Sangakkara breaks into top ten of LG ICC ODI Player Rankings

Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara provided the ICC World XI with some good news after their ODI whitewash at the hands of Australia by breaking into the top ten of the latest LG ICC ODI Player Rankings announced today.

Sangakkara was the leading run-scorer for the ICC World XI in the three matches played at Telstra Dome in Melbourne, totalling 138 runs including two half-centuries, and those performances have catapulted him up 12 places to number nine in the rankings for batsmen.

Australia's Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting retain the top two batting places after both scored heavily in the Johnnie Walker Super Series while the other big movers in a tightly-packed top 20 are Jacques Kallis of South Africa and Australia's Michael Clarke, each dropping ten places to 16th and 20th places respectively.

Another ICC World XI player, Daniel Vettori of New Zealand, is the biggest mover in the bowling top ten, moving up three places to 6th after his impressive displays of left-arm spin in Melbourne, while his team mate for the Johnnie Walker Super Series, Muttiah Muralidaran of Sri Lanka, has also moved up, one place to 3rd.

Australians dominate the top of the bowling rankings with Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee unchanged in the top two places, Lee reaching his highest ever points ranking.

Outside the top 20 of each set of rankings Australia players are big movers. Batsman Mike Hussey has moved up eight places to joint 34th after his strong showing in Melbourne and Shane Watson, man of the match in the third ODI, leaps 21 places to 52nd in the bowling ladder.

A complete list of the ICC LG Rankings can be found at www.icc-rankings.com