THE fact that Michael Vaughan has slipped to 37th in the ICC Reliance Mobile world rankings and that Andrew Strauss, a theoretical successor, has dropped to 23rd says everything about the parlous state of England's batting, re-emphasising the need for a settled captain.

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Vaughan, who resigned as captain on Sunday, is now ranked alongside Ross Taylor, the New Zealand newcomer, and Strauss lost three places after his ineffective showing against the South Africans so far. Paul Collingwood, who resigned as ODI captain, rose two places to 25th after his second innings 135 at Edgbaston.

Kevin Pietersen is head and shoulders above his colleagues at eighth, though at least Alastair Cook has risen into the top 20, four places behind the 16th-ranked Ian Bell.

Ryan Sidebottom remains England’s highest ranked bowler in fifth position and Andrew Flintoff climbs three places to 16th.

Reliance Mobile ICC Test Rankings (Aug 4, 2008)

Batsmen

Rank +/-                                                Pts ave

1 ( - ) Shivnarine Chanderpaul   W Indies     890

2 ( - ) Mike Hussey                  Australia    882

3= (+1) Ricky Ponting               Australia    880

(+1) Mohammad Yousuf            Pakistan     880

5 (-3) Kumar Sangakkara          Sri Lanka    874

6 - ) Mahela Jayawardena         Sri Lanka   844

7 ( - ) Matthew Hayden            Australia    834

8= ( - ) Jacques Kallis               S Africa     814

(+1) Kevin Pietersen                 England     814

10 ( - ) Younis Khan                 Pakistan    799

11 (+10) Virender Sehwag         India         794

12 ( - ) Graeme Smith              S Africa      759

13 (-2) Michael Clarke              Australia     723

14 ( - ) Andrew Symonds          Australia     700

15 (-2) Ashwell Prince              S Africa      688

16 ( - ) Ian Bell                       England      676

17 (-2) Sachin Tendulkar           India          673

18= (+1) Rahul Dravid               India          672

- ) VVS Laxman                       India          672

20 (+1) Alastair Cook                England      664

Bowlers

Rank +/-                                                Pts ave

1 ( - ) M.Muralitharan              Sri Lanka     920

2 (+1) Stuart Clark                 Australia      863

3 (-1) Dale Steyn                   S Africa       855

4 ( - ) Brett Lee                     Australia      793

5 ( - ) Ryan Sidebottom           England       745

6 ( - ) Makhaya Ntini               S Africa       735

7 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas              Sri Lanka     699

8 ( - ) Shoaib Akhtar                Pakistan      684

9 ( - ) Anil Kumble                   India           670

10 ( - ) Shane Bond                 NZ              668

11 (+7) Harbhajan Singh           India           644

12 ( - ) Jerome Taylor              W Indies      628

13 (-2) Monty Panesar             England       622

14 (-1) Corey Collymore           W India        621

15 (-1) Mohammad Asif            Pakistan       619

16 (+3) Andrew Flintoff            England        618

17 (-2) Danish Kaneria             Pakistan        614

18 (-2) Zaheer Khan                India            606

19 (-3) Matthew Hoggard         England        599

20 (+1) James Anderson           England        597