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LONDON, March 19: Nathan Astle’s record-breaking innings of 222 for New Zealand in the first Test against England has given him his best ranking of 20th in the latest world Test batting ratings.
Astle moved up 11 places after taking just 153 balls to smash the fastest ever Test double century at Christchurch Saturday.
Graham Thorpe, who hit 200 not out in the same Test, became England’s top-rated batsmen in 13th place. India’s Sachin Tendulkar remains in the top spot.
Muttiah Muralitharan still leads the bowling rankings, 10 points clear of Australia’s Glenn McGrath.
Points Average
S.R. Tendulkar 890 58.57
B.C. Lara 887 50.49
A.C. Gilchrist 881 60.00
M.L. Hayden 836 49.06
D.P.M. Jayawardena 827 49.25
K. Sangakkara 818 53.00
J.H. Kallis 783 47.27
A. Flower 776 52.30
Inzamam-ul-Haq 764 47.05
H.H. Gibbs 764 40.49
M. Muralitharan 918 23.38
G.D. McGrath 908 21.91
S.M. Pollock 874 20.72
S.K. Warne 764 26.52
D. Gough 717 27.57
A.R. Kumble 716 27.55
Harbhajan Singh 706 27.98
Waqar Younis 702 22.94
C.L. Cairns 701 28.80
Saqlain Mushtaq 692 28.86
—Reuters
