With no change to the top spots, Lara heads India's Rahul Dravid, and Australian Matthew Hayden, while Australian Ricky Ponting is fourth and South African Jacques Kallis fifth.

Stephen Harmison's six-wicket haul for England in the third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge has enabled him to further close in on the top spot in the PwC bowlers' ratings.

In the latest list, Harmison is ranked second with a career-best 880 points, just 24 fewer than Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, the number one bowler.

Among the batsmen, Stephen Fleming and Scott Styris - New Zealand's two centurions in the match - profited the most after the Test.

Fleming moved up nine places to No. 20, while Styris climbed eight ranks to No. 33.

Lara, with a batting average of 53.71, is the only West Indies batsman in the top 10, with Ramnaresh Sarwan (19th) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (29th) the other West Indies batsmen in the top-30.

There is no West Indies bowler in the top-10, leaving Pedro Collins (24th) and Mervyn Dillon (26th) as the highest rated from the Caribbean.

RANKINGS

Batsmen:

1 Brian Lara (WI)

2 Rahul Dravid (Ind)

3 Matthew Hayden (Aus)

4 Ricky Ponting (Aus)

5 Jacques Kallis (S.Africa)

6 Herschelle Gibbs (S.Africa)

7 Inzamam ul Haq (Pak)

8 Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)

9 Virender Sehwag (Ind)

10 Mark Richardson (NZ)

19th Ramnaresh Sarwan (WI)

29th Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)

Bowlers:

1 Muttiah Muralitharan (SL)

2 Steve Harmison (Eng)

3 Shaun Pollock (S.Africa)

4 Shoaib Akhtar (Pak)

5 Shane Warne (Aus)

6 Glen McGrath (Aus)

7 Anil Kumble (Ind)

8 Jason Gillespie (Aus)

9 Makhaya Ntini (S.Africa)

10 Chaminda Vaas (SL)

24th Pedro Collins (WI)