Sangakkara and Malik make all the right moves in ICC Rankings

Dubai, Mar 31 (UNI) Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara and Pakistan allrounder Shoaib Malik, the two century-makers in the drawn first Test in Colombo, have both made giant leaps to move up the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsman.

Malik's unbeaten 148, his maiden Test hundred spread over eight hours, not only helped save the match for his side but also propelled him up 24 places in the rankings and he now sits in 43rd place with a career-best tally of rating points.

Sangakkara, meanwhile, moved up six spots to 11th after his 185, making him Sri Lanka's highest-ranked batsman, overtaking acting captain Mahela Jayawardene, who has slipped two places to 13th in the list.

Pakistan still have three players among the top 10 batsmen.

Captain Inzamam-ul Haq is unchanged in fourth place, Mohammad Yousuf, who missed the Test through injury, is seventh, and Younis Khan is eighth, down two spots.

Sri Lankan spin-wizard Muttiah Muralitharan, who took six wickets in the Test, remains top of the Rankings for Test bowlers, clear of Australia's Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.

With Pakistan pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar (seventh) and Muralitharan's team-mate Chaminda Vaas (eighth) both absent through injury, the visitors' leg-spinner Danish Kaneria was the only other bowler on show in Colombo that features in the top 20. He is down one place to 15th position.

Further down the bowling table, Sri Lanka's young pace bowlers Farveez Maharoof and Lasith Malinga have both made positive strides.

Maharoof is up 20 places to 68th and Malinga has risen four places to joint 29th. Both have career-best tallies of rating points.

Australia's captain Ricky Ponting heads the Rankings for Test batsmen ahead of team-mate Matthew Hayden and South African Jacques Kallis. Kallis tops the all-rounder table ahead of England's Andrew Flintoff.

The second and final Test of the series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan starts in Kandy on Monday.

A win for Sri Lanka will lift them above South Africa and into sixth place in the LG ICC Test Championship table while, if Pakistan win, they will move to within two rating points of third-placed India.

LG ICC Test Championship Table Team Rating 1. Australia 129 2. England 113 3. India 111 4. Pakistan 108 5. New Zealand 101 6. South Africa 99 7. Sri Lanka 97 8. West Indies 72 9. Zimbabwe 27 10. Bangladesh 4 LG ICC Test Rankings (Top 10 Batsmen) 1. Ricky Ponting (Aus) 937, 2. Matthew Hayden (Aus) 877, 3. Jacques Kallis (SA) 877, 4. Inzamam-ul Haq (Pak) 846, 5. Rahul Dravid (Ind) 842, 6. Brian Lara (WI) 800, 7. Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 786, 8. Younis Khan (Pak) 765, 9. Marcus Trescothick (Eng) 745, 10. Virender Sehwag (Ind) 702 LG ICC Test Rankings (Top 10 Bowlers) 1. Murali Muralitharan (SL) 861, 2. Shane Warne (Aus) 838, 3. Glenn McGrath (Aus) 836, 4. Makhaya Ntini (SA) 792, 5. Matthew Hoggard (Eng) 780, 6. Andrew Flintoff (Eng) 777, 7. Shoaib Akhtar (Pak) 758, 8. Chaminda Vaas (SL) 752, 9. Shane Bond (NZ) 742, 10. Andre Nel (SA) 732 LG ICC Test all-rounder rankings 1. Jacques Kallis (SA) 511, 2. Andrew Flintoff (Eng) 495, 3. Shaun Pollock (SA) 308, 4. Irfan Pathan (Ind) 295, 5. Daniel Vettori (NZ) 278 UNI XC PM SP1132