KEY POINTS:
Former New Zealand cricket captain Stephen Fleming brought the curtain down on his career by finishing at a career-high 13th in the world test batting rankings.
Fleming began the three-test series against England in 16th position but was boosted three spots after back to back half centuries in his final two innings in the third test in Napier.
Fleming, who celebrates his 35th birthday next Tuesday, scored 297 runs in the test series for a career total of 7172 on an average of 40.06.
It was under Fleming's captaincy that New Zealand won the 2000 ICC Champions Trophy in Nairobi, beating India in the final.
Daniel Vettori is New Zealand's next highest ranked batsman.
He fell two places to 28th while Jacob Oram stayed 38th.
Ross Taylor, who amassed 310 runs at 51.66 (one century and three half centuries), jumped six places to 52nd.
New Zealand boast three bowlers in the top 20 but all lost ground in the latest rankings.
Chris Martin, despite his effort of 11-384 in the England series, dropped three places to 18th while Shane Bond and James Franklin - both unavailable for the series - dropped one place to eighth and two to 20th respectively.
Vettori, who remains second in the all-rounders' list, slipped three places to 24th in the test bowlers ranking after his series effort of 7-383.
Oram, who missed the third test because of injury, dropped out of the top five in the all rounders' rankings.
Leading world test rankings:
Batsmen
Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) 916 points 1, Mike Hussey (Australia) 912 2, Ricky Ponting (Australia) 899 3, Jacques Kallis (South Africa) 899 4, Mohamed Yousuf (Pakistan) 880 5.
Also: Stephen Fleming (NZ) 725 13.
Bowlers
Mutthiah Muralitharan 901 points 1, Dale Steyn (South Africa) 893 2, Stuart Clark (Australia) 829 3, Brett Lee (Australia) 795 4, Makhaya Ntini (South Africa) 754 5.
Also: Shane Bond (NZ) 688 8, Chris Martin (NZ) 609 18, James Franklin (NZ) 20.
All-rounders
Kallis 527 1, Vettori 340 2, Andrew Flintoff (England) 320 3, Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka) 300 4, Dwayne Bravo (West Indies) 265 5.
- NZPA
