McGrath placed fifth among the all-time greats bowler

Dubai, Apr 29 (UNI) Australia's finest pace bowler Glenn McGrath, who retired from international cricket yesterday after his side defeated Sri Lanka to clinch the World Champions tag for the third cosecutive time, finished his career in fifth place in the all-time LG-ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers.

Nicknamed 'Pigeon', McGrath, who was adjudged the Player of the Tournament after taking 26 wickets, is one of only five players to have ever reached 900 rating points.

The 37-year-old bowler reached his highest rating of 903 points during the seven-match ODI series against South Africa in March 2002.

The only players ahead of him in the all-time list are fast bowlers Joel Garner of the West Indies, Kiwi Richard Hadlee and South Africa's Shaun Pollock, along with Sri Lanka spin-wizard Muttiah Muralitharan.

His haul of wickets in the tournament is also the biggest haul in a single ICC Cricket World Cup.

McGrath - 71 wickets from 39 matches - finished way ahead of his nearest rival Wasim Akram of Pakistan who captured 55 wickets in 38 matches.

In his 14-year-old career he played 250 ODIs and captured 381 wickets at an average of just over 22 runs each.

Apart from ODIs, McGrath also finished his career in fifth spot in the all-time LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, achieving a highest 914 rating points during the Ashes series against England in 2001.

In the all-time Test bowlers list, England's Sydney Barnes, who played for 13 years from 1901, tops the table.

UNI