Chanderpaul breaks into top five
The West Indies has been showing that it is still very much a force to be reckoned with at Test level in recent weeks with some good results and quality performances, first against Sri Lanka and more recently up against the best side in the world, Australia.And that resurgence is being reflected in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings with some of the best players in the Caribbean making their marks on the global scene.
After winning the man-of-the-match award in the second Test against Australia, which ended in Antigua on Tuesday, Shivnarine Chanderpaul moved up two places to fifth position in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen.The 33-year-old left-hander is now level with South Africa’s Jacques Kallis and is very much in touch with the top players, just three ratings points behind Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan, and also within striking distance of Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka in third spot, Australia captain Ricky Ponting in second and another Aussie, Michael Hussey at the top.
Chanderpaul is currently enjoying the best rating of his career and is surely in the form of his life. In the past 12 months, he has played nine Tests and plundered 1,062 runs at an average of 106.20, including five centuries. Those scores came on away tours to England and South Africa as well as this home series against Ponting’s world beaters.
West Indies’ captain Ramnaresh Sarwan has just missed out on a return to the top 20 in the batting rankings after his fifth-day heroics at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. Sarwan scored 65 in the first innings and then 128 in the second as he and Runako Morton put on 65 for the third wicket and then he and Chanderpaul added 143 for the fourth to make sure the match was saved.
As a result, the 27-year-old from Guyana gained four places to 21st in the batting rankings and with that section of the rankings very close, he could break into the top 20 with another good performance in the third and final Test of the series in Barbados from 12 to 16 June.
Other batsmen to make progress up the rankings include Simon Katich (up 12 places to 56th spot) and Phil Jaques (up three to 34th).
After missing the first Test through injury, Jerome Taylor has rocketed back into the top 20 of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ICC bowlers. The 23-year-old Jamaican took five wickets in the match – including the scalp of Ponting in both innings – and moved up 12 places in the tightly packed rankings as a result.
It is the highest ranking of Taylor’s 19-match career to date and he is now just three ratings points behind England’s Matthew Hoggard in 13th spot.