Pollock tops among bowlers and allrounders

Shaun Pollock has occupied the top spot in the bowlers and allrounders list in the latest ICC ODI rankings, after the first three ODIs in the ongoing series against Australia.

He retains his position ahead of Glenn McGrath in the bowlers list and has edged past Andrew Flintoff in the allrounder's list. Pollock had a good outing in the 3rd ODI at Port Elizabeth, scoring 69 and taking 2 for 45.

Muttiah Muralitharan, who recently crossed the 1000-wicket mark in international cricket during his match haul of 9 for 141 against Bangladesh, is the number one bowler in Tests, ahead of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. England's Matthew Hoggard, who bagged the Man-of-the-Match award in the drawn first Test against India at Nagpur with a match haul of 7 for 86, is up six places in the rankings and is now fourth with his best-ever rating points haul.

South Africa's much-improved form since the VB Series in February has seen a couple of their players move up the rankings. Graeme Smith's century in the first ODI of the current series against Australia has propelled him four notches to occupy the number three slot while Makhaya Ntini makes an entry into the top 10 (at number eight), after his six-wicket haul at Cape Town bundled out Australia for 93, their lowest total in nearly 20 years.

The Test rankings for the batsmen largely remains unchanged with the top-eight retaining their positions. Ricky Ponting remains on top with a haul of 922 points. The allrounders list in Tests is headed by another South African, Jacques Kallis.

In the ODI team rankings, South Africa are closing in on Australia at the top, and wins in both the remaining games will see the South Africans on 122 points, eight behind their opponents. An Australian victory in those matches would mean their lead would be 17 points (134 to South Africa's 117).

New Zealand's convincing 4-1 series win against West Indies at home has them tied at the third spot with India in the team rankings, having moved up one notch. Shane Bond achieved his highest ranking, taking the number four slot while Daniel Vettori is at number five.

In the Test rankings, a series win for England against India will see them retain their number two ranking while a win for India will see them grab the number two spot. However, a series win for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh will not alter their number seven ranking and they will continue to remain behind South Africa.

For the full list of rankings, click here.