Cricket: Mills takes number one spot

New Zealand's Kyle Mills now sits atop the world as a one-day international bowler.

Mills has claimed the number-one position for the first time in his career in the latest ICC ODI player rankings.

The list has been published following the ICC Champions Trophy tournament which was won by Australia at Centurion yesterday.

Mills, who started the elite eight-team tournament in number-two position trailing Sri Lanka's Nuwan Kulasekara by seven points, now leads his Sri Lanka counterpart by 10 points.

They are the only two bowlers in the 700-point mark, which in ranking terms marks out a player as truly great.

Mills has been in the top 10 since December 2007 and finished as the third leading wicket-taker in the tournament with nine wickets to play a leading role in New Zealand's progress to the final where it lost to Australia by six wickets.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has slipped to third in the latest rankings after hamstring injury forced him to miss the final. A player loses one per cent of his points for every match missed.

The biggest mover in the bowling table is Australia's Brett Lee who has returned to the top 20 after finishing with six wickets in the tournament. The 32-year-old has jumped five places to 16th spot.

In the ICC player rankings for ODI batsmen, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni continues to lead the field with his vice-captain Yuvraj Singh a distant second.

The only major change in the top 20 is Australia captain Ricky Ponting who won the player of the tournament award. The Tasmanian has climbed one place to eighth while South Africa's AB de Villiers has moved up to fourth after Michael Hussey failed to defend his position and dropped one place to fifth.