Watson, Herath, Harris, Hafeez, Misbah and Saeed achieve personal landmarks

Australia’s Shane Watson and Ryan Harris, Rangana Herath of Sri Lanka and Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez and Misbah-ul-Haq have achieved career-best rankings in the latest Reliance ICC Test Rankings which were released after the Bulawayo Test.

Watson scored 22 and 0 in Australia’s 125-run victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test in Galle and has dropped out of the top 20 in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen. However, his match figures of 5-30 have earned him career-best rankings in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers and all-rounders.

While Watson has climbed 14 places to claim 22nd position in the bowlers chart, his 3-11 and 2-19 combined with his batting performances have given him a lift of three places in the all-rounders’ list which has put him in second position behind South Africa’s Jacques Kallis.

Watson is not the only Australia bowler to head in the right direction after the Galle Test. Harris, who took 0-6 and 5-62, has jumped seven places to claim 31st position while off-spinner Nathan Lyon has entered in 68th spot after figures of 5-34 and 1-73 in his debut Test.

However, Mitchell Johnson has slipped behind India’s Zaheer Khan in seventh spot after managing to take two wickets in the Test.

Sri Lanka bowlers, led by spinner Rangana Herath, have also improved their rankings despite ending up on the losing side.

Herath, who had figures of 3-54 and 5-79, has moved into 17th position for the first time in his career after rising five places while Chanaka Welegedara is in 57th (up by one place), Suranga Lakmal in 59th (up by four places) and captain Tillekeratne Dilshan in 60th (up by three places).

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, England’s Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell have jointly claimed second position after Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara slipped three places to fifth position after scoring only 10 and 17 in the recently completed Test.

The other Sri Lanka batsmen dropping in the latest table are Thilan Samaraweera in 13th (down by four places) and Dilshan in 29th (down by two places).

However, Mahela Jayawardena’s second innings effort of 105 has helped him move up four places to 14th position while Australia batsmen making upward movements include Mike Hussey in 11th (up by two places), Michael Clarke in 25th (up by three places) and Phil Hughes in 49th (up by one place).

Pakistan’s victory by seven wickets in Zimbabwe, which gave it consecutive Test wins for the first time since 2005 following its series-levelling victory against the West Indies in Basseterre, has also brought some good news for its players.

Mohammad Hafeez, who was adjudged player of the match for his 119 and 38 with the bat and 4-31 with the ball in the home side’s second innings, has moved up 23 places to 65th position in the batting table while he has achieved career-best rankings of 55th and 26th in the bowlers and all-rounders’ categories, respectively.

Saeed Ajmal, who bagged 4-143 and 2-53, has moved up four places to a career-best 23rd position while fast bowler Aizaz Cheema has entered in 50th position after recording match figures of 8-103.

For Zimbabwe, Chris Mpofu has moved up four places to 66th spot, left-arm spinner Ray Price has been rewarded for his four wickets in the match with a leap of 31 places which has put him in 70th spot, Kyle Jarvis is in 78th spot after his 2-96 and off-spinner Greg Lamb, who took 3-120 in the first innings, has entered in 30th position.

The player rankings will now be updated after the second Test between Sri Lanka and Australia which starts on Thursday in Pallekele while the Test Championship table will be updated after the conclusion of the third and last Test between the two sides which starts in Colombo on 16 September.