Bracken falls off top spot in ICC Rankings

Johnson slips to fourth while Clark climbs four spots to 15^th; Michael Clarke drops one place to 15^th as Tamim Iqbal jumps to 35^th position in batting list

Australia’s Nathan Bracken has slipped off the top of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers following a relatively disappointing series against Bangladesh.

In three ODIs, the 30-year-old took just two wickets at an average of 29 and, such is the competitive nature of the rankings, that was enough to knock him off top spot. His place is taken by New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori.

Vettori had surged to the top of bowling chart back in February before Bracken swapped places with the left-arm spinner following the second ODI between England and New Zealand at Birmingham on 18 June.

Bracken’s team-mate Mitchell Johnson has also slipped one place to fourth but fellow pacer Stuart Clark has jumped four places after picking up five wickets at an average of 9.20. He shares 15^th spot with the West Indies’ Daren Powell and Pakistan’s Iftikhar Anjum.

Shane Watson has returned to the top 50 after rocketing 14 places to share 40^th place with India’s Praveen Kumar.

Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak has strengthened his status as Bangladesh’s premier bowler by climbing seven places to 27^th position while Saqibul Hasan has also jumped seven places to 39^th spot. However, fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza has failed to defend his 36^th position and has dropped to 42^nd spot after a wicketless series.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, Australia’s stand-in captain Michael Clarke has dropped one place to 15^th after scoring 40 runs at an average of 13.33.

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal has risen 10 places to 35^th position but captain Mohammad Ashraful has slipped three places to 59^th.

India’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni leads Australia’s Mike Hussey in the batting chart while England’s Andrew Flintoff heads the all-rounders’ category.

Bermuda has no answer to Burger’s spin

Namibia all but guarantees its place in ICC Intercontinental Cup final with 103-run win

Six second-innings wickets from leg-spinner JB Burger secured outright victory for Namibia against Bermuda in Hamilton on Saturday and has propelled the unbeaten Africans to the top of the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2007-08 table.

The 27-year-old Burger bowled 20 overs in Bermuda’s second dig, finishing with figures of 6-56, including the all-important wicket of the home team’s top-scorer Stephen Outerbridge.

Captain Louis Burger used no fewer than nine bowlers in the fourth innings of the game in an effort to dismiss a determined Bermuda line-up. He eventually settled on JB and off-spinner Deon Kotze (3-31), who between them bowled the lion’s share of the overs and also took nine of the 10 wickets to fall.

Most Bermuda batsmen managed to get starts with seven progressing into double figures but only Outerbridge was able to capitalise on that. His contribution of 78 came off 117 deliveries and included nine fours before he was clean bowled by JB.

Bermuda was eventually dismissed for 195 as Namibia won the match by 103 runs.

This win puts Namibia top of the ICC Intercontinental Cup table and almost guarantees it a place in the final, which will take place later this year at a venue yet to be decided. With just three matches remaining in the tournament, there are still three sides that can book their place in the decider.