Australian batsmen Katich, North and Haddin achieve career-best rankings

Andrew Strauss and Mike Hussey drop out of top 20

Australia's batsmen are on the move in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen with three stroke-makers achieving career-best rankings after a nail-biting finish in the first Ashes Test against England at Cardiff.

Opener Simon Katich, middle-order batsmen Marcus North and wicket-keeper Brad Haddin all scored centuries to help Australia declare its first innings at 674-6 in reply to England's first innings score of 435. And for these efforts, all the three batsmen have been rewarded with big jumps in the rankings which are updated after every Test.

Katich, who scored 122, has gone up by four places and now sits in 14th position alongside India great Sachin Tendulkar. Marcus North, who struck an unbeaten125, has rocketed 23 places to 43rd position while Haddin, who scored 121, has climbed six places to 30th spot.

Besides the trio, captain Ricky Ponting has also inched towards the top five after scoring an elegant 150 and is now in sixth place after swapping positions with Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardena, vice-captain Michael Clarke has replaced South Africa captain Graeme Smith in eighth place and opener Phillip Hughes has lifted himself two places to 33rd position.

Australia's only disappointment is the fall of Mike Hussey whose first innings contribution of three has resulted in him dropping of the top 20 for the first time since his rapid rise up the table at the start of his international career.

England's only batsman to make an upward movement is Paul Collingwood who has returned to the top 20 by climbing five places to 19th position after scoring two half-centuries in the match, including a gritty 74 in the second innings that spanned almost six hours of batting.

Three of the top four England batsmen - Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara - have dropped in the latest rankings while Kevin Pietersen has managed to hang on to his 10th place.

England captain Strauss, who scored 30 and 17, has dropped out of the top 20 after falling three places to 22nd place, Cook has slipped three places to 24th position after a match contribution of 26 runs and Bopara has dropped eight places to 59th position after scores of 35 and one.

Mohammad Yousuf and Younus Khan lead a Pakistan 1-2 in the batting table with India's Gautam Gambhir in third place.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, the only change in the top 20 is England fast bowler Andrew Flintoff who has slipped two places to 19th position.

Flintoff is one of four England bowlers who have fallen in the latest rankings while fast bowler James Anderson has retained his seventh position.

Spinners Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann have dropped one and three places to 22nd and 25th positions respectively and Stuart Broad has fallen three places to 40th position.

For Australia, Brett Lee has dropped one place after missing the first Test due to injury and fast bowler Peter Siddle has slipped one place to 32nd position. But off-spinner Nathan Hauritz has leaped 13 places to 49th position after match figures of 60.5-13-158-6 and fast bowler Ben Hilfenhaus has jumped 19 places to 52nd spot after match figures of 42-8-120-5.

The bowling list is headed by Sri Lanka's iconic spinner Muttiah Muralidaran who is likely to concede his number-one spot to South Africa's Dale Steyn when the latest rankings are released at the end of the second Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. A player loses one per cent of his ratings for every match he misses and as the position stands at present, Muralidaran, who is not playing in the Colombo Test, leads Steyn by just two points.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders, Flintoff has dropped one place to fifth after figures of 1-128 with the ball and contributions of 37 and 26 with the bat.

Jacques Kallis continues to lead the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders with Mitchell Johnson of Australia in second and New Zealand's Daniel Vettori third.

Reliance Mobile ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 13 July, after the end of first Ashes Test at Cardiff)

* 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.
! Indicates career-highest rating

For more information on the ICC Player Rankings go to: www.reliancemobileiccrankings.com