Clarke, Afridi fly up ICC ODI Player Rankings: Daily Times

LAHORE: Stand-in captain Michael Clarke has been rewarded for inspiring Australia to a 3-2 series win over Pakistan by rocketing up the International Cricket Council (ICC) ODI Player Rankings. Clarke, who led the four-time world champions in the desert cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the absence of Ricky Ponting, has climbed nine places and now sits in 11th position after scoring 235 runs in the series, including 100 not out in the fourth match. Shane Watson is the other Australia batsman on the charge. The 27-year-old Queenslander has vaulted 27 places to 46th spot after finishing the series as the leading run-getter with 271, including 116 not out in the last match of the series at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Andrew Symonds’ comeback series brought no joy for him as he has now dropped out of the top 20. The 33-year-old all-rounder has slipped three places in the batting chart to 23rd spot after scoring 82 runs in four outings. Michael Hussey and Ponting have also slipped in the latest rankings after missing the series. A player loses one per cent of his rating for missing every match and as such both the batsmen have dropped three places each and are now in third and 18th positions.

There is no good news for Pakistan in the batting chart except for Kamran Akmal, whose 116 not out on Sunday has helped him jump 10 places to 47th, and Misbahul Haq who has climbed four places to 30th. Shoaib Malik has slipped one place to 19th position, Salman Butt has dropped four places to 22nd spot while captain Younus Khan has stayed in 24th place after managing only 73 runs in the series. The batting table is still headed by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni while Hussey’s slip has benefitted the West Indies pair of Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul who have risen one place each to second and third.

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