After his spell of 10-1-45-5 and two catches against Bangladesh yesterday, South Africa's Andre Nel has jumped to the second place in Rediff.com's most valuable player (MVP) list.

Australian opener Matthew Hayden continues to be at number one, while Sanath Jayasuriya is third.

Nel will however find it very difficult to stay at the second spot. We order the MVP rankings based on the average points in the Super Eights event, and Nel must come up with a matching five-wicket haul in his second game if he is to stay up there.

Monday's MVP table should be interesting. Hayden is very likely to fall off from the top (it's very hard for a pure batsman to stay at the top), and there is a good chance that Andrew Flintoff will climb by at least a little.

Rank	Country	Player	Runs	Balls	Ct | St	Rc	Bb	W	Run outs	M	Total	Average
1	Aus	Matthew Hayden	306	250	1				0	3	417.00	139.00
2	SA	Andre Nel	1	5	2	45	60	5	0	1	131.00	131.00
3	SL	Sanath Jayasuriya	275	241	1	105	170	4	1	4	513.20	128.30
4	NZ	Scott Styris	167	203	2	103	162	7	0	3	376.20	125.40
5	NZ	Jacob Oram	63	83	1	78	141	7	1	3	291.40	97.13
6	Eng	Andrew Flintoff	45	70	2	95	157	7	0	3	242.60	80.87
7	NZ	Shane Bond	0	0	0	65	172	7	0	3	240.60	80.20
8	SA	Jacques Kallis	232	295	3	137	144	2	0	4	269.20	67.30
9	SL	Lasith Malinga	2	9	1	165	182	11	0.5	4	258.40	64.60
10	Eng	Paul Collingwood	135	156	2	102	114	2	0	3	192.40	64.13
11	Eng	Sajid Mahmood	2	2	0	84	102	4	1	2	120.00	60.00
12	SA	Graeme Smith	186	203	2	51	54	1	0	4	235.80	58.95
13	Eng	Kevin Pietersen	166	219	1	2	6	0	0.5	3	176.60	58.87
14	Aus	Michael Clarke	133	122	1				0	3	173.40	57.80
15	NZ	Stephen Fleming	154	169	0				0	3	172.80	57.60
16	WI	Daren Powell	7	14	0	154	234	8	0	4	228.00	57.00
17	Aus	Ricky Ponting	126	127	4				0	3	170.40	56.80
18	Aus	Adam Gilchrist	108	95	3 | 1				0	3	165.00	55.00
19	Aus	Glenn McGrath	0	0	0	98	118	7	0	3	164.40	54.80
20	Eng	Paul Nixon	103	100	3 | 1				0.5	3	163.00	54.33
21	SL	Muttiah Muralitharan	3	3	2	156	228	7	0	4	208.00	52.00
22	SL	Mahela Jayawardene	196	275	1				1	4	201.00	50.25
23	Aus	Nathan Bracken	0	0	1	85	132	5	0	3	145.60	48.53
24	SL	Tillakaratne Dilshan	102	104	1	48	84	1	1	4	193.00	48.25
25	SL	Dilhara Fernando	2	2	1	60	96	3	0	2	96.20	48.10
26	Ire	Trent Johnston	40	35	1	85	78	2	0.5	2	94.40	47.20
27	Aus	Brad Hogg	5	6	1	137	150	6	0	3	137.20	45.73
28	Eng	Liam Plunkett	29	34	0	43	42	1	0	1	45.40	45.40
29	SL	Chaminda Vaas	4	6	1	106	198	5	0	4	180.60	45.15
30	SL	Kumar Sangakkara	108	136	4 | 4				0.5	4	179.20	44.80
31	SA	Charles Langeveldt	10	47	1	219	222	9	0.5	4	174.00	43.50
32	Eng	Ravinder Bopara	62	58	1				0	2	82.60	41.30
33	SA	Andre Hall	8	13	0	130	159	5	0	3	122.80	40.93
34	WI	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	187	263	0				0	4	163.60	40.90
35	Aus	Shane Watson	47	35	1	81	100	1	1	3	118.00	39.33
36	WI	Brian Lara	116	136	2				1	4	157.20	39.30
37	SA	Herschelle Gibbs	110	144	5				1	4	153.80	38.45
38	Ire	Andrew White	86	94	2	29	31	0	0.5	3	114.60	38.20
39	Ban	Syed Rasel	10	19	1	121	162	4	0	3	114.40	38.13
40	Ban	Mohammad Ashraful	141	162	0	7	2	0	0	4	147.00	36.75
41	NZ	Hamish Marshall	65	77	0				0	2	68.40	34.20
42	SA	AB De Villiers	107	117	3				0	4	135.40	33.85
43	Ire	Boyd Rankin	4	8	0	92	114	4	0	3	96.80	32.27
44	WI	Dwayne Bravo	48	64	0	175	174	5	0	4	129.00	32.25
45	Ire	Kyle McCallan	28	36	0	100	150	2	0	3	95.20	31.73
46	Ire	Niall O'Brien	99	144	2 | 0				0	3	92.80	30.93
47	Aus	Shaun Tait	0	0	0	132	129	5	0	3	91.20	30.40
48	WI	Denesh Ramdin	69	70	7 | 0				0	4	117.00	29.25
49	NZ	Daniel Vettori	0	0	0	126	174	3	0	3	85.20	28.40
50	SA	Shaun Pollock	37	54	0	171	210	2	1.5	4	111.80	27.95
51	Eng	Monty Panesar	0	0	0	123	168	3	0	3	83.40	27.80
52	SA	Makhaya Ntini	15	20	1	169	204	4	0	4	109.20	27.30
53	Ban	Aftab Ahmed	85	105	2	1	1	0	0.5	4	107.80	26.95
54	Eng	James Anderson	0	0	0	113	150	3	0	3	79.00	26.33
55	WI	Chris Gayle	74	114	1	147	176	2	0	4	103.60	25.90
56	Ban	Mohammad Rafique	40	60	1	128	168	2	0.5	4	103.40	25.85
57	WI	Ramnaresh Sarwan	128	224	1	22	24	1	0	4	103.00	25.75
58	SL	Russel Arnold	79	104	0	26	37	1	0	4	102.40	25.60
59	SL	Chamara Silva	108	143	0				0	4	101.60	25.40
60	WI	Ian Bradshaw	6	17	0	94	114	2	0	2	43.60	21.80
61	Eng	Ian Bell	83	164	1				1	3	63.80	21.27
62	SL	Upul Tharanga	108	177	2				0	4	84.40	21.10
63	Ban	Tamim Iqbal	76	134	3				1	4	83.80	20.95
64	SA	Ashwell Prince	49	54	1				0	3	59.80	19.93
65	Ire	Langford-Smith	26	19	0	102	126	1	0	3	59.60	19.87
66	Ban	Abdur Razzak	2	6	0	164	184	4	0	4	78.40	19.60
67	WI	Marlon Samuels	43	62	1	81	84	1	1	4	75.60	18.90
68	NZ	Brendon McCullum	0	0	9 | 1				0	3	55.00	18.33
69	Ban	Saqibul Hasan	63	124	1	145	143	3	0	4	73.20	18.30
70	Ire	Andre Botha	60	115	0	109	132	1	0	3	48.60	16.20
71	NZ	Craig McMillan	60	91	0	6	9	0	0	3	48.40	16.13
72	SL	Farveez Maharoof	5	9	1	67	84	1	0	2	32.00	16.00
73	SA	Mark Boucher	34	53	5 | 0				0.5	4	62.60	15.65
74	Ire	Kevin O'Brien	29	65	1	39	42	1	0	2	29.60	14.80
75	Eng	Michael Vaughan	32	68	0	48	72	1	0	3	43.20	14.40
76	NZ	James Franklin	0	0	1	99	108	2	0	3	40.40	13.47
77	Aus	Andrew Symonds	31	31	1	67	50	1	0	3	39.20	13.07
78	WI	Jerome Taylor	23	27	0	136	156	1	0	3	37.20	12.40
79	WI	Lendl Simmons	14	26	1				0	1	12.20	12.20
80	Ban	Mashrafe Mortaza	59	63	1	172	174	0	0	4	39.80	9.95
81	Ire	Eoin Morgan	48	91	1				0	3	28.20	9.40
82	NZ	Michael Mason	0	0	0	18	45	0	0	2	18.00	9.00
83	Ire	William Porterfield	45	103	2				0	3	17.60	5.87
84	Ire	Jeremy Bray	41	82	0				0	3	16.40	5.47
85	Eng	Ed Joyce	11	28	3				0	3	14.60	4.87
86	Ban	Habibul Bashar	56	125	1				0	4	17.00	4.25
87	Aus	Michael Hussey	14	21	0				0	3	11.20	3.73
88	SA	Robin Petersen	4	8	0	22	30	0	0	1	3.60	3.60
89	WI	Dwayne Smith	17	15	0	47	48	0	0	4	13.40	3.35
90	NZ	Peter Fulton	15	32	0				0	2	4.40	2.20
91	Ban	Javed Omar	39	92	0				0	2	4.40	2.20
92	SA	Justin Kemp	13	51	2	27	24	0	0.5	4	-0.60	-0.15
93	NZ	Ross Taylor	0	1	0				0	1	-0.80	-0.80
94	Ban	Shahriar Nafees	1	7	0				0	2	-3.60	-1.80
95	Ire	John Mooney	0	1	0	22	24	0	0	1	-3.60	-3.60
96	NZ	Jeetan Patel	0	0	0	42	48	0	0	1	-3.60	-3.60
97	Ban	Mushfiqur Rahim	14	54	0 | 0				0	4	-15.20	-3.80
98	NZ	Lou Vincent	0	6	0				0	1	-4.80	-4.80
99	WI	Corey Collymore	1	7	0	99	114	0	0	2	-11.40	-5.70
100	Eng	Jamie Dalrymple	3	12	1	29	24	0	0	1	-8.40	-8.40
101	Ban	Tapash Baisya	0	0	0	35	17	0	0	1	-21.40	-21.40
102	Ire	Paul Mooney	0	1	0	40	21	0	0	1	-24.00	-24.00

Ct: Catches taken | St: Stumpings | Rc: Runs conceded | Bb: Balls bowled | W: Wickets taken | M: Matches played
*Run outs are counted as 1 for a direct hit, and 0.5 if the player is an equal participant in a run out dismissal.

The Chernoff gallery of the top nine Super Eight players after Day 24 appears below:

Recall that batsmen have round faces and a short and wide nose. They smile more when they score more runs (see "Hayden" and "Jayasuriya"). Bowlers have tapered faces, big ears and a tall and thin nose (see "Nel"). Bowlers have bigger ears if they take more wickets (see "Malinga"). All-rounders have both batsmen's and bowler's features.

Here are the faces of the nine highest scoring batsmen in the Super Eights (total runs / scoring rate). If two players have scored the same number of runs, the player with the higher points appears first.

Below are the faces of the nine highest wicket-taking bowlers in the Super Eights (wickets / no. of runs conceded per over). If two players have scored the same number of wickets, the player with the higher points appears first.

And, finally, here are the faces of the nine most successful fielders in the Super Eights (fielding points | run outs / catches / stumpings. Fielders who take a lot of catches have wide eyebrows (see "Brendon McCullum"), and those that participate in run out dismissals have bigger eyes (see "Shaun Pollock").

We end off by looking at a chart showing the average MVP points of players of every team in the Super Eights. This chart does suggest the South Africa could be in trouble unless their players pull up their socks quickly

.

What is MVP?

MVP Day 23: Hayden regains top position

 

This list, the Chernoff faces and other charts have been prepared by my colleagues Debasish Ghosh and K Anil Kumar of Cranes Software International Limited using the SYSTAT software.