Lara up to second in LG ICC Test Player Rankings

Brian Lara's double hundred against Australia in Adelaide has helped him not only become Test cricket's leading run-scorer but has also lifted him to number two in the latest LG ICC Test Player Rankings.

Lara's innings of 226 has contributed to a five-place rise in those rankings, moving him past, amongst others, Australia captain Ricky Ponting (down one place to third) and Mathew Hayden (holding steady at sixth spot) and now only South Africa's Jacques Kallis, the ICC's Test Player of the Year, is ahead of him.

The consolation for Ponting in his slight demotion - if any is needed - is that his Australia side has now extended their lead at the top of the LG ICC Test Championship table thanks to a clean sweep of the three-match series against the West Indies.

Australia went into the series with an eight-point advantage over nearest rivals England but the 3-0 win has increased that by one point and it will increase still further at the end of England's current series in Pakistan.

Even if England win the final Test of the series, in Lahore, their rating will slip to 117, 11 points behind Australia, a draw in that match will drop them to 115 points and defeat will leave Michael Vaughan's side trailing the runaway leaders by 15 points.

Australia did lead the LG ICC Test Championship table by 20 points ahead of the Ashes series earlier this year but that lead was cut to eight points when England won that five-match encounter 2-1.

One reason for Australia's current dominance is the strength of their batting line-up and that is shown in the latest LG ICC Test Player Rankings as they have five players in the top 20.

Ponting is their highest placed player and Hayden is their other player in the top ten, but they also have Adam Gilchrist at 11th and Justin Langer at 13th and another illustration of their strength is that they can currently do without Damien Martyn, even though he still lies at 17th in the batting list.

The only other West Indies player in the top 20 batting places after their latest series is captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul at 14th, but he has slipped five places. Chris Gayle, who missed the final Test because of surgery, is 29th and Ramnaresh Sarwan is 30th.

It is a similar story in the bowling department: Glenn McGrath still sits on top of the bowling rankings while Shane Warne lies in third, the two Australians separated by Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralidaran in a tightly-packed top three.

Stuart MacGill has slipped out of the top 20 and now lies in 21st but Brett Lee has continued his recent renaissance and has moved up three places to 25th.

For the West Indies Corey Collymore is their leading bowler in the rankings at 22nd and has a career-best tally of ranking points.

But it is not all doom and gloom for the West Indies. Dwayne Bravo's outstanding all-round series has seen him surge up both the batting and bowling lists to career-best points tallies.

Bravo has moved up 12 places in both the batting and bowling lists. He now lies at 47th in the batting ranks while he is 43rd in the bowling table.

A player to keep an eye on is Australia's Michael Hussey. The left-hander, who scored hundreds in Hobart and Adelaide, lies in 45th spot in the batting list.

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