Kevin Pietersen becomes 21st batsman of all time to pass the 900-point mark in LG ICC Test Player Rankings by ICC Media Release

---

Scorecard:	England v West Indies
Player:	RJ Sidebottom, SJ Harmison, SM Pollock, M Ntini, M Muralitharan, MP Vaughan, Mohammad Yousuf, RT Ponting, DG Bradman, KP Pietersen
Event:	India in Bangladesh 2007, West Indies in England 2007

---

DateLine: 30th May 2007

 

Double hundred for the 26-year-old moves him into top one per cent of Test players

 

England’s Kevin Pietersen has joined an exclusive club of Test players who have earned more than 900 ratings points in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen following another stellar performance, against the West Indies in Headingley last week.

 

The 26-year-old scored 226 – his maiden Test double century – and in the process became just the 21st player in the history of Test cricket to get over 900 ratings points. In all there have been 2,486 people who have played Test cricket so this achievement puts Pietersen in the top one per cent of all time.

 

In 25 Tests, Pietersen has scored 2,448 runs at an average of 54.40 and in that time has hit eight centuries and nine fifties in just 47 innings.

 

Only one batsman in the history of the game – Don Bradman – scored more runs in his first 25 Tests than Pietersen. By way of comparison, Bradman compiled 3,194 runs in his first 25 matches at an average of 91.25 scoring 13 centuries and five fifties in the process.

 

Despite achieving this latest landmark Pietersen still lies in third position in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen behind Ricky Ponting in first place and Mohammad Yousuf in second. But strong performances for the remainder of the English summer could see him leap-frog both players and claim top spot.

 

Meanwhile, Pietersen’s captain Michael Vaughan has re-entered the list at 90th position following a very encouraging comeback match for the Yorkshireman.

 

While there are three batsmen currently enjoying in excess of 900 ratings points only Muttiah Muralidaran can boast the same feat in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers. The Sri Lanka spinner is a long way ahead of his nearest competitor, Makhaya Ntini, in second position with Anil Kumble of India and South Africa’s Shuan Pollock in joint third place.

 

England fast bowler Stephen Harmison has halted his downward slide and retains a position in the top 20 of the bowlers’ list while Ryan Sidebottom, who went wicketless in his Test debut six years ago, has now announced himself on the highest stage with eight wickets in the second Test at Headingley. He has entered the list in 108th position.

 

Batsmen who have achieved an LG ICC Player Rankings rating in excess of 900

 

 

Rank Player Team HS Ranking

 

1 Don Bradman Aus 961 v Ind, Feb 1948

 

2 Len Hutton Eng 945 v WI, Mar 1954

 

3 Ricky Ponting Aus 942 v Eng, Dec 2006

 

4 Jack Hobbs Eng 942 v Aus, Aug 1912

 

5 Peter May Eng 941 v Aus, Aug 1956 6 Garfield Sobers WI 938 v Ind, Jan 1967

 

7 Viv Richards WI 938 v Eng, Mar 1981

 

8 Clyde Walcott WI 938 v Aus, Jun 1955

 

9 Matthew Hayden Aus 935 v Eng, Nov 2002 10 Mhd Yousuf Pak 933 v WI, Nov 2006

 

11 Everton Weekes WI 927 v NZ, Mar 1956

 

12 Graeme Pollock SA 927 v Aus, Feb 1970

 

13 Dudley Nourse SA 922 v Eng, Jun 1951

 

14 Doug Walters Aus 922 v SA, Feb 1970

 

15 Neil Harvey Aus 921 v SA, Feb 1953

 

16 Denis Compton Eng 917 v Aus, Jul 1948

 

17 Sunil Gavaskar Ind 916 v Eng, Aug 1979

 

18 George Headley WI 915 v Eng, Jan 1948

 

19 Ken Barrington Eng 914 v NZ, Jul 1965

 

20 Brian Lara WI 911 v SA, Jan 2004

 

21 Kevin Pietersen Eng 909 v WI, May 2007

 

 

For the full best-ever Test rankings list for both batsmen and bowlers go to: http://www.lgiccrankings.com/test/all-time-select.php

 

LG ICC Test Player Rankings (as at 29 May, after matches at Mirpur and Headingley)

 

Batsmen

 

 

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Ranking

 

1 ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 936 59.29 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006

 

2 ( - ) Mhd Yousuf Pak 915 56.00 933 v WI at Karachi 2006

 

3 ( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 909 54.40 909 v WI at Leeds 2007

 

4 ( - ) KC Sangakkara SL 857 50.64 857 v NZ at Wellington 2006

 

5 ( - ) Mike Hussey Aus 842* 79.85 842 v Eng at Sydney 2007

 

6 ( - ) Matthew Hayden Aus 828 53.00 935 v Eng at Brisbane 2002 7 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 820 55.09 896 v Eng at Cape Town 2005

 

8 ( - ) Rahul Dravid Ind 801 57.46 892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005

 

9 ( - ) Younis Khan Pak 789 48.21 856 v Eng at Leeds 2006

 

10 ( - ) Ashwell Prince SA 755 42.85 756 v Pak at Centurion 2007

 

11 ( - ) Inzamam-ul-Haq Pak 735 50.07 870 v Eng at Lahore 2005

 

12 ( - ) M Jayawardene SL 710 48.37 836 v Eng at Birmingham 2002

 

13 ( - ) PD Collingwood Eng 694 44.16 730 v Aus at Adelaide 2006

 

14 (+2) Stephen Fleming NZ 674 39.64 702 v Ban at Chittagong 2004

 

15= (+6) SR Tendulkar Ind 672 55.44 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002

 

(+2) Graeme Smith SA 672 47.08 756 v NZ at Wellington 2004

 

17 (-2) Andrew Strauss Eng 664 42.26 769 v SA at Johannesburg 2005

 

18 ( - ) Adam Gilchrist Aus 662 48.66 874 v SA at Cape Town 2002

 

19 (-5) Ian Bell Eng 658 44.48 679 v WI at Lord's 2007

 

20 ( - ) Michael Clarke Aus 657 42.00 692 v Eng at Perth 2006

 

Bowlers

 

 

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Ranking

 

1 ( - ) M Muralidaran SL 913 21.73 915 v Pak at Lahore 2002

 

2 ( - ) Makhaya Ntini SA 856 27.48 863 v Ind at Durban 2006

 

3= (+1) Anil Kumble Ind 730 28.59 859 v SL at Bangalore 1994

 

( - ) Shaun Pollock SA 730 23.19 909 v Eng at Johannesburg 1999

 

5 ( - ) Shane Bond NZ 722* 22.10 778 v WI at Auckland 2006

 

6 ( - ) Stuart Clark Aus 720* 17.80 720 v Eng at Sydney 2007

 

7 (+1) Mohammad Asif Pak 710* 20.12 710 v SA at Cape Town 2007

 

8 (-1) M’thew Hoggard Eng 708 30.30 795 v SL at Birmingham 2006

 

9 (+2) Shoaib Akhtar Pak 698 25.29 855 v NZ at Wellington 2003

 

10 (-1) Andrew Flintoff Eng 694 32.02 810 v Pak at Multan 2005

 

11 (-1) Corey Collymore WI 687* 31.86 700 v Eng at Lord's 2007

 

12 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 663 29.44 800 v Ind at Chennai 2005

 

13 ( - ) Danish Kaneria Pak 662 32.36 723 v Eng at Multan 2005

 

14 ( - ) Brett Lee Aus 644 31.60 658 v WI at Perth 2000

 

15 ( - ) James Franklin NZ 637* 28.19 679 v SL at Christchurch 2006

 

16 ( - ) Irfan Pathan Ind 618* 30.79 761 v SL at Delhi 2005

 

17 ( - ) Umar Gul Pak 608* 30.62 627 v WI at Karachi 2006

 

18 ( - ) Steve Harmison Eng 604 30.77 875 v WI at The Oval 2004

 

19 (-1) Daniel Vettori NZ 598 34.28 681 v Aus at Auckland 2000

 

20 ( - ) Stuart MacGill Aus 593 27.20 728 v WI at Kingston 1999

 

 

All-rounders

 

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Ranking

 

1 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 462 616 v Pak at Durban 2002

 

2 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 399 501 v Pak at Multan 2005

 

3 ( - ) Shaun Pollock SA 356 490 v Eng at The Oval 2003

 

4 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 329 329 v SL at Wellington 2006

 

5 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 253 281 v Ind at Chennai 2005

 

 

*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.

 

For more information on the LG ICC Player Rankings go to http://www.lgiccrankings.com/