WEST Indies batting star Brian Lara has returned to the top of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Test batting rankings following his first innings score of 176 in the third Test between West Indies and South Africa, despite being on the losing side.
Lara, the former West Indies captain, overtakes South Africa's Jacques Kallis by the narrowest of margins to claim top spot in the official LG ICC rankings for the first time since May 2004.
South African bowler Andre Nel has entered the top ten bowling list for the first time, following his first Test match ten-wicket haul, which included the wicket of Lara in both innings.
AB de Villiers has moved up to a career-best position of 25th in the LG ICC batting rankings following his score of 178 in the match.
1. Brian Lara (WI) 886
2. Jacques Kallis (SA) 882
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. Andrew Strauss (Eng) 751
1. Glenn McGrath (Aus) 897
2. M.Muralitharan (SL) 834
3. Shaun Pollock (SA) 812
4. Makhaya Ntini (SA) 801
5. Shoaib Akhtar (Pak) 786
6. Shane Warne (Aus) 771
7. Anil Kumble (Ind) 766
8. Andre Nel (SA) 759
9. Jason Gillespie (Aus) 739
10. Steve Harmison (Eng) 717
