Philander ended the Cape Town Test with figures of five for 7 and two for 76 to earn the player of the match award. His spells helped him collect 19 ratings points which not only gave him his career-best ratings of 859 but also allowed him to narrow the gap with Steyn to only 17 ratings points.
The only bowler inside the top 10 to improve his ranking is Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath, who has now gone up a place to be ranked fourth while bowlers outside the top 10 to make upward movements include New Zealand’s Chris Martin in 16th (up by one), Mitchell Starc in 43rd (up by three) and Trent Boult in 44th (up by three).
Meanwhile, South Africa opener Alviro Petersen has broken into the top 20 of the rankings for Test batsmen for the first time in his career.
Petersen has jumped 11 places to claim 20th position for his knock of 106 in the Cape Town Test against New Zealand. His ratings points of 655 are also his career-best to date.
Also moving up the ladder are Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardena in 22nd (up by two), New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum in 25th (up by three), Australia opener Phillip Hughes in 45th (up by eight), South Africa’s Faf du Plessis in 46th (up by one), New Zealand’s Dean Brownlie in 49th (up by 25), Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal in 53rd (up by 10) and Australia wicketkeeper Matthew Wade in 54th (up by five).
The list is still headed by Michael Clarke, followed by Shivnarine Chanderpaul in second place and Hashim Amla in third. Amla achieved his career-best rating of 878 in the Cape Town Test against New Zealand.
Mike Hussey ended his Test career in 11th place. Hussey last achieved the number-one ranking on the batting table on 3rd April 2008 and is one of seven from Australia after Don Bradman, Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Doug Walters, Neil Harvey to break the 900-point barrier. Hussey achieved the rare distinction in 2007-08 after the second Test against India in Sydney after scores of 41 and 145 not out.
Australia’s 3-0 series win over Sri Lanka means it the third-ranked side gained three ratings points which has lifted it to 117 ratings points on the
This, in turn, means Australia has narrowed the gap with second-placed England to just one rating point. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, has lost four points but it remains in sixth place, 13 ratings points behind fifth-ranked India.
ICC Test Championship table (after Australia-Sri Lanka Test series)
South Africa 123
England 118
Australia 117 (+3)
Pakistan 109
India 105
Sri Lanka 92 (-4)
West Indies 91
New Zealand 79
Bangladesh 0
ICC Test Player Rankings (after Cape Town and Sydney Tests)
1 ( - ) Michael Clarke Aus 887 52.54 900 v SL at Melbourne 2012
2 ( - ) S.Chanderpaul WI 879 51.67 901 v NZ at Napier 2008
3 ( - ) Hashim Amla SA 878! 50.83 878 v NZ at Cape Town 2013
4 ( - ) K Sangakkara SL 842 55.80 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
5 ( - ) Alastair Cook Eng 836 49.42 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
6 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 828 56.94 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
7 ( - ) AB de Villiers SA 817 49.26 821 v Eng at The Oval 2012
8 ( - ) Ross Taylor NZ 777 43.57 785 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
9 (+1) Younus Khan Pak 761 51.69 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
10 (+1) Kevin Pietersen Eng 759 49.42 909 v WI at Headingley 2007
11 (-2) Mike Hussey Aus 758 51.52 921 v WI at Kingston 2008
12 ( - ) Azhar Ali Pak 753! 45.27 753 v SL at Pallekele 2012
13 ( - ) Graeme Smith SA 730 49.25 843 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010
14 ( - ) Misbah-ul-Haq Pak 720 45.68 771 v Eng at Abu Dhabi 2012
15 ( - ) Jonathan Trott Eng 709 49.50 856 v SL at Cardiff 2011
16 ( - ) Matt Prior Eng 693 43.19 698 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2012
17 ( - ) Ian Bell Eng 680 46.71 822 v Ind at The Oval 2011
18 ( - ) Marlon Samuels WI 668! 37.36 668 v Ban at Khulna 2012
19 ( - ) Darren Bravo WI 661* 46.77 709 v Aus at Port-of-Spain 2012
20 (+11) Alviro Petersen SA 655*! 42.65 655 v NZ at Cape Town 2013
Bowlers
1 ( - ) Dale Steyn SA 876 23.68 902 v SL at Centurion 2011
2 ( - ) Vernon Philander SA 859*! 17.40 859 v NZ at Cape Town 2013
3 ( - ) Saeed Ajmal Pak 832 27.09 836 v SL at Galle 2012
4 (+1) Rangana Herath SL 809 29.95 838 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012
5 (-1) Peter Siddle Aus 800 28.51 806 v SL at Hobart 2012
6 ( - ) James Anderson Eng 759 30.39 813 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011
7 ( - ) Graeme Swann Eng 755 29.13 858 v Pak at Lord's 2010
8 ( - ) Morne Morkel SA 747 29.86 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
9 ( - ) Pragyan Ojha Ind 739* 31.62 773 v Eng at Kolkata 2012
10 ( - ) Ben Hilfenhaus Aus 721* 28.50 757 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2012
11 ( - ) Abdur Rehman Pak 704* 28.40 739 v Eng at Dubai 2012
12 ( - ) Kemar Roach WI 698* 27.69 712 v NZ at Kingston 2012
13 ( - ) Stuart Broad Eng 657 31.93 783 v WI at Lord's 2012
14 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 641 32.53 680 v WI at Mirpur 2011
15 ( - ) Zaheer Khan Ind 625 32.35 752 v SA at Durban 2010
16 (+1) Chris Martin NZ 612 33.81 669 v SA at Hamilton 2012
17 (-1) Steven Finn Eng 611* 28.22 621 v SA at Lord's 2012
18 ( - ) Mitchell Johnson Aus 600 30.63 825 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
19 ( - ) Umar Gul Pak 584 33.66 642 v Eng at Dubai 2012
20= ( - ) Tim Southee NZ 566* 35.04 572 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2012
(+1) R Ashwin Ind 566* 32.41 595 v Eng at Ahmedabad 2012
