale Steyn also climbing nine places after claiming eight wickets in the series to occupy eighth position, South Africa now has three bowlers inside the top 10.

Also heading in the right direction are Lasith Malinga in 13th (up by 10th places), Kyle Mills in 14th (up by two places), Ajantha Mendis in 15th (up by two places), Mitchell Johnson in 17th (up by four places), Harbhajan Singh in 20th (up by two places), Zaheer Khan in 23rd (up by four places), Brett Lee in 27th (up by 10 places), Umar Gul in 32nd (up by two places), Munaf Patel in 33rd (up by six place), Shaun Tait in 37th (up by five places) and Tim Southee in 40th (up by 13 places).

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, England’s Jonathan Trott is the biggest mover.

The 29-year-old Warwickshire batsman finished as the most successful batsman in the seven-match series between Australia and England with 375 runs. As a result, he has been rewarded with a jump of 23 places which has given him a career-best to date ranking of 19th.

Others inside the top 20 and heading in the right direction are India’s Virat Kohli in third (up by two places), Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara in seventh (up by six places), Australia’s Michael Clarke in 12th (up by two places), Shane Watson of Australia in 13th (up by eight places) and South Africa’s JP Duminy in 18th position (up by eight places).

Batsmen outside the top 20 and making big strides include Martin Guptill in 39th (up by 12 places), Misbah-ul-Haq in 44th (up by eight places) and Yusuf Pathan in 47th (up 34 places).

South Africa’s Hashim Amla leads team-mate AB de Villiers by a distance in the batting table.

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders, the only change in the top is the entry of England’s Paul Collingwood in fifth position. The list is headed by Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan.

In the Reliance ICC ODI Championship, Bangladesh has moved ahead of the West Indies in eighth place, thanks to Sri Lanka’s 2-0 win over Darren Sammy’s side in the three-match series which finished in Colombo on Sunday.

Both Bangladesh and the West Indies are locked on 66 ratings points but Bangladesh is placed higher after the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

Meanwhile, Australia’s 6-1 series win over England has earned it three ratings points and it now sits pretty on 131 with its closest rivals being India and Sri Lanka who are on 119 ratings points each. South Africa is a further one point behind in fourth position.

Reliance ICC ODI Championship table (as of 7 Feb 2011, after the end of Australia-England, Sri Lanka-West Indies, New Zealand-Pakistan ODI series)

Rank Team Ranking
1 Australia 131
2 India 119
3 Sri Lanka 119
4 South Africa 118
5 England 109
6 Pakistan 100
7 New Zealand 91
8 Bangladesh 66
9 West Indies 66
10 Ireland 39
11 Zimbabwe 37
12 Netherlands 17
13 Kenya 0

(Developed by David Kendix)

To see what upcoming results will do to the Reliance ICC ODI Championship table go to http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/match_z..._predictor.php

Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings (as on 7 February 2011)

Batsmen

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

1 ( - ) Hashim Amla SA 889! 59.88 889 v Ind at Centurion 2011
2= ( - ) AB de Villiers SA 784 43.89 823 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2010
(+3) Virat Kohli Ind 784 46.44 800 v SA at Port Elizabeth 2011
4 (-1) Mike Hussey Aus 768 51.96 865 v NZ at Perth 2007
5 (-1) MS Dhoni Ind 730 48.80 837 v Aus at Delhi 2009
6 (+1) T.Dilshan SL 719 35.14 751 v Ind at Dambulla 2010
7 (+6) K.Sangakkara SL 698 36.86 755 v Pak at Colombo (RPS) 2006
8 (+1) Jacques Kallis SA 690 45.84 818 v WI at Johannesburg 2004
9 (+1) G.Gambhir Ind 689 40.43 723 v NZ at Vadodara 2010
10 (-4) Chris Gayle WI 681 39.00 808 v Zim at Harare 2003
11 ( - ) Virender Sehwag Ind 679 34.64 787 v NZ at Auckland 2003
12 (+3) Michael Clarke Aus 674 43.58 751 v SL at Melbourne 2008
13= (+8) Shane Watson Aus 672 40.89 687 v Eng at Melbourne 2011
(-2) Ricky Ponting Aus 672 42.75 831 v NZ at Hobart 2007
15 (-1) Sachin Tendulkar Ind 671 44.97 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998
16 ( - ) Graeme Smith SA 670 39.84 785 v Ind at Kolkata 2005
17 (+8) JP Duminy SA 666 41.91 668 v Ind at Port Elizabeth 2011
18 (-10) S.Chanderpaul WI 665 41.65 777 v Eng at Bridgetown 2009
19 (+23) Jonathan Trott Eng 655* 53.62 669 v Aus at Sydney 2011
20 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 652 35.01 661 v Zim at Mirpur 2010

Bowlers

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

1 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 713 31.26 4.13 790 v Eng at Christchurch 2008
2 (+10) Morne Morkel SA 704! 24.06 4.85 704 v Ind at Centurion 2011
3 (-1) Abdur Razzak Ban 675! 26.90 4.44 675 v Zim at Chittagong 2010
4 (-1) Ray Price Zim 669 34.92 3.76 722 v WI at Guyana 2010
5 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 668 28.80 4.25 717 v Zim at Chittagong 2009
6 (+1) N.Kulasekara SL 664 29.04 4.54 727 v NZ at Colombo (RPS) 2009
7 (-4) Graeme Swann Eng 659* 24.61 4.51 679 v Aus at Melbourne 2011
8 (+9) Dale Steyn SA 643 29.65 5.22 662 v Zim at Benoni 2009
9 (-3) Stuart Broad Eng 639 25.76 5.15 703 v SA at Trent Bridge 2008
10 (+38) L.Tsotsobe SA 637* 19.91 4.54 644 v Ind at Port Elizabeth 2011
11 (-3) Doug Bollinger Aus 636* 24.16 4.54 676 v Eng at Hobart 2011
12 (-3) James Anderson Eng 618 30.47 4.99 700 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
13 (+10) Lasith Malinga SL 611 27.02 4.92 678 v Ban at Colombo (RPS) 2007
14 (+2) Kyle Mills NZ 609 26.46 4.75 723 v Aus at Melbourne 2009
15 (+2) Ajantha Mendis SL 608 19.59 4.40 642 v SA at Centurion 2009
16 (-5) Jacob Oram NZ 605 30.44 4.34 770 v Aus at The Oval 2004
17= (+4) Mitchell Johnson Aus 603 26.38 4.96 729 v Ban at Darwin 2008
(-7) Praveen Kumar Ind 603 33.57 5.07 652 v NZ at Dambulla 2010
19 ( - ) Trent Johnston Ire 602* 30.30 4.12 608 v Zim at Harare 2010
20 (+2) Harbhajan Singh Ind 600 33.14 4.30 738 v WI at Bridgetown 2002

All-rounders

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating

1 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 436 453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009
2 ( - ) Shane Watson Aus 388 394 v Eng at Sydney 2011
3 ( - ) Shahid Afridi Pak 354 382 v Ban at Dambulla 2010
4 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 337 506 v WI at Bridgetown 2001
5 (+3) P.Collingwood Eng 314 332 v NZ at Bristol 2008

[sakss]

no pakistani bowler or batsman in the top 20 :o