ISLAMABAD, Aug 18: Australia are assured of a top place in Test rankings even if they lose the remaining two Tests in the ongoing Ashes series against England while Pakistan still remain a poor seventh.

England can no longer catch Australia at the top of the LG ICC Test rankings during the current Ashes series but a 3-1 series win would close the gap between the top two sides from 19 points to five points.

Ricky Ponting’s match-saving century in the third Ashes Test at Old Trafford (Manshester) has lifted him to fourth place in the Test Rankings while, for the first time, Andrew Flintoff is England’s highest ranked Test bowler.

For England, their dominance in the Test match has resulted in gains for several of their players. Michael Vaughan (23rd in batting) and Simon Jones (22nd in bowling) have both jumped up the rankings. Simon Jones is among the top 25 for the first time. Michael Trescothick (8th), Ian Bell (50th) and Geraint Jones (59th) are all at their career best Test batting rankings.

Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq holds sixth place in batting averages while world’s fastest bowler Shoaib Akhter is one notch lower—at seventh position among bowlers.

The biggest gains have been made by Shane Warne and Andrew Flintoff. Warne gained ten places in batting and is now ranked 91st, just two points short of his best ever Test batting rating. An excellent bowling performance from Flintoff has helped him break into the top ten bowlers to make him England’s highest ranked bowler for the first time.

The LG ICC Test table, as on August 16, 2005, with points in bracket:1 Australia (133), 2 England (114), 3 India (111) 4 South Africa (100), 5 New Zealand (99), 6 Sri Lanka (98), 7 Pakistan (95), 8 West Indies (74), 9 Zimbabwe (30), 10 Bangladesh (6).—Agencies