Gayle No.2 ODI batsman

An outstanding showing in the Champions Trophy has seen Chris Gayle move up to the second place in the latest ICC player rankings for ODI batsmen.

He was the leading run-scorer in the tournament with 474 runs at an average of 79.00 and a strike-rate of 92.94. He hit three hundreds and took eight wickets to end up as the Player of the Tournament.

Gayle's current tally of 804 rating points is the highest he has ever reached. He is now 17 points behind Mike Hussey, who retained his position as the highest-ranked ODI batsman in the world.

Kevin Pietersen is another big mover in the player rankings for batsmen. Despite England not getting through to the knockout stages of the tournament, Pietersen did enough to move up three places to a personal best of third.

Gayle has also overtaken Shaun Pollock as the top one-day all-rounder. These two are well clear of Sanath Jayasuriya in third and Andrew Flintoff one place further down. Another man who has moved up the order was Daniel Vettori of New Zealand, who is now 10th on the ODI allrounders list, his personal best.

Among bowlers, Glenn McGrath has moved up four places to number two and now has another warhorse, Pollock, in his sights. McGrath has taken over from Brett Lee as the highest-ranked Australian ODI bowler. With Nathan Bracken also making moves, the Aussies now have three bowlers in the top five as well as four batsmen in the top seven.

Australia's position at the top of the ICC ODI championship got a further boost with their maiden Champions Trophy triumph. They are now nine points clear of South Africa in second place, who are in turn nine points ahead of New Zealand in third. South Africa and New Zealand were both beaten semi-finalists at the Champions Trophy. Runners-up West Indies are currently placed seventh in the world but only seven ratings points separate New Zealand and West Indies. Pakistan are fourth, India fifth, and Sri Lanka sixth.