Sri Lanka vice-captain Angelo Mathews has broken into the top five of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders in the latest rankings released on Tuesday, after his team’s series against New Zealand.

Mathews moved up a place to fifth and also achieved his career-best rating of 331 in the fourth ODI in Hambantota. The all-rounders’ table is still headed by Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, with Mohammad Hafeez in second position, followed by Shane Watson in third place.

The five-match series itself, marred by rain, ended in favour of Sri Lanka 3-0.

Mathews made 63 runs in four innings to move up a place to 37th in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen. A right-arm medium-pacer, Mathews also picked up two wickets during the series to jump five places to 31st in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers.

The highest run-getter in the series, BJ Watling, earned a jump of 31 places in the batting table, to 76th, for his 166 runs from three innings.

The lone centurion in the series, Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan, who logged 139 runs in only two appearances in the series due to an injury, moved up three places to 12th.

There was not much cheer for the other batsmen, as Kumar Sangakkara dropped one place to fifth, Ross Taylor dropped by three to 18th, Mahela Jayawardene moved to 22nd (down by two), Brendon McCullum dropped to 25th (down by four), Dinesh Chandimal moved to 32nd (down by one) Rob Nicol dropped to 81st (down by five) and Jacob Oram dropped to 83rd (down by six).

South Africa’s Hashim Amla is the top-ranked batsman, followed by Virat Kohli in second and AB de Villiers in third spot.

Jeevan Mendis was the most impressive mover in the bowlers’ table, as he was rewarded a jump of 23 places to 84th for his five wickets. The other Sri Lanka bowlers to make upward movements were Lasith Malinga in 19th (up by one), Nuwan Kulasekara in 22nd (up by one) and Rangana Herath in 40th (up by three).

New Zealand’s Tim Southee, who also picked five wickets, moved up a place to 15th.

But the series did not bring good news for the other New Zealand bowlers, as Kyle Mills now sits in 12th place (down by three) and Jacob Oram is 17th (down by four).

The bowlers’ table is still headed by Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal, with his team-mate Mohammad Hafeez in second position and Lonwabo Tsotsobe in third place.

The 3-0 series win also fetched Sri Lanka two ratings points, and the team is now in fifth place in the Reliance ICC ODI Championship, on 109 points, while New Zealand is still in eighth place with 72 ratings points

Source: www.voxy.co.nz