Pakistan, AB, Misbah move up in rankngs

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Cricket365
October 18, 2013

South Africa's AB de Villiers achieved a career-best second position on the rankings for Test batsmen, while a seven-wicket victory in the Abu Dhabi Test has guaranteed Pakistan a fourth position on the Test team rankings.

De Villiers, who scored 19 and 90, earned three ratings points which were enough to put him ahead of Shivnarine Chanderpul of the West Indies. The South Africa batsman thus trailed team-mate Hashim Amla, who also gained five ratings points after scoring 118 runs in the first innings, by 15 ratings points.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq also achieved his career-best ranking. The 39-year-old batsman was rewarded for his 100 and 28 not out with a jump of five places that put him in seventh position, just one place and seven ratings points behind Younis Khan.

Asad Shafiq and man of the match Khurram Manzoor also made upward movements. Asad gained nine places into 25th position while Khurram's Test best score of 146 gave him a leap of 45 places and 52nd position.

In the rankings for Test bowlers, there was no change in the top 10 but Vernon Philander became the 21st bowler and third from South Africa after Shaun Pollock (909) and Dale Steyn (908) to reach the 900-point mark.

Philander took five wickets in the Test and it is likely that he will move even further up the ladder depending on how he performs in the second Test in Dubai, which starts on Wednesday 23 October.

Philander has taken 94 wickets in 17 Tests at an average of 17.33 and trails number-one ranked Steyn by three ratings points.

Pakistan fast bowler Junaid Khan also moved in the right direction. The left-armer had figures of one for 52 and three for 57, for which he was rewarded with a jump of 10 places and put him just outside the top 20 in 22nd spot.

In the rankings for Test all-rounders, double failure by Jacques Kallis meant he returned the number-one spot to Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's seven wickets victory means they will finish fourth in the Test team rankings, irrespective of how the Dubai Test pans out.

If the series ends in a 1-1 draw, South Africa will finish on 131 points (drop by four) and Pakistan will end on 102 (up by five) and one point ahead of the Australia.

If Pakistan win the Dubai Test, then South Africa will slip to 125 ratings points, nine points ahead of England and India, while Pakistan will end up on 108 ratings points – seven points ahead of Australia.