Jonty Rhodes recent fine form with the bat has seen the South African jump 12 places in the one-day international player ratings to sixth spot.

Rhodes, who retired from Test cricket a year ago, hit 338 runs at an average of 67.60 during the seven-match series against Australia, which concluded with the home side's sole victory on Tuesday.

Australia have reinforced their position as the premier one-day batting side with six batsmen featuring in the top 20.

Two of the six are Steve and Mark Waugh, both of whom were dropped for the South Africa series.

Michael Bevan drops from the top spot after a series dogged by a hamstring injury, allowing Indian maestro Sachin Tendulkar to regain first place.

And it is not all good news for Australia's bowlers, either, as Glenn McGrath has conceded first place in the bowling ratings to Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan.

The spinner's astonishing spell of five for nine in Tuesday's losing effort to New Zealand has propelled him to the third-highest bowling rating ever achieved.

Only Joel Garner and Richard Hadlee have achieved higher scores than Muralitharan's current 934.

South African Makhaya Ntini enters the top 10 for the first time.

But Jason Gillespie is hot on his heals having climbed a massive 22 places to 12th after his 12 wickets in the recent series.