POSTED: Sunday February 8th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Taylor sews up a place in the top 10 Test bowlers

Time is right for big Benn as Gayle and Sarwan make it a match to remember for the West Indies; England’s Strauss and Panesar lose ground in rankings

 

 
Jerome Taylor has become the highest-ranked West Indies Test bowler since the retirement of Courtney Walsh in 2001 following his impressive performance against England in the first Test of a four-match series.
 
Playing in front of a home crowd at Sabina Park, the 24-year-old Jamaican had man of the match-winning figures of 29-8-85-8, including 5-11 in the second innings as England was dismissed for 51 in 33.2 overs.
 
This most recent effort has catapulted him up 11 places to sixth spot in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, giving him a personal-best rating and putting him in a good position to launch an assault on the top five during the remainder of the series.
 
With 717 ratings points, he still has a way to go to achieve the heights of some of the legendary West Indies bowlers of the past, however. Curtley Ambrose, Wes Hall, Lance Gibbs, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Colin Croft, Michael Holding, Walsh and other great players all achieved higher ratings during their careers but Taylor’s effort is the best from a West Indies bowler since Walsh retired in 2001 while ranked at number three in the world.
 
The other bowler to excel during the match was 6ft 7in left-arm slow bowler Sulieman Benn, who bowled beautifully on a turning track, taking 8-108 in the match from 58.4 overs. As a result, Benn has gained 20 places and now stands in 52nd position, just one place behind England’s Stuart Broad, who gains five places following the match.
 
The news is not so good for the other slow left-armer in the match, Monty Panesar of England, who slips four places to 19th in the latest rankings after registering figures of 1-122.
 
The bowling list is still led by Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralidaran, who has been playing ODIs, followed by Dale Steyn of South Africa and Australia’s Stuart Clark.
 
West Indies captain Chris Gayle goes up four places to 15th position in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen after scoring what was his ninth century at that level and his first on the home turf of Sabina Park. Gayle’s overall batting average in Tests is a respectable 40.10 but his average in the eight matches since taking over as captain of the team is 56.46, indicating that the weight of leading the team has so far sat comfortably on his broad shoulders.
 
His opposite number for England Andrew Strauss loses three places to 18th in the rankings after what was a forgettable first game in charge for the 31-year-old left-hander.
 
The other main mover in the batting list is Ramnaresh Sarwan, whose century has earned him four places and puts him in 22nd position with plenty of opportunities coming up to break back into the top 20.
 
The rankings are still headed by Sarwan’s team-mate Shivnarine Chanderpaul while England’s Kevin Pietersen hangs on to his number-four position thanks to his innings of 97 in the first innings.
 
In more good news for Gayle, he has moved back into the top five in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders, jumping above fellow West Indian Dwayne Bravo, who is injured. That list remains headed by Jacques Kallis of South Africa followed by Daniel Vettori of New Zealand and England’s Andrew Flintoff.
 
Reliance Mobile ICC Test Rankings (as of 8 February)
 
Batsmen
 
Rank      (+/-)        Player                    Team      Points    Ave         HS Rating
 
   1           ( - )          S Chanderpaul      WI          892          49.53      900 v NZ at Napier 2008
   2           ( - )          Mohd Yousuf       Pak          880          55.49      933 v WI at Karachi 2006
   3           ( - )          K Sangakkara        SL           859          54.37      938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
   4           ( - )          Kevin Pietersen    Eng         828          50.45      905 v WI at Headingley 2007
   5           ( - )          Michael Clarke      Aus        825 !       49.40      825 v SA at Sydney 2009
   6           ( - )          M Jayawardena    SL           819          52.36      854 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
   7           ( - )          Ricky Ponting       Aus        810          56.87      942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
   8           ( - )          Yunus Khan          Pak          799          49.14      856 v Eng at Headingley 2006
   9           ( - )          Graeme Smith        SA          797          50.57      810 v Aus at Melbourne 2008
  10          ( - )          Gautam Gambhir   Ind          771*!     49.35      771 v Eng at Mohali 2008
  11          ( - )          Mike Hussey        Aus        761          59.36      921 v WI at Kingston 2008
  12          ( - )          Virender Sehwag  Ind          729          51.06      854 v SA at Kolkata 2004
  13          ( - )          Jacques Kallis       SA          726          54.57      935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
  14          ( - )          Ashwell Prince     SA          709          45.68      756 v Pak at Centurion 2007
  15          (+4)         Chris Gayle            WI          703 !       40.10      703 v Eng at Kingston 2009
  16=        ( - )          Sachin Tendulkar Ind          683          54.27      898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
                ( - )          VVS Laxman          Ind          683          44.45      753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
  18          (-3)          Andrew Strauss   Eng         673          41.69      769 v SA at Johannesburg 2005
  19          (-1)          Hashim Amla        SA          671 !       41.30      671 v Aus at Sydney 2009
  20          (-1)          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        782*       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           (+11)       Jerome Taylor       WI          717*!     32.56      717 v Eng at Kingston 2009
   7           (-1)          Ryan Sidebottom Eng         703*       26.14      769 v SA at Lord\‘s 2008
   8           (-1)          Chaminda Vaas     SL           688          29.22      800 v Ind at Chennai 2005
   9           (-1)          Harbhajan Singh  Ind          686          30.88      765 v NZ at Wellington 2002
  10          (-1)          Shoaib Akhtar      Pak          684          25.69      855 v NZ at Wellington 2003
  11          (-1)          Brett Lee                Aus        673          30.81      811 v WI at Antigua 2008
  12          (-1)          Daniel Vettori        NZ          653          33.09      681 v Aus at Auckland 2000
  13          (-1)          Zaheer Khan         Ind          630          34.04      689 v Pak at Delhi 2007
  14          (-1)          Shane Bond          NZ          629*       22.39      778 v WI at Auckland 2006
  15=        ( - )          Mohammad Asif  Pak          619*       23.13      710 v SA at Cape Town 2007
                (-1)          Andrew Flintoff    Eng         619          32.15      810 v Pak at Multan 2005
  17          (+1)         Danish Kaneria     Pak          614          33.90      723 v Eng at Multan 2005
  18          (+1)         James Anderson  Eng         605          35.22      622 v Ind at Chennai 2008
  19          (-4)          Monty Panesar     Eng         594          33.61      721 v WI at Chester-le-St 2007
  20          ( - )          Jacques Kallis       SA          589          31.12      742 v Eng at Headingley 2003
 
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         309                         501 v Pak at Multan 2005
   4           ( - )          Chaminda Vaas     SL           283                         300 v WI at Guyana 2008
   5           (+1)         Chris Gayle            WI          282 /*!                   282 v Eng at Kingston 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
 
For more information on the ICC Player Rankings go to: www.reliancemobileiccrankings.com.

# # #

Keywords · ICC · bowlers

Name: James Fitzgerald
Organization: ICC
Email:
Phone: +971 4 368 8347
URL: http://icc-cricket.yahoo.com

Please refer all questions to the company listed above issuing the press release. SFC will not be able to assist you with any inquiries and disclaims any content in these press releases.