Sarwan Leads, England Rules

West Indian vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan currently leads the CEAT Cricket Rating for the year 2004-05 with a tally of 44 points. The stylist from the Caribbean has been in great form since the beginning of the CEAT Year on May 1st, his best performance being an unbeaten 261 against Bangladesh at Kingston, Jamaica.

Five points behind Sarwan is the Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu, who also has the highest number of batting points (37) to his credit. His compatriot Upul Chandana has the highest number of bowling points (21).

The West Indies, Sri Lanka and England have an edge over the other sides in the rating by virtue of their having played more cricket than the other sides since May 2004. But that does not take anything away from their performances. England, who lead the team rating with 26 points, were brilliant in the series against New Zealand that they won 3-0.

'Team India' is currently lagging behind in the rating, having played only three one-day internationals in the CEAT Year so far, but with a lot of cricket ahead of them till December, the Indian players are expected to move up in the ratings. Rahul Dravid, who scored 104 and 82 in India's first two matches of the year, is presently ranked 26th in the rating with 11 points.

Instituted in 1995-96, the annual CEAT Cricket Rating takes into account international cricket played between the 1st of May and 30th of April. Previous winners of the CEAT Cricket Rating International Cricketer of the Year Award are Brian Lara (95-96), Sourav Ganguly (99-00) and Muttiah Muralitharan. Australia have won the CEAT Team of the Year Award four out of six times.