Michael Clarke has regained the No.1 spot in theReliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen after producing a spectacularperformance in the second cricket Test between Australia and South Africa whichended in a thrilling draw in Adelaide Monday.
The 31-year-old Australian captain scored 230 in the first innings, his fourthdouble-century of the year, which has earned him 33 ratings points and hashelped him leapfrog Kumar Sangkkara of Sri Lanka and South African duo HashimAmla and Jacques Kallis into the number-one position.
This is the third time Clarke has moved to the top of the table. He firstachieved the number-one ranking in August 2009 and then again surged to the topearlier this year in March-April.
Unfortunately, both the times his stay at the top has been brief - apossibility which still exists as he leads Sangakkara by a slender 10 ratingspoints margin.
If Sangakkara manages to turn around the first innings failure into a strongperformance in the second innings of the ongoing second Test against NewZealand in Colombo, he has a good chance to reclaim the coveted spot which hesnatched from West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul in July.
Clarke had started the year in 20th position and has made his way to the topscoring 1,309 runs to date at an average of 119. Apart from Clarke, RickyPonting (24th, down by three) and Michael Hussey (12th, down by one) are theother two current Australia team players who have tasted number-one positionsin the past.