May 25, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 08, 1428

DUBAI, May 24: Kevin Pietersen is one of the four England cricketers who figure in the top 15 batting places in the ICC Test batsmen rankings.

Pietersen is third in the list, behind Australian captain Ricky Ponting followed by Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf, after his seventh Test hundred in the first Test against the West Indies at Lord’s very recently.

However, two of Pietersen’s team-mates are also now knocking on the door of places inside the top 10 — Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood.

No other side can match England’s representation although Australia do have three players — leader Ponting, fifth-placed Michael Hussey and Matthew Hayden, in the sixth position — in the top 10 and a total of five inside the top 20.

Bell is up three places to the 14th position and has his best-ever haul of rating points following a first innings 109 not out during England’s draw with the West Indies at Lord’s while Collingwood rises one spot to 13th after his 111 in the same game.

Andrew Strauss is the fourth member of England’s leading quartet, although after the scores of 33 and 24 (at Lord’s) he slipped two places to 15th in the list.

Alastair Cook, another England centurion in the opening Test of four-match series, is up one position to 22nd while Matthew Prior, who made 126 not out in his debut match, makes his first appearance in the list in 75th spot.

The West Indies, by comparison, have just one player inside the top 20 - former captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul, whose adhesive first innings 74 has seen him climb one place to 19th in the table.

But below him Chris Gayle (25th, up one), Dwayne Bravo (37th, up two), Daren Ganga (48th, up three and with a best-ever haul of rating points) and Denesh Ramdin (up six to joint 57th place and also with more rating points than ever before) are all heading in the right direction.

West Indies’ seam bowler Corey Collymore is another player heading upwards, this time in the Test bowlers rankings. Collymore, who captured four wickets at Lord’s, is up one place to 10th position and has reached a career-high haul of rating points.

Same is true of England spinner Monty Panesar, whose best Test figures of 6-129 have catapulted him up seven places in that bowling list to the 26th position.

The order of players for Test all-rounders remains unchanged with South Africa’s Jacques Kallis still clear of Flintoff. The ICC Test Championship table is headed by Australia (135 rating points), 21 points clear of England (114), with Pakistan (108) third and India (107) fourth.—Agencies