WI captain edged out for top batting spot

BRIDGETOWN: Brian Lara has been edged out by Australia’s Test captain-in-waiting Ricky Ponting in two key batting barometers at the end of the year. The West Indies captain has been knocked down into second spot on the list of highest run scorers for the calendar year 2003, and on the PricewaterhouseCoopers Test ratings of international cricketers by Ponting, who takes over as Australia’s Test captain when Steve Waugh retires next month. Lara, 34, scored 1,344 runs at an average of 74.66 from 19 innings in 10 Tests. He hit five half-centuries and five hundreds — his 209 in the drawn First Test against Sri Lanka at Gros Islet was his best score for the year. Ponting’s double hundreds in consecutive Tests in the current series against India helped lift him above Lara to lead the PwC batting ratings for the first time.

The 29-year-old also finished the year with the most runs, scoring 1,503 at an average of 100.20 from 18 innings in 11 Tests. He gathered four half-centuries and six centuries —- his 257 against India in the recent Third Test at Melbourne was his highest score. In the bowling, South Africa’s Makhaya Ntini, who has taken 17 wickets in the first two Tests of the ongoing series against West Indies, was the top bowler for the year, while Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan finished at number one on the PwC ratings. Fast bowler Ntini captured 59 wickets at 26.54 apiece from 469 overs in 12 Tests this year to eclipse Australia’s Stuart MacGill with 57 wickets at 29.61 from 524.4 overs in 11 Tests. Ntini’s five for 66 against West Indies in the Second Test at Durban was his best bowling analysis for the year and MacGill’s five for 56 against Bangladesh in the Second Test at Cairns earlier this year was his bowling highlight.

Of the West Indies batsmen, Ramnaresh Sarwan finished with the 18th highest aggregate of runs for the year with 676 at 39.76 to finish in 26th position on the PwC ratings, while compatriot Shivnarine Chanderpaul was 23rd on the runs list with 579 at 41.35 and held down 19th position on the PwC ratings. Leading aggregates for other West Indies specialist batsmen were: Daren Ganga (498), Wavell Hinds (466), Chris Gayle (312) and Ridley Jacobs (303). In the bowling, Corey Collymore with 26 wickets at 22.50 was 14th-best Test bowler and the West Indies’ best for the year, while Vasbert Drakes with 21 wickets at 46.38 was the 20th-best Test bowler and West Indies’ second-best for the year. Of the other West Indies bowlers, Mervyn Dillon with 18 wickets, Fidel Edwards 17, Jermaine Lawson and Omari Banks 14 each, and Hinds 10 were the double-figure contributors.

Most Runs for the Year
B C R A
1. Ricky Ponting  (AUS) 1,503 100.20
2. Brian Lara  (WI)  1,344 74.66
3. Matthew Hayden (AUS) 1,312  77.17
4. Graeme Smith  (SA) 1,198 63.05
5. Herschelle Gibbs  (SA) 1,156 64.22
6. Marcus Trescothick (ENG) 1,003 47.76
7. Mark Butcher (ENG) 979 44.50
8. Michael Vaughan (ENG) 958  41.65
9. Gary Kirsten (SA) 889 74.08
10. Steve Waugh (AUS) 876 79.63

Most Wickets for the Year
B C W A
1. Makhaya Ntini (SA) 59 26.54
2. Stuart MacGill (AUS) 57 29.61
3. Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) 48 17.68
4. Shaun Pollock (SA) 45 20.97
5. Jason Gillespie (AUS) 41  22.51
6. Brett Lee (AUS) 38 35.02
7. Shabbir Ahmed (PAK) 33 21.78
8. Mohammed Rafique (BAN) 33 24.00
9. Andy Bichel (AUS) 32 33.25
10. Steve Harmison (ENG) 31 24.25
Key: AUS-Australia, BAN-Bangladesh, ENG-England, PAK-Pakistan, SAF-South
Africa, SRL-Sri Lanka, WIN-West Indies.