New Zealand heads into its tour of Zimbabwe with some encouraging signs emerging from the wealth of rankings lists now peppering the international game.

From the traditional rankings list published by The Cricketer International, New Zealand is in fifth position on the Test ranked nations with Zimbabwe languishing in ninth place, while on the One-Day International rankings New Zealand is fourth with Zimbabwe in eighth, ahead of the West Indies.

Wisden's Test rating has New Zealand in sixth place and Zimbabwe ninth.

On the PricewaterhouseCoopers Test ratings, Craig McMillan at 13th is the highest placed batsman with Chris Cairns in 16th place. On the bowling list Cairns is 14th, Dion Nash 15th and Daniel Vettori 19th.

In the PwC one-day rankings Nathan Astle is regarded the third best batsman in the world, behind Michael Bevan and Sourav Ganguly. Roger Twose has dropped three places to 13th, Cairns has risen two places to be 27th equal with Stephen Fleming while Chris Harris is 30th.

Vettori is ranked 20th best bowler in the one-day game while Harris has dropped four places to 24th equal. Cairns has dropped 12 places to 28th while Geoff Allott is ranked 34th.

But according to the Times of India's one-day rankings, Astle is the best batsman in the world at the moment with Twose in ninth place. The same newspaper rates Vettori at 23rd, a drop of seven places and it ranks Cairns the fourth best all-rounder in the world behind South Africa Jacques Kallis, Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya and Pakistani Abdur Razzaq.

The Times of India also rates New Zealand as fifth best team in ODIs and seventh in Tests.

In its Test match ratings, it ranks Cairns eighth best batsman in the world, Fleming 14th and Astle 21st. Vettori is ranked third in the world Test bowlers, Cairns is 12th and Nash 21st. Cairns is also top of its rankings for best all-rounder in Tests.

Another database, from Cricket World, simply lists world ratings.

Among its batsmen, Cairns is fifth, Astle sixth, McMillan 11th and Fleming 18th.

Of the bowlers, Cairns is 13th, Vettori 16th, Nash 17th and Simon Doull 22nd.

Cairns also heads its list of all-rounders while Astle is 15th, Vettori 18th and Nash 20th.

Full lists:

The Cricketer International:

Tests: Australia 1, South Africa 2, Pakistan 3, West Indies 4, New Zealand 5, Sri Lanka 6, India 7, England 8, Zimbabwe 9.

ODIs: Australia 1, Sri Lanka 2, South Africa 3, New Zealand 4, Pakistan 5, England 6, India 7, Zimbabwe 8, West Indies 9, Bangladesh/Kenya equal 10.

Wisden:

Tests: Australia 1, South Africa 2, West Indies 3, Sri Lanka 4, Pakistan 5, New Zealand 6, India 7, England 8, Zimbabwe 9.

Times of India:

Tests: Australia 1, South Africa 2, Sri Lanka 3, West Indies 4, England 5, Pakistan 6, New Zealand 7, India 8, Zimbabwe 9.

ODIs: Australia 1, Sri Lanka 2, Pakistan 3, England 4, South Africa 5, New Zealand 6, India 7, West Indies 8, Zimbabwe 9.

PricewaterhouseCoopers:

Tests:

Batsmen: Sachin Tendulkar 1, Steve Waugh 2, Brian Lara 3, Saeed Anwar 4, Ricky Ponting 5, Inzamam-ul-Haq 6, Justin Langer 7, Jacques Kallis 8, Alec Stewart and Andy Flower equal 9. (NZ - Craig McMillan 13, Chris Cairns 16).

Bowlers: Shaun Pollock 1, Glenn McGrath 2, Allan Donald 3, Courtney Walsh 4, Curtly Ambrose 5, Mutiah Muralitharan 6, Brett Lee 7, Wasim Akram 8, Anil Kumble 9, Andrew Caddick 10. (NZ - Chris Cairns 14, Dion Nash 15, Daniel Vettori 19).

ODIs:

Batsmen: Michael Bevan 1, Sourav Ganguly 2, Nathan Astle 3, Gary Kirsten 4, Sachin Tendulkar 5, Ricky Ponting 6, Adam Gilchrist 7, Inzamam-ul-Haq 8, Lance Klusener 9, Jacques Kallis 10. (NZ - Roger Twose 13, Chris Cairns and Stephen Fleming equal 27, Chris Harris 30).

Bowlers: Glenn McGrath 1, Alan Mullally 2, Mutiah Muralitharan 3, Darren Gough 4, Shaun Pollock 5, Reon King 6, Shane Warne 7, Curtly Ambrose 8, Mark Ealham 9, Andrew Caddick 10. (NZ - Daniel Vettori 20, Chris Harris equal 24, Chris Cairns 28).

Times of India:

Tests:

Batsmen: Sachin Tendulkar 1, Ricky Ponting 2, Inzamam-ul-Haq 3, Saeed Anwar 4, Justin Langer 5, Andy Flower 6, Marvan Atapattu 7, Chris Cairns 8, Adam Gilchrist 9, Lance Klusener 10. (NZ - Stephen Fleming 14, Nathan Astle 21).

Bowlers: Brett Lee 1, Mutiah Muralitharan 2, Daniel Vettori 3, Courtney Walsh 4, Anil Kumble 5, Heath Streak 6, Shaun Pollock 7, Glenn McGrath 8, Damien Fleming 9, Allan Donald 10. (NZ - Chris Cairns 12, Dion Nash 21).

ODIs:

Batsmen: Nathan Astle 1, Sourav Ganguly 2, Sachin Tendulkar 3, Ricky Ponting 4, Marvan Atapattu 5, Gary Kirsten 6, Michael Bevan 7, Adam Gilchrist 8, Roger Twose 9, Inzamam-ul-Haq 10.

Bowlers: Mushtaq Ahmed 1, Craig White 2, Brett Lee 3, Glenn McGrath 4, Darren Gough 5, Reon King 6, Abdur Razzaq 7, Alan Mullally 8, Andrew Caddick 9, Damien Fleming 10. (NZ - Daniel Vettori 23rd).

Cricket World:

Batsmen: Sachin Tendulkar 1, Saeed Anwar 2, Inzamam-ul-Haq 3, Andy Flower 4, Chris Cairns 5, Nathan Astle 6, Brian Lara 7, Alec Stewart 8, Ricky Ponting 9, Murray Goodwin 10. (NZ - Craig McMillan 11, Stephen Fleming 18).

Bowlers: Mutiah Muralitharan 1, Courtney Walsh 2, Glenn McGrath 3, Shaun Pollock 4, Allan Donald 5, Curtly Ambrose 6, Darren Gough 7, Wasim Akram 8, Anil Kumble 9, Heath Streak 10. (NZ - Chris Cairns 13, Daniel Vettori 16, Dion Nash 17, Simon Doull 22).

© CricInfo