Tendulkar And Kallis Share Number-One Batting Spot

India batsman Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis of South Africa have jointly claimed the coveted number-one position in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen after stellar performances in the Cape Town Test which finished on Thursday.

Tendulkar, who scored 146 and 14 not out, has gained one place while Kallis has been rewarded with a jump of four places for his performances of 161 and 109 not out .that earned him the man of the series and match of the match awards, to leapfrog Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara.

Both the batsmen now sit on 883 ratings points, just one ahead of Sangakkara.

Tendulkar, who won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year Award 2010 at the LG ICC Awards in Bengaluru in October last year, last claimed the number-one spot on 14 October 2010 after his magnificent 214 and 53 not out against Australia also in Bengaluru.

It is the 10th time that Tendulkar has claimed the number-one ranking which he first achieved in his 33rd Test in November 1994 against the West Indies in Mumbai.

Kallis last surged to the top of the batting table in October 2005 after the Sydney Test against Australia while he first topped the chart after the Newlands Test against England in January 2005. He earned 77 ratings points from the series against India in which he scored 498 runs.

Also charging up the batting table are left-handed openers Alastair Cook of England and Gautam Gambhir of India. Cook, who scored a match-winning 189 in Sydney, has vaulted eight places to fifth spot. Cook had entered the Ashes in 30th position on 628 ratings point and ended the series with a career-best rating of 803 – thanks to his series aggregate of 766 runs which earned him the man of the series award.

Gambhir has broken into the top 20 and he now sits in 15th position after his scores of 93 and 64 have helped him jump seven places in the latest rankings which were released on Friday.

England’s Ian Bell and Matt Prior have also improved their rankings after hitting centuries in England’s an innings and 83 runs victory in Sydney. Bell has moved up five places to 22nd position while Prior is now in 29th position after gaining six places.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, South Africa’s Dale Steyn continues to lead the pack. He is now on 899 ratings points after earning two ratings points and will now have to wait until the next Test series against Australia in September-October before he takes a shot at the 900-point mark threshold..

Bowlers making upward movements include James Anderson in third (up by one place), Ishant Sharma in 15th (up by one place), S.Sreesanth in 22nd (up by four places), Ben Hilfenhaus in 24th (up by two places), Shane Watson in 32nd (up by one place) and Tim Bresnan in 36th (up by five places).

There is no change in the top five of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders with Kallis leading Daniel Vettori of New Zealand by a distance.

ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 7 January 2011)

Batsmen
Rank      (+/-)       Player                   Team     Points    Ave         HS Rating
1=        (+1)         S.Tendulkar          Ind          883         56.94     898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
(+4)         Jacques Kallis       SA           883         57.43     935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
3           (-2)          K.Sangakkara      SL           882         57.25     938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
4           (-1)          Jonathan Trott     Eng         826*      61.53     839 v Aus at Melbourne 2010
5           (+8)         Alastair Cook       Eng         803!       47.50     803 v Aus at Sydney 2011
6           (-2)          Virender Sehwag  Ind          790         53.43     866 v SL at Galle 2010
7           ( – )          M.Jayawardena   SL           781         53.82     883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
8           ( – )          S.Chanderpaul     WI          779         48.98     901 v NZ at Napier 2008
9           ( – )          VVS Laxman       Ind          774         47.32     778 v SA at Durban 2010
10         ( – )          T.Samaraweera   SL           763!       54.25     763 v WI at Pallekele 2010
11         (-5)          AB de Villiers        SA           760         47.41     810 v Ind at Centurion 2010
12         ( – )          Hashim Amla       SA           744         46.95     842 v Ind at Kolkata 2010
13         (-3)          Mike Hussey        Aus         742         51.09     921 v WI at Kingston 2008
14         (+1)         Shane Watson      Aus         724         41.55     729 v Eng at Perth 2010
15=       (-1)          Graeme Smith      SA           723         49.71     843 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010
(+7)         G. Gambhir           Ind          723         51.33     886 v SL at Kanpur 2009
17         (-1)          Younus Khan       Pak         715         50.37     880 v SL at Lahore 2009
18         (-1)          Ross Taylor          NZ          711         41.54     775 v Pak at Wellington 2009
19         (-1)          Chris Gayle           WI          709         41.65     755 v SL at Galle 2010
20         (-1)          Tamim Iqbal        Ban        707*!    40.13     707 v Eng at Old Trafford 2010

Bowlers
Rank      (+/-)       Player                   Team     Points    Ave         HS Rating
1           ( – )          Dale Steyn            SA           899!       23.21     899 v Ind at Cape Town 2011
2           ( – )          Graeme Swann    Eng         793         28.10     858 v Pak at Lord’s 2010
3           (+1)         James Anderson  Eng         776!       31.10     776 v Aus at Sydney 2011
4           (-1)          Morne Morkel      SA           751         30.23     775 v Ind at Centurion 2010
5           (-1)          Zaheer Khan        Ind          748         31.94     752 v SA at Durban 2010
6           ( – )          M.Asif                    Pak         738         24.36     818 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2010
7           ( – )          Mitchell Johnson Aus         727         29.71     825 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
8           ( – )          Harbhajan Singh Ind          672         31.85     765 v NZ at Wellington 2002
9           ( – )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        648*      32.09     650 v Ind at Chittagong 2010
10         ( – )          M.Amir                  Pak         645*      29.09     658 v Eng at Lord’s 2010
11         (+1)         Daniel Vettori       NZ          622         33.97     681 v Aus at Auckland 2000
12         (+1)         Stuart Broad         Eng         606*      35.24     697 v SA at Durban 2009
13         (+1)         Doug Bollinger     Aus         597*      25.92     666 v Ind at Mohali 2010
14         (-3)          Peter Siddle           Aus         596*      32.10     635 v Eng at Melbourne 2010
15         (+1)         Ishant Sharma     Ind          580*      35.97     624 v Ban at Mirpur 2010
16         (-1)          Paul Harris            SA           573         37.87     705 v Eng at Centurion 2009
17         ( – )          Chris Martin         NZ          569         34.98     643 v Eng at Lord’s 2004
18         ( – )          Jerome Taylor      WI          563*      35.64     717 v Eng at Kingston 2009
19         ( – )          Ajantha Mendis   SL           552*      31.93     572 v Ban at Chittagong 2009
20         ( – )          Steven Finn           Eng         546*      26.23     557 v Aus at Perth 2010

All-rounders
Rank      (+/-)       Player                   Team     Points    HS Rating
1           ( – )          Jacques Kallis       SA           451        616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2           ( – )          Daniel Vettori       NZ          373        412 v Pak at Napier 2009
3           ( – )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        338 /*   361 v Eng at Mirpur 2010
4           ( – )          Shane Watson      Aus         315 /*   321 v Eng at Perth 2010
5           ( – )          Stuart Broad         Eng         278 /*   318 v Pak at Lord’s 2010

*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.
!indicates career-highest rating