Ponting & Warne close the gap to top spot in LG ICC Player Rankings

Australia's Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne have closed the gap to top spot in the LG ICC Test Player Rankings for batsmen and bowlers respectively.

Ponting's twin half-centuries against South Africa in Perth have taken him to 875 ranking points, up one place to second in the batting table (ahead of Brian Lara) and he is now just 10 points behind Jacques Kallis, who missed the match through injury.

Warne, meanwhile, is only one point behind Australia team mate Glenn McGrath after taking six wickets, including his 650th in Tests, as the match finished in a draw to leave the series all square as the teams go to Melbourne.

Double centurion Brad Hodge moves up a massive 68 places to 44th spot and is just six places behind Mike Hussey, himself up six places to 38th in the batting list.

Matthew Hayden drops one place in that batting list to seventh while his team mate Justin Langer, ruled out of the next Test with a hamstring injury, moves up three places to 11th. Adam Gilchrist is down five spots to 16th.

Jacques Rudolph, whose match-saving innings in Perth was his first Test hundred in 2005, is rewarded with a move up 11 places to 42nd in the batting table while Justin Kemp, who kept him company for 51 overs in South Africa's second innings, is 106th.

South Africa's leading batsman in the LG ICC Test Rankings for batsmen is captain Graeme Smith at 15th, down three places, while Herschelle Gibbs is 20th (down one place) and AB de Villiers is 22nd (up two).

Makhaya Ntini is South Africa's top bowler in the LG ICC Test Rankings, rising three places to joint fourth and is now just short of his best ever haul of ratings points.

Ntini's new ball partner, Shaun Pollock, moves down three places but still remains in the top ten (he is ninth) while Andre Nel is holding firm at 11th.

Aside from Warne and McGrath, Australia's other main bowlers in Perth have both moved in the right direction. Brett Lee continues his move back up the rankings, up one spot to 24th, while Nathan Bracken is up four places to 68th place.

The schedule for the remaining matches in the Australia - South Africa Test series is as follows:

26 - 30 December - second Test, Melbourne
2 - 6 January, 2006 - third Test, Sydney

December is always a busy month for the LG ICC Player Rankings and there is likely to be more movement in the tables when the ratings are calculated again in the wake of the India - Sri Lanka Test match in Ahmedabad, which is scheduled to run until Thursday.

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