Latest Player Rankings

The latest player rankings have been announced following the Test Series just completed between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, They are as follows:

Batsmen
1. Kumar Sangakkara (SL)
2. Gautam Gambir (Ind)
3. Mahela Jayawardena (SL)
4. Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)
5. Mohammad Yousef (Pak)
6. Michael Clarke (Aust)
7. Younus Khan (Pak)
8. Graeme Smith (SA)
9. Ricky Ponting (Aust)
10. Jaques Kallis (SA)

Bowlers
1. Dale Steyn (SA)
2. Muttaih Muralidaran (SL)
3. Mitchell Johnson (Aust)
4. Makhaya Ntini (SA)
5. Harbhajan Singh (Ind)
6. Stuart Clark (Aust)
7. Paul Harris (SA)
8. Zaheer Khan (Ind)
9. Jimmy Anderson (Eng)
10. Graeme Swann (Eng)

In the history of these rankings, this must be Australia worst representation because outside the top ten, only Katich sneaks into the next ten at 19th - symptomatic of the batting collapses witnessed against England. Of the bowlers, the out of work Brett Lee is at 12th and Peter Siddle at 13th but then its a long way to Ben Hilfenhaus at position 34.

The dominance of South Africa and Sri Lanka at the top of the team rankings in underlined by the prominent position their batsmen and bowlers have in the rankings, with South Africa having three bowlers in the top ten. Mind you, its hard to imagine Paul Harris as the 7th best bowler in the world! Then again, Mitch Johnson sits at three.

With pointers to the summer, contractual negotiations not withstanding, the Australia public get another chance to see an aging West Indies batting line up in which Shivnarine Chanderpaul continues star. Their problem, like Pakistan's, will be bowling Australia out. With bowlers well down the list, Jerome Taylor (15), Fidel Edwards (24) and DJ Bravo (31) and Australia smarting, they will serve as retribution. Pakistan with Danish Kaneria (17) who bowls better than his pastry name sounds and Umar Gul (20) are a long way ahead of other Pakistani bowlers. In the batting, it will be a pleasure to see the two stars of world batting for the last few years, Mohammad Yousef and Younus Khan, taking on the Australia bowling attack at Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart.

For a full look through the rankings, follow the links at the bas of the page.