Ryno wants to stay at the top

Having helped to spearhead Australia's return to the top of the Test rankings for the first time in more than five years, fast bowler Ryan Harris says his teammates' new ambition is to remain at the head of the ladder for as long as possible.

However, with Australia not playing another Test match until October, against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa has a golden opportunity to reclaim the No.1 ranking in the meantime.

Quick Single: Twitter reacts to Australia returning to the top

Australia head South Africa by a fraction of a point on the rankings table and the Proteas will play two Tests in Sri Lanka and another in Zimbabwe before Michael Clarke's men don the whites again.

Should the Proteas record victories against those lower-ranked opponents, they will resume the No.1 ranking which will give the Australians a new goal when they return to red ball cricket in five months.

But Harris, who was integral to his team's success with a total of 32 wickets at 23.2 across eight Tests against England and South Africa, said the knowledge they had attained the top Test ranking for the first time since mid-2009 was a deserved reward from some hard work.

"We set out from the beginning of the Ashes, or even before that to get back to No.1 ," he told Melbourne radio station Triple-M.

"It's taken a little while with a fair few downs but the last few months there's been some really good ups, and been really positive.

"We've achieved what we wanted to do so the thing now is to stay there for as long as we can."

While most of his Test teammates are taking a break, plying their trade on the English county circuit or sharing the riches of the Indian Premier League, Harris continues to recuperate from knee surgery he underwent in the wake of the South African tour last March.

While he told Cricket.com.au that he could not be certain he will have recovered in time for the upcoming Test series against Pakistan, he feels the operation – that involved shaving bone and cleaning out floating fragments from within the troublesome right joint – has already yielded significant success.

"I'm not even allowed on the golf course yet, but I'm in the gym, I'm in the pool and doing all the right things and each week I'm doing more and more," he said.

"While I wouldn't say it's 100% – there's still problems with it – it's 90% better than what it was before the surgery.

"I can walk around with a straight leg now which I couldn't do before the surgery.

"I just want to play as much as I can especially in this team, with the success of today – being (ranked) the No.1 team in the world – I just want to stay in that team as long as I can.

"But the way I'm going I won't be walking too much (by the time I'm 50)."