Hussey's meteoric rise
2006-04-04 16:10
Dubai - Australia's Mike Hussey has broken into the top ten of the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen faster than any other player in history.
Just five months after his Test debut the left-hander is now placed 10th in the list, up five spots after scores of 73 and 89 against South Africa at the Wanderers.
No player has ever achieved such lofty heights in the rankings in such a short period of time.
Hussey's two innings helped ensure Australia won the final Test of their series against the Proteas and that victory not only gave Ricky Ponting's side a 3-0 clean sweep but also increased their lead at the top of the ICC Test Championship table.
Australia now have 131 rating points, up two, thanks to their series success, and are now 18 points clear of their nearest rivals England.
India are in third place, two points further back.
South Africa have lost one rating point because of their defeat and although they have retained sixth spot they are now just one point clear of seventh-placed Sri Lanka.
Hussey is not the only Australia batsman to be moving in the right direction in the rankings. Damien Martyn is also on the rise, up three places to 11th, after his 101 that played a key role in the side's two-wicket win on Tuesday.
As well as Hussey and Martyn, Australia have three other batsmen in the top 20 with Ponting retaining top spot, Matthew Hayden fifth (down three after twin failures) and Justin Langer 16th.
But Adam Gilchrist has dropped out of that top 20 and is now at his lowest ranking since 1999 after slipping seven spots to 25th position.
Retained second place
South Africa, by contrast, have two batsmen in the top 20, Jacques Kallis, who has retained second place, and Herschelle Gibbs, up one place to 20th position after a second innings half-century in Johannesburg.
Injured captain Graeme Smith is in joint 23rd position (along with Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan) and AB de Villiers is 36th (down five) but moving up are Ashwell Prince (joint 47th with Brendon McCullum of New Zealand and up 11 places) and Mark Boucher (58th, up eight).
With the ball, South Africa's Makhaya Ntini remains in fourth place in the rankings despite his 10-wicket match haul at The Wanderers, but he has narrowed the gap to third-placed Shane Warne and is now just six rating points behind him.
The South African duo of Andre Nel (11th, down one) and Shaun Pollock (12th, unchanged) are also in the top 20, as is Brett Lee, man of the match in Johannesburg and up one place to 15th position. Stuart Clark is now in 34th spot after an outstanding debut series which saw him take 20 wickets.
Lee is also on the rise in the rankings for Test all-rounders, moving up four places to 12th. That list is still topped by Kallis, narrowly clear of England's Andrew Flintoff (the leading ODI all-rounder) with Pollock in third position.
Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralidaran still leads the bowling list ahead of Australia's Glenn McGrath, who missed the series in South Africa for personal reasons.
- SAPA