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Players wait to do battle as South Africa and Australia go for gold
JOHANNESBURG: And so it begins. One of the most hyped Test series in many years gets underway in Johannesburg tomorrow with the home team going all out to become the number-one team in the world and the other doing all it can to retain its place at the top of the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship table.
Whoever wins the series will take possession of the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship mace and in the case of a drawn series, Ricky Ponting’s men will just manage to cling on to number-one spot.
But there are other battles to be fought out there and a quick glance at the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Player Rankings shows just how evenly matched these sides are. In total there are eight players from South Africa and Australia in the top 20 batsmen, four from each side.
Australia does boast three in the top 10, however, in the shape of Michael Clarke (third position), Ponting (sixth) and Michael Hussey (10th) compared to just one from South Africa (Graeme Smith in eighth place).
But the Proteas have Jacques Kallis in 12th position, Ashwell Prince in 13th and Hashim Amla in 19th position although Prince will not play in the first Test as JP Duminy gets the nod from the selectors. Simon Katich of Australia just squeezes into the top 20.
West Indies’ Shivnarine Chanderpaul is still the number-one ranked batsman and he has the chance to reinforce that position with two Tests remaining in the home series against England.
The advantage in the bowling rankings is with South Africa even though there are three players from each side currently enjoying a place in the top 20. However, unfortunately for third-placed Stuart Clark and 10th-placed Brett Lee they are currently not available due to injury, heaping the pressure on Mitchell Johnson (in fourth position) and the less experienced bowlers in the side such as Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus.
With South Africa’s Dale Steyn and Makhaya Nitini currently occupying second and fifth spots, respectively, this series can boast three of the world’s top five bowlers on show and they will be ensuring that the batsmen are made to work very hard for their runs.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders Kallis is the man in possession of number-one spot and he can strengthen that position with another good showing from the ever-dependable 33-year-old.
Reliance Mobile ICC Test Rankings (as of 25 February ahead of South Africa v Australia series)
Batsmen
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 S.Chanderpaul WI 879 49.27 901 v NZ at Napier 2008
2 K. Sangakkara SL 859 54.37 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
3 Michael Clarke Aus 825! 49.40 825 v SA at Sydney 2009
4 M. Jayawardena SL 819 52.36 854 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
5 Kevin Pietersen Eng 812 50.23 909 v WI at Headingley 2007
6 Ricky Ponting Aus 810 56.87 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
7 Yunus Khan Pak 799 49.14 856 v Eng at Headingley 2006
8 Graeme Smith SA 797 50.57 810 v Aus at Melbourne 2008
9 Gautam Gambhir Ind 772*! 49.35 772 v Eng at Mohali 2008
10 Mike Hussey Aus 761 59.36 921 v WI at Kingston 2008
11 Virender Sehwag Ind 729 51.06 854 v SA at Kolkata 2004
12 Jacques Kallis SA 726 54.57 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
13 Ashwell Prince SA 709 45.68 756 v Pak at Centurion 2007
14= R. Sarwan WI 700! 41.07 700 v Eng at St John's 2009
Andrew Strauss Eng 700 42.71 769 v SA at Johannesburg 2005
16 Chris Gayle WI 697 40.06 704 v Eng at Antigua 2009
17= Sachin Tendulkar Ind 683 54.27 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
VVS Laxman Ind 683 44.45 753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
19 Hashim Amla SA 671 ! 41.30 671 v Aus at Sydney 2009
20 Simon Katich Aus 670 ! 43.43 670 v SA at Sydney 2009
Bowlers
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 M. Muralidaran SL 887 21.95 920 v Ban at Kandy 2007
2 Dale Steyn SA 844 23.08 897 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2008
3 Stuart Clark Aus 783* 22.96 863 v WI at Bridgetown 2008
4 Mitchell Johnson Aus 756* 28.62 779 v SA at Perth 2008
5 Makhaya Ntini SA 754 28.22 863 v Ind at Durban 2006
6 Jerome Taylor WI 705* 33.16 717 v Eng at Kingston 2009
7 R. Sidebottom Eng 696* 26.14 769 v SA at Lord's 2008
8 Chaminda Vaas SL 688 29.22 800 v Ind at Chennai 2005
9 Harbhajan Singh Ind 686 30.88 765 v NZ at Wellington 2002
10 Brett Lee Aus 673 30.81 811 v WI at Antigua 2008
11 Daniel Vettori NZ 653 33.09 681 v Aus at Auckland 2000
12 Zaheer Khan Ind 631 34.04 689 v Pak at Delhi 2007
13 Andrew Flintoff Eng 621 32.07 810 v Pak at Multan 2005
14 Danish Kaneria Pak 614 33.90 723 v Eng at Multan 2005
15 James Anderson Eng 591 35.69 622 v Ind at Chennai 2008
16 Jacques Kallis SA 589 31.12 742 v Eng at Headingley 2003
17 Monty Panesar Eng 588 33.61 721 v WI at Chester-le-St 2007
18= Umar Gul Pak 572* 31.55 627 v WI at Karachi 2006
Ajantha Mendis SL 572*! 18.36 572 v Ban at Chittagong 2009
20 Fidel Edwards WI 568 38.83 573 v NZ at Napier 2008
All-rounders
Rank Player Team Points HS Rating
1 Jacques Kallis SA 428 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 Daniel Vettori NZ 347 369 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
3 Andrew Flintoff Eng 292 501 v Pak at Multan 2005
4 Chaminda Vaas SL 283 300 v WI at Guyana 2008
5 Chris Gayle WI 282/*! 282 v Eng at St John's 2009
*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 |
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