POSTED: Monday May 4th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Clarke and Afridi fly up the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Player Rankings

Series win over Pakistan keeps Australia in second place but only four rating points separate top-ranked South Africa from third-placed India

Stand-in captain Michael Clarke has been rewarded for inspiring Australia to a 3-2 series win over Pakistan by rocketing up the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Player Rankings.

Clarke, who led the four-time world champion in the desert cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the absence of Ricky Ponting, has climbed nine places and now sits in 11th position after scoring 235 runs in the series, including 100 not out in the fourth match.

Shane Watson is the other Australia batsman on the charge. The 27-year-old Queenslander has vaulted 27 places to 46th spot after finishing the series as the leading run-getter with 271, including 116 not out in the last match of the series at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Andrew Symonds’ comeback series brought no joy for him as he has now dropped out of the top 20. The 33-year-old all-rounder has slipped three places in the batting chart to 23rd spot after scoring 82 runs in four outings.

Michael Hussey and Ponting have also slipped in the latest rankings after missing the series. A player loses one per cent of his rating for missing every match and as such both the batsmen have dropped three places each and are now in third and 18th positions.

There is no good news for Pakistan in the batting chart except for Kamran Akmal, whose 116 not out on Sunday has helped him jump 10 places to 47th, and Misbah-ul-Haq who has climbed four places to 30th.

Shoaib Malik has slipped one place to 19th position, Salman Butt has dropped four places to 22nd spot while captain Younus Khan has stayed in 24th place after managing only 73 runs in the series.

The batting table is still headed by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni while Hussey’s slip has benefitted the West Indies pair of Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul who have risen one place each to second and third.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, Afridi has vaulted nine places to become Pakistan’s only bowler in the top 10. The flamboyant player took 10 wickets in the series, including a career-best 6-38 in the series opener at Dubai Sports City Cricket Stadium.

Umar Gul, the other Pakistan bowler in the top 20, has slipped three places to share the 20th position with Daren Powell of the West Indies while Sohail Tanvir has dropped four places to 21st position and Iftikhar Anjum has fallen five places to 25th spot. Shoaib Akhtar’s slide has continued and he is now in 59th position after dropping four places.

For Australia, off-spinner Nathan Hauritz has rocketed 51 places to 92nd spot after a series haul of eight wickets while fast bowler Nathan Bracken who moved up two places to sixth position.

The bowling table is headed by Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Kulasekara while Kyle Mills of New Zealand is second and Muttiah Muralidaran of Sri Lanka third.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders, Afridi’s series contribution of 10 wickets and 111 runs has helped him climb four places to share the fourth position with team-mate Shoaib Malik.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship, Australia has gained one rating point for the series win and is now on 124 points – two behind the leader South Africa and two ahead of India – while Pakistan has conceded a point but still leads sixth-placed England by two points and trails fourth-placed New Zealand by two.

The ODI action resumes on 21 May when England takes on the West Indies in first of the three matches at Leeds. The other two ODIs will be played at Bristol (24 May) and Birmingham (26 May).

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Keywords · ICC · cricket · Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Player Rankings

Name: Sami Ul Hasan
Organization: ICC
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