Calcutta: New Zealand ’s Stephen Fleming, whose 262 was one of the major highlights of the drawn second Test against South Africa in Cape Town, has moved back into the top-20 of the ICC player rankings for Test batsmen.

The New Zealand captain jumped ten places to be 14th in the list, according to information received here.

Daniel Vettori has dropped one spot in the allrounder’s table, allowing Irfan Pathan of India to move up to third position behind Jacques Kallis and England ’s Andrew Flintoff. Pollock remains in fifth place.

Like New Zealand, South Africa have just one player among the top 20 batsmen, Kallis. He remains in second position behind Australia captain Ricky Ponting.

New Zealand ’s highest-placed bowler is Shane Bond in 10th place. The pacer is missing from the series because of a knee injury.

South Africa still have three bowlers in the top-20 with Makhaya Ntini retaining second position behind Muttiah Muralidharan of Sri Lanka. Shaun Pollock remains 12th and Andre Nel is joint 13th , down two spots and sharing that place with Danish Kaneria of Pakistan.

Sachin Tendulkar is now placed 17th among batsmen, while Anil Kumble has improved by one spot to be ninth among bowlers. Pathan is 11th in the bowlers’ list.

The final Test of the series, beginning in Johannesburg on Friday, will have a huge significance. Not only will it decide the series with the hosts 1-0 up, the match at The Wanderers will also decide fifth and sixth places in the Test Championship table.

A South African win or a draw will be enough to see the home side jump over their opponents and move into a higher position while New Zealand have to win to retain that fifth spot.

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Australia, 2. England, 3. India, 4. Pakistan, 5. New Zealand, 6. South Africa, 7. Sri Lanka, 8. West Indies, 9. Zimbabwe, 10. Bangladesh.

TOP-10 BATSMEN

1. Ricky Ponting, 2. Jacques Kallis, 3. Rahul Dravid, 4. Inzamam-ul Haq, 5. Matthew Hayden, 6. Brian Lara, 7. Younis Khan, 8. Mohammed Yousuf, 9. Mike Hussey, 10. Marcus Trescothick.

TOP-10 BOWLERS

1. Muttiah Muralidharan, 2. Makhaya Ntini, 3. Shane Warne, 4. Glenn McGrath, 5. Matthew Hoggard, 6. Andrew Flintoff, 7. Shoaib Akhtar, 8. Chaminda Vaas, 9. Anil Kumble, 10. Shane Bond.

TOP-5 ALLROUNDERS

1. Jacques Kallis, 2. Andrew Flintoff, 3. Irfan Pathan, 4. Daniel Vettori, 5. Shaun Pollock.