Sarwan tops world rankings

LONDON: Guyana and West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan has moved up to number one in the One-Day International (ODI) LG International Cricket Council (ICC) batting ratings. Last week’s number one Jacques Kallis, of South Africa, slipped to third in this week’s rankings while Sarwan takes the top spot and India’s Sachin Tendulkar moves up to two. Sarwan, who declined the job last week as vice-captain to Shivnarine Chanderpaul for Guyana in the current Carib Beer Series, he said, to groom “a younger player” for the job, has a healthy ODI average of 47.72.

He has played 79 matches, scoring 2,577 runs, with two centuries and 15 half-centuries. West Indies captain Brian Lara climbed from ninth to joint eighth — with Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkar — on the LG ICC batting list. Veteran Australian pacer Glen McGrath remains the number one bowler ahead of South African Shaun Pollock, with Ian Bradshaw at 24th and Mervyn Dillon (27th) the highest rated West Indians on the bowlers’ list. West Indies opening batsman and part-time off-spinner Chris Gayle is fifth-rated in the allrounders’ ranking that is head ed by England’s Andrew Flintoff.

LG ICC Rankings:
BATTING:1 Ramnaresh Sarwan; 2 Sachin Tendulkar; 3 Jacques Kallis; 3 Adam Gilchrist; 5 Yousuf Youhana; 6 Ricky Ponting; 7 Stephen Fleming; 8 Kumar Sangakkara; 9 Brian Lara;10 Andrew Flintoff.
BOWLING: 1 Glenn McGrath; 2 Shaun Pollock; 3  Chaminda Vaas; 4 Muttiah Muralitharan; 5 Jason Gillespie; 6 Brett Lee; 7 Jacob Oram; 8 Darren Gough; 9 Andrew Flintoff; 10 Makhaya Ntini; 24th Ian Bradshaw; 27th Mervyn Dillon.
ALLROUNDERS: 1 Andrew Flintoff; 2 Shaun Pollock; 3 Shoaib Malik; 4 Chris Cairns; 5 Chris Gayle. (CMC)