July 17, 2007	Tuesday	Rajab 01, 1428

DUBAI, July 16: Sri Lanka’s magical off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara have both topped 900 points in the latest ICC player rankings. Muralitharan became only the fourth Test bowler in history to reach 920 rating points and is the highest-rated bowler for 24 years. He is now just two rating points behind Pakistan legend Imran Khan and is fast catching up on England’s Sydney Barnes and George Lohmann, who are first and second, respectively, in the all-time Test bowlers’ list.

Meanwhile, Sangakkara enjoys a fine run of recent form that continued in two double hundreds during the series whitewash over Bangladesh.

He became the first Sri Lankan batsman to pass 900 rating points mark and has moved up to 22nd in the all-time list for Test batsmen. He remains third in the current ICC rankings for Test batsmen but is continuing to close the gap on the two players ahead of him — Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf and Australia’s Ricky Ponting.

On the whole, there is little change in the latest rankings with Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene going up one place to 12th on the back of his 165 in Kandy, his 18th Test hundred.

Shahriar Nafees improved by 12 places to 51st position and is now the second-placed Bangladesh batsman in the rankings, two places behind ex-captain Habibul Bashar, who dropped six places.—Agencies