Cricket: Ponting slips down rankings after second Test loss
Posted: 08 December 2010 0019 hrs
LONDON: Australia's Ricky Ponting has dropped out of the top 20 in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test batting rankings for the first time since 2001 after his side's crushing defeat by England in Adelaide.
Ashes holders England won the second Test at the Adelaide Oval by the huge margin of an innings and 71 runs on Tuesday to go 1-0 up in the five-match series following the drawn opener in Brisbane.
Australian skipper Ponting, on a good batting pitch, managed just nine runs in Adelaide including a first innings golden duck when in-form England quick James Anderson had had him caught in the slips by Graeme Swann.
Now the 35-year-old Tasmanian, one of the outstanding batsmen of his generation, has dropped 12 places to occupy 25th spot in the latest edition of the rankings published on Tuesday.
There are no Australians in the top 10 leading batsmen, while left-arm seamer Mitchell Johnson, dropped after the Brisbane Test, is the only Australian in the world's current top 10 bowlers.
England's Jonathan Trott, who made a century in Brisbane and 78 in Adelaide, has climbed two places to sixth in the batting rankings.
Meanwhile, Anderson has displaced India left-armer Zaheer Khan to move up to third place in the bowling rankings.
The 28-year-old claimed six wickets in Adelaide and sits behind off-spinner Swann (second), while the table is headed by South Africa quick Dale Steyn.
It is Anderson's highest ranking to date.
Swann's second innings haul of five wickets for 91 runs in Adelaide took him to within 14 rating points of Steyn.
Further good performances in the third and fourth Tests in Perth and Melbourne respectively could see Swann end 2010 as the world's leading bowler.
Asian stars lead the batting rankings, with Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara out in front ahead of the Indian duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.
- AFP/de
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