Contrasting fortunes for Flintoff and Tendulkar in LG ICC Player Rankings

England's acting captain Andrew Flintoff and Sachin Tendulkar of India have experienced contrasting fortunes in the latest LG ICC Player Rankings for Test cricket.

Flintoff, named man of the series in the shared three-match clash between the two sides that concluded in Mumbai on Wednesday, has moved up in the batting and bowling lists and is closing in on the number one spot in the all-rounder's table.

Tendulkar, on the other hand - now sidelined because of impending shoulder surgery -has dropped to his lowest Test ranking and rating in the batting list for 13 years.

Flintoff is sixth in the LG ICC Player Rankings for bowlers, up one place after taking four wickets at the Wankhede Stadium, and is now just three rating points behind England's leading bowler in the list, Matthew Hoggard.

With the bat, Flintoff's twin half-centuries in Mumbai saw him rise two places to 24th position and he now has a career-best haul of rating points, while he is just 13 points behind South Africa's Jacques Kallis in the all-rounder's list.

Contrast that upward momentum with Tendulkar's situation. The man who became India's most capped Test cricketer when he appeared in the third Test has dropped four places to 16th in the LG ICC Player Rankings for batsmen.

His slide down the list reflects the fact the England series was the third in succession where he failed to average 40 runs per innings and there are two Indian batsman ahead of him in the rankings - captain Rahul Dravid (5th) and Virender Sehwag (10th).

Defeat in Mumbai made it a forgettable 100th Test for Dravid and he drops one place in the list.

England once again have two players in the batting top 20 with Andrew Strauss moving back up the table thanks to his first hundred in five Tests over the winter. The left-hander rises nine places to 12th, just behind Marcus Trescothick (9th), who missed the series for personal reasons.

Kevin Pietersen drops four places to 28th but Paul Collingwood has moved up 10 spots to 52nd and now has his best-ever tally of rating points while Owais Shah, who made an impressive debut with scores of 88 and 38, makes a first appearance on the list in 62nd position.

Five wickets for Harbhajan Singh have pushed him up three places in the LG ICC Player Rankings for bowlers and he returns to the top 20 in 20th place. That means India have three players in that top 20 as Anil Kumble (12th) and Irfan Pathan (13th) - both non-movers in the list - are also there.

Another positive note for India is the rise of their young fast bowlers, Munaf Patel and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth. Both men have only played two Tests each but already Patel is ranked 51st while Sreesanth is 55th after they shared 19 England wickets.

James Anderson took advantage of his recall after a 14-month absence to capture six wickets and move up 13 places to 42nd in the bowling list and now has his highest rating since 2003 while spinner Shaun Udal, who took 4-14 in the final innings, is 77th, up 33 spots.

Australia's Ricky Ponting leads the LG ICC Player Rankings for batsmen ahead of team-mate Matthew Hayden and Kallis, while Muttiah Muralidaran of Sri Lanka leads the bowling table, followed by the Australian duo of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.

Full details of the current LG ICC Test Championship and how future results will impact on the table, as well as the LG ICC Player Rankings can be found here