Lara drops to world No 3

LONDON: South African Jacques Kallis, on the strength of his splendid hundred against England this week, has replaced West Indies cricket captain Brian Lara as the world number two in the PricewaterhouseCoopers ranking for Test batsmen. Kallis stroked 162 in the first innings of South Africa’s drawn Second Test that ended in Durban on Thursday and is now rated second, behind India’s Rahul Dravid, who keeps the top spot.

Lara is down one place to number three, followed by Australian Damien Martyn who has climbed to fourth — his best ever rating, ahead of three other Australians in the top ten, Ricky Ponting (6th), Matthew Hayden, who is joint seventh with India’s Sachin Tendulkar, and Justin Langer (9th). India’s Virender Sehwag is listed at fifth. There are four West Indies players in the batting top 25 — Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (21st), Ramnaresh Sarwan (24th) and Chris Gayle (25th).

In the bowling rankings, there was no change at all in the Top-ten placings, leaving Australian Glen McGrath still number one, ahead of Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar. Barbadian pacer Pedro Collins — ranked 22nd — is the only West Indian in the Top-25 bowlers’ list.

Batsmen: 1 Rahul Dravid (India); 2 Jacques Kallis (S Africa); 3 Brian Lara (WI); 4 Damien Martyn (Aus); 5 Virender Sehwag (India); 6 Ricky Ponting (Aus); 7 Sachin Tendulkar (India); 7 Matthew Hayden (Aus); 9 Justin Langer (Aus); 10 Kumar Sangak-kara (SL); 21st Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI); 24th Ram-naresh Sarwan (WI); 25th Chris Gayle (WI).

Bowlers: 1 Glen McGrath (Aus); 2 Muttiah Muralitharan (SL); 3 Shoaib Akhtar (Pak); 4 Steve Harmison (England); 5 Shaun Pollock (S Africa); 6 Jason Gillespie (Aus); 7 Anil Kumble (India); 8 Shane Warne (Aus); 9 Makhaya Ntini (S Africa); 10 Chaminda Vaas (SL); 22nd Pedro Collins (WI).