We rate the All Blacks performances after their 19-0 win over the Springboks on Saturday.
AB, Prince move up
Article By:
Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:40
Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers have stormed into the top 20 of
the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen after
outstanding performances against England in the second Test, which
finished on Monday.
Prince scored 149, de Villiers contributed 174 and the two featured
in a 212-run fifth-wicket partnership that laid the foundation of South
Africa's mammoth 522. That total set up a 10-wicket victory which gave
it a 1-0 lead with two Tests of the four-match series remaining.
Prince has climbed eight places to 13th spot in the rankings and now
has 12th-placed Graeme Smith firmly in his sights, while de Villiers
has jumped six places to 19th position.
However, Jacques Kallis has slipped in the rankings and is now
placed seventh, dropping one spot after scoring four at Leeds, his
third failure of the series. The 33-year-old from Cape Town has dropped
five places since January this year.
South Africa opener
Neil McKenzie has also slipped two places to
26th but Hashim Amla has improved by one and now sits in 25th spot.
England's batsmen had a forgettable Test and this is clearly
reflected in the latest rankings. Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Andrew
Strauss and captain Michael Vaughan have all dropped down the ladder.
Pietersen, who lifted to seventh after his knock of 152 at Lord's,
has dropped one position to eighth while Bell has also failed to defend
his career-best 13th position, which he achieved following his
career-best 199 at Lord's, and has slipped four places to 17th spot.
Andrew Strauss has taken a dive of five places and is now placed
22nd while Vaughan is in 35th spot after sliding three positions.
The batting list is still headed by Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka,
ahead of the West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Mike Hussey of
Australia and his captain Ricky Ponting, along with Mohammad Yousuf of
Pakistan, the latter two
sharing fourth place.
The top 20 list in the rankings for bowlers has remained unchanged
except Matthew Hoggard, who is yet to play in the series, dropping and
swapping places with India's Harbhajan Singh in 17th and 18th spots
respectively.
Monty Panesar holds firm in eleventh place while Andrew Flintoff,
who played in his first Test in almost 18 months, stays in 19th spot.
England's James Anderson has improved his ranking by one place and
he is now just outside the top 20 list in 21st position while the
biggest mover in this category is South Africa's Morne Morkel who
climbs eight places to 38th position after recording match figures of
7-113.
The list is headed by Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralidaran while South
Africa's Dale Steyn is just clear of Australia's Stuart Clarke, who
occupies third place.
In the all-rounder listing, Kallis remains top, clear of Daniel
Vettori of New Zealand, but Flintoff has dropped one
place to share
fourth position with Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas while West Indies'
Dwayne Bravo has climbed to third place.