Cricket : India vs SA - 2008

Steyn reaches No.1 in Test rankings
Cricinfo staff
April 7, 2008


Dale Steyn, the South African fast bowler, has taken joint No.1 spot in the ICC Test rankings with the Sri Lankan offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan after another match-winning performance in the second Test against India in Ahmedabad. Since October 2007, Steyn has picked up 75 wickets in 11 Tests, including two ten-wicket hauls at home against New Zealand. Muralitharan's team-mate, Kumar Sangakkara, has been displaced from the top Test batsmen by the Australian Michael Hussey.

Both Steyn and Muralitharan are tied on 897 points, with Muraliatharan slipping below 900 points for the first time since June 2006. Steyn's 5 for 23 demolished India for a paltry 76 in the first innings in Ahmedabad and he finished with match figures of 8 for 114. Steyn needed just 22 matches to reach the top, making him among the quickest to reach the summit. Former South African fast bowlers Shaun Pollock and Allan Donald took 33 and 41 matches respectively before they were No.1.

Sangakkara's disappointing two-Test series in the West Indies, during which he scored 95 runs, saw him slip to third. Hussey, who moved up one place, is currently the only batsman with more than 900 points. Jacques Kallis, the South African batsman who scored his 30th Test century in Ahmedabad, has moved up two places and shares second spot with Ricky Ponting. Shivnarine Chanderpaul's match-winning 86 in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Port of Spain has seen him move into joint seventh position with the Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene.

Having failed to register a series win after being held by 1-1 by West Indies, Sri Lanka have dropped from third to fifth, one below England. India are under pressure to retain their No.2 spot and must win the third Test in Kanpur to maintain their ranking. A draw or a defeat will see them drop two places to fourth.
 
Test Championship
Code: 
[color="Blue"][B]Teams Matches Points Rating[/B][/color]

1 Australia 33 4650 141
2 India 38 4206 111
3 South Africa 40 4345 109 
4 England 44 4771 108
5 Sri Lanka 35 3709 106 
6 Pakistan 33 3107 94
7 New Zealand 25 2277 91
8 West Indies 31 2380 77
9 Bangladesh 24 23 1

ODI Championship

Code: 
[color="Blue"][B]Teams Matches Points Rating[/B][/color]

1 South Africa 43 5478 127
2 Australia 44 5597 127 
3 New Zealand 38 4312 113
4 India 56 6330 113 
5 Pakistan 33 3595 109
6 Sri Lanka 44 4716 107
7 England 40 4200 105
8 West Indies 37 3567 96
9 Bangladesh 35 1684 48
10 Ireland 11 217 20
11 Zimbabwe 31 552 18
12 Kenya 6 0 0
 
Top Ten Batsmen - Test

Code: 
[B]1[/B] M. Hussey AUS 
[B]2 [/B]J. Kallis SA 
[B]2[/B] R. Ponting AUS 
[B]4[/B] K. Sangakkara SL 
[B]5[/B] Mohammad Yousuf PAK 
[B]6[/B] M. Hayden AUS 
[B]7[/B] M. Jayawardena SL 
[B]7[/B] S. Chanderpaul WI 
[B]9 [/B]Younis Khan PAK 
[B]10[/B] K. Pietersen ENG

Top Ten Batsmen - ODI

Code: 
[B]1[/B] G. Smith SA 
[B]2[/B] S. Tendulkar IND 
[B]3[/B] R. Ponting AUS 
[B]4[/B] Mohammad Yousuf PAK 
[B]5[/B] M. Hayden AUS 
[B]6[/B] M. Hussey AUS 
[B]7[/B] K. Pietersen ENG 
[B]8[/B] A.B. de Villiers SA 
[B]8[/B] M.S Dhoni IND 
[B]10[/B] S. Chanderpaul WI

Top Ten Bowlers - Test

Code: 
[B]1[/B] M. Muralidaran SL 
[B]1[/B] D. Steyn SA 
[B]3[/B] S. Clark AUS 
[B]4[/B] B. Lee AUS 
[B]5[/B] M. Ntini SA 
[B]6[/B] A. Kumble IND 
[B]7 [/B]C. Vaas SL 
[B]8[/B] S. Bond NZ 
[B]9[/B] Shoaib Akhtar PAK 
[B]10 [/B]R. Sidebottom ENG

Top Ten Bowlers - ODI

Code: 
[B]1 [/B]D. Vettori NZ 
[B]2[/B] N. Bracken AUS 
[B]3[/B] S. Bond NZ 
[B]4[/B] C. Vaas SL 
[B]5 [/B]K. Mills NZ 
[B]6[/B] A. Nel SA 
[B]7[/B] D. Powell WI 
[B]8[/B] B. Lee AUS 
[B]9[/B] M. Muralidaran SL 
[B]10 [/B]J. Taylor WI
 
Last edited:
Not sure how Eng has managed to stay so high in the test ratings, or NZ in the ODI's.

Can't wait for IPL, will be interesting to see the best players in the world playing alongside each other. :)
 
*New* *Improved* chiskop said:
Not sure how Eng has managed to stay so high in the test ratings, or NZ in the ODI's.

Can't wait for IPL, will be interesting to see the best players in the world playing alongside each other. :)
Click to expand...

Ratings based on their last 44 tests.
They had a really good run up the end of the 2005 Ashes.
They went up to #2.
Then they started going downhill.

Just beat NZ away from home.

NZ are a good one day side.
 
Yeah, but they're not a team that would trouble Aus, SA, Ind, SL at the moment, IMHO. 2005 was a loong time ago. :)

Didn't see mercurial's other post about the individual rankings. The number of NZers in there really does surprise me. Vettori the top ODI bowler, ROFL. :)
 
*New* *Improved* chiskop said:
Yeah, but they're not a team that would trouble Aus, SA, Ind, SL at the moment, IMHO. 2005 was a loong time ago. :)

Didn't see mercurial's other post about the individual rankings. The number of NZers in there really does surprise me. Vettori the top ODI bowler, ROFL. :)
Click to expand...

#5 is where I'd put them, Sri Lanka are better.
If SL beat the WI, think they'll pass England.

Their team has changed quite a lot since 2005.
They just beat NZ, but too early to tell how good their new team is.
We're playing them in England soon.
Last time they played us here they beat us easily.
 
So the 3rd test is almost upon us ...

Any changes ?

I think a straight swap between Prince and Duminy, JP will give us an extra spinning option as opposed to giving someone the boot for Robin.

And maybe win the toss :D
 
Then good luck to them when Steyn and Morkel pitch it on a crack and it takes their head off! Dumbasses :D
 
Where are all the Indian supporters who commented before the test series began. I was hoping we would get a little spite in the thread before the test starts, just to spice things up!
 
Why the Proteas are the real No1 team

Few South Africans who witnessed the three-day demolition of India at Ahmedabad will forget it. It carried within it the seeds of something so great it could, and should, propel the game forward (if the politicians stay out of the way.)

What made it memorable was the ruthlessness with which it was executed. This was a level of put-the- boot-in-when-they’re-down ferocity we have not seen since … well, not since the very best Australian team of the mid-90s and the great West Indies team of the mid-80s.

If this is the kind of cricket Graeme Smith and Mickey Arthur can produce, it bodes well.

How did it happen? How did South Africa crush so easily a team that had stared into the Australian abyss and, instead of flinching, had toe-to- toed in one of the most memorable Test series of recent years?

There were four factors:

> Smith and Arthur have set their sights on playing ruthless cricket. They just haven’t had the wherewithal until 12 months ago;

> The rise and rise of Dale Steyn. Five-hundred Test wickets and more beckon, and he is the reality behind the bared fangs.

> Steyn has roused a youngster and two veterans to bowl out of their skins. Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini and Jacques Kallis represent a worthy backup trio. Seldom can any captain have had such a quartet with which to realise his plans; and

> Despite the machinations of Norman Arendse and the ANC buffoons who support him, Neil McKenzie made it in as opener. At 32, he is settled, hugely talented and a stabilising influence at the top. The result is a top-order of six batsmen who bat as Australia once did, and a lower order made up of four specialist bowlers, with a pugnacious wicketkeeper who can score a few. In short, a perfectly balanced team.

This is a truly great team. We are close to peaking and, goodness, it feels wonderful!

Frank Heydenrych is a former editor of the SA Cricket Annual
Click to expand...


:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X