Harmy top of domestic rankings

Profiles / Editor / 02 May 2007 / Leave a Comment

England paceman Steve Harmison can enjoy a few days rest in the knowledge that he is the top-rated cricketer in the new Professional Cricketers Association rankings.

The PCA has devised a complex system to rate all county cricketers during the season and it appears that the system favours bowler, who occupy the first 11 places in the table.

Harmison has enjoyed an excellent start to the campaign with Durham (28 to win the Championship), as he looks to rebuild his career following a disastrous tour Down Under during the winter, and has taken 15 wickets in the first two four-day games.

The north-east outfit are not involved in the current round of Championship matches and Harmison has been rested as they take on Durham University.

Pakistani leg-spinners Danish Kaneria and Mushtaq Ahmed are just behind the giant England star, with Somerset's Peter Trego and Adil Rashid of Yorkshire making up the top five.

Richard Montgomerie of Sussex is the highest-ranked batsman and PCA director Jason Ratcliffe admitted that the system is still very much in the development stage.

"We need to see how the season pans out but we ran the system on last year's statistics and the top-rated batsman was Darren Lehmann, who finished seventh," he told the BBC.

"How valuable are bowlers? People have often argued that a hundred is the equivalent of five wickets but people who play the game don't always say that's the case.

"Five wickets is the same as getting half a team out; what does a batsman have to do to match that?

"People will argue about the list but we hope it proves popular for cricket fans."

Durham are next in action in the Friends Provident Trophy on Monday, with Lancashire (4.7 to win the trophy) visiting the Riverside and Harmison will be looking to impress new England coach Peter Moores, as he finalises plans to take on the West Indies during the early part of the season.