ICC Test rankings: Kallis retires in 12th position

Jacques Kallis retired in the 12th position

Jacques Kallis has retired in 12^th position in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen after he inspired South Africa to a 10-wicket victory over India in the second and final Test in Durban on Monday.

Kallis scored a fine 115, his 45^th Test century, which helped South Africa to secure a decisive 166-run first innings lead. During his innings, Kallis also became the third most successful batsman in the history of the game after Sachin Tendulkar (15,921) and Ricky Ponting (13,378) as he finished his career with 13,289 runs.

For becoming only the 31^st batsman and fourth from South Africa to score a century in his final Test, Kallis was rewarded with a jump of three places, which meant he signed off on his magnificent career in 12^th position.

Kallis first topped the batting chart after his 85^th Test in January 2005 when he scored 149 and 66 against England in the third Test at Newlands. Overall, he spent 68 Tests and 592 days as the top-ranked Test batsman.

The 38-year-old achieved his highest rating of 935 in his 111^th Test when he scored 131 in his only innings against New Zealand in the second Test at Centurion in November 2007. On the list of all-time best ratings, this sits in 10^th position along with Matthew Hayden of Australia.

Kallis, who also took 292 Test wickets, remained wicketless in the Durban Test. As such, he finished in 30^th spot after slipping two places. Kallis achieved his career-best ranking of sixth when he recorded match figures of seven for 110 against Sri Lanka at Centurion in November 2002.

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test All-rounders, Kallis finished in third spot after having first topped the chart in his 36^th Test in March 2000 following his match figures of two for 28 and a score of 95 in South Africa’s innings and 71 runs victory over India in Bengaluru.

Overall, Kallis spent a record 493 matches as the top-ranked Test all-rounder, which equates to 4,028 days.

In the latest update of the Reliance ICC Player Test Rankings following the conclusion of Durban and Melbourne Tests, Australia’s duo of Chris Rogers and Shane Watson, and India’s batsmen Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane are some of the biggest movers.

Rogers, who scored 61 and 116, has jumped 25 places to a career-high 23^rd spot while Watson’s 10 and 83 not out has helped him rise seven places to share 25^th place with Faf du Plessis of South Africa who has also gained three places after scoring 43 in his only outing in Durban.

Vijay and Rahane missed centuries but made significant gains in the rankings. Vijay, who scored 97 and six, has earned six places and is now in 38^th position while Rahane, who scored 51 not out and 96, has rocketed 63 places to 65^th position. These are career-best rankings of the two India youngsters to-date.

Other batsmen heading in the right direction are Graeme Smith in eighth (up by one place), Alviro Petersen in 27^th (up by nine places), Brad Haddin in 32^nd (up by five places) and Robin Peterson in 76^th (up by 18 places).

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, Australia’s Mitchell Johnson has continued to storm up the charts.

Johnson, who won the man of the match award for his five for 63 and three for 25 in the Melbourne Test, has moved up four places to sit just outside the top 10 in 11^th position. Johnson has so far gained 12 places in the bowling table after having started the series in 23^rdspot.

Johnson’s compatriot Nathan Lyon is the other bowler within the top 20 to make an improvement. The off-spinner has moved up three places to 17^th after match figures of six for 117.

Dale Steyn, who was named man of the match in Durban for his match figures of nine for 147, has once again broken the 900-point mark. He now has 901 ratings points after he earned 11 ratings points for his achievement.

Vernon Philander, who became the top-ranked bowler after the Centurion Test last week, has held onto his number-one position despite conceding three ratings points following his match figures of three for 99.

The player rankings will now be updated after the first Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which began in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 31 December after South Africa-India series and Melbourne Test):

Batsmen:

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Rating

1 ( – ) AB de Villiers SA 912! 51.71 912 v Ind at Durban 2013

2 (+1) S.Chanderpaul WI 876 51.93 901 v NZ at Napier 2008

3 (+1) Ross Taylor NZ 871! 47.51 871 v WI at Hamilton 2013

4 (-2) Hashim Amla SA 868 51.34 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

5 (+1) K.Sangakkara SL 866 56.98 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007

6 (-1) Michael Clarke Aus 854 51.96 900 v SL at Melbourne 2012

7 ( – ) C.Pujara Ind 851*! 66.25 851 v SA at Durban 2013

8 (+1) Graeme Smith SA 785 49.56 843 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010

9 (-1) Misbah-ul-Haq Pak 783! 46.03 783 v SA at Dubai 2013

10 ( – ) Younus Khan Pak 769 51.17 880 v SL at Lahore 2009

11 ( – ) Virat Kohli Ind 739* 44.32 748 v SA at Johannesburg 2013

12 (+3) Jacques Kallis SA 722 55.37 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007

13 (-1) David Warner Aus 710 42.04 741 v Eng at Perth 2013

14 (-1) Ian Bell Eng 708 45.91 822 v Ind at The Oval 2011

15 (-1) Alastair Cook Eng 707 46.97 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012

16 ( – ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 706 47.78 909 v WI at Headingley 2007

17 ( – ) Asad Shafiq Pak 660* 39.11 680 v SA at Cape Town 2013

18 ( – ) Jonathan Trott Eng 647 46.45 856 v SL at Cardiff 2011

19 ( – ) M.Jayawardene SL 639 49.56 883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009

20 ( – ) Darren Bravo WI 636 44.68 709 v Aus at Port-of-Spain 2012

Bowlers:

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave Econ HS Rating

1 ( – ) Vernon Philander SA 909 18.00 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

2 ( – ) Dale Steyn SA 901 22.90 908 v Pak at Johannesburg 2013

3 ( – ) Rangana Herath SL 831 29.52 838 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012

4 ( – ) Saeed Ajmal Pak 824 26.54 855 v Zim at Harare 2013

5 ( – ) Ryan Harris Aus 786* 22.88 801 v Eng at Brisbane 2013

6 ( – ) Peter Siddle Aus 770 28.90 816 v Eng at Old Trafford 2013

7 ( – ) R.Ashwin Ind 759 28.50 808 v WI at Mumbai 2013

8 ( – ) Pragyan Ojha Ind 741 30.26 773 v Eng at Kolkata 2012

9 ( – ) Stuart Broad Eng 732 30.31 783 v WI at Lord’s 2012

10 ( – ) Trent Boult NZ 729*! 26.54 729 v WI at Hamilton 2013

11 (+4) Mitchell Johnson Aus 720 28.75 825 v Eng at Cardiff 2009

12 (-1) Morne Morkel SA 707 29.91 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011

13 (-1) Abdur Rehman Pak 703* 27.55 739 v Eng at Dubai 2012

14 (-1) Tim Southee NZ 699! 31.44 699 v WI at Hamilton 2013

15 (-1) James Anderson Eng 691 30.61 813 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011

16 ( – ) Kemar Roach WI 649* 27.71 712 v NZ at Kingston 2012

17 (+3) Nathan Lyon Aus 648! 32.23 648 v Eng at Melbourne 2013

18 (-1) Ben Hilfenhaus Aus 633* 28.50 757 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2012

19 (-1) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 614 32.60 680 v WI at Mirpur 2011

20 (-1) S.Shillingford WI 613* 32.32 652 v NZ at Dunedin 2013

All-rounders:

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts HS Rating

1 ( – ) R.Ashwin Ind 388* 419 v WI at Mumbai 2013

2 ( – ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 362 404 v Pak at Mirpur 2011

3 ( – ) Jacques Kallis SA 353 616 v Pak at Durban 2002

4 ( – ) Vernon Philander SA 335*/ ! 335 v Ind at Durban 2013

5 (+1) Shane Watson Aus 263 * 394 v SA at Johannesburg 2011

* indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.

! indicates career-highest rating.