Sachin and Kallis share top spot in Test rankings

Sachin Tendulkar and South African Jacques Kallis continue to jointly share the top spot in International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings for batsmen.

They are followed by Jonathan Trott of England at the third place, and Sri Lankan vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara in the fourth and Alastair Cook in the fifth.

India's Virender Sehwag and V.V.S. Laxman occupy sixth and eighth position respectively. The newly appointed South African skipper for ODIs and Twenty20, AB de Villiers is at ninth position followed by another South African, Hashim Amla at 10th place.

Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera have dropped two places each to 12th and 13th, respectively. Kevin Pietersen has slipped three places to 29th spot and Andrew Strauss has fallen four places to 33rd.

The rankings for Test bowler is led by South African Dale Steyn. England off-spinner Graeme Swann is second and James Anderson third. The Indians in the list are strike bowler Zaheer Khan at fifth place and spinner Harbhajan Singh at seventh.

Bangladesh captain Shakib-Al Hasan occupies eighth place while New Zealand captain Danniel Vettori is at ninth and Australian Doug Bollinger 10th.

Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath has become the highest-ranked Sri Lanka bowler in the rankings after a good performance in the Lord's Test.

Herath's figures of 2-64 and 3-87 have helped him to move up five places to a career-best 19th position.

Also achieving their career-best rankings are England fast bowlers Steven Finn and Chris Tremlett.

Finn, who had match figures of 4-139, has gained three places in the table and is now in the 15th position while Tremlett, who had match figures of 3-116, has climbed four places to 24th spot. The two fast bowlers are still in the qualification period.

A bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets, and with one more Test remaining the two can potentially improve their rankings further depending how they perform in Southampton.