Botha cracks top 20

Johan Botha's outstanding form in the one-day series against Australia has catapulted him into the top 20 on the latest Reliance Mobile ICC ODI bowling rankings.

The acting captain of the Standard Bank ODI squad played key roles in the series-clinching matches at Sydney and Adelaide and must have pushed Albie Morkel closely for the man of the series award.

He is now South Africa's highest ranked bowler in the shorter format of the game at No. 13 with Makhaya Ntini (27) the only other member of the current Proteas squad in the top 30. This is in part due to the emergence of a new, less experienced bowling attack as former stalwarts Andre Nel (22) and Charl Langeveldt (32) are also in the higher echelons.

Dale Steyn has moved up the rankings to No. 35 with Morne Morkel at 48.

Graeme Smith is still rated No. 6 on the batting list in spite of having played only one of the Proteas' last 11 ODI matches. The Proteas are well represented in the batting rankings with AB de Villiers (10), Jacques Kallis (14) and Herschelle Gibbs (15) all in the top 20.

JP Duminy has rocketed up the rankings to No. 29 while Hashim Amla is also climbing steadily all the time to No. 37.

Remarkably Albie Morkel is only ranked No. 93 among batsmen in spite of being one of the biggest match-winners in the modern game.