Trott and Anderson into second place

by **Aqi** Wed 27 Jul 2011, 1:29 am

James Anderson has leapfrogged team-mate Graeme Swann to take the No. 2 spot in the bowling rankings, while Jonathan Trott has overtaken Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara to be rated the second best Test batsman in the world.

Anderson has achieved his career-best mark - this is the first time he has touched 800 points - following his second-innings figures of 5 for 65 on the final day at Lord's, when he claimed the key wickets of Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar and Suresh Raina. It has put him ahead of Swann who, despite playing an important role in both innings, only claimed two wickets.

Trott scored a vital 70 in England's first innings at Lord's, where he batted in the toughest conditions on the first day to help set the home side a platform. Kevin Pietersen followed that with an unbeaten 202, which has been enough to propel him back into the top 20.

"That first innings total was a magnificent performance and Kevin was mainly responsible for that," Andrew Strauss, the England captain, said. "That was one of the great innings I've seen since being involved [with cricket], in very difficult circumstances. He had to be smart in the way he played their seamers, he had to graft and then when we had the opportunity to attack, he attacked. Jonathan Trott also showed great temperament and technique to get to 70."

Matt Prior, who hit 71 and an unbeaten 103 has also achieved a new career-best rating, rising 10 places to 21st. Chris Tremlett's four wickets in the match have helped him to ninth place in the bowlers rankings, while Stuart Broad climbs four places and has also moved to fifth in the all-rounders' table.

India still have two bowlers in the top ten with Zaheer Khan, who is expected to miss the Trent Bridge Test due to injury, and Ishant Sharma lying in fifth and seventh place respectively. In the batting top ten, apart from Tendulkar, India have VVS Laxman in seventh while Virender Sehwag, who missed the Lord's Test through injury, has dropped to 10th.