Asif mines a rich seam in LG ICC Player Rankings by International Cricket Council

Event:

DateLine: 29th January 2007

ICC Media Release

Equals Pakistan record for fewest matches to break into top ten; Kallis extends lead in all-rounder chart and climbs batting list too; Prince rises but Inzamam and Younis Khan slip; Pakistan stays third but gap to India narrows; SA now on Sri Lanka's tail

Mohammed Asif has equaled the record for the fewest matches taken by a Pakistan player to break into the top ten of the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers.

The 24 year-old seam and swing bowler captured five wickets in a losing cause in the decisive match of his sides series in South Africa and that was enough to lift him three places in the rankings to eighth position.

Asif has taken just nine Tests to reach that lofty position and only two other Pakistan bowlers have broken into that elite group so quickly - fast bowling legend Waqar Younis and Pervez Sajjad, the left-arm spinner who played 19 Tests in the 1960s and 1970s.

It is a phenomenal achievement by Asif, who took 19 wickets at 18.47 in the three-Test series against the Proteas, and it leaves him as Pakistan's top-ranked bowler as he has now moved past Shoaib Akhtar in the list.

However, Asif's continued rise he now has 49 Test wickets at 20.12 each represents just about the only piece of good news for Pakistan in the latest LG ICC Player Rankings.

Although Mohammad Yousuf remains in second place in the batting list, just behind Australia captain Ricky Ponting, both Younis Khan (down four places to 10th) and captain Inzamam-ul-Haq (12th, down one) have lost ground.

Shoaib, absent from the third Test with a hamstring injury, has slipped three spots to 11th position in the bowling table while leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, who along with Asif was Pakistan's workhorse during the series, remains unchanged in 13th place.

The news is better for South Africa, as might be expected given its five-wicket success in the third Test in Cape Town which secured a 2-1 series win.

Jacques Kallis, whose determined innings of 28 and 51 proved decisive in a low-scoring match, climbs two places to seventh in the batting ladder and he remains the Proteas' top-ranked player, ahead of the Ashwell Prince, up one spot to 11th position thanks to his vital unbeaten 59, one of only four scores of 50 or more in the match.

Kallis also took six wickets in the Test and that has helped boost his stock in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers and all-rounders. He now lies 25th in the bowling list, up two places, and has consolidated his lead in the all-rounder table, ahead of Englands Andrew Flintoff and team-mate Shaun Pollock.

Graeme Smith is the third South Africa batsman inside the top 20, rising five places to 17th position on the strength of scores of 64 and 33.

The bowling list is still topped by Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralidaran ahead of South Africa's Makhaya Ntini with India's Anil Kumble in third position and Shaun Pollock, rested for the Cape Town Test ahead of the one-day series to follow, lies fourth.

The series result has seen the positions of the two sides remain unaltered in the LG ICC Test Championship table with Pakistan still in third place and South Africa lying sixth, but there has been a change in the rating points of the two sides.

The Proteas have gained four points to draw level with fifth-placed Sri Lanka, although they still trail Mahela Jayawardene's line-up when the ratings are recalculated to three decimal points. Pakistan has lost four points and is now just one rating point ahead of fourth-placed India.

Australia still heads the table, 21 points ahead of England, in second spot, which is six points clear of Inzamam's side.

Test cricket now takes a back seat with the build-up to the ICC Cricket World Cup and the tournament itself taking centre stage until the end of April. The next Test action will be on 17 May when England and the West Indies begin a four-Test series at Lords in London.

LG ICC Test Championship (as of 29 January, after South Africa v Pakistan series)
Rank	Team	Rating
1	Australia	135
2	England	114
3	Pakistan	108
4	India	107
5	Sri Lanka	102
6	South Africa	102
7	New Zealand	93
8	West Indies	72
9	Zimbabwe	28
10	Bangladesh	2
(Developed by David Kendix)

LG ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 29 January, after South Africa v Pakistan series)
Batsmen
Rank	+/-	Player	Team	Points	Avg	HS Ranking
1	(-)	Ricky Ponting	Aus	936	59.29	942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
2	(-)	Moh’d Yousuf	Pak	915	56.00	933 v WI at Karachi 2006
3	(-)	Kevin Pietersen	Eng	870	49.69	896 v Aus at Perth 2006
4	(-)	KC Sangakkara	SL	857	50.64	857 v NZ at Wellington 2006
5	(-)	Mike Hussey	Aus	842*	79.85	842 v Eng at Sydney 2007
6	(+1)	Matthew Hayden	Aus	828	53.00	935 v Eng at Brisbane 2002
7	(+2)	Jacques Kallis	SA	820	55.09	896 v Eng at Cape Town 2005
8	(-)	Rahul Dravid	Ind	816	57.33	892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005
9	(+1)	Brian Lara	WI	801	52.88	911 v SA at Cape Town 2004
10	(-4)	Younis Khan	Pak	789	48.21	856 v Eng at Leeds 2006
11	(+1)	Ashwell Prince	SA	755	42.85	756 v Pak at Centurion 2007
12	(-1)	Inzamam-ul-Haq	Pak	735	50.07	870 v Eng at Lahore 2005
13	(-)	M.Jayawardene	SL	710	48.37	836 v Eng at Birmingham 2002
14	(-)	Andrew Strauss	Eng	699	43.09	769 v SA at Johannesburg 2005
15	(-)	PD Collingwood	Eng	687*	42.94	730 v Aus at Adelaide 2006
16	(-)	Stephen Fleming	NZ	674	39.64	702 v Ban at Chittagong 2004
17	(+5)	Graeme Smith	SA	672	47.08	756 v NZ at Wellington 2004
18	(-1)	Ian Bell	Eng	671	43.72	671 v Aus at Sydney 2007
19	(-1)	Adam Gilchrist	Aus	662	48.66	874 v SA at Cape Town 2002
20	(-1)	Michael Clarke	Aus	657	42.00	692 v Eng at Perth 2006

LG ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 29 January, after South Africa v Pakistan series)
Bowlers
Rank	+/-	Player	Team	Points	Avg	HS Ranking
1	(-)	M.Muralidaran	SL	913	21.73	915 v Pak at Lahore 2002
2	(-)	Makhaya Ntini	SA	856	27.48	863 v Ind at Durban 2006
3	(+1)	Anil Kumble	Ind	731	28.66	859 v SL at Bangalore 1994
4	(-1)	Shaun Pollock	SA	730	23.19	909 v Eng at Johannesburg 1999
5	(-)	Matt’w Hoggard	Eng	725	30.18	795 v SL at Birmingham 2006
6	(-)	Shane Bond	NZ	722*	22.10	778 v WI at Auckland 2006
7	(-)	Stuart Clark	Aus	720*	17.80	720 v Eng at Sydney 2007
8	(+3)	Mohammad Asif	Pak	710*	20.12	710 v SA at Cape Town 2007
9	(-1)	Andrew Flintoff	Eng	708	32.02	810 v Pak at Multan 2005
10	(-1)	Shoaib Akhtar	Pak	698	25.29	855 v NZ at Wellington 2003
11	(-1)	Corey Collymore	WI	690*	30.80	700 v Ind at Kingston 2006
12	(-)	Chaminda Vaas	SL	663	29.44	800 v Ind at Chennai 2005
13	(-)	Danish Kaneria	Pak	662	32.36	723 v Eng at Multan 2005
14	(-)	Brett Lee	Aus	644	31.60	658 v WI at Perth 2000
15	(-)	James Franklin	NZ	637*	28.19	679 v SL at Christchurch 2006
16	(-)	Irfan Pathan	Ind	631*	30.79	761 v SL at Delhi 2005
17	(-)	Steve Harmison	Eng	619	30.53	875 v WI at The Oval 2004
18	(-)	Umar Gul	Pak	608*	30.62	627 v WI at Karachi 2006
19	(-)	Daniel Vettori	NZ	598	34.28	681 v Aus at Auckland 2000
20	(-)	Stuart MacGill	Aus	593	27.20	728 v WI at Kingston 1999

LG ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 29 January, after South Africa v Pakistan series)
All Rounders
Rank	Player	Team	Points	HS Ranking
1	Jacques Kallis	SA	462	616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2	Andrew Flintoff	Eng	416	501 v Pak at Multan 2005
3	Shaun Pollock	SA	356	490 v Eng at The Oval 2003
4	Daniel Vettori	NZ	329	329 v SL at Wellington 2006
5	Irfan Pathan	Ind	254/	317 v Eng at Mohali 2006

*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.

For more information about how the LG ICC Player Rankings are devised and maintained go to: http://www.lgiccrankings.com/icc_php/about-rankings.php