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Swann now top ranked spinner

Johannesburg - England can now boast two players in the top 10 of the ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers following its comfortable victory over Bangladesh in the second and final match of the series in Manchester on Sunday.

Building on recent successes, off-spinner Graeme Swann has gained two further places to become the highest-placed slow bowler in the world in third position. Swann has overtaken Muttiah Muralidaran of Sri Lanka and Pakistan's Mohammed Asif following his six wickets at Old Trafford, an effort that included figures of 5-76 in the first innings.

Fast bowler James Anderson has made a return to the top 10 as he added another four wickets to his overall Test tally, which now stands at 165 from 48 matches.

Another pacer Steven Finn has enjoyed a good start to his Test career and has shot up 12 places to 36th position in the rankings after his latest outing, which netted him another six wickets.

As far as Bangladesh's bowlers are concerned, only captain Shakib Al Hasan made significant progress as the left-arm spinner's five-wicket haul in England's innings earned him two places and he now sits in 12th spot, just behind Stuart Clark of Australia and Anderson.

The list is still headed by Dale Steyn of South Africa, followed by Australia's Mitchell Johnson in second place.

Arguably, the player of this series was Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal, who scored two centuries and a fifty in his four innings. That effort has earned him a place in the top 20 of the Rankings for Test batsmen as the 21-year-old left-hander now sits in 17th position, level with Thilan Samaraweera of Sri Lanka.

Outside the top 20, England's Ian Bell continued his good form against Bangladesh with another century in the second Test. As a result he has moved up five places and now occupies 25th position.

India's Virender Sehwag is still in number-one position, with South Africa's Hashim Amla sitting in second place and Mahela Jayawardena of Sri Lanka third.

The 2-0 result of the England v Bangladesh series has brought about no positional changes to the ICC Test Championship table with the home team remaining in fifth spot and the visitors still well adrift in ninth place.

There is, however, an imminent opportunity for change in those team rankings as South Africa embarks on a three-Test series in the West Indies. In short, Graeme Smith's team must win the series to stay in second position on the ladder.

A drawn series would see the Proteas drop to third place behind Australia and if they happened to lose, either 1-0, 2-1 or 3-0, they would fall to fourth place with Sri Lanka being promoted to third.

There is plenty for eighth-placed West Indies to play for, too. A drawn series or better for Chris Gayle and his men would move them up above New Zealand and Pakistan into sixth position but defeat would mean a widening of the gap between it and the Black Caps, who are currently placed seventh. ICC Test Championship (as of 7 June, following the England and Bangladesh Test series)

Rank Team Rating

1 India 124
2 South Africa 120
3 Australia 119
4 Sri Lanka 115
5 England 108
6 Pakistan 80
7 New Zealand 80
8 West Indies 77
9 Bangladesh

ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 7 June) Batsmen Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating

1 ( - ) Virender Sehwag Ind 863 ! 53.52 863 v SA at Kolkata 2010
2 ( - ) Hashim Amla SA 842 ! 47.26 842 v Ind at Kolkata 2010
3 ( - ) M Jayawardena SL 836 53.96 883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009
4 ( - ) K Sangakkara SL 835 55.10 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
5 ( - ) Michael Clarke Aus 834 51.47 855 v Eng at Headingley 2009
6 ( - ) Gautam Gambhir Ind 824 54.86 886 v SL at Kanpur 2009
7 ( - ) Sachin Tendulkar Ind 805 55.56 898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002
8 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 790 54.76 935 v NZ at Centurion 2007
9 ( - ) Graeme Smith SA 786 49.99 843 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010
10 ( - ) Ross Taylor NZ 766 43.13 775 v Pak at Wellington 2009
11 ( - ) S.Chanderpaul WI 765 48.70 901 v NZ at Napier 2008
12 ( - ) Simon Katich Aus 760 ! 46.83 760 v NZ at Hamilton 2010
13 ( - ) Younus Khan Pak 754 50.09 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
14 ( - ) VVS Laxman Ind 748 46.64 753 v Aus at Sydney 2004
15 ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 745 55.22 942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006
16 ( - ) Rahul Dravid Ind 713 53.75 892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005
17= ( - ) T Samaraweera SL 707 51.14 747 v Ind at Kanpur 2009
(+8) Tamim Iqbal Ban 707*! 40.13 707 v Eng at Old Trafford 2010
19 (-1) AB de Villiers SA 699 42.87 745 v Eng at Centurion 2009
20 ( - ) Chris Gayle WI 688 40.61 704 v Eng at Antigua 2009

Bowlers Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating

1 ( - ) Dale Steyn SA 867 23.51 897 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2008
2 ( - ) Mitchell Johnson Aus 790 28.03 825 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
3 (+2) Graeme Swann Eng 761* 30.02 786 v Ban at Mirpur 2010
4 (-1) Mohammad Asif Pak 757* 23.20 792 v Aus at Sydney 2010
5 (-1) M Muralidaran SL 752 22.71 920 v Ban at Kandy 2007
6 ( - ) Zaheer Khan Ind 729 ! 32.98 729 v SA at Kolkata 2010
7 ( - ) Harbhajan Singh Ind 712 30.94 765 v NZ at Wellington 2002
8 ( - ) Morne Morkel SA 660* 32.91 691 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010
9 ( - ) Makhaya Ntini SA 658 28.82 863 v Ind at Durban 2006
10 (+2) James Anderson Eng 656 34.26 710 v Aus at Edgbaston 2009
11 (-1) Stuart Clark Aus 655* 23.86 863 v WI at Bridgetown 2008
12 (+2) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 640*! 32.52 640 v Eng at Old Trafford 2010
13 (-2) Stuart Broad Eng 626* 36.15 697 v SA at Durban 2009
14 (-1) Paul Harris SA 622* 35.12 705 v Eng at Centurion 2009
15 ( - ) Doug Bollinger Aus 616*! 23.15 616 v NZ at Hamilton 2010
16 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 609 33.86 681 v Aus at Auckland 2000
17 ( - ) Danish Kaneria Pak 599 34.27 723 v Eng at Multan 2005
18 ( - ) Jerome Taylor WI 598* 35.64 717 v Eng at Kingston 2009
19 ( - ) Peter Siddle Aus 585* 31.53 617 v Eng at The Oval 2009
20 ( - ) Ryan Sidebottom Eng 567* 28.24 769 v SA at Lord's 2008

All-rounders Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating

1 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 442 616 v Pak at Durban 2002
2 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 393 412 v Pak at Napier 2009
3 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 334 /* 355 v Eng at Mirpur 2010
4 ( - ) Graeme Swann Eng 296*/* 327 v Ban at Chittagong 2010
5 ( - ) Mitchell Johnson Aus 281 384 v Eng at Cardiff 2009

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