Lara stays world’s best batsman
LONDON: South Africa captain Graeme Smith has moved up 25 places in the PricewaterhouseCoopers Test ratings after his outstanding batting in the First Test against England which ended on Monday. Smith thumped scores of 277 and 85 at Edgbaston in the drawn Test to move up to 19th place. New England captain Michael Vaughan, who hit 156 in the first innings against South Africa, has moved up to second place, leapfrogging India’s Sachin Tendulkar. Australian leg-spinner Stuart MacGill, who bagged match figures of 10-133 in the Second Test victory against Bangladesh this week, moved back into the world’s top 10 bowlers. Heading the list of the world’s best Test batsmen is West Indian Brian Lara.
| Top 10 batsmen | ||
| Pts | Avg | |
| 1. Brian Lara (West Indies) | 887 | 51.55 |
| 2. Michael Vaughan (England) | 858 | 50.98 |
| 3. Sachin Tendulkar (India) | 843 | 57.58 |
| 4. Matthew Hayden (Australia) | 821 | 52 |
| 5. Ricky Ponting (Australia) | 816 | 51.11 |
| 6. Jacques Kallis (S/Africa) | 812 | 50.4 |
| 7. Adam Gilchrist (Australia) | 799 | 58.8 |
| 8. Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan) | 793 | 48.92 |
| 9. Herschelle Gibbs (S/Africa) | 792 | 45.13 |
| 10. Rahul Dravid (India) | 789 | 53.46 |
| Top 10 bowlers | ||
| Pts | Avg | |
| 1. Shaun Pollock (S/Africa) | 872 | 20.52 |
| 2. M Muralitharan (S/Lanka) | 861 | 23.55 |
| 3. Glenn McGrath (Australia) | 848 | 21.71 |
| 4. Harbhajan Singh (India) | 746 | 26.59 |
| 5. Jason Gillespie (Australia) | 740 | 24.92 |
| 6. Andrew Caddick (England) | 698 | 29.91 |
| 7. Stuart MacGill (Australia) | 691 | 26.22 |
| 7. Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan) | 691 | 27.18 |
| 9. Anil Kumble (India) | 688 | 28 |
| 10. Makhaya Ntini (S/Africa) | 682 | 28.75 |
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"Lara stays world’s best batsman"