• De Villiers loses No 1 ranking

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    The Proteas batsman has been knocked off his No 1 Test batting spot by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakarra following the latter’s double century on the weekend.

    Sangakkara, who won the ICC Cricketer of the Year and ICC Test Cricketer of the Year awards in Colombo in 2012, scored 221 and 21 in the Test against Pakistan, which earned him 31 ratings points that, in turn, helped him to dethrone AB de Villiers from the top pedestal.

    The South African had snatched the No 1 spot from his teammate Hashim Amla in October 2013 and spent a total of 287 days and 33 Tests at the top.

    Sangakkara had first surged to the top of the batting charts in December 2007 when he replaced Ricky Ponting, while he last claimed the top spot in November 2012 in Galle before Australia’s Michael Clarke dislodged him following his 230 against South Africa in the Adelaide Test.

    Sangakkara has now spent a total of 81 Tests and 671 days as the top-ranked Test batsman. ICC Hall of Famer Garry Sobers holds the record for the most Tests spent as No 1 with 189, while Viv Richards is second with 179.

    Meanwhile, In the ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders, India’s Ravichandran Ashwin has displaced the Proteas’ Vernon Philander as the No 1 ranked all-rounder in the world, while Stuart Broad has moved ahead of Australia’s Mitchell Johnson in fourth position.

    The bowling rankings remain relatively unchanged with regards to the South Africans, with Dale Steyn still well ahead of No 2 Ryan Harris, and Philander lying in fourth. Morne Morkel is the next-best South African bowler, at No 14, with no one else inside the top 40.

    Latest ICC Test player rankings

    Test batsmen
    1. Kumar Sangakkara (SL)
    2. AB de Villiers (SA)
    3. Hashim Amla (SA)
    4. David Warner (Aus)
    5. Angelo Mathews (SL)
    6. Shivanarine Chanderpaul (WI)
    7. Michael Clarke (Aus)
    8. Misbah-ul-Haq (Pak)
    9. Ross Taylor (NZ)
    10. Younus Khan (Pak)

    Test bowlers
    1. Dale Steyn (SA)
    2. Ryan Harris (Aus)
    3. Mitchell Johnson (Aus)
    4. Vernon Philander (SA)
    5. James Anderson (Eng)
    6. Rangana Herath (SL)
    7. Tim Southee (NZ)
    8. Saeed Ajmal (Pak)
    9. Stuart Broad (Eng)
    10. Trent Boult (NZ)

    Test All-rounders
    1. Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind)
    2. Vernon Philander (SA)
    3. Shakib Al Hasan (Ban)
    4. Stuart Broad (Eng)
    5. Mitchell Johnson (Aus)

    Report compiled by the ICC and SA Cricket magazine.
    Photo: Backpagepix

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