McGrath grabs joint top spot, Gilchrist in top five

LONDON - Australian pace hero Glenn McGrath has grabbed a share of top spot with South African arch-rival Shaun Pollock in the latest world cricket ratings, while Adam Gilchrist has joined the top five batsmen for the first time.

The new PriceWaterhouse-Coopers Test ratings, issued after Australia's crushing 10-wicket defeat of India in the opening match in Mumbai, see McGrath improve from second to joint first with Pollock, both of them on 907 points.

The pair's eminence at the top of world bowling at present is shown by the fact another South African Allan Donald is in third place, back on 840 points.

Australia now has three bowlers in the top seven, with Jason Gillespie improving two places to seventh, one behind Brett Lee.

Shane Warne's first Test exploits improved him four places to 16th.

While batting No.1 Sachin Tendulkar's efforts for India moved him to 894 points - and just short of the magical 900 figure previously attained only by No.2 Steve Waugh and No.7 Brian Lara - the big mover was Gilchrist.

His explosive first-innings century lifted him to joint fifth with Pakistan's Saeed Anwar, on 767 points.

Ricky Ponting is the other Australian in the top 10. He dropped three spots to eighth.

In the one-day ratings, Australia has three batsmen in the top seven after Mark Waugh and Ricky Ponting moved up one spot each to sixth and seventh. Michael Bevan remained second, behind India's Sourav Ganguly. Gilchrist improved two places to 11th.

There was no change at the top in the bowling, with Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan on top ahead of McGrath, and Warne fifth.