HASHIM AMLA has moved into the top 10 in the ICC Reliance Mobile Test rankings following his unbeaten double century that set up South Africa’s victory over India by an innings and 6 runs this week.

Not surprisingly there are a lot of upwardly mobile Proteas following the outcome of this match between the world’s top two ranked sides.

Amla has advanced 13 places to No. 10 with a career best ranking of 775. Jacques Kallis, his partner during their mammoth stand of 340 runs for the third wicket, has also climbed four places to No. 4, one ahead of Graeme Smith.

There are now only 17 points separating the top five batsmen with India’s Gautam Ghambir retaining the top spot in spite of a disappointing outing at Nagpur.

Not surprisingly Dale Steyn is now more than 100 ranking points ahead of any other player at the top of the bowling rankings and, with 891 points, is just six points shy of his best ever rating achieved in 2008 after the Proteas’ innings win over India at Ahmedabad.

Any player who achieves a ranking of 900 or better is regarded as exceptional.

His new ball partner, Morne Morkel, remains at No. 7 while Paul Harris has advanced three places to No. 9.

The Proteas thus have three players in the top 10 both for batting and bowling while Kallis remains in a class of his own as the leading all-rounder.

ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 10 February)

Batsmen

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Points    Ave         HS Rating

   1           ( - )          Gautam Gambhir                Ind          840         55.46     886 v SL at Kanpur 2009

   2           (+1)         M Jayawardena   SL           836         53.96     883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009

   3           (+1)         K Sangakkara      SL           835         55.10     938 v Eng at Kandy 2007

   4           (+4)         Jacques Kallis       SA           825         55.16     935 v NZ at Centurion 2007

   5           (-3)          Graeme Smith      SA           823         50.55     843 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010

   6           ( - )          Virender Sehwag  Ind          811         52.62     854 v SA at Kolkata 2004

   7           (-2)          Michael Clarke    Aus         805         50.19     855 v Eng at Headingley 2009

   8           (-1)          Ricky Ponting       Aus         783         55.67     942 v Eng at Adelaide 2006

   9           ( - )          Sachin Tendulkar                Ind          778         55.35     898 v Zim at Nagpur 2002

  10         (+13)      Hashim Amla       SA           775 !      44.47     775 v Ind at Nagpur 2010

  11         (-1)          S.Chanderpaul     WI          765         48.70     901 v NZ at Napier 2008

  12         (-1)          Ross Taylor          NZ          763         42.15     775 v Pak at Wellington 2009

  13         (-1)          Mohd Yousuf       Pak         761         53.07     933 v WI at Karachi 2006

  14         (-1)          Younus Khan       Pak         754         50.09     880 v SL at Lahore 2009

  15         (-1)          AB de Villiers        SA           735         43.67     745 v Eng at Centurion 2009

  16         (-1)          Rahul Dravid        Ind          720         53.75     892 v Pak at Kolkata 2005

  17         (-1)          Mike Hussey        Aus         709         53.04     921 v WI at Kingston 2008

  18         (-1)          T Samaraweera   SL           707         51.14     747 v Ind at Kanpur 2009

  19         (-1)          Simon Katich       Aus         706         44.91     720 v Eng at Cardiff 2009

  20         (-1)          VVS Laxman       Ind          696         45.70     753 v Aus at Sydney 2004

Bowlers

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Points    Ave         HS Rating

   1           ( - )          Dale Steyn            SA           891         23.04     897 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2008

   2           ( - )          Mitchell Johnson Aus         780         28.45     825 v Eng at Cardiff 2009

   3           ( - )          Mohammad Asif Pak         757*      23.20     792 v Aus at Sydney 2010

   4           ( - )          M Muralidaran    SL           752         22.71     920 v Ban at Kandy 2007

   5           ( - )          Graeme Swann    Eng         732*      30.69     756 v SA at Durban 2009

   6           ( - )          Zaheer Khan        Ind          722 !      33.02     722 v SA at Nagpur 2010

   7           ( - )          Morne Morkel      SA           680*      32.26     691 v Eng at Johannesburg 2010

   8           (+1)         Stuart Broad         Eng         673*      35.38     697 v SA at Durban 2009

   9           (+3)         Paul Harris            SA           671*      33.41     705 v Eng at Centurion 2009

  10         (+1)         Stuart Clark          Aus         668*      23.86     863 v WI at Bridgetown 2008

  11         (-1)          Makhaya Ntini    SA           665         28.82     863 v Ind at Durban 2006

  12         (-4)          Harbhajan Singh Ind          653         31.30     765 v NZ at Wellington 2002

  13         ( - )          James Anderson  Eng         639         34.80     710 v Aus at Edgbaston 2009

  14         ( - )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        626*      29.39     633 v Ind at Chittagong 2010

  15         (+1)         Daniel Vettori       NZ          613         33.61     681 v Aus at Auckland 2000

  16         (+1)         Danish Kaneria    Pak         599         34.27     723 v Eng at Multan 2005

  17         (+1)         Jerome Taylor      WI          598*      35.64     717 v Eng at Kingston 2009

  18         (+1)         Peter Siddle           Aus         597*      31.53     617 v Eng at The Oval 2009

  19         (+1)         Chris Martin         NZ          592         33.61     643 v Eng at Lord's 2004

  20         (+1)         Ryan Sidebottom                Eng         590*      28.24     769 v SA at Lord's 2008

All-rounders

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Points                    HS Rating

   1           ( - )          Jacques Kallis       SA           469        616 v Pak at Durban 2002

   2           ( - )          Daniel Vettori       NZ          412!       412 v Pak at Napier 2009

   3           ( - )          Graeme Swann    Eng         306*/*  307 v SA at Durban 2009

   4           ( - )          Mitchell Johnson Aus         302        384 v Eng at Cardiff 2009

   5           ( - )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        295*/*  303 v Ind at Chittagong 2010

*Indicates a provisional rating

! Indicates a career-best rating