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Panesar spins into the top 20

June 12, 2007 17:00 IST
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England's Monty Panesar shot up 14 places in the latest LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers following his ten-wicket haul in the third Test against the West Indies at Old Trafford.

The 25-year-old left-arm spinner moved up from 26th position to 12th and is now closing in on a place in the top ten with team-mate Andrew Flintoff and Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar not far above him.

His match figures of 10-187 were his best to date and included six wickets in the second innings as England won a closely fought match by 60 runs. He is now the third ranked slow bowler in the world behind Muttiah Muralidaran of Sri Lanka and India's Anil Kumble.

Despite losing the match, there was some consolation for the West Indies.

Corey Collymore moved up two places in the bowling rankings and into the top ten. The 29-year-old seamer has been a consistent performer and the three wickets he took in the first innings at Old Trafford were enough for him to overtake Flintoff and Akhtar.

There was no other movement in the top ten with Muralidaran still way out in front, South Africa's Makhaya Ntini second and Kumble occupying joint-third spot with Ntini's Proteas team-mate Shaun Pollock.

England's Ryan Sidebottom is enjoying his return to Test cricket and his good form has taken him into the top 50, where he currently lies in 43rd position.

On the batting front, the main movers in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen were Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies and England's Alistair Cook.

In an interesting symmetry, both players scored 166 runs during the Old Trafford Test, including a century and half-century apiece, and both moved up eight places in the rankings as a result.

Chanderpaul holds a slight advantage in 13th position over Cook, who lies in a career-best 14th spot.

It was not good news for everyone involved in the match though. England opener Andrew Strauss has slipped out of the top 20 for the first time since December 2004 following a disappointing series so far for the Middlesex left-hander.

Kevin Pietersen retains his third position overall but has just dipped below the 900 ratings point mark. He currently lies behind Australia captain Ricky Ponting in first position and Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf in second.

There is no movement in the top five of the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders with Jacques Kallis of South Africa still out in front, followed by Flintoff in second position and Pollock third.

LG ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 12 June, after third Test between England and the West Indies at Old Trafford)

Batsmen

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Ranking
1   Ricky Ponting Aus 936 59.29 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
2   Mhd Yousuf Pak 915 56.00 933 v WI at Karachi 2006
3   Kevin Pietersen Eng 892 53.72 909 v WI at Leeds 2007
4   K.C.Sangakkara SL 857 50.64 857 v NZ at Wellington 2006
5   Mike Hussey Aus 842* 79.85 842 v Eng at Sydney 2007
6   Matthew Hayden Aus 828 53.00 935 v Eng at Brisbane 2002
7   Jacques Kallis SA 820 55.09 896 v Eng at Cape Town 2005
8   Rahul Dravid Ind 801 57.46 892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005
9   Younis Khan Pak 789 48.21 856 v Eng at Leeds 2006
10   Ashwell Prince SA 755 42.85 756 v Pak at Centurion 2007
11   Inzamam-ul-Haq Pak 735 50.07 870 v Eng at Lahore 2005
12   M.Jayawardene SL 710 48.37 836 v Eng at Birmingham 2002
13 (+8) S.Chanderpaul WI 694 45.59 811 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2005
14 (+8) Alastair Cook Eng 689* 48.79 689 v WI at Manchester 2007
15 (-1) Stephen Fleming NZ 674 39.64 702 v Ban at Chittagong 2004
16= (-1) S.R.Tendulkar Ind 672 55.44 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
  (-1) Graeme Smith SA 672 47.08 756 v NZ at Wellington 2004
18 (-5) P.D.Collingwood Eng 669 43.23 730 v Aus at Adelaide 2006
19   Ian Bell Eng 665 44.73 679 v WI at Lord's 2007
20 (-2) Adam Gilchrist Aus 662 48.66 874 v SA at Cape Town 2002

Bowlers

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Ranking
1   M.Muralidaran SL 913 21.73 915 v Pak at Lahore 2002
2   Makhaya Ntini SA 856 27.48 863 v Ind at Durban 2006
3=   Anil Kumble Ind 730 28.59 859 v SL at Bangalore 1994
    Shaun Pollock SA 730 23.19 909 v Eng at Johannesburg 1999
5   Shane Bond NZ 722* 22.10 778 v WI at Auckland 2006
6   Stuart Clark Aus 720* 17.80 720 v Eng at Sydney 2007
7   Mohammad Asif Pak 710* 20.12 710 v SA at Cape Town 2007
8   M'thew Hoggard Eng 701 30.30 795 v SL at Birmingham 2006
9 (+2) Corey Collymore WI 699* 31.73 700 v Eng at Lord's 2007
10 (-1) Shoaib Akhtar Pak 698 25.29 855 v NZ at Wellington 2003
11 (-1) Andrew Flintoff Eng 687 32.02 810 v Pak at Multan 2005
12 (+14) Monty Panesar Eng 671* 29.93 671 v WI at Manchester 2007
13 (-1) Chaminda Vaas SL 663 29.44 800 v Ind at Chennai 2005
14 (-1) Danish Kaneria Pak 662 32.36 723 v Eng at Multan 2005
15 (-1) Brett Lee Aus 644 31.60 658 v WI at Perth 2000
16 (-1) James Franklin NZ 637* 28.19 679 v SL at Christchurch 2006
17 (-1) Irfan Pathan Ind 618* 30.79 761 v SL at Delhi 2005
18   Steve Harmison Eng 611 30.59 875 v WI at The Oval 2004
19 (-2) Umar Gul Pak 608* 30.62 627 v WI at Karachi 2006
20 (-1) Daniel Vettori NZ 598 34.28 681 v Aus at Auckland 2000

All-rounders

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Ranking
1   Jacques Kallis SA 462 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2   Andrew Flintoff Eng 392 501 v Pak at Multan 2005
3   Shaun Pollock SA 356 490 v Eng at The Oval 2003
4   Daniel Vettori NZ 329 329 v SL at Wellington 2006
5   Chaminda Vaas SL 253 281 v Ind at Chennai 2005

*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.

For more information on the LG ICC Player Rankings go to http://www.lgiccrankings.com/

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