Sport | Cricket
Steyn joins Muralitharan at the top of the heap
South Africa pacer Dale Steyn has moved to the top of the ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers after another wonderful display of fast bowling in India.
- Staff Report
- Published: 00:38 April 12, 2008
Dubai: South Africa pacer Dale Steyn has moved to the top of the ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers after another wonderful display of fast bowling in India.
Steyn now has 897 ratings points and is at level with Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, who has been top of the bowlers' list since February 2006. Indeed, the iconic spinner has not been out of the top five bowlers since mid-2000. He has now, however, dropped below 900 ratings points for the first time since June 2006.
Steyn now ranks 22nd in the all-time list of Test bowlers, 12 places behind the career best of compatriot Shaun Pollock but ahead of other great South African bowlers such as Allan Donald and Hugh Tayfield, who are both ranked in joint-26th position.
Other bowlers to have peaked at 897 ratings points include Ray Lindwall of Australia, Jim Laker of England and the West Indies' Lance Gibbs, putting Steyn in some pretty impressive company.
What makes Steyn stand out from the rest is that he has taken just 22 matches to reach the top. By contrast, it took Pollock 33 matches to do it and Donald 41.
Sangakkara slips
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, who has slipped from the top of the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen after a relatively disappointing two-Test series in the West Indies. His place at the top is taken by Australia's Michael Hussey, who is currently the only batsman in the world with more than 900 ratings points. As Hussey is still qualifying for a full rating, his points tally at the top is likely to continue to rise when he next plays Test cricket, scheduled to be against the West Indies in May.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka have slipped two places to fifth position on the ICC Test Championship table after only managing to draw the two-match series with the West Indies. The West Indies is that they have narrowed the gap in the Test Championship to 14 points between itself and New Zealand. Prior to England's 2-1 series win over the Black Caps and the West Indies' drawn series with Sri Lanka, there were 20 points separating the Kiwis in seventh and the Caribbeans in eighth.
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