Australian quartet set new batting record

For the first time in the history of the LG ICC ODI batting rankings, four players from one country - Australia - occupy the top four slots.

This Australian quartet is led by Adam Gilchrist (813 points) with skipper Ricky Ponting in second, Andrew Symonds third and Michael Clarke fourth.

Both Symonds and Clarke have their highest ever ratings and the picture of Australian batting dominance is completed by the presence of Michael Hussey - who has also hit a record high in the ratings - in seventh place. With Simon Katich reaching a new personal best rating in 33rd place, the only member of Australia's top order to drop down the rankings during the VB Series has been Damien Martyn, sliding out of the top 20 to 26th place.

In an increasingly tight ODI batting top 20, the major movers have been India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh. Dhoni has charged into the top ten (eighth) to become India's top ODI batsman while Tendulkar has climbed 11 places to reclaim tenth spot. Yuvraj, like Dhoni, has reached a new personal best rating, climbing 10 places to 15th.

Australia's grip on the upper echelons of the ODI bowling rankings is not quite so strong. They boast two of the top three ODI bowlers but Brett Lee's brief reign at the summit of the standings is over after he failed to take a wicket in the three finals matches.

Lee has slipped to second place behind South Africa's Shaun Pollock with Glenn McGrath third and India's Irfan Pathan up to fourth.

Muttiah Muralitharan has his lowest ODI rating for nearly six years after being mauled by the Australian batsmen in Sydney but he still remains fifth in the official standings.

Australia retain a healthy 19-point lead in the LG ICC ODI Championship table while Sri Lanka have slipped back to seventh. They are behind England by the narrowest of margins and face the very real prospect of having to play in the preliminary round of this year's ICC Champions Trophy in India.

The team that is seventh on 1 April* will have to play off against the eighth, ninth and tenth placed sides in the table for the right to take part in the next round of the tournament and Sri Lanka and England are both running out of matches in which to boost their ranking.

Sri Lanka have three matches against Bangladesh before the cut-off date while England will have played just two matches of their away series against India. Pakistan and New Zealand both have a cushion above these teams but poor results could see either of them fall into contention too.

Full details of the current LG ICC ODI Championship and how future results will impact on the table, as well as the LG ICC Player Rankings can be found here here

* India, as hosts, will automatically qualify for the second stage of next year's ICC Champions Trophy even if they are outside the top six of the LG ICC ODI Championship table on 1 April 2006. If they are outside that top six then the sixth-placed side in the table will take part in the preliminary round.