Kallis enters top ten in ICC rankings by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Player:

GC Smith, JH Kallis

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DateLine: 22nd December 2009

 

Jacques Kallis has become South Africa's highest-ranked batsman after replacing Graeme Smith in the top 10 of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen. The 34-year-old, who scored 120 and four in the Centurion Test against England, has climbed three places to eighth in the latest rankings which were released on Monday. It is the first time since August 2008 that Kallis has featured in the top 10 of the rankings which he first topped in January 2005.

 

In contrast, Smith, who scored a duck and 12 at Centurion, has dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in 16 months after sliding four places to 11th position.

 

Smith is not the only batsman inside the top 20 to take a dive in the latest rankings. Australia's Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting, Andrew Strauss of England and South Africa's Ashwell Prince have suffered similar fates after disappointing performances with the bat at Centurion and in Perth.

 

Gautam Gambhir of India leads the batting table with Sri Lanka pair of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara in second and third places, respectively.

 

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, South Africa's left-arm spinner Paul Harris and England's spin and pace combination of Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad have achieved career-best rankings to date.

 

Harris, who recorded match figures of 7-174, has jumped two places to seventh position, Swann has moved up one place to 11th after match figures of 5-201 while Broad has joined Pakistan's Danish Kaneria in 13th place after match figures of 3-132.

 

The list is still headed by South Africa's Dale Steyn with Australia's Mitchell Johnson second and Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka third.

 

The only change in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders is the return of Bravo to the top five. The list is still headed by Kallis while the players between the South African and the West Indian are Daniel Vettori, Johnson and Shakib Al Hasan.