KARACHI, Feb 5: Most of the Pakistan batsmen improved in the ICC one-day player rankings after they recorded a clean sweep in the home series against Zimbabwe recently.

Following a series aggregate of 223, Yousuf climbed one place to fourth, Malik rose one place to 24th, Younis Khan improved two places to the 30th position while vice-captain Misbah-ul-Haq jumped five places to the 85th spot.

For Zimbabwe, Elton Chigumbura is the highest ranked batsman in 45th position after improving two positions. Brendon Taylor holds the 49th spot, Vusi Sibanda in the 59th place and Sean Williams (66th) are the other notable Zimbabwe batsmen.

In the bowlers’ charts, neither of the two teams have a bowler in the top 20 with Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi the highest ranked in the 22nd spot after dropping one place.

Shaun Pollock, who has retired after 303 appearances on Sunday after inspiring his side to a 5-0 win over the West Indies in Johannesburg, grabbed six wickets and scored 43 runs in the series that helped him finish on 501 points in the all-rounders’ list — an impressive 128 points clear of second-placed Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka.

England’s Andrew Flintoff is ranked third in the list while Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik as reached the fourth position after breaking into the top five following a good series against Zimbabwe in which he scored 158 runs besides claiming 11 wickets.

Pollock also finished off as the top bowler in the ODI player rankings. However, the 34-year-old missed the coveted 900-mark by one point — something he made a couple of years ago and reached as high as 920 points after the fifth and last ODI against Pakistan at Johannesburg in 2007.

In the rankings for ODI bowlers, West Indies’ Daren Powell has made the biggest impact as his series haul of five wickets in four games lifts him five places to a career-high ninth position.

In the ICC ODI Championship table, second-placed South Africa have edged closer to Australia by earning three ratings points. South Africa now trail the world champions by just three points.

Meanwhile, Pakistan have leapfrogged sixth-placed Sri Lanka and now seize the fifth place with 109 ratings points, leading their Asian rivals by just one ratings point and trailing traditional rivals India by one point.

The West Indies, who started their series on 100 ratings points, have dropped to 96 ratings points while Zimbabwe conceded two ratings points for their 5-0 whitewash at the hands of Pakistan.—Agencies