Vettori regains top bowling spot by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Player:

KMDN Kulasekara, DL Vettori, Shakib Al Hasan, RW Price, NM Hauritz, Saeed Ajmal

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DateLine: 13th November 2009

 

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori regained the top spot as spinners dominated the latest ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers. Vettori, who slipped to second behind Sri Lanka fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekara after the home series against India in March this year, has reclaimed the No. 1 spot after a good series against Pakistan in which he not only inspired the Black Caps to a 2-1 series win but also picked up five wickets in the process.

 

The spin quartet of Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan, Zimbabwe's Ray Price, Nathan Hauritz of Australia and Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal have achieved the best rankings of their careers to date following good performances in their respective series.

 

Harbhajan Singh and Shahid Afridi have also returned Shakib Al Hasan to the top 10 after good performances against Australia and New Zealand. Harbhajan has jumped 11 places to join Afridi in eighth spot after picking up eight wickets against Australia while Afridi has improved by three places after his five wickets against the Black Caps.

 

Amongst the fast bowlers, New Zealand's Jacob Oram has climbed eight places to 11th after his four wickets against Pakistan, Australia's Doug Bollinger has rocketed 52 places to 69th position after his nine wickets against India but New Zealand's Shane Bond, Australia duo of Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee, and India pair of Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma have failed to defend their positions. Bond has slipped two places to seventh spot, Johnson shares 13th spot with South Africa's Johan Botha after dropping two places, Lee and Kumar have dropped six places each to 22nd and 24th respectively while Sharma has dropped nine places to 35th position.

 

In the ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, Australia captain Ricky Ponting has continued his upward movement and after a productive series in India in which he scored 267 runs, he has risen to fourth after improving his ranking by two places. Ponting had started the series in eighth position.

 

Mike Hussey, who was the most successful batsman in India with 313 runs, has strengthened his second position. Along with India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who contributed 285 runs, he is now the only other batsman with more than 800 ratings points.

 

Also moving up the order is New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum who has broken into the top 20 for the first time in his career. McCullum, who scored 228 runs in the series, has jumped 16 places to a career-best 16th spot.

 

Other batsmen to move in the right direction are South Africa's JP Duminy in 22nd spot (up by 11 places), Australia's Shane Watson in 26th position (up by 10 places), Australia's Cameron White in 42nd spot (up by 25 places) and Zimbabwe's Brendon Taylor in 47th place (up by 13 places).

 

India vice-captain Yuvraj Singh leads the list of batsmen who have failed to defend their rankings. Yuvraj, who started the series in second place, has dropped five places to eighth position, while Gautam Gambhir has dropped four places to share the 19th spot with Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya.

 

Others to lose ground are Shoaib Malik in 22nd spot (down by six places), Ross Taylor in 27th position (down by four places), Younus Khan in 30th place (down by five places) and Mohammad Ashraful in 57th position (down by seven places).

 

In the ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders, Watson has achieved a -career-best second ranking after his player-of-the-series performance against India in which he scored 256 runs and took 10 wickets. Besides his 26th place in the batting table, the Queenslander sits in 32nd position in the bowling chart.