Ntini closes in on top spot in LG ICC Player Rankings

South Africa's Makhaya Ntini is closing in on top spot in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers.

The fast bowler, who took his second ten-wicket haul in successive Tests in the Proteas' victory over New Zealand at Centurion, has retained second place and is now just 17 rating points behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralidaran, who heads the list.

Ntini is one of three South Africa fast bowlers in the top 20 with Andre Nel 11th and Shaun Pollock one place further back.

New Zealand will be hoping their leading bowler in the list, Shane Bond, is fit for the second Test after missing the opening encounter through injury. Bond is in ninth place and has been joined in the top 20 by James Franklin, up nine spots to 19th although Daniel Vettori drops out of that elite group, slipping two places to 21st position.

Vettori's consolation is his rise in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders. The left-hander has moved up two places to third in the table, behind South Africa's Jacques Kallis and Andrew Flintoff of England.

Kallis remains in second place in the batting rankings behind Australia captain Ricky Ponting while Graeme Smith is 22nd, Herschelle Gibbs is joint 24th (with New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming and India's V.V.S.Laxman) and A.B. de Villiers, whose second innings 97 did so much to help South Africa win the Test, is up eight spots to 28th position.

De Villiers is one place higher than the Black Caps' Jacob Oram, who marked his comeback to Test cricket with a first innings century. That effort has seen him re-enter the batting list in 29th position, just short of his best-ever tally of rating points.

New Zealand's highest-ranked player in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen is Fleming while Brendon McCullum has moved up five places to 41st and, like Oram, has his best-ever haul of rating points.

The schedule for the remaining South Africa - New Zealand Tests is as follows:

27 April - 1 May - Second Test, Cape Town
5 - 9 May - Third Test, Johannesburg

Australia's 2-0 series win over Bangladesh has seen them retain their 18 point lead at the head of the LG ICC Test Championship table while defeat in both matches has seen Bangladesh's rating drop one point to three and they remain bottom of the list.

Ponting is one of six Australia batsmen among the top 20 batsmen along with Matthew Hayden (5th), Michael Hussey (up one place to 8th after his hundred in Chittagong), the injured duo of Damien Martyn (14th) and Justin Langer (17th) and Adam Gilchrist (18th).

Jason Gillespie's double century has not lifted him into the top 100 batsmen but with Brett Lee 94th, Shane Warne 102nd and Gillespie 105th then Australia's batting has strength in depth.

Warne has moved up one spot to third in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, overtaking his absent colleague Glenn McGrath, while Stuart MacGill is 16th, Gillespie is 17th and Lee is 18th after the Bangladesh series.

The leading Bangladesh batsman in the LG ICC Player Rankings is captain Habibul Bashar in 32nd spot while Shahriar Nafees continues his rise, up seven places to 52nd, and Rajin Saleh is up six places to 67th.

Saleh has his best-ever haul of rating points and the same is true of Mohammad Rafique, whose defiant half-century delayed his side's defeat on the final day of the second Test. He is up ten places to 79th.

Rafique is in 27th place in the bowling table and he is the highest-placed Bangladesh player in that list. He is also in 13th spot in the all-rounder's list and if he enters the top 10 he would be the first player from his country to do so.

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