DUBAI: South African pacer Dale Steyn has become only the 20th bowler to break the 900-point mark in the ICC rankings for Test bowlers after claiming six scalps in his side’s eight-wicket win over Australia on Friday.

Steyn began the Cape Town Test on 899 ratings points and earned three ratings points for his efforts of 4/55 and 2/23 to become only the second South Africa bowler after Shaun Pollock to achieve the rare distinction.

In rankings terms, 900 or more ratings points means a player is truly outstanding, a benchmark for the very top bowlers.

“It is very special for me to join the 900-point club. There are a lot of world-class players in that region and it is an honour to be in their company,” a delighted Steyn said.

“When I go out and bowl I hardly ever think of the rankings, for me it is about representing my country and giving my best for the team so sometimes it means a lot to receive the recognition.”

At 902 ratings points, Steyn is 17th in the all-time ratings list with an excellent chance of moving further up that list provided he puts up another stellar performance in the second and final Test which starts in Johannesburg next Thursday.

Steyn has been holding the number one slot in the list for current players since the Durban Test against England in December 2009, although his first time at the top of that table came in April 2008. In 47 impressive Tests, the 28-year-old has taken 244 wickets.

Such is Steyn’s dominance in the bowling rankings that second-placed James Anderson of England trails him by 91 ratings points, while his team-mate Morne Morkel, who is the second best South Africa bowler in third position, is 126 ratings points behind.

Steyn lies in seventh position in the ODI bowlers’ list and 16th position in the Twenty20 International.

Among others, Australia’s Shane Watson has earned a career-best ranking of 10th, improving 15 places, after returning with a figure of 5-2-17-5 in South Africa’s first innings score of 96.

Debutant Vernon Philander, one of the architects of Australia’s second innings collapse for 47 with figures of 7-3-15-5, has entered the bowlers’ rankings in 49th position.

In the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, all three batsmen — Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla and Michael Clarke — who scored centuries in a sensational Cape Town Test have made upward moves.

South Africa captain Smith, who scored 37 and 101 not out, has climbed eight places to seventh spot, Amla’s score of three and 112 have lifted him four places to eighth position while Clarke lies in 17th position after gaining five places following his scores of 151 and two.

At the top, Jacques Kallis has been replaced by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara after the South African slipped seven ratings points behind him after scores of nought and two not out in the just-concluded Test.

Other batsmen losing ground include Mike Hussey in 11th (down six places), AB de Villiers in 13th (slipping three spots), Shane Watson in 30th (dropping four slots), Ricky Ponting in 34th (down two positions), Brad Haddin in 42nd (falling five places), Mark Boucher in 48th (down three spots) and Phil Hughes in 53rd (slipping four places).

In the ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders, Watson has moved into third position, ahead of Stuart Broad of England and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan. The list is still headed by Kallis with Daniel Vettori of New Zealand in second spot.

KOLKATA: He has grown up admiring the genius of Sachin Tendulkar but now that Fidel Edwards is bowling to him, the West Indian pacer says he would do all he can to ensure that the Indian batting icon does not get his 100th international ton against his side in the ongoing Test series.

The speedster, who trapped Tendulkar leg before for 7 in the first innings of the opening Test in Delhi, said tongue-in-cheek, “I would want him to score nought for the rest of the series.”

Edwards took his 150th scalp in the form of Tendulkar in the Delhi Test and said it was a big achievement for him to bowl at the veteran Indian cricketer.

“Sachin Tendulkar is a great player, you can’t deny that. As a youngster having watched him on television and coming to bowl against him now is a great achievement for me, and to have got him out as well. We have to stop him from scoring runs against us,” he said.

Fresh from a successful Bangladesh tour where the 29-year-old bagged eight wickets in their 1-0 win in the two-Test series, Edwards said, “I am very attacking as a bowler and it’s important for us to get him out, especially on these wickets.”

Trailing 0-1 in the three-Test series against India, Edwards said it would be a tough proposition to bounce back.

“It’s going to be very tough for us as a team, playing against the No. 2 team in the world and seeing that they are one-up.”

But Edwards said the Caribbeans have a few positives from the first Test in which they pushed India on the backfoot after taking a 95-run first innings lead.

“But as you saw, we pushed them in the first Test, we did well as a unit and fought well. We have come here to play good cricket and hopefully we can push them again and you never know what’s going to happen,” Edwards said.

The pacer said it’s really difficult on Indian slow wickets so the plan is to get the odd bouncers.

“You have to be smart on your feet. It’s going to be hard on wickets where the ball will keep low. Hopefully you can get one to fly and that puts doubts in the batsman’s mind,” Edwards, who will play his 50th Test Monday, said.

“The wickets have kept pretty low. It’s been pretty hard, playing against Dravid, Sachin, Laxman to an extent. These guys are great, these guys have been scoring runs all over.

“They are playing on home ground. So it’s going to be very tough. But once the ball starts to reverse, we can put them under pressure. So if we can get the ball to be reversing as soon as possible then we can get them out.”

On the Eden Gardens strip that drew some harsh criticism in recent past, Edwards said: “It has some grass on it. We have wait and see how it turns out on the first day, come Monday.”

He further said their fast-bowling unit was doing a good job.

“We’ve been doing very well as a bowling unit. We’ve been sticking to our plans, doing what the team requires at the moment and just bowling together as a batch.”

Asked about bowling against the aggressive Indian opening duo of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, he said, “The plan really is to get them as quickly as possible. Keep them from scoring and get them as quick as possible will be good for us.”

KOLKATA: Buoyant India will hope to dominate the West Indies again with spin as they bid to secure a series-clinching win in the second Test starting at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Monday.

The latest spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha shared 16 wickets to help India cruise to a five-wicket victory in the opening contest of the three-match series in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Left-arm spinner Ojha had a six-wicket haul in the first innings and debutant off-spinner Ashwin also took six in the second innings on a low, slow turning track to trouble the West Indies batsmen.

The duo’s success came at the right time for India, who had been looking for match-winning spinners after the retirement of Anil Kumble in 2008 and Harbhajan Singh’s recent slump in form.

Ashwin, who replaced Harbhajan, did not let the selectors down with match figures of 9-128, the second-best haul by an Indian debutant after leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani’s 16-136 against the West Indies in 1988.

Ashwin, who is getting married on Sunday, was lauded by the legendary Indian off-spinner Erapalli Prasanna for his disciplined performance which earned him the man-of-the-match award.

“I am impressed with the way Ashwin bowled in the first Test,” said Prasanna. “His line and length was impeccable, his basics were right and he used his height well to generate spin.”

The Eden Gardens wicket has traditionally helped spin and it is unlikely to be any different this time, leaving the tourists with a tough task if they are to bounce back in the series.

India also batted well in the second innings in New Delhi when they comfortably chased a challenging 276-run target on the difficult pitch.

Batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar, who is on the verge of an unprecedented 100th international century, showed the way with a solid 76 before VVS Laxman completed the win with an unbeaten half-century.

Opener Virender Sehwag provided brisk starts with Gautam Gambhir in both the innings with a pair of half-centuries, while veteran Rahul Dravid cracked a fighting 54 in the first innings.

The West Indies had seized the early advantage when they bowled India out for 209 after posting 304 in the first innings, but failed to capitalise on it and crashed to 180 in the second innings.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul offered the main resistance, scoring 118 and 47 in the match. West Indies skipper Darren Sammy conceded his batsmen needed to solve the Indian spin puzzle soon to stay alive in the series.

“We need to find a way to score against spin. Attacking against the spinners could be an option like Chanderpaul showed in both the innings,” he said.

“We could have been more positive without being reckless. That is something we can look at for the second Test. We will work hard at the nets to get it right.

“We were ahead for a portion of the match and we should have maintained that advantage. In many ways we see this as an opportunity missed as we let India back into the match and they took it away from us,” said Sammy.

West Indies seamers Sammy and Fidel Edwards, and leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo impressed in the last Test, but they will need to keep constant pressure on the formidable Indian batting line-up.

Teams (from):

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Rahul Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron.

West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh (wicketkeeper), Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Kirk Edwards, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Shane Shillingford.

KOLKATA: As the city’s Commissioner of Police RK Pachnanda marched into the BC Roy Clubhouse with his team for the meeting with CAB officials on Friday, a bystander quipped: “Such a big team of policemen! Will there be as many people on the terraces at the Eden on Monday?”

There was a hint of sarcasm in the young man’s tone, but his apprehension is absolutely justified. As it is, dwindling attendances at cricket matches all over the world have caught up with even this sports-crazy city, as was evident during last month’s twin internationals against England. The ODI did not draw even 20,000 people to the ground, a new low for Eden. There was only a marginal improvement for the T20 clash.

And if cricket-fatigue wasn’t enough to give CAB officials sleepless nights, the slotting of this second Test of the series against the West Indies has only added to their worries. With the ICC’s proposal to have Test cricket under lights pushed to the backburner, Monday to Friday is the worst five-day span to stage a Test match. Especially in this day and age, when the priority for the paying public is IPL, T20 International and ODI – in that order. Test matches just don’t fit into their scheme of things.

The West Indies contingent checked in on Thursday. As did Team India, sans Sachin Tendulkar and Ravichandran Ashwin. While the Little Master – on the threshold of completing a century of centuries – will come in on Saturday, the Chennai offie – fresh from a match-winning nine-wicket haul on Test debut at Kotla – will fly in on Sunday after getting married the day before.

Not surprisingly, there was no push in season ticket sales on the second day too. The CAB officials have reconciled themselves to the fact that the demand will grow only when daily tickets go on sale – from the opening morning of the Test match. And no prizes for guessing who they are banking on for a decent turnout at the stadium – who else but Tendulkar!

“We are hoping that he gets his 100th ton at the Eden, stretched over two days… say an unbeaten 70-odd at the close of play and back next morning to complete the milestone thus bringing in the crowds on both days,” quipped CAB joint secretary Biswarup Dey.

NEW DELHI: Ravichandran Ashwin claimed a five-wicket haul on debut to help India bundle out West Indies for 180 in their second innings on the third day of the first Test at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi.

Scorecard

West Indies lost eight wickets on Tuesday morning but set a challenging 276-run target for the hosts with more than two days of play left on a slow track.

Ashwin, who took 3-81 in the Windies’ first innings, finished with an impressive 6 for 47 runs in 21.3 overs in the visitors second essay. Another debutant, pacer Umesh Yadav also finished with a creditable 2 for 36 in 7 overs.

For West Indies, first innings centurion Shivnarine Chanderpaul was the leading scorer again with 47 off 58 balls. Skipper Darren Sammy (42) contributed handsomely lower down the order as the right-hander hit a six and five fours in his quick 37-ball knock.

Chanderpaul was trapped leg before by Ashwin after the left-hander tried to steady the Windies innings and added 40 runs with his Sammy for the eighth wicket.

West Indies went in for lunch on Day 3 at 109/7 – a lead of 204 runs – as they lost five wickets in the morning session on Tuesday.

Young Umesh Yadav dismissed Carlton Baugh (7) as Windies batsmen continued to struggle on the third day.

Ashwin struck twice in one over to dismiss Marlon Samuels (0) and Darren Bravo (12) and reduced West Indies to 63/6 in the morning session of Day 3.

Windies batsman Kirk Edwards (33) became Umesh Yadav’s first Test victim as the young pacer gave the hosts a crucial breakthrough. Edwards hit four boundaries in his patient 80-ball innings before Yadav clean bowled him.

India started the third day at the right note as Ishant Sharma struck early to get rid of West Indies nightwatchman Fidel Edwards.

With the breakthrough, Ishant provided the hosts a chance to make inroads in the Windies batting line-up.

West Indies started the third day’s play with 116 runs lead in their kitty on Tuesday after taking a crucial 95-run first innings lead on Day 2.

On Monday, India’s famed batting line-up suffered a stunning collapse as an inspired Windies gained an edge.

After restricting West Indies to 304 all out, riding on Pragyan Ojha’s career-best six for 72, the hosts’ batting collapsed like a house of cards to be bundled out for a paltry 209 on an unpredictable Kotla track on a day, which saw as many as 17 wickets fall.

It was a combination of poor shot selection and some spirited bowling by the West Indies that saw India’s high-profile batting-order crumble, though, many of them got the starts.