Opener Alastair Cook has vaulted into a career-best third position in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen after a man of the match performance in the Edgbaston Test which turned out to be the cornerstone of England's victory by an innings and 242 runs over India in the third Test which finished on Saturday.Cook, who has been nominated for the Cricketer of the Year and Test Player of the Year awards at the LG ICC Awards 2011, has claimed third position after rocketing eight places following a masterly 294 that came after 772 minutes of occupancy of the crease during which he received 545 balls off which 33 were converted into fours.Cook took a jump of eight places after he was awarded 92 ratings points for a mammoth knock which not only gave him a career-best rating to date of 836 but has also put him just two ratings points behind Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara who currently occupies second position.If Cook displays the same form he showed at Edgbaston in the fourth and last Test of the series, then he is all set to finish the series in second position. The 26-year-old left-hander had entered the series in fifth position but had slipped to 11th place after failures in the Lord's and Trent Bridge Tests in which he scored 12, 1, 2 and 5Cook is not the only England batsman who has moved in the right direction. Kevin Pietersen has gained two places and is now in 13th position after a score of 63, captain Andrew Strauss has earned one position and is now in 34th spot after a knock of 87 and Eoin Morgan has climbed 12 places to 52nd position after scoring his second Test century.The news is not as encouraging for India's batsmen who, except for captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, have slipped in the latest rankings which were released on Sunday morning.Dhoni has moved up four places and is now in 36th position after scores of 77 and 74 not out while Sachin Tendulkar is in fourth position (down by one place), VVS Laxman in 12th (down by three places), Rahul Dravid in 14th (down by three places), Virender Sehwag in 17th (down by seven places) and Gautam Gambhir in 30th (down by three places)Tim Bresnan is the biggest mover in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers. The 26-year-old from Yorkshire has broken into the top 20 for the first time in his career after he jumped nine places to claim 16th position following figures of 4-62 and 1-19 Stuart Broad, who had match figures of 6-81, has also moved up two places to fifth position where he has been joined by team-mate Graeme Swann who has slipped one place after managing only two wickets in the Test which was dominated by the fast bowlers and Cook.James Anderson has strengthened his second position after he broke into the 800-point mark for the first time in his career after figures of 2-69 and 4-85.The 29-year-old Lancastrian earned 13 ratings points for his Edgbaston efforts which means he now trails number-one ranked Dale Steyn of South Africa by 96 ratings points and leads third-ranked Morne Morkel by 52 ratings points.Broad and Bresnan have also achieved career-best rankings in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders which are led by South Africa's Jacques Kallis.Broad has swapped places with Daniel Vettori while Bresnan has jumped four places to ninth position after he backed up his bowling figures of 5-81 with a breezy knock of 53 not out. His batting performance also earned him a career best ranking of 65th in the batting rankings.The Reliance ICC Player Rankings will now be updated after the fourth and last Test between England and India which starts at The Oval from Thursday
