Mohammed Yousuf joins the greats

Pakistan's Mohammed Yousuf has broken plenty of Test batting records during 2006.

He has made more hundreds - nine - and scored more runs - 1788 - in a calendar year than any other player in the history of the game.

The stylish right-hander also broke Pakistan's mark for most runs in a three-Test series - 665, against the West Indies, smashing Zaheer Abbas's previous mark of 583 runs, against India in 1978/79.

And thanks to performances like that, Yousuf finds himself in truly elite company as he now has one of the ten best Test batting ratings of all-time, as seen in the list below:

Ricky Ponting is fifth in that list, a position he reached following his scores of 196 and 60 not out in the first Test against England in Brisbane at the end of November.

With Ponting scoring 142 in Australia's first innings of the ongoing second Test in Adelaide, he may improve his rating still further when the next set of figures are released after the Test concludes.

An improvement of just six rating points would leave him second in the all-time list with only Donald Bradman ahead of him.

Ponting's innings in Adelaide was his 33rd hundred in Tests, breaking the record for the most centuries by an Australia batsman, a mark he previously shared with Stephen Waugh.

Yousuf's runs played a key role in his side's 2-0 series win over the West Indies and that success has ensured Pakistan retains third place in the LG ICC Test Championship table.

Pakistan remains one rating point ahead of fourth-placed India and seven points behind England, which lies second. Australia heads the table, 11 points clear of its nearest rival.

The West Indies remains in eighth position, 20 rating points behind seventh-place New Zealand.

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 on the ICC website.

Listings of the all-time rankings can be found here.