Dubai: England off-spinner Graeme Swann has finished off a memorable year for him by breaking into the top five of the ICC rankings for test bowlers. The Englishman finishes off the year at the third spot after his consecutive Man of the Match performances in the first two tests against South Africa.

The 30-year-old took a match haul of nine wickets, including a five-wicket haul in the second innings and, that pushed him up by eight places, moving ahead of spin rivals Harbhajan Singh and Muttiah Muralitharan.

Swann has also been consistent with the bat. He scored 85 in the first innings of the Centurion Test which has taken him to fourth position behind Australia’s Mitchell Johnson in the all-rounder’s list.

Among other Englishmen, Stuart Broad gained six places to reach the seventh position in the bowling rankings.

Meanwhile, South African bowlers have had a rough time in the first couple of test matches against England and that showed in the ranking, with veteran pacer Makhaya Ntini slipping four places to eighth position after failing to take a wicket in the match while left-arm slow bowler Paul Harris dropped five places, out of the top 10, to 12th spot.

Dale Steyn has managed to hang on to the number-one spot although he is now under significant pressure from Johnson, who is in top form in his side’s current series against Pakistan.

In the batting department, England captain Andrew Strauss moved four places to get into the top 15. He ends the year at joint-13th position.

The batting rankings are still headed by Gautam Gambhir of India followed by the Sri Lanka pair of Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara.

Tagged with: Andrew Strauss, Dale Steyn, Dubai, England, Gautam Gambhir, Graeme Swann, ICC, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Makhaya Ntini, Mitchell Johnson, Paul Harris, Rankings, Stuart Broad

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