DUBAI - Andrew Symonds’ unbeaten 70 in the first innings of Australia’s 95-run victory over the West Indies in Jamaica slipped under most people’s radars in the light of Ricky Ponting magnificent 158 but his 79 in the second dig, as his team-mates fell around him, was perhaps one of the most important knocks of his career so far.
And those two contributions have lifted the Queenslander up eight places to 12th position in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen.
Given the rankings are weighted to favour individual performances that are important in the context of the match in question, the fact Symonds scored nearly half his side’s runs and gave his bowlers something to defend, counted in his favour when the latest rankings were calculated.
Symonds, who will celebrate his 33rd birthday on 9 June, is currently enjoying the highest rating of his career to date and will be looking to make further progress up the ladder during the rest of Australia’s tour in the Caribbean.
However, he still has work to do before he catches team-mates Michael Hussey in first place, Ricky Ponting in second, Matthew Hayden in sixth and Michael Clarke in 11th.
Meanwhile, West Indies’ Shivnarine Chanderpaul has put a gap between himself and Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardena in seventh position in the batting rankings thanks to his gutsy 118 in the first innings at Sabina Park. The man from Guyana now has his sights set on Hayden in sixth spot with the Australian reportedly set to be available for selection for the second Test in Antigua after previously being sidelined with a heel injury.
Man of the match Stuart Clark is another player on the rise and if he continues the way he is going he could catch South Africa’s Dale Steyn before the end of the current tour.
His eight wickets in this match, including 5-32 in the second innings, have widened the gap between him and Brett Lee in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers and given him the best rating of his career to date in third position.
Although the West Indies team was defeated at Sabina Park, the match was not without its positives for John Dyson’s men. For one thing, they managed to take all 20 Australian wickets and, as a result, the West Indies front-line attack is making steady progress up the Reliance Mobile ICC Rankings.
With eight of those wickets going to Fidel Edwards, the 26-year-old from Barbados has broken into the top 30 for the first time while Dwayne Bravo, in 33rd spot, is on the verge of doing the same. Daren Powell has moved up three places to 41st position.
Bravo has managed to break into the top five of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders at the expense of New Zealand’s Jacob Oram. That list is still headed by South Africa’s Jacques Kallis, followed by Black Caps’ skipper Daniel Vettori in
No comments:
Post a Comment