Flintoff 'best all-rounder since Botham'

Andrew Flintoff can now be mentioned in the same breath as Ian Botham - at least when it comes to cricket's world rankings.

Flintoff's man of the series performances, with bat and ball, against Zimbabwe and South Africa have lifted him to third place in the official one-day ratings for allrounders.

England have tried umpteen all-rounders since Botham left the scene a decade ago but Flintoff is the first to follow him into the top three.

The only problem with rankings is that they don't always stand up to too much scrutiny. Few would argue that Jacques Kallis, currently No1 among the all-rounders, deserves to be there, but Chris Gayle, of the West Indies, is an interesting find at No2.

Similarly, the one-day team rankings must be a remarkable set of figures.

England leaped from seventh to third place by beating South Africa at Lord's on Saturday. A defeat would have seen them slip to eighth!