Kumar Sangakkara has become the first Sri Lanka player to top the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen following yet another stellar performance for his country.
The 30-year-old scored 92 and 152 in the first Test against England at Kandy this week to make sure Sri Lanka went ahead in the series and in the process he has displaced Australia’s Ricky Ponting at the top of the rankings.
It means that Sri Lanka now boasts a player at the top of both the batsman and bowler categories in the LG ICC Player Rankings as world record-breaking spinner Muttiah Muralidaran tops the bowling list.
But that’s not all. Sangakkara has now gone into joint-sixth position in the all-time rankings, indicating just what spectacular form he has been in of late. On Tuesday he became the first batsman in the history of the game to register scores of 150 or more in four successive Tests.
In the all-time list, Sangakkara has moved level with West Indies legends Clyde Walcott, Viv Richards and Garfield Sobers with just seven rating points separating him from Len Hutton in second place. He still has a way to go, however, to catch the man with the best all-time rating, Don Bradman.
Perhaps surprisingly, the man from Matale is the only batsman from the Asian sub-continent in the all-time top 10 although there are two – Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan and India’s Sunil Gavaskar – in the top 20.
It is worth pointing out that the rankings do not necessarily indicate who are the greatest players in history but rather which have managed to go sustain a protracted period of dominance and form.
At the very top it is difficult to maintain such a high rating and Sangakkara will have to continue his prodigious run-plundering if he is to stick around. Mind you, the way he is playing these days, who would bet against him?
The all-time top 10 list in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen looks like this:
Rank Player Team HS Rating
1 Donald Bradman Aus 961 v India, 6 December 1948
2 Len Hutton Aus 945 v West Indies, 30 March 1954
3= Ricky Ponting Aus 942 v England, 1 December 2006
3= Jack Hobbs Eng 942 v Australia, 19 August 1912
5 Peter May Eng 941 v Australia, 23 August 1956
6= Kumar Sangakkara SL 938 v England, 1 December 2007
6= Clyde Walcott WI 938 v Australia, 11 June 1955
6= Viv Richards WI 938 v England, 27 March 1981
6= Garfield Sobers WI 938 v India, 13 January 1967
10= Jacques Kallis SA 935 v New Zealand, 18 November 2007
10= Matthew Hayden Aus 935 v England, 7 November 2002
Sangakkara has overtaken South Africa’s Jacques Kallis as well as Ponting to go top and those three are very much in a group of their own at the top of the ladder. With plenty of Test cricket scheduled for all three in the coming weeks, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.
Elsewhere in the rankings, England’s Ian Bell has gained six places and has broken into the top 15 for the first time in his career after knocks of 83 and 74 in Kandy.
Team-mate Matthew Hoggard has moved up five places in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers and now stands fifth, behind Australia’s Stuart Clark, Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini of South Africa and Muralidaran.
Hoggard took impressive match figures of 6-84 in Kandy as many of his colleagues suffered at the hands of Sangakkara and friends. However, he has been classed as doubtful for the second Test and so may find himself slipping back down the order as a result.
For more information on the LG ICC Player Rankings go to http://www.lgiccrankings.com/
The 30-year-old scored 92 and 152 in the first Test against England at Kandy this week to make sure Sri Lanka went ahead in the series and in the process he has displaced Australia’s Ricky Ponting at the top of the rankings.
It means that Sri Lanka now boasts a player at the top of both the batsman and bowler categories in the LG ICC Player Rankings as world record-breaking spinner Muttiah Muralidaran tops the bowling list.
But that’s not all. Sangakkara has now gone into joint-sixth position in the all-time rankings, indicating just what spectacular form he has been in of late. On Tuesday he became the first batsman in the history of the game to register scores of 150 or more in four successive Tests.
In the all-time list, Sangakkara has moved level with West Indies legends Clyde Walcott, Viv Richards and Garfield Sobers with just seven rating points separating him from Len Hutton in second place. He still has a way to go, however, to catch the man with the best all-time rating, Don Bradman.
Perhaps surprisingly, the man from Matale is the only batsman from the Asian sub-continent in the all-time top 10 although there are two – Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan and India’s Sunil Gavaskar – in the top 20.
It is worth pointing out that the rankings do not necessarily indicate who are the greatest players in history but rather which have managed to go sustain a protracted period of dominance and form.
At the very top it is difficult to maintain such a high rating and Sangakkara will have to continue his prodigious run-plundering if he is to stick around. Mind you, the way he is playing these days, who would bet against him?
The all-time top 10 list in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen looks like this:
Rank Player Team HS Rating
1 Donald Bradman Aus 961 v India, 6 December 1948
2 Len Hutton Aus 945 v West Indies, 30 March 1954
3= Ricky Ponting Aus 942 v England, 1 December 2006
3= Jack Hobbs Eng 942 v Australia, 19 August 1912
5 Peter May Eng 941 v Australia, 23 August 1956
6= Kumar Sangakkara SL 938 v England, 1 December 2007
6= Clyde Walcott WI 938 v Australia, 11 June 1955
6= Viv Richards WI 938 v England, 27 March 1981
6= Garfield Sobers WI 938 v India, 13 January 1967
10= Jacques Kallis SA 935 v New Zealand, 18 November 2007
10= Matthew Hayden Aus 935 v England, 7 November 2002
Sangakkara has overtaken South Africa’s Jacques Kallis as well as Ponting to go top and those three are very much in a group of their own at the top of the ladder. With plenty of Test cricket scheduled for all three in the coming weeks, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.
Elsewhere in the rankings, England’s Ian Bell has gained six places and has broken into the top 15 for the first time in his career after knocks of 83 and 74 in Kandy.
Team-mate Matthew Hoggard has moved up five places in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers and now stands fifth, behind Australia’s Stuart Clark, Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini of South Africa and Muralidaran.
Hoggard took impressive match figures of 6-84 in Kandy as many of his colleagues suffered at the hands of Sangakkara and friends. However, he has been classed as doubtful for the second Test and so may find himself slipping back down the order as a result.
For more information on the LG ICC Player Rankings go to http://www.lgiccrankings.com/
