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Ian Bell may have fallen one run short of his maiden Test double century at Lord's, but his 199 against South Africa was enough to catapult him to a career-high 13th place in the Reliance Mobile ICC rankings.

The Warwickshire batsman, who averages over 44 in Tests, has risen nine places and now ranks alongside Indian great Sachin Tendulkar in equal 13th.

Despite failing to beat the tourists, other Englishmen profited from their performance in the first Test.

Kevin Pietersen's 152 against his native country has seen him rise three places to seventh, his highest position in the rankings this year.

Andrew Strauss completes the trio of England batsmen now in the top 20, although his 44 was not enough to prevent the opener sliding one place to 17th in the list.

Ryan Sidebottom's three wickets in the match ensured that he leapfrogged South Africa seamer Makhaya Ntini, who failed to strike at Lord's, into a career-best fifth place.

Monty Panesar's four-wicket haul ensured he retains his place at 11th in the rankings.

Andrew Flintoff will be hoping to be recalled to the England XI for the second Test at Headingley on Friday in order to improve on the 19th place he currently holds in the bowling standings.

The Lancashire star - who has not played a Test in 19 months - still lies well behind Jacques Kallis and Daniel Vettori in the all-rounder rankings in third.

England's James Anderson continues to climb, up four places to 22nd while further down the list, South Africa seamer Morne Morkel has broken into the top 50 for the first time to 46th after taking 4-121.

England still occupy fourth place in the overall Test rankings, but a series victory by a two-Test margin would see them move up to third with India remaining second and the Proteas slipping to fourth.

BATTING:

1 K.C. Sangakkara SL 893

2 S. Chanderpaul WI 890

3 M.E.K. Hussey AUS 882

4 Mohammad Yousuf PAK 880

4 R.T. Ponting AUS 880

6 J.H. Kallis SA 844

7 K.P. Pietersen ENG 837

8 M.L. Hayden AUS 834

9 D.P.M.D. Jayawardena SL 810

10 Younis Khan PAK 799

11 M.J. Clarke AUS 723

12 G.C. Smith SA 714

13 I.R. Bell ENG 704

13 S.R. Tendulkar IND 704

15 R. Dravid IND 701

16 A. Symonds AUS 700

17 A.J. Strauss ENG 685

18 V. Sehwag IND 681

19 S.C. Ganguly IND 674

20 V.V.S. Laxman IND 672

22 A.N. Cook ENG 659

27 P.D. Collingwood ENG 608

32 M.P. Vaughan ENG 565

BOWLING:

1 M. Muralidaran SL 897

2 D.W. Steyn SA 867

3 S.R. Clark AUS 863

4 B. Lee AUS 794

5 R.J. Sidebottom ENG 769

6 M. Ntini SA 743

7 W.P.U.J.C. Vaas SL 709

8 A. Kumble IND 708

9 Shoaib Akhtar PAK 684

10 S.E. Bond NZ 668

11 M.S. Panesar ENG 640

12 J.E. Taylor WI 628

13 C.D. Collymore WI 621

14 Mohammad Asif PAK 619

14 Zaheer Khan IND 619

16 Danish Kaneria PAK 614

17 M.J. Hoggard ENG 612

18 Harbhajan Singh IND 608

19 A. Flintoff ENG 597

20 D.L. Vettori NZ 591

22 J.M. Anderson ENG 580

Sporting Life / Eurosport