LG ICC Player Rankings indicates that it’s all to play for ahead of ICC Cricket World Cup semi-finals by Icc Media Release

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Event:

ICC World Cup 2006/07

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DateLine: 23rd April 2007

 

Batsmen Hayden, Jayasuriya and de Villiers all move up while Bracken, Nel and Hogg impress with the ball

 

Eight of the top 11 players in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen are from teams involved in the semi-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007.

 

Of the top 10 only Kevin Pietersen, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni will not be in St Lucia or Jamaica on Tuesday and Wednesday for the penultimate stage of the competition.

 

Sri Lanka opener Sanath Jayasuriya has moved up to third position following his run of good form while there have also been moves in the right direction for Sarwan of the West Indies, AB de Villiers and Herschelle Gibbs of South Africa and Australians Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke. Hayden has moved up one place to seventh spot and is enjoying his highest ODI rating for nearly three years following his third century of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 against New Zealand on Friday.

 

England’s Pietersen is still on top spot, closely followed by Australia captain Ricky Ponting in second. Sarwan’s good showing in the Super Eight stage of the tournament has propelled him up no fewer than 10 places to sixth.

 

Australia holds the advantage in the batting department though with four players currently featuring in the top 10.

 

There is an interesting symmetry about the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers with each team left in the tournament represented by two players in the top eight. Indeed, each side has a bowler in the top four and another in the fifth to eighth spot.

 

South Africa’s Shaun Pollock is still way out in front but he is slowly being caught by Shane Bond and the latest Australian fast bowler to make a challenge, Nathan Bracken. The 29-year-old New South Welshman has moved past his team-mate Glenn McGrath and now occupies third spot.

 

Another Australian to have an excellent tournament so far is Brad Hogg. He has moved up nine places to 14th in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers (and 19 places since the World Cup began), the highest ranking of his career. Hogg’s team-mate Shaun Tait is also in impressive form, having moved up 66 places since the start of the tournament, into the top 50 for the first time.

 

It has been a good few weeks for South African pace duo of Andrew Hall and Andre Nel. Hall is up five places to 12th position while Nel has gone up eight places to 11th, giving the Proteas a statistical edge in the bowling department going into their semi-final showdown with Australia in St Lucia.

 

And with Jacques Kallis in such good form, Graeme Smith’s team can take plenty of confidence from the latest rankings. Kallis is now up three places to second in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders, just one place behind team-mate Pollock.

 

LG ICC One-Day Rankings (after Super Eight stage of ICC Cricket World Cup 2007)

 

Batsmen

 

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

 

1 ( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 827 56.27 834 v Aus at Antigua 2007

 

2 ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 804 43.42 805 v SA at Johannesburg 2006

 

3 (+1) ST Jayasuriya SL 769 33.26 838 v Ban at Pietermaritzburg 2003

 

4 (-1) Mike Hussey Aus 766 58.90 863 v NZ at Perth 2007

 

5 ( - ) Graeme Smith SA 753 39.65 784 v Ind at Kolkata 2005

 

6 (+10) RR Sarwan WI 746 44.55 798 v Ind at St Kitts 2006

 

7 (+1) Matthew Hayden Aus 743 44.06 854 v Ind at Centurion 2003

 

8 (-2) Mahendra Dhoni Ind 739 44.15 806 v WI at Kingston 2006

 

9 (-2) Jacques Kallis SA 733 45.68 816 v WI at Johannesburg 2004

 

10 ( - ) Andrew Symonds Aus 720 39.11 774 v Ban at Fatullah 2006

 

11 (-2) KC Sangakkara SL 715 36.18 760 v Ind at Rajkot 2007

 

12 ( - ) Mhd Yousuf Pak 713 41.40 777 v SA at Rawalpindi 2003

 

13 (+2) Michael Clarke Aus 711 44.67 749 v SA at Centurion 2006

 

14 (-1) Rahul Dravid Ind 709 40.01 754 v WI at Kingston 2006

 

15= (-1) Chris Gayle WI 706 37.97 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006

 

(+11) AB de Villiers SA 706* 35.41 706 v Eng at Bridgetown 2007

 

17 (+3) HH Gibbs SA 702 36.19 750 v SL at Durban 2003

 

18 (-7) Adam Gilchrist Aus 694 35.69 820 v SL at Dambulla 2004

 

19 (-2) Yuvraj Singh Ind 687 35.53 739 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2006

 

20 (-2) S Chanderpaul WI 682 38.05 754 v SA at Durban 1999

 

Bowlers

 

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Ranking

 

1 ( - ) Shaun Pollock SA 900 24.04 3.71 920 v Pak at Johannesburg 2007

 

2 ( - ) Shane Bond NZ 807 19.00 4.17 811 v SA at St George's 2007

 

3 (+2) Nathan Bracken Aus 784 21.30 4.36 806 v SL at St George's 2007

 

4 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 775 26.65 4.18 861 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2004

 

5 (-2) Glenn McGrath Aus 765 22.12 3.88 903 v SA at Bloemfontein 2002

 

6 ( - ) M Muralidaran SL 752 22.72 3.84 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002

 

7 (+1) Daniel Vettori NZ 703 32.85 4.22 767 v Eng at Perth 2007

 

8 (-1) Makhaya Ntini SA 697 23.59 4.41 782 v WI at Cape Town 2004

 

9 ( - ) Brett Lee Aus 693 22.65 4.69 853 v SA at Melbourne 2006

 

10 (+1) Abdur Razzaq Ban 685 21.94 3.87 711 v Eng at Bridgetown 2007

 

11 (+8) Andre Nel SA 666 27.57 4.63 666 v Eng at Bridgetown 2007

 

12 (+5) Andrew Hall SA 655 25.27 4.48 655 v Eng at Bridgetown 2007

 

13 (-3) Ian Bradshaw WI 652 29.48 4.35 792 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2006

 

14 (+9) Brad Hogg Aus 645 27.19 4.51 651 v Pak at Hobart 2005

 

15 (-1) Harbhajan Singh Ind 641 32.45 4.13 735 v WI at Bridgetown 2002

 

16= ( - ) Ajit Agarkar Ind 635 27.55 5.03 676 v WI at Kuala Lumpur 2006

 

(-4) Andrew Flintoff Eng 635 25.88 4.38 755 v Ban at Dhaka 2003

 

18= (+1) Mhd Rafiq Ban 625 38.83 4.37 650 v Zim at Bogra 2006

 

(-5) M Mortaza Ban 625 28.82 4.55 679 v Ind at Port-of-Spn 2007

 

20 (-5) Jacob Oram NZ 620 30.31 4.50 766 v Aus at The Oval 2004

 

All-rounders

 

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Ranking

 

1 ( - ) Shaun Pollock SA 466 483 v Pak at Johannesburg 2007

 

2 (+3) Jacques Kallis SA 406 505 v WI at Bridgetown 2001

 

3 (-1) ST Jayasuriya SL 398 463 v Pak at Lahore 1997

 

4 ( - ) Chris Gayle WI 381 511 v Zim at Harare 2003

 

5 (-2) Andrew Flintoff Eng 373 544 v SL at The Rose Bowl 2004