Taylor cracks ICC Top 10 ODI rankings

West Indies fast bowler Jerome Taylor has broken into the top 10 of the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers for the first time in his career following an exceptional performance in Zimbabwe from the young Jamaican.

Taylor took 11 wickets in four ODIs at an average of 13.72 and was the stand-out bowler for the West Indies team in a five-match series it won 3-1, with the fifth and final ODI being washed out.

In the process he rose no fewer than 13 places and now ranks in 10th position, narrowly ahead of Sri Lanka’s Farveez Maharoof and just behind Brett Lee of Australia and South Africa’s Makhaya Ntini.

With more ODIs coming up in the New Year against the Proteas, the 23-year-old Taylor has a great opportunity to make further progress and stamp a lasting mark on the rankings.

Taylor’s team-mate Daren Powell also had a good series, taking six wickets at 26.50, and he has moved up one place in the bowling rankings to 14th place.

But the news is not so good for all the West Indies team with captain Chris Gayle slipping three places in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen to 15th position. The skipper suffered an injury to his right hamstring and only played in two ODIs during the Zimbabwe leg of the ongoing tour of southern Africa.

He had started the tour quite well, making 58 in the second ODI at Harare before having to retire hurt. To make matters worse, Gayle has also dropped one place to fourth spot in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders.