Pakistan players gain in Test rankings

Dubai: Pakistan now have two batsmen in top five places of the LG ICC player rankings with captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf joining the top of the list after the first Test against England at Lord's.

Inzamam climbed one place to third in the list after twin half-centuries while Yousuf moved up two spots to fifth for his best ever ranking and highest tally of rating points, the

ICC said in a statement.

The only players Inzamam now trails in the rankings are his opposite numbers Ricky Ponting of Australia and India's Rahul Dravid.

Yousuf struck a masterful 202, his second successive Test double hundred against England in the drawn Test. Three more Tests remain to be played.

Completing a trio of Pakistan batsmen in the top 10 is Younis Khan, who missed the Lord's Test through injury. He lies seventh in the table.

England, by contrast, have just one batsman in the top 10, Kevin Pietersen occupying that last position. But below him, several of his team mates are making positive moves.

Andrew Strauss's ninth Test hundred has seen him rise two places to 12th while Paul Collingwood's Test-best 186 has boosted him up to joint 34th position with Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, a climb of 16 places.

Ian Bell and Alastair Cook, two more hundred-makers from the Lord's Test are up to joint 42nd (along with Thilan Samaraweera of Sri Lanka) and 51st place respectively.

The rankings for Test bowlers have seen no changes in the top 20 with England's Matthew Hoggard still the highest-placed player from either side.

Hoggard remains in fifth spot, ahead of injured team mate Andrew Flintoff in sixth and another injured player, Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, in seventh position.

Further down the list, Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria is holding firm in 13th place while Steve Harmison remains at 17.

Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralidaran remains at the top of the rankings for Test bowlers, clear of South Africa fast bowler Makhaya Ntini.

In the Rankings for Test all-rounders, Jacques Kallis of South Africa still leads from Flintoff.

Pakistan's Abdul Razzaq has moved up to 11th place in that list, ahead of team mate Shahid Afridi (12th).

The two sides are battling for second place in the Test Championship table with Pakistan currently holding that spot.