DateLine: 22nd December 2007

Two unbeaten ODI centuries stretches the Australia captain's lead at top of LG ICC Player Rankings; Lee up two places in bowlers' list; Vettori drops out of top five

Ricky Ponting just keeps going from strength to strength. The Australia captain is leaving his peers for dust at the top of the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after a very pleasing Chappell-Hadlee Series for him and his team.

It was potentially a difficult series for Australia with New Zealand having won it 3-0 last time. But ever the man for the big occasion, Ponting stepped up and dominated proceedings, making sure his side took the series 2-0, with the third match being abandoned due to rain.

It was a case of two innings and two unbeaten centuries for Ponting, who celebrated his 33rd birthday on Wednesday, as he scored a total of 241 runs at a strike-rate of exactly a run a ball. When he is in that kind of form there is little the opposition bowlers can do about it.

What it means for the rankings is that Ponting has smashed his career-best rating as he moves to 832 ratings points. Now only five batsmen in this current decade have enjoyed a better rating than him.

They are:
Michael Hussey (Australia, 863 points in 2007)
Matthew Hayden(Australia, 854 points in 2003)
Sourav Ganguly (India, 844 points in 2000)
Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka, 838 points in 2003)
Kevin Pietersen (England, 834 points in 2007).

Apart from those immediate targets, there is still plenty else for Ponting to aim for, of course, with the record for the highest points rating in history being held by West Indies legend Viv Richards, who managed to get to 935 rating points in 1985.

Ponting is currently 60 points clear of team-mate Andrew Symonds in second position and Adam Gilchrist, who scored a quick-fire half-century in the first ODI against New Zealand at Adelaide, is up three places to 11th spot.

But it is not all good news for Australia with Hussey, Hayden and Michael Clarke all having slipped slightly in the latest rankings.

In the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has dropped out of the top five having gone wicketless in the Chappell-Hadlee series and Australia's left-arm wrist spinner Brad Hogg has fallen four places and out of the top 10.

Black Caps' fast bowler Kyle Mills has also slipped four places to 16th position while Australia's Brett Lee gained two places after a fine series performance. The 31-year-old New South Welshman took seven wickets at an average of 15.28 and this has moved him up past Hogg and South Africa's Makhaya Ntini.

Australia's Shaun Tait is also a man on the move. He jumped up 11 places during the series and is close to breaking into the top 30 for the first time in his career.

There is no change in the top five of the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders with Scott Styris and Jacob Oram failing to move up from sixth and seventh positions, respectively.

The series win has also strengthened Australia's position at the top of the LG ICC ODI Championship table and it is now six points clear of South Africa in second place. New Zealand slips one ratings point but remains third in the table.

It's very close mid-table with just five ratings points separating the Black Caps in third and England in seventh position so we can expect plenty of movement over the coming few weeks.


LG ICC ODI Championship (as of 21 December) Rank Team Points
1 Australia 130
2 South Africa 124
3 New Zealand 112
4 India 110
5 Sri Lanka 108
6 Pakistan 107
7 England 107
8 West Indies 100
9 Bangladesh 48
10 Ireland 28
11 Zimbabwe 19
12 Kenya 0

(Developed by David Kendix)

LG ICC One-Day Rankings (as of 21 December)

Batsmen

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

1 ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 832 ! 44.40 832 v NZ at Hobart 2007
2 ( - ) Andrew Symonds Aus 773 41.30 778 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
3 (+1) Kevin Pietersen Eng 748 49.77 834 v Aus at Antigua 2007
4 (-1) Matthew Hayden Aus 745 44.20 854 v Ind at Centurion 2003
5 ( - ) Mhd Yousuf Pak 742 42.40 777 v SA at Rawalpindi 2003
6 ( - ) Graeme Smith SA 741 39.81 784 v Ind at Kolkata 2005
7= (+1) S.R.Tendulkar Ind 736 44.33 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998
(+1) H.H.Gibbs SA 736 36.65 750 v SL at Durban 2003
9 (-2) Mike Hussey Aus 727 57.34 863 v NZ at Perth 2007
10 ( - ) S.Chanderpaul WI 725 39.67 754 v SA at Durban 1999
11 (+3) Adam Gilchrist Aus 717 36.03 820 v SL at Dambulla 2004
12 (-1) Yuvraj Singh Ind 715 36.90 739 v WI at P-o-Spain 2006
13 (-1) R.R.Sarwan WI 710 44.55 798 v Ind at St Kitts 2006
14 (+1) Chris Gayle WI 708 39.02 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006
15 (-3) Michael Clarke Aus 702 44.51 750 v Ind at Bangalore 2007
16 ( - ) AB de Villiers SA 700 36.46 730 v NZ at Durban 2007
17 ( - ) MS Dhoni Ind 688 43.66 806 v WI at Kingston 2006
18 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 680 44.77 816 v WI at J'burg 2004
19 ( - ) S.T.Jayasuriya SL 676 32.63 838 v Ban at P'burg 2003
20 ( - ) K.C.Sangakkara SL 671 35.60 760 v Ind at Rajkot 2007

Bowlers

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave Econ HS Rating
1 ( - ) Shaun Pollock SA 863 24.54 3.69 920 v Pak at J'burg 2007
2 ( - ) Shane Bond NZ 767 19.32 4.20 811 v SA at St George's 2007
3 ( - ) Nathan Bracken Aus 726 22.86 4.42 806 v SL at St George's 2007
4 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 717 26.91 4.18 861 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2004
5 (+1) M.Muralidaran SL 712 22.68 3.84 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002
6 (-1) Daniel Vettori NZ 705 33.02 4.21 767 v Eng at Perth 2007
7 (+2) Brett Lee Aus 689 22.84 4.70 853 v SA at Melbourne 2006
8 ( - ) Makhaya Ntini SA 672 23.90 4.44 782 v WI at Cape Town 2004
9 (+1) Jerome Taylor WI 665! 26.76 4.75 665 v Zim at Bulawayo 2007
10 (+1) M.F.Maharoof SL 664 23.88 4.65 671 v Eng at Dambulla 2007
11 (-4) Brad Hogg Aus 657 26.70 4.53 687 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
12 (+1) Andrew Flintoff Eng 650 25.10 4.37 755 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
13 (+1) Daren Powell WI 649* 29.67 4.56 658 v Zim at Harare 2007
14 (+1) Abdur Razzak Ban 648 22.85 3.98 711 v Eng at Bridgetown 2007
15 (+1) Lasith Malinga SL 647 24.67 4.72 687 v Ban at Colombo (RPS) 2007
16 (-4) Kyle Mills NZ 644 27.11 4.67 690 v Aus at Mohali 2006
17 ( - ) Andre Nel SA 632 28.41 4.66 672 v Ind at Stormont 2007
18 ( - ) James Anderson Eng 629 27.94 4.80 689 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
19 ( - ) C.R.D.Fernando SL 628! 28.94 5.17 628 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2007
20 ( - ) Jacob Oram NZ 623 30.74 4.50 766 v Aus at The Oval 2004

All-rounders

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating
1 ( - ) Shaun Pollock SA 481 496 v ASI at Chennai 2007
2 ( - ) S.T.Jayasuriya SL 363 463 v Pak at Lahore 1997
3 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 354 544 v SL at The Rose Bowl 2004
4 ( - ) Chris Gayle WI 353 511 v Zim at Harare 2003
5 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 326 505 v WI at Bridgetown 2001

Copyright © 2003-2008 CricketArchive