ICC rankings

Bracken soars to career high

Cricinfo staff

July 7, 2008

	Nathan Bracken takes over at the head of the world ODI bowling list © Getty Images

Australia's Nathan Bracken has taken over the top spot from Daniel Vettori in in the world rankings for one-day international bowlers. Bracken recently returned to the Australian one-day team following knee surgery and topped the wickets tally with eight at 19.72 from five games.

"A clean sweep of the series was the key objective, but to hit the top of the ODI bowler rankings in the process was a real bonus," said Bracken. "I'm feeling good. I was able to spend a lot of time with the family over the past couple of months and was really keen to get stuck into some hard work."

Fellow Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, who also took eight wickets in the 5-0 drubbing of the West Indies, moved from eighth place to a career-high seven. Muttiah Muralitharan's 11 wickets in the just-concluded Asia Cup in Pakistan moves him up seven places to number four.

In the batting rankings, South Africa captain Graeme Smith remains number one but Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's limited-overs captain, has closed the gap. Dhoni last occupied the top spot for one week over two years ago and moved up to second place after success in the Asia Cup.

Others to gain are Andrew Symonds and Kumar Sangakkara, back among the top 10 batsmen. Both players climb fours spots with Symonds now in ninth position and Sangakkara a place further back. Sanath Jayasuriya's second hundred of the Asia Cup, a superb 125 off 114 balls in the final against India, earned him a ten-place jump into the top 20. Jayasuriya, 39, finished the tournament's leading run-scorer with 378 runs.

In the all-rounders' rankings, Shoaib Malik, Pakistan's captain, remained number one, though the heat was on from Jacob Oram and Jacques Kallis.

Australia remain two points clear as the best team after their success in the Caribbean. South Africa are second, but they have a a five-match series against seventh-placed England later this summer.

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