Lara back on top

He's back. Following a string of high scores against South Africa, Brian Lara reclaimed the top spot in the PwC ratings, as well as his highest rating ever. With 912 points, he's only five clear of Ricky Ponting - who was the previous number one - but with one Test still to go, in his present form, Lara could go even higher. Ponting and Matthew Hayden drop down by a place, while Rahul Dravid is up to number three, after an unbeaten 91 in the 4th Test. Sachin Tendulkar, who dropped out of the top ten in the previous list, stormed back to 7th position with his rousing performance in the last Test. And then there's VVS Laxman, who jumps five places to number ten, after his 178 helped India on its way to 705.

No surprises among the bowlers. Muttiah Muralitharan tops the charts with 915 points, a good 54 clear of Shoaib Akhtar in second place, who overtook Shaun Pollock with his barnstorming show in the second Test against New Zealand. Glenn McGrath, currently recuperating from an ankle surgery, hasn't bowled a ball for five months, and yet leads Australia's bowlers, at number four. Anil Kumble, with 24 wickets in three games, jumped two places up to sixth, but his current points tally of 748 is a long way away from the heady days of 1994, when he got to 872.

Rank	Bowler	Points
1	M. Muralitharan	908
2	Shoaib Akhtar	861
3	Shaun Pollock	860
4	Glenn McGrath	798
5	Jason Gillespie	751
6	Anil Kumble	748
7	Makhaya Ntini	728
8	Daryl Tuffey	721
9	Harbhajan Singh	655
10	Chaminda Vaas	629