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Bowlers make impact on world one-day rankings

Fortunes may be about to change for New Zealand in one-day international cricket if the latest rankings are any guide

Lynn McConnell
01-Jul-2003
Fortunes may be about to change for New Zealand in one-day international cricket if the latest rankings are any guide.
For the first time in many years, New Zealand have four bowlers listed in the top 15 players in the PriceWaterhouseCoopers ODI rankings.
That is a level of consistency that hasn't been seen since the mid-1980s which was arguably New Zealand's greatest one-day peak. The same can't be said of the batting, however, where the best-performed player is Stephen Fleming who has lifted to 21 on the list, with the next two best players being Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan - neither of whom were on the tour of Sri Lanka.
But in the bowling ranks, Shane Bond is listed at No 7 while Daryl Tuffey is at 12, Daniel Vettori at 13 and Jacob Oram at 14.
In the Test batting rankings, Mark Richardson is listed at No 11 while Fleming is at No 21 and in the bowling Tuffey is 13, Bond 17 and Vettori 21.
On the international Test batting rankings Brian Lara's recent form in home series has seen him supplant Australia's Matthew Hayden at the top of the list. Sachin Tendulkar remains unchallenged as the world's leading one-day international batsman with Lara in fourth place. The big mover in the ODI batting is Marcus Trescothick of England who leapt six places to No 7 on the batting list.
The bowling is dominated by South Africa's Shaun Pollock who sits atop both the Test and ODI rankings. The big mover on the bowling list is James Anderson of England who has shot up 21 players to No 30 as the result of his performances in the NatWest Series.
The top 10 lists are:
Tests:
Batting: Brian Lara (West Indies), Matthew Hayden (Australia), Ricky Ponting (Australia), Sachin Tendulkar (India), Michael Vaughan (England), Jacques Kallis (South Africa), Adam Gilchrist (Australia), Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan), Rahul Dravid (India), Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa),
Bowling: Shaun Pollock (South Africa), Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka), Glenn McGrath (Australia), Harbhajan Singh (India), Jason Gillespie (Australia), Andy Caddick (England), Makhaya Ntini (South Africa), Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan), Anil Kumble (India), Jacques Kallis (South Africa).
ODIs:
Batting: Tendulkar, Ponting, Gibbs, Lara, Gilchrist, Chris Gayle (West Indies), Marcus Trescothick (England), Michael Bevan (Australia), Hayden, Ramnaresh Sarwan (West Indies).
Bowling: Pollock, Muralitharan, McGrath, Ntini, Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka), Brett Lee (Australia), Shane Bond (New Zealand), Gillespie, Zaheer Khan (India), Harbhajan.