BRIDGETOWN: Seven of the top 10 batsmen in the latest ICC rankings are from teams involved in this week's World Cup semifinals.

Of the top 10 only Kevin Pietersen, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni will not be in Jamaica or St. Lucia on Tuesday and Wednesday for the penultimate stage of the competition.

Sri Lanka opener Sanath Jayasuriya has moved up to third following his run of good form while there have also been moves in the right direction for Sarwan of the West Indies, AB de Villiers and Herschelle Gibbs of South Africa and Australians Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke.

Bond closes in

In the bowling rankings, South Africa's Shaun Pollock is still in front but Shane Bond is catching up fast. As far as the Indians are concerned, Dhoni has dropped two places to eighth and skipper Rahul Dravid slips one spot to 14th.

Yuvraj Singh is barely maintaining his position in the top-20 at the 19th spot. The left-hander is down two places from his previous standing of 17th.

Meanwhile, in the bowlers' list, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who has been dropped for India's tour of Bangladesh, has slipped one place to 15th.

At the joint 16th spot with England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, Ajit Agarkar was the only other Indian bowler in the top-20.

The top-10 rankings:

Batsmen: 1. Kevin Pietersen (Eng), 2. Ricky Ponting (Aus), 3. Sanath Jayasuriya (SL), 4. Mike Hussey (Aus), 5. Graeme Smith (RSA), 6. Ramnaresh Sarwan (WI), 7. Matthew Hayden (Aus), 8. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind), 9. Jacques Kallis (RSA), 10. Andrew Symonds (Aus).

Bowlers: 1. Shaun Pollock (RSA), 2. Shane Bond (NZ), 3. Nathan Bracken (Aus), 4. Chaminda Vaas (SL), 5. Glenn McGrath (Aus), 6. Muttiah Muralitharan (SL), 7. Daniel Vettori (NZ), 8. Makhaya Ntini (RSA), 9. Brett Lee (Aus), 10. Abdur Razzak (Ban). — Agencies

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