South Africa drop to third after VB Series miss

Lee and Gilchrist lead one-day rankings

Cricinfo staff

February 9, 2006

Brett Lee is on top of the world © Getty Images

Brett Lee's brilliant VB Series has catapulted him to a career-high one-day ranking and put him in top spot on the ICC's chart. The return to form of Adam Gilchrist has also secured the No.1 batting award ahead of Ricky Ponting and a group of Australian team-mates.

Glenn McGrath has been overtaken by Lee, who has 15 wickets at 19.40 in the tournament, and the statistical improvement is another indication that he is the attack leader. Shaun Pollock has also climbed past McGrath, who is third, to grab second spot while Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas are fifth and sixth.

Gilchrist returns to the peak after his 284 runs at a strike-rate of 108.39 came in response to talk of him being dropped to No.7. Ponting is second, Andrew Symonds is seventh, Michael Hussey has enjoyed an 18-place rise to be eighth and Michael Clarke is ninth.

Australia lead the ODI table heading into the VB Series finals while Sri Lanka are seventh, but if they win they will move to fifth. If they lose and hold their position until April 1 they will have to play in the preliminary round of the Champions Trophy in India. South Africa slipped to third after missing the finals, but Graeme Smith held on to third place despite his poor run.

© Cricinfo

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Stories

Australian batsmen fill top four places

Players/Umpires

Adam Gilchrist

Brett Lee

Muttiah Muralitharan

Graeme Smith

Series/Tournaments

VB Series

Sri Lanka tour of Australia

Teams

Australia

South Africa

Sri Lanka