Chanderpaul loses top spot in world rankings

LORD'S: West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul has lost his place at the top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) world batting rankings in the latest edition issued on Sunday.

The Guyanese left-hander, the ICC's player of the year for 2008 and arguably the West Indies' best batsman since the retirement of Brian Lara, dropped into second place after being dismissed for nought and four during the 10-wicket first-Test loss to England at Lord's, which ended on Friday.

Pakistan's Younus Khan has moved back on top of the rankings, a position he briefly held earlier this year thanks to the triple-century he scored in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Lahore in February.

Chanderpaul, now equal second with Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, can make amends when the second and final Test in the England series starts on Thursday at Chester-le-Street, a ground he knows well, having played there for Durham in the County Championship.

England's Kevin Pietersen has also slipped in the batting rankings, his first-ball duck at Lord's dropping him three places to ninth.

In the bowling rankings, Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is still at number one followed by South Africa quick Dale Steyn and Australia left-arm paceman Mitchell Johnson.

Leading ICC LG Test Player Rankings (as of May 10 2009)

(rank, change, player, team, rating, average, highest rating)

Batsmen

1. (+1) Younus Khan (PAK) 880 51.80 880 v SRI at Lahore 2009

2=.(-1) Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WIS) 854 49.45 901 v NZL at Napier 2008

2=.(+1) Kumar Sangakkara (SRI) 854 54.99 938 v ENG at Kandy 2007

4. (-) Gautam Gambhir (IND) 847 54.07 847 v NZL at Wellington 2009

5. (-) Mahela Jayawardene (SRI) 821 53.23 854 v BAN at Dhaka 2008

6. (+1) Ricky Ponting (AUS) 785 56.20 942 v ENG at Adelaide 2006

7. (+1) Graeme Smith (RSA) 782 50.33 810 v AUS at Melbourne 2008

8. (+1) Michael Clarke (AUS) 776 47.82 825 v RSA at Sydney 2009

9. (-3) Kevin Pietersen (ENG) 774 50.51 909 v WIS at Headingley 2007

10. (-) Jacques Kallis (RSA) 755 54.66 935 v NZL at Centurion 2007

Bowlers

1. (-) Muttiah Muralitharan (SRI) 855 22.18 920 v BAN at Kandy 2007

2. (-) Dale Steyn (RSA) 844 23.70 897 v IND at Ahmedabad 2008

3. (-) Mitchell Johnson (AUS) 807 28.01 811 v RSA at Durban 2009

4. (-) Stuart Clark (AUS) 760 22.96 863 v WIS at Bridgetown 2008

5. (-) Makhaya Ntini (RSA) 741 28.37 863 v IND at Durban 2006

6. (-) Harbhajan Singh (IND) 735 30.42 765 v NZL at Wellington 2002

7. (+1) Paul Harris (RSA) 669 32.60 669 v AUS at Cape Town 2009

8. (+1) Chaminda Vaas (SRI) 664 29.40 800 v IND at Chennai 2005

9. (-2) Jerome Taylor (WIS) 655 34.71 717 v ENG at Kingston 2009

10. (+1) Brett Lee (AUS) 653 30.81 811 v WIS at Antigua 2008