Charlie back on top.

[Donny]

Latest ratings.

Big movers: Sach up 9 to #7. Laxy up 5 to #10. Gilly down 5 to #16.

1 +1 Brian Lara WI 912 52.70 912 vs South Africa, Cape Town 2004

2 -1 Ricky Ponting AUS 891 55.97 907 vs India, Melbourne 2003

3 +1 Rahul Dravid IND 884 57.42 884 vs Australia, Sydney 2004

4 -1 Matthew Hayden AUS 881 58.29 935 vs England, Brisbane 2002

5 Inzamam-ul-Haq PAK 811 49.85 857 vs New Zealand, Lahore 2002

6 Jacques Kallis SA 808 52.00 849 vs Pakistan, Durban 2002

7 +9 Sachin Tendulkar IND 783 57.19 899 vs Zimbabwe, 2002

8 -1 Herschelle Gibbs SA 781 47.41 815 vs Pak, Cape Town 2003

9 -1 Mark Richardson NZ 775 49.02 775 vs Pakistan, Wellington 2003

10 +5 Venkata Laxman IND 756 47.40 756 vs Australia, Sydney 2004

11 -1 Mahela Jayawardene SL 754 49.08 840 vs England, 2002

12 -3 Gary Kirsten SA 751 45.35 763 vs West Indies, Durban 2003

13 -1 Marcus Trescothick ENG 735 42.84 782 vs Bang, 2003

14 -1 Michael Vaughan ENG 726 46.54 877 vs Australia, Sydney 2003

15 -1 Yousuf Youhana PAK 719 49.40 762 vs West Indies, 2002

16 -5 Adam Gilchrist AUS 702 55.60 876 vs South Africa, 2002

17 Steve Waugh AUS 693 51.06 896 vs England, Manchester 1997

18 Kumar Sangakkara SL 692 46.65 816 vs Pakistan, Lahore 2002

19 +1 Taufeeq Umar PAK 686 46.00 707 vs South Africa, 2003

20 -1 Shivnarine Chanderpaul WI 683 43.89 737 vs India, 2002

21 +1 Stephen Fleming NZ 658 38.48 692 vs Sri Lanka, 2003

22 +1 Mark Butcher ENG 657 34.45 731 vs South Africa,l 2003

23 -2 Graeme Smith SA 653 55.45 753 vs England, Lord's 2003

24 +2 Ramnaresh Sarwan WI 648 38.60 666 vs India, Kingston 2002

25 +3 Justin Langer AUS 644 44.97 783 vs South Africa, 2002

[JLC]

I cannot wait to see those ranking when Australia return from Sri Lanka.

I think Hayden will move up and Ponting will move down and Gilly will disappear from the list

jlc

[Donny]

Well the top 4 are really taking it in turns to be #1. A close look reveals their ratings to be between 912 and 881 which, in the history of these ratings, is very close.

Please note Tendulkar rose from 16 to 7 because his scores in the Sydney Test were against Australia, the No. 1 team, whereas Gibbs scored an excellent century and dropped a place. Why ? Because it was against the lowly ranked West Indies.

Ponting and Hayden will find it harder to stay up near the top than Lara and Dravid because of who they play.

OK, JLC, I'll have you on. Ponting will average 50 or over in SL and Gilly will go up and back into the top 10.

[JLC]

Thats very generous and i accept assuming that Murali plays.

I think Ponting will average around 20 - 30 and Gilchrist around 20 -30.

I also think that neither player will score a hige amount of runs during the series.

I am yet to be convinced on either against quality spin bowling (even though he chucks).

If Ponting blossoms this tour against Murali then he is indeed a great player and in the top 3 in the world.

jlc

[Blanch]

Well I'm having a bet each way here. I reckon punter will blossom in SL. He'll average over 50 but Gilly is on the downward spiral. He'll make one big score but the rest will be failures.

As for punter being in the top 3...he's been there for a while I reckon.

[JLC]

Well my top 3 current day batsman would include Tendulkar and Lara and that only leaves one more spot for Hayden or Ponting. I still rate Hayden above Ponting as Hayden plays spin bowling better than Ponting.

The selectors need to ease the load on Gilchrist. On the radio they mentioned that he dropped 7 catches during the series. That is way too much for a wicket keeper for a four match series. His batting suffered and Gillespie scored more runs than Gilchrist and had a better average in i think 1 less innings.

If Hohns and co they were smart they would rest Gilly during the first half of the one day series and give him a well earned break.

jlc

[Sultan of spin]

I'll go the opposite way to Blanch I reckon Gilchrist will bounce back in Ski Lanka and Ponting will struggle. The tours of Ski Lanka and India will be a true test of Ponting's true standing as one of the game's elite players.


Nice to see Brian back on top where he belongs!

[commonwombat]

Ponting's performance in Sri Lanka may well hinge upon the performance of the openers. If he's well set when the spinners come on then he will generally handle them competently wheras it may be different coming in and having to start against them.

[Blanch]

I'm with wombat a bit on this one too. I think Punter is much like dravid and laxman......get him out early or pay a very heavy price.

[couragous cloke]

Good to see the Great man back where he belongs, and thats number 1 in the world, he's in career best form and has started 2004 in fine style!

Watch out australia when He makes his way to skip land late this year to make mince meat of the likes of Lee, Warne, Gillespie and others

Sweet sweet revenge

[commonwombat]

Well CC, do you want me to cough in towards buying yr man the very strong back brace he'll require for carrying the majority of his crew.

[couragous cloke]

With Jerra Lawson in store, anything is possible