Australian skipper Ricky Ponting’s two unbeaten centuries in the Chappell-Hadlee Series gave him his career-best rating points of 832 even as he continued his domination at the top of the ICC rankings for the ODI batsmen, released today.Ponting not only ensured his team’s 2-0 victory against New Zealand, he further consolidated his position at the top of the table by increasing the gulf between him and other batsmen. The second position is held by his teammate Andrew Symonds who has 778 points followed by Kevin Pietersen at 738.Only five batsmen in the current decade have enjoyed a better rating than him, which includes Michael Hussey (863 in 2007), Matthew Hayden (854 points in 2003), Sourav Ganguly (844 in 2000), Sanath Jayasuriya (838 points in 2003) and Kevin Pietersen (834 points in 2007).Also moving up the ranking ladder was Adam Gilchrist, who scored a quickfire half-century in the first ODI against New Zealand to go up three places to 11th spot. The lone Indian in the top-10 list is Sachin Tendulkar at seventh spot after gaining one spot.
