diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/ClippingRankSumTest.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/ClippingRankSumTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aeb01bf3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/ClippingRankSumTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+package org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.walkers.annotator;
+
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.walkers.genotyper.IndelGenotypeLikelihoodsCalculationModel;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.QualityUtils;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.codecs.vcf.VCFHeaderLineType;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.codecs.vcf.VCFInfoHeaderLine;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.pileup.PileupElement;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.pileup.ReadBackedPileup;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.sam.AlignmentUtils;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.sam.GATKSAMRecord;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.variantcontext.Allele;
+
+import java.util.*;
+
+/**
+ * Created with IntelliJ IDEA.
+ * User: rpoplin
+ * Date: 6/28/12
+ */
+
+public class ClippingRankSumTest extends RankSumTest {
+
+    public List<String> getKeyNames() { return Arrays.asList("ClippingRankSum"); }
+
+    public List<VCFInfoHeaderLine> getDescriptions() { return Arrays.asList(new VCFInfoHeaderLine("ClippingRankSum", 1, VCFHeaderLineType.Float, "Z-score From Wilcoxon rank sum test of Alt vs. Ref number of hard clipped bases")); }
+
+    protected void fillQualsFromPileup(byte ref, List<Byte> alts, ReadBackedPileup pileup, List<Double> refQuals, List<Double> altQuals) {
+        for ( final PileupElement p : pileup ) {
+            if ( isUsableBase(p) ) {
+                if ( p.getBase() == ref ) {
+                    refQuals.add((double)AlignmentUtils.getNumHardClippedBases(p.getRead()));
+                } else if ( alts.contains(p.getBase()) ) {
+                    altQuals.add((double)AlignmentUtils.getNumHardClippedBases(p.getRead()));
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    protected void fillQualsFromPileup(final Allele ref, final List<Allele> alts, final int refLoc, final Map<Allele, List<GATKSAMRecord>> stratifiedContext, final List<Double> refQuals, final List<Double> altQuals) {
+        for ( final Map.Entry<Allele, List<GATKSAMRecord>> alleleBin : stratifiedContext.entrySet() ) {
+            final boolean matchesRef = ref.equals(alleleBin.getKey());
+            final boolean matchesAlt = alts.contains(alleleBin.getKey());
+            if ( !matchesRef && !matchesAlt )
+                continue;
+
+            for ( final GATKSAMRecord read : alleleBin.getValue() ) {
+                if ( matchesRef )
+                    refQuals.add((double)AlignmentUtils.getNumHardClippedBases(read));
+                else
+                    altQuals.add((double)AlignmentUtils.getNumHardClippedBases(read));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    protected void fillIndelQualsFromPileup(ReadBackedPileup pileup, List<Double> refQuals, List<Double> altQuals) {
+        // equivalent is whether indel likelihoods for reads corresponding to ref allele are more likely than reads corresponding to alt allele ?
+        HashMap<PileupElement,LinkedHashMap<Allele,Double>> indelLikelihoodMap = IndelGenotypeLikelihoodsCalculationModel.getIndelLikelihoodMap();
+        for (final PileupElement p: pileup) {
+            if (indelLikelihoodMap.containsKey(p) && p.getMappingQual() != 0 && p.getMappingQual() != QualityUtils.MAPPING_QUALITY_UNAVAILABLE) {
+                // retrieve likelihood information corresponding to this read
+                LinkedHashMap<Allele,Double> el = indelLikelihoodMap.get(p);
+                // by design, first element in LinkedHashMap was ref allele
+                double refLikelihood=0.0, altLikelihood=Double.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
+
+                for (Allele a : el.keySet()) {
+
+                    if (a.isReference())
+                        refLikelihood =el.get(a);
+                    else {
+                        double like = el.get(a);
+                        if (like >= altLikelihood)
+                            altLikelihood = like;
+                    }
+                }
+                if (refLikelihood > altLikelihood + INDEL_LIKELIHOOD_THRESH)
+                    refQuals.add((double)AlignmentUtils.getNumHardClippedBases(p.getRead()));
+                else if (altLikelihood > refLikelihood + INDEL_LIKELIHOOD_THRESH)
+                    altQuals.add((double)AlignmentUtils.getNumHardClippedBases(p.getRead()));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/AlignmentUtils.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/AlignmentUtils.java
index cecbd1bc4..e5e747c2d 100644
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/AlignmentUtils.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/AlignmentUtils.java
@@ -354,6 +354,18 @@ public class AlignmentUtils {
         return n;
     }
 
+    public static int getNumHardClippedBases(final SAMRecord r) {
+        int n = 0;
+        final Cigar cigar = r.getCigar();
+        if (cigar == null) return 0;
+
+        for (final CigarElement e : cigar.getCigarElements())
+            if (e.getOperator() == CigarOperator.H)
+                n += e.getLength();
+
+        return n;
+    }
+
     public static byte[] alignmentToByteArray(final Cigar cigar, final byte[] read, final byte[] ref) {
 
         final byte[] alignment = new byte[read.length];