Not only did Matthew Hayden’s world-record score of 380 at Perth last week deny Brian Lara ownership of the record, it also removed him from the No
Lynn McConnell23-Jun-2005Not only did Matthew Hayden’s world-record score of 380 at Perth last week deny Brian Lara ownership of the record, it also removed him from the No. 1 spot on the PwC Ratings of Test batsmen. It is not Hayden’s first appearance at the head of the rankings – he reached the summit a year ago during the short series against Pakistan. He had not been out of the top three since then. Top 10 batsmen Rank Batsman Points 1 Matthew Hayden (Aus) 893 2 Brian Lara (WI) 887 3 Rahul Dravid (Ind) 849 4 Adam Gilchrist (Aus) 825 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak) 805 6 Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) 804 6 Ricky Ponting (Aus) 804 8 Marcus Trescothick (Eng) 751 9 Jacques Kallis (SA) 746 10 Herschelle Gibbs (RSA) 742 But the Perth innings could still not displace Lara from the ranking as the scorer of the highest-rated innings. That is still regarded as his 213 in Kingston in 1999, while VVS Laxman’s 281 at Kolkata in 2001 is also ahead of Hayden’s innings, as both were scored against strong Australian attacks. The fact that Hayden scored his runs against the weak Zimbabwe bowling downgrades his performance according to the ratings.PWC’S TEN TOP-RATED TEST INNINGSSINCE 1990 RankNameRunsAgainstVenueYear1Brian Lara213AustraliaKingston1998-99 2VVS Laxman281AustraliaKolkata2000-01 3Graham Gooch154*West IndiesHeadingley1991 4Inzamam-ul-Haq329New ZealandLahore2002-03 5Matthew Hayden380ZimbabwePerth2003-04 6Saeed Anwar188*IndiaKolkata1998-997Graham Gooch333IndiaLord’s1990 8Brian Lara375EnglandSt John’s1993-94 9Gordon Greenidge226AustraliaBridgetown1990-9110Stephen Fleming274*Sri LankaColombo2003Click here for full PwC ratings