Hussey tops the One-Day rankings

Australian batsman Michael Hussey has gone to the top of the ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen for the first time following a continuation of his outstanding form at the highest level.

Having started the recent tri-series against India and the West Indies in Kuala Lumpur in seventh place in those rankings, Hussey has shot into first spot after averaging 152 in the tournament.

Hussey is still six innings short of qualifying for a full ranking but his performances have already placed him among a select group of players. Only 12 batsmen have reached higher ratings than Hussey's mark of 805 points in the last ten years.

And although nobody has reached 900 rating points since South Africa’s Gary Kirsten in 1996, the Australian left-hander could do exactly that if he continues to bat well in next month’s ICC Champions Trophy.

Hussey replaces fellow Australian Adam Gilchrist at the top of the Player Rankings with the wicketkeeper not playing in the Malaysia tournament. He has also leapfrogged his captain Ricky Ponting, who slips to fourth overall. West Indian Ramnaresh Sarwan has also moved above Ponting, into third position.

Brian Lara has moved up seven places over the course of the tournament, despite still languishing at an unusually low 25th, while the biggest mover is Australia’s wicketkeeper for the tri-series Brad Haddin, who has risen 63 places to 94th spot.

Meanwhile, after a poor tournament by his standards, India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni slips down to eighth position. Dhoni’s stumble is good news for England’s Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Smith of South Africa who each move up one place to sixth and seventh respectively.

In addition to Dhoni, India has two other batsmen in the top 20: Yuvraj Singh in 13th spot and Dravid five spots lower down.

For the bowlers, Brett Lee is back into second place in the ICC Player Rankings following an excellent tournament. Although he only played three games in the tri-series, Lee took 12 wickets, four more than his nearest rival.

Lee is still well behind South Africa’s Shaun Pollock who retains his status as the world’s top-ranked bowler and all-rounder in ODIs.

Nathan Bracken has moved up to fourth in the bowling list, a career best placing, while Ian Bradshaw ends the tournament where he started, in sixth place, Dwayne Smith is up 15 places to 40th and Jerome Taylor up 12 to 44th position.

India has three bowlers in the top 20: spinner Harbhajan Singh in ninth spot, Irfan Pathan one place below him and Ajit Agarkar in 12th place in the listings.