AB De Villiers Over Take Hashim Amla To Regains No 1 Test Batting Ranking

South Africa’s AB de Villiers has overtaken teammate Hashim Amla at the top of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen to regain the number-one spot that he last held in April 2012 in the latest Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Tests, which were released on Sunday.

The latest rankings were released after South Africa beat Pakistan by an innings and 92 runs in the second and final Test in Dubai on Saturday to level the series 1-1.
De Villiers, who came into the Dubai Test on 882 ratings points, earned 27 ratings points for his knock of 164 to finish at a career-best 909 to thereby become only the 28th batsman in the history of the game to break the 900-rating points barrier, a benchmark for top batsmen.

In so doing, de Villiers also became only the fifth South Africa batsman to achieve the rare distinction as he reclaimed his position at the top of the batting table. Dudley Nourse, Graeme Pollock, Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla are the other South Africa batsmen to break the 900-point barrier.

De Villiers, who finished as the Player of the Series with 273 runs, is now 24th in the all-time batting ratings list.

Amla, who did not play in the Dubai Test, has now dropped to second place on the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen. Amla had been on top of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen since February 2013, when he overtook Australia captain Michael Clarke.

Player of the match in the Dubai Test and South Africa captain Graeme Smith, who scored 234 and shared a record 338-run fifth wicket stand with de Villiers, has jumped seven places to eighth to return to the top 10 of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen for the first time since August 2012.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq has also moved up the rankings, advancing one place to a career-best sixth as he continued his consistency with the bat, scoring a fighting 88 in the second innings of the Dubai Test.

Pakistan’s Asad Shafiq has jumped eight places to 17th to return to the top 20 of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen following his second innings knock of 130 in the Dubai Test.

The latest rankings also reflect the drawn Mirpur Test between Bangladesh and New Zealand, which resulted in a drawn series 0-0.
Outside the top 20 of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, Bangladesh batsmen Tamim Iqbal in 31st (up by nine) and Mominul Haque in 32nd (up by 17) are the others to make an upwards move, along with South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis in 44th (up by one) and New Zealand’s BJ Watling in 50th (up by 11).
In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, there is no change in the top 10.  South Africa’s Dale Steyn continues to head the table with teammate Vernon Philander in second position, while Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath and Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal are in third and fourth place, respectively.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan has moved up one place to 16th.

Outside the top 20 of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, New Zealand’s Neil Wagner is now in 45th (up by 15), while South Africa’s Imran Tahir was rewarded for match figures of  five for 32 and three for 98 in the Dubai Test with a jump of 24 places to a career-best 57th.

Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 27 October, after the Mirpur and Dubai Tests)

Batsmen
Rank     (+/-)         Player                Team      Pts          Ave       HS Rating
1           (+1)         AB de Villiers        SA           909!       51.44     909 v Pak at Dubai 2013
2           (-1)          Hashim Amla       SA           898         52.32     907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013
3           ( – )          S.Chanderpaul     WI          880         51.81     901 v NZ at Napier 2008
4           ( – )          K Sangakkara      SL           866         56.98     938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
5           ( – )          Michael Clarke    Aus         853         52.08     900 v SL at Melbourne 2012
6           (+1)         Misbah-ul-Haq    Pak         783!       46.03     783 v SA at Dubai 2013
7           (+1)         C Pujara                                Ind          777*!    65.55     777 v Aus at Delhi 2013
8           (+7)         Graeme Smith      SA           771         49.36     843 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010
9           (-3)          Younus Khan       Pak         769         51.17     880 v SL at Lahore 2009
10         (-1)          Ian Bell                  Eng         748         46.66     822 v Ind at The Oval 2011
11         (-1)          Alastair Cook       Eng         737         47.85     874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
12         (-1)          Ross Taylor          NZ          721         42.81     785 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
13         ( – )          Kevin Pietersen    Eng         706         48.38     909 v WI at Headingley 2007
14         (-2)          Jacques Kallis       SA           704         55.44     935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
15         (-1)          Jonathan Trott     Eng         698         47.39     856 v SL at Cardiff 2011
16         ( – )          Marlon Samuels  WI          663         37.39     672 v Zim at Bridgetown 2013
17         (+8)         Asad Shafiq          Pak         660*      39.11     680 v SA at Cape Town 2013
18         (-1)          Matt Prior              Eng         647         42.36     745 v NZ at Auckland 2013
19         (-1)          M Jayawardena   SL           639         49.56     883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
20=       (-1)          Chris Gayle           WI          637         42.45     755 v SL at Galle 2010
(-1)          MS Dhoni              Ind          637         39.70     662 v SA at Kolkata 2010

Selected Rankings
Rank      (+/-)        Player                Team      Pts          Ave       HS Rating
25         (-4)          Azhar Ali               Pak         619         38.53     753 v SL at Pallekele 2012
27         ( – )          Kane Williamson NZ          605!       34.78     605 v Ban at Mirpur 2013
30         ( – )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        590         36.92     603 v WI at Khulna 2012
31         (+9)         Tamim Iqbal        Ban        588         38.29     707 v Eng at Old Trafford 2010
32         (+17)      Mominul Haque  Ban        584*!    83.42     584 v NZ at Mirpur 2013
36         (-3)          B McCullum         NZ          569         34.98     673 v Pak at Hamilton 2011
38         (-3)          Mushfiqur Rahim                Ban        564         32.46     584 v Eng at Chittagong 2010
42         (-1)          Nasir Hossain       Ban        541*      45.21     550 v NZ at Chittagong 2013
44         (+1)         Faf du Plessis        SA           524*      58.50     585 v Pak at Cape Town 2013
50         (+11)      BJ Watling            NZ          469*!    34.58     469 v Ban at Mirpur 2013
52         (-2)          Dean Brownlie     NZ          466*      29.62     504 v Eng at Auckland 2013
60         (-2)          JP Duminy            SA           435*      35.54     466 v Aus at Brisbane 2012
63         (-11)       K Manzoor           Pak         427*      31.42     467 v SA at Abu Dhabi 2013
65         (-1)          Martin Guptill       NZ          423         29.62     597 v WI at Kingston 2012
69         (-1)          Peter Fulton          NZ          403*      31.22     413 v Eng at Auckland 2013
77         (-5)          H Rutherford        NZ          380*      33.91     454 v Eng at Wellington 2013
85         (-7)          Adnan Akmal      Pak         347*      25.43     377 v Zim at Harare 2013
97         (-2)          Vernon Philander SA           315*      20.26     350 v Pak at Centurion 2013

Bowlers
Rank    (+/-)          Player                Team     Pts         Ave      HS Rating
1           ( – )          Dale Steyn            SA           903         22.65     908 v Pak at Johannesburg 2013
2           ( – )          Vernon Philander SA           899*      17.50     901 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013
3           ( – )          Rangana Herath  SL           831         29.52     838 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012
4           ( – )          Saeed Ajmal         Pak         824         26.54     855 v Zim at Harare 2013
5           ( – )          Ryan Harris          Aus         782*!    22.26     782 v Eng at The Oval 2013
6=        ( – )          Graeme Swann    Eng         760         28.55     858 v Pak at Lord’s 2010
( – )          Peter Siddle           Aus         760         29.11     816 v Eng at Old Trafford 2013
8           ( – )          R Ashwin               Ind          757*!    28.53     757 v Aus at Delhi 2013
9           ( – )          James Anderson  Eng         741         30.10     813 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011
10         ( – )          Stuart Broad         Eng         740         30.58     783 v WI at Lord’s 2012
11         (+2)         Pragyan Ojha       Ind          706         31.78     773 v Eng at Kolkata 2012
12         ( – )          Abdur Rehman    Pak         703*      27.55     739 v Eng at Dubai 2012
13         (-2)          Morne Morkel      SA           700         30.23     776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
14         ( – )          Kemar Roach       WI          682*      27.71     712 v NZ at Kingston 2012
15         ( – )          Ben Hilfenhaus    Aus         659*      28.50     757 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2012
16         (+1)         Shakib Al Hasan Ban        614         32.60     680 v WI at Mirpur 2011
17         (-1)          Zaheer Khan        Ind          600         32.35     752 v SA at Durban 2010
18         ( – )          Tim Southee         NZ          585*      34.33     621 v Eng at Lord’s 2013
19         ( – )          Steven Finn           Eng         580*      29.40     624 v NZ at Headingley 2013
20         ( – )          Nathan Lyon        Aus         576*      33.23     591 v Eng at Chester-le-St 2013

Selected Rankings
Rank     (+/-)         Player                Team     Pts         Ave      HS Rating
26        (-5)          Trent Boult           NZ          518*      30.82     558 v Ban at Chittagong 2013
33        (-11)       Junaid Khan         Pak         496*      29.19     554 v SA at Abu Dhabi 2013
34        ( – )          Jacques Kallis       SA           471         32.61     742 v Eng at Headingley 2003
40        (-4)          Sohag Gazi           Ban        423*      35.32     459 v NZ at Chittagong 2013
44        (-3)          Doug Bracewell    NZ          395*      36.26     538 v WI at Kingston 2012
45        (+15)      Neil Wagner          NZ          379*!    36.00     379 v Ban at Mirpur 2013
57        (+24)      Imran Tahir          SA           312*!    42.20     312 v Pak at Dubai 2013
77        (+19)      Mohammad Irfan               Pak         233*!    38.90     233 v SA at Dubai 2013
81        (+8)         JP Duminy            SA           213*      37.94     302 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010
92         (+3)         Abdur Razzak      Ban        169*!    67.30     169 v NZ at Mirpur 2013
95         (-3)          Rubel Hossain      Ban        155*      78.00     161 v Zim at Harare 2013

All-rounders
Rank     (+/-)         Player               Team       Pts       HS Rating
1           ( – )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        362        404 v Pak at Mirpur 2011
2           ( – )          Jacques Kallis       SA           332        616 v Pak at Durban 2002
3           ( – )          R Ashwin               Ind          321*/*  333 v Aus at Hyderabad 2013
4           (+1)         Stuart Broad         Eng         288        382 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2012
5           (-1)          Vernon Philander SA           283*/*  312 v Pak at Centurion 2013

*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