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Sunday, January 11, 2009

Cricket : Vettori reclaims top spot in Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has made a superb start to 2009 by becoming the number-one ranked ODI bowler in the world again.



The left-arm spinner, who turns 30 later this month, has taken six wickets in the first three matches of the current series against the West Indies at an impressive average of just 12.33 and a thrifty economy rate of 3.08. In the process he has moved above Australia’s Nathan Bracken into top spot in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers.



It is not the first time Vettori has been at the summit, having spent much of the first half of last year in first position. But Bracken toppled him in June 2008, coincidentally also while playing against the West Indies, but now the 31-year-old New South Welshman has been consigned to second spot once again.



Nevertheless, Bracken has the perfect opportunity to retake number-one place having been named in Australia’s one-day squad for the upcoming five-ODI series against South Africa.



Things are continuing to go well for Vettori’s team-mate Kyle Mills as his four wickets claimed in the series so far have earned him another place and put him in fourth, just ahead of Mitchell Johnson of Australia.



West Indies fast bowler Daren Powell has managed to move up two places to 17th position in the bowling rankings following a good start to the ODI series in New Zealand for him.



The big mover is young Black Cap Tim Southee who has managed to gain 20 places to put him in 75th position.



It’s not such good news for Jacob Oram, however. The big all-rounder has slipped six places to 14th in the bowling rankings after taking just one wicket in the series so far, at an average of 45.00.



Oram still clings on to number-one position in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders although he has lost ground to England’s Andrew Flintoff in second position.



Another top-class player who has not fired on all cylinders during this series to date is West Indies talisman Chris Gayle. The hard-hitting left-hander has lost one place in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen and has dropped out of the top five, into sixth position.



His place has been taken by India’s Yuvraj Singh, who returns to the top five after a brief spell occupying sixth place. Top spot is still reserved for Yuvraj’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is closely followed by Michael Hussey of Australia in second place and Proteas’ captain Graeme Smith in third.



Gayle has also dropped two places to fifth spot in the all-rounders’ list with South Africa’s Jacques Kallis the man to benefit from Gayle’s misfortune.





Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship (as of 9 January)



Rank Team Rating



1 Australia 131

2 South Africa 119

3 India 119

4 Pakistan 114

5 New Zealand 112

6 England 108

7 Sri Lanka 107

8 West Indies 92

9 Bangladesh 47

10 Ireland 19

11 Zimbabwe 13

12 Kenya 11



(Developed by David Kendix)



ICC One-Day Rankings (as of 9 January)



Batsmen



Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating



1 ( - ) MS Dhoni Ind 779 46.84 806 v WI at Kingston 2006

2 ( - ) Mike Hussey Aus 776 57.13 863 v NZ at Perth 2007

3 ( - ) Graeme Smith SA 760 40.88 792 v Ban at Dhaka 2008

4 ( - ) S Chanderpaul WI 749 40.86 764 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2008

5 (+1) Yuvraj Singh Ind 744 37.16 754 v Eng at Bangalore 2008

6 (-1) Chris Gayle WI 742 39.82 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006

7 ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 740 43.24 832 v NZ at Hobart 2007

8 ( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 730 48.36 834 v Aus at Antigua 2007

9 ( - ) Mohd Yousuf Pak 727 43.19 777 v SA at Rawalpindi 2003

10 ( - ) Andrew Symonds Aus 719 40.34 778 v Ind at Nagpur 2007

11 ( - ) Matthew Hayden Aus 711 43.80 854 v Ind at Centurion 2003

12 ( - ) Sachin Tendulkar Ind 708 44.26 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998

13 ( - ) R Sarwan WI 702 44.38 798 v Ind at St Kitts 2006

14 ( - ) AB de Villiers SA 689 36.40 733 v Ban at Dhaka 2008

15 ( - ) K Sangakkara SL 687 36.07 760 v Ind at Rajkot 2007

16 ( - ) Herschelle Gibbs SA 682 36.18 750 v SL at Durban 2003

17 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 679 45.27 816 v WI at Johannesburg 2004

18 ( - ) Michael Clarke Aus 677 42.46 756 v SL at Melbourne 2008

19 ( - ) Shoaib Malik Pak 674 35.61 690 v WI at Abu Dhabi 2008

20 ( - ) Younis Khan Pak 673 ! 34.50 673 v WI at Abu Dhabi 2008



Bowlers



Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Rating



1 (+1) Daniel Vettori NZ 766 31.55 4.15 790 v Eng at Christchurch 2008

2 (-1) Nathan Bracken Aus 755 21.87 4.33 806 v SL at St George's 2007

3 ( - ) M Muralidaran SL 717 22.69 3.87 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002

4 (+1) Kyle Mills NZ 713 ! 25.83 4.59 713 v WI at Wellington 2009

5 (-1) Mitchell Johnson Aus 707 23.46 4.72 726 v Ban at Darwin 2008

6= ( - ) Stuart Broad Eng 673 27.58 4.94 701 v SA at Trent Bridge 2008

( - ) Sohail Tanvir Pak 673*! 26.00 4.81 673 v WI at Abu Dhabi 2008

8 ( - ) Jerome Taylor WI 667 26.26 4.67 688 v SA at Cape Town 2008

9 (+1) Andrew Flintoff Eng 662 24.69 4.38 755 v Ban at Dhaka 2003

10 (+1) Zaheer Khan Ind 660 28.63 4.84 700 v SA at Dhaka 2003

11 (+1) Brett Lee Aus 657 22.96 4.71 853 v SA at Melbourne 2006

12 (+1) Chaminda Vaas SL 655 27.54 4.18 861 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2004

13 (+1) N Kulasekara SL 652*! 28.64 4.28 652 v Zim at Harare 2008

14 (-6) Jacob Oram NZ 651 30.25 4.38 768 v Aus at The Oval 2004

15 ( - ) Shahid Afridi Pak 644 35.04 4.63 685 v Ind at Dhaka 2008

16 ( - ) Andre Nel SA 638 27.68 4.63 685 v Ban at Dhaka 2008

17 (+2) Daren Powell WI 637 31.74 4.65 686 v Aus at St George's 2008

18 (-1) Stuart Clark Aus 632*! 27.82 4.90 632 v Ban at Darwin 2008

19 (-1) Iftikhar Anjum Pak 626 31.53 4.90 632 v Ban at Karachi 2008

20 ( - ) Harbhajan Singh Ind 617 32.97 4.19 735 v WI at Bridgetown 2002



All-rounders



Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating



1 ( - ) Jacob Oram NZ 375 383 v WI at Queenstown 2008

2 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 366 544 v SL at The Rose Bowl 2004

3 ( - ) Shoaib Malik Pak 342 402 v WI at Brisbane 2005

4 (+1) Jacques Kallis SA 327 505 v WI at Bridgetown 2001

5 (-2) Chris Gayle WI 326 511 v Zim at Harare 2003



*Indicates a provisional rating



For more information go to www.iccreliancerankings.com

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