South Africa replaced New Zealand to occupy the fifth spot in the latest ICC Test team rankings, following their 2-0 win in the recently concluded series between the two sides. South Africa emerged victorious at Centurion and following a high-scoring draw at Cape Town, clinched the series at Johannesburg, quashing New Zealand's chance of retaining their position.
Among the bowlers, Makhaya Ntini retains his position at No.2 behind Muttiah Muralitharan, after finishing as the leading wicket-taker in the series with 20 wickets. James Franklin, who also had an excellent series with the ball, picking up 15 wickets, is at No.16, moving up by one notch.
Among the batsmen, Rahul Dravid moved up one notch, replacing South Africa's Jacques Kallis to occupy the second spot. Ricky Ponting is still sitting pretty at the top with 931 points, 89 ahead of Dravid.
In the allrounders list, Shaun Pollock rose two places to bag the No.3 spot, overtaking Irfan Pathan and Daniel Vettori. Kallis, who became only the second player to achieve the double of 8000 runs and 200 wickets in Tests after Sir Gary Sobers, is ahead of Pollock and right behind Andrew Flintoff who retains his No.1 slot.
For the full list of rankings, click here.
