Australia pace bowler Brett Lee has achieved the highest rating of his career to date in the ICC player rankings for Test bowlers following the Test series against India and is now in fourth position, fast closing on those bowlers ahead of him. Lee, who was named the Man of the Series, played a big role in securing a 2-1 series win for Australia, taking 24 wickets at an average of 22.58. That effort has continued his rise and he now sits on 795 ratings points, poised to become the fourth bowler in the world currently beyond the magic 800-point mark.
It is all part of a steady progress for the 31-year-old New South Welshman over the past year or so. He is ahead of South Africa's Makhaya Ntini and now has Ntini's team-mate Dale Steyn and Australia's Stuart Clark in his sights. It is interesting to note that 12 months ago Lee was placed in 15th position. Clark has exchanged places again with Steyn after the drawn Adelaide Test when he failed to take a wicket. It remains very close between them, though, with just three ratings points separating Steyn in second spot and third-placed Clark. And now they have Lee breathing down their necks. However, he still has a long way to go before he catches Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, whose remarkable run at the top continues without, it seems, any wavering in form from the record-breaking off-spinner.
Australia's young gun Mitchell Johnson has moved up nine places to 42nd in the list after taking six wickets in the fourth Test, including a four-wicket haul in the first innings. His match figures of 6-159 were his best effort so far in Tests and he has now overtaken the likes of Daren Powell of the West Indies, Kyle Mills of New Zealand and England's Ryan Sidebottom to break into the top 50 for the first time.