South African all-rounder Jaques Kallis' brilliant knock at the Antigua Test took him ahead of West Indian Brian Lara to the top of the latest ICC Test rankings.
In other movements, South African captain Graeme Smith returned to the top ten after recapturing his best form during the series, Sachin Tendulkar dropped one place to 12th and triple centurion Chris Gayle climbed to a career best 24th place.
Kallis, Lara, Rahul Dravid and Ricky Ponting hold the top four slots, with only 23 points separating them. Virender Sehwag tails Ponting in fifth position, the ICC informed in a media release.
Among the bowlers, Shaun Pollock retains his third place although he has slipped below the elite 800-point mark for the first time in seven years.
Makhaya Ntini or Andre Nel may soon be taking over the mantle as the leading South African bowler, both of them having reached their personal best rankings in the Caribbean.
The team rankings saw South Africa going level with Sri Lanka on 100 points but it remains in sixth place when the ratings are recalculated to three decimal places, while India, with 107 points, holds the fourth position.
Batsmen:
1. Jacques Kallis (SA) 886, 2. Brian Lara (WI) 875, 3. Rahul Dravid (Ind) 872, 4. Ricky Ponting (Aus) 863, 5. Virender Sehwag (Ind) 848, 6. Damien Martyn (Aus) 836, 7. Adam Gilchrist (Aus) 819, 8. Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak) 794, 9. Younis Khan (Pak) 757, 10. Graeme Smith (SA) 752.
Bowlers:
1. Glenn McGrath (Aus) 897, 2. M Muralitharan SL 834, 3. Shaun Pollock (SA) 787, 4. Shoaib Akhtar (Pak) 786, 5. Makhaya Ntini (SA) 784, 6. Shane Warne (Aus) 771, 7. Anil Kumble (Ind) 766, 8. Andre Nel (SA) 751, 9. Jason Gillespie (Aus) 739, 10. Steve Harmison (Eng) 717.
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