Pakistan move to fourth in ICC Test rankings

Following their fantastic 2-0 series win against England, Pakistan find themselves moving up three places to fourth place in the latest ICC Test rankings.

Pakistan were seventh in the ratings prior to the three-Test series, but are now behind only Australia, England and India. England remain in second place in the Test Championship table, but their rating has dropped six points to 113 because of the series loss. England now trail Australia by 15 points and are also just one point clear of third-placed India, who are currently playing Sri Lanka. If India win the three-Test series against Sri Lanka 1-0 or 2-1, they will edge England and move up to second place.

The three biggest stars in Pakistan's triumph - Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Akhtar - also jumped up the ICC player rankings. Inzamam was in terrific form in the Test series, scoring 431 runs and moving past the 8000-run mark in the process.

That form has lifted him to joint third place - alongside Ricky Ponting - in the ICC rankings for batsmen, behind only Jacques Kallis and Brian Lara.Yousuf's career-best 223 in Lahore took him up 11 places to the ninth spot, his highest ranking. For England, Marcus Trescothick, in eighth place, is the only batsman in the top ten. Kevin Pietersen slipped to 29th and Andrew Flintoff to 31st, but there was better news for Ian Bell, who moved up six places to 46 after a prolific series.

ICC rankings for batsmen

Rank	Player	Team	Points
1	Jacques Kallis	South Africa	894
2	Brian Lara	West Indies	874
3	Inzamam-ul-Haq	Pakistan	870
4	Ricky Ponting	Australia	870
5	Rahul Dravid	India	851

Shoaib moved up three places to fourth in the bowlers' rankings after taking 17 wickets in the series. Andrew Flintoff slipped from the top of the allrounders' list, and also fell three places in the bowling table to seventh place. Matthew Hoggard (12th, down one) and Stephen Harmison (15th, down two) slipped a few notches as well.

ICC rankings for bowlers

Rank	Player	Team	Points
1	Glenn McGrath	Australia	882
2	Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	871
3	Shane Warne	Australia	865
4	Shoaib Akhtar	Pakistan	798
5	Shaun Pollock	South Africa	787

For full details of the rankings, click here.