Muralitharan on the verge of history

Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara have both topped 900 points in the latest ICC player rankings which have been published today.

Muralitharan became only the fourth Test bowler in history to reach 920 rating points and is the highest-rated bowler for 24 years. He is now just two rating points behind Pakistan legend Imran Khan and is fast catching up on England's Sydney Barnes and George Lohmann, who are first and second, respectively, in the all-time Test bowlers' list.

Meanwhile, Kumar Sangakkara is stamping his own mark on history as he enjoys a fine run of recent form that continued in two double hundreds during the series whitewash over Bangladesh. Sangakkara became the first Sri Lankan batsman to pass 900 rating points mark and has moved up to 22nd in the all-time list for Test batsmen. He remains third in the current ICC rankings for Test batsmen but is continuing to close the gap on the two players currently ahead of him, Mohammad Yousuf and Ricky Ponting.

Overall, there is little movement in the latest rankings with Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena going up one place to 12th on the back of his 165 in Kandy, his 18th Test hundred, overtaking Pakistan's Inzamam-ul-Haq in the process.

Bangladesh's Shahriar Nafees improved by 12 places to 51st position and is now the second-placed Bangladesh batsman in the rankings, two places behind former captain Habibul Bashar, who dropped six places.

In the bowling list, Muralitharan stretched his lead over South Africa's Makhaya Ntini with Anil Kumble of India and another Protea, Shaun Pollock, back in joint-third place.

Pollock also features in the rankings for Test allrounders, in third spot behind team-mate Jacques Kallis at the top and England's Andrew Flintoff in second.