Buoyed by the team's success in the 2000th Test against India, England can be proud that in the latest individual ICC Test cricket rankings, both Jonathan Trott and James Anderson have advanced to second in the world with their best points totals to date. With Graeme Swann top of the ODI Bowling tree and no.3 for Tests, can England ever have looked so strong?
In terms of official Test rankings, probably not, but England have had such high spots before. Indeed, twenty years ago this week, Graham Gooch was statistically the best Test batsman in the world and a few weeks later, Robin Smith was second. In fact, the opener and former skipper was still number one in July 1992 and 1993, even though Australia and the West Indies were top dogs at the time.
IN July 1994, Sachin Tendulkar had supplanted Azharuddin as India's highest ranked batsman but England boasted three in the top ten, Atherton and Stewart joining Gooch. Late in the 1990s, looking at July, Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe also enjoyed spells amongst the elite then eight years ago, Michael Vaughan was at number three behind Lara and Tendulkar, A year later, there were no English players higher than eighteen! However, fortunes can change quickly, and Marcus Trescothick was soon to peak at six and Kevin Pietersen at three (in July 2007). It is not impossible to see Trott and Cook heading the rankings by the end of the year, providing rivals Jacques Kallis, Kumar Sangakkara and the evergreen Tendulkar lose form!
Our bowlers have also had their spells in the ICC ranking limelight, but only Steve Harmison became a Test World number one, achieving that accolade in August 2004. However, back in the 1990s, England had few top-tenners in mid-summer, with Phil de Freitas and Angus Fraser squeaking into the elite, but then India didn't either, dependent on Kapil Dev, Kumble and Srinath in that decade. Indeed, only Kumble and Harbajhan Singh flew the Indian flag in the past ten years, too, but the rankings can be capricious. In recent Julys, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Flintoff, even Monty Panesar and Ryan Sidebottom in the top ten.
However, I don't recall five England bowlers commanding places in the top 20 in the past twenty years, as is the case right now. It is a symbol of the side's strength that one of those five, Steve Finn, can't even get in the Test side! Allan Donald reckons we have the best attack in the world right now, and he should know. South Africans Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis still keep Anderson and Trott from reaching the no.1 spot but with England in the ascendancy, the points are there to be accumulated and global supremacy for team and individuals is within their grasp.
