MVP Day 28: Will today again be Jayasuriya's day?

Today's match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand will feature five of the top ten most valuable players (MVP). Sanath Jayasuriya, in particular, faces the challenge of retaining his top spot. He should stay there unless he is dismissed early and someone like Scott Styris (3), or Shane Bond (7), has an outstanding game.

Syed Rasel of Bangladesh (39 -> 26) was helped by a marvellous bowling spell of 10-3-25-2. England's Sajid Mahmood (44 -> 27) too advanced after his figures of 8.2-0-27-3. Kevin Pietersen (8 -> 14) had a bad day scoring just 10 in 25 balls. Michael Vaughan's laboured 30 in 59 balls helped him move from 82 -> 81. He's getting better, isn't he?

Rank	Country	Player	Runs	Balls	Ct \| St	Rc	Bb	W	Run Outs	M	Total	Average
1	SL	Sanath Jayasuriya	275	241	1	105	170	4	2	4	513.20	128.30
2	Aus	Matthew Hayden	347	300	1				0	4	459.00	114.75
3	NZ	Scott Styris	177	218	3	119	180	7	1	4	399.60	99.90
4	NZ	Jacob Oram	83	131	2	93	177	8	2	4	335.80	83.95
5	SA	Jacques Kallis	313	381	3	173	192	4	0	5	412.80	82.56
6	SA	Andre Nel	1	5	2	99	120	6	0	2	149.00	74.50
7	NZ	Shane Bond	0	0	0	83	202	9	0	4	294.60	73.65
8	Eng	Andrew Flintoff	72	110	3	168	265	9	0	5	331.00	66.20
9	SA	AB De Villiers	253	247	4				0	5	328.40	65.68
10	SL	Lasith Malinga	2	9	1	165	182	11	1	4	258.40	64.60
11	Aus	Ricky Ponting	212	233	4				0	4	257.60	64.40
12	Aus	Nathan Bracken	0	0	1	118	192	8	0	4	232.60	58.15
13	Aus	Michael Clarke	188	185	2	27	24	0	0	4	230.20	57.55
14	Eng	Kevin Pietersen	280	366	1	2	6	0	1	5	287.00	57.40
15	Aus	Glenn McGrath	0	0	0	160	177	10	0	4	221.60	55.40
16	WI	Daren Powell	55	50	0	232	294	8	0	5	265.20	53.04
17	SL	Muttiah Muralitharan	3	3	2	156	228	7	0	4	208.00	52.00
18	Aus	Adam Gilchrist	135	132	4 \| 2				0	4	204.40	51.10
19	NZ	Daniel Vettori	5	7	0	149	226	7	0	4	204.20	51.05
20	SA	Graeme Smith	193	225	3	107	84	3	0	5	253.20	50.64
21	SL	Mahela Jayawardene	196	275	1				2	4	201.00	50.25
22	SA	Herschelle Gibbs	171	184	6				2	5	248.80	49.76
23	SL	Tillakaratne Dilshan	102	104	1	48	84	1	2	4	193.00	48.25
24	Eng	Paul Collingwood	160	235	5	166	192	3	2	5	240.60	48.12
25	SL	Dilhara Fernando	2	2	1	60	96	3	0	2	96.20	48.10
26	Ban	Syed Rasel	14	21	1	146	222	6	0	4	191.80	47.95
27	Eng	Sajid Mahmood	2	4	0	171	208	7	2	4	188.20	47.05
28	NZ	Stephen Fleming	164	180	0				0	4	184.00	46.00
29	Eng	Liam Plunkett	29	34	0	43	42	1	0	1	45.40	45.40
30	SL	Chaminda Vaas	4	6	1	106	198	5	0	4	180.60	45.15
31	SL	Kumar Sangakkara	108	136	4 \| 4				1	4	179.20	44.80
32	WI	Devon Smith	33	27	0				0	1	44.40	44.40
33	SA	Charles Langeveldt	10	47	1	219	222	9	1	4	174.00	43.50
34	Aus	Brad Hogg	5	6	1	173	210	7	0	4	173.20	43.30
35	WI	Ramnaresh Sarwan	220	299	1	52	48	1	0	5	216.20	43.24
36	Aus	Shaun Tait	0	0	0	173	189	8	0	4	170.20	42.55
37	Eng	Paul Nixon	131	145	5 \| 1				2	5	205.00	41.00
38	Ire	Andrew White	86	98	2	74	91	2	1	4	162.40	40.60
39	Ire	Trent Johnston	53	54	2	148	138	3	1	3	119.20	39.73
40	Aus	Shane Watson	47	35	1	81	100	1	2	3	118.00	39.33
41	Ire	Kyle McCallan	28	44	0	135	210	4	0	4	149.80	37.45
42	WI	Brian Lara	137	162	2				2	5	178.40	35.68
43	WI	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	191	270	1				0	5	171.00	34.20
44	SA	Shaun Pollock	37	54	1	204	258	4	3	5	170.20	34.04
45	Ban	Mohammad Rafique	40	64	1	161	228	4	1	5	163.20	32.64
46	NZ	Brendon McCullum	47	37	11 \| 1				0	4	129.40	32.35
47	Ban	Abdur Razzak	17	23	0	194	244	6	0	5	160.80	32.16
48	Eng	Monty Panesar	1	2	0	196	264	6	0	5	159.60	31.92
49	NZ	Hamish Marshall	81	98	0				1	3	95.60	31.87
50	SA	Andre Hall	8	13	1	179	213	5	0	4	122.00	30.50
51	WI	Chris Gayle	106	149	1	189	212	3	0	5	150.40	30.08
52	SA	Mark Boucher	86	76	5 \| 0				1	5	148.20	29.64
53	Ban	Mohammad Ashraful	142	168	0	7	2	0	0	5	144.20	28.84
54	Ire	Dave Langford-Smith	26	23	0	143	186	3	0	4	111.40	27.85
55	Eng	Ian Bell	160	264	1				2	5	137.80	27.56
56	NZ	Peter Fulton	98	142	0				0	3	82.40	27.47
57	Ire	Kevin O'Brien	78	110	1	59	54	1	0	3	81.20	27.07
58	Eng	James Anderson	0	1	0	192	258	5	0	5	133.60	26.72
59	Ire	Boyd Rankin	4	9	0	147	162	5	0	4	103.40	25.85
60	Ban	Aftab Ahmed	95	110	3	1	1	0	1	5	128.80	25.76
61	Ire	Niall O'Brien	129	219	4 \| 0				0	4	102.80	25.70
62	SL	Russel Arnold	79	104	0	26	37	1	0	4	102.40	25.60
63	NZ	James Franklin	34	22	1	126	156	2	0	4	102.20	25.55
64	SL	Chamara Silva	108	143	0				0	4	101.60	25.40
65	WI	Dwayne Bravo	54	75	1	244	216	6	0	5	125.80	25.16
66	SA	Makhaya Ntini	15	20	1	226	264	5	0	5	124.20	24.84
67	WI	Denesh Ramdin	73	79	8 \| 0				0	5	122.80	24.56
68	Ban	Saqibul Hasan	120	219	1	164	179	3	0	5	121.00	24.20
69	Eng	Ravinder Bopara	83	98	1	6	12	0	0	4	96.20	24.05
70	NZ	Jeetan Patel	0	0	0	74	90	2	0	2	46.00	23.00
71	SL	Upul Tharanga	108	177	2				0	4	84.40	21.10
72	Aus	Andrew Symonds	59	31	1	107	86	1	0	4	84.00	21.00
73	SA	Ashwell Prince	49	54	1				2	4	83.80	20.95
74	WI	Corey Collymore	13	19	0	140	174	2	0	3	58.00	19.33
75	WI	Marlon Samuels	43	62	1	81	84	1	2	4	75.60	18.90
76	Ban	Tamim Iqbal	84	141	3				2	5	94.20	18.84
77	NZ	Craig McMillan	82	120	0	6	9	0	0	4	69.20	17.30
78	Ire	Andre Botha	60	115	0	109	132	1	0	3	48.60	16.20
79	Eng	Andrew Strauss	30	47	2				0	2	32.40	16.20
80	SL	Farveez Maharoof	5	9	1	67	84	1	0	2	32.00	16.00
81	Eng	Michael Vaughan	67	135	0	48	72	1	1	5	71.60	14.32
82	WI	Jerome Taylor	23	27	0	136	156	1	0	3	37.20	12.40
83	WI	Lendl Simmons	14	26	1				0	1	12.20	12.20
84	Ire	Eoin Morgan	63	128	4				0	4	43.60	10.90
85	Aus	Brad Hodge	0	0	2				0	1	10.00	10.00
86	Ban	Mashrafe Mortaza	72	106	1	200	227	0	0	5	45.80	9.16
87	NZ	Michael Mason	0	0	0	18	45	0	0	2	18.00	9.00
88	SA	Robin Petersen	4	8	1	22	30	0	0	1	8.60	8.60
89	WI	Ian Bradshaw	26	62	0	167	174	2	0	3	22.60	7.53
90	Ire	William Porterfield	56	125	3				0	4	27.00	6.75
91	Aus	Michael Hussey	14	21	2				0	4	21.20	5.30
92	Eng	Ed Joyce	11	28	3				0	3	14.60	4.87
93	Ire	Jeremy Bray	42	87	0				0	4	14.40	3.60
94	WI	Dwayne Smith	17	15	0	47	48	0	0	4	13.40	3.35
95	Ban	Habibul Bashar	60	143	2				0	5	15.60	3.12
96	Ban	Javed Omar	39	92	0				0	2	4.40	2.20
97	WI	Kieron Pollard	10	17	0	20	18	0	0	1	0.80	0.80
98	Ban	Shahriar Nafees	10	25	0				0	3	0.00	0.00
99	SA	Loots Bosman	0	0	0				0	1	0.00	0.00
100	SA	Justin Kemp	13	51	2	27	24	0	1	4	-0.60	-0.15
101	NZ	Ross Taylor	0	1	0				0	1	-0.80	-0.80
102	Ban	Mushfiqur Rahim	21	65	0 \| 0				0	5	-10.00	-2.00
103	Ire	Peter Gillespie	2	8	0				0	1	-2.40	-2.40
104	Ire	John Mooney	0	1	0	22	24	0	0	1	-3.60	-3.60
105	NZ	Lou Vincent	0	6	0				0	1	-4.80	-4.80
106	Eng	Jamie Dalrymple	3	12	1	29	24	0	0	1	-8.40	-8.40
107	Ban	Tapash Baisya	0	0	0	35	17	0	0	1	-21.40	-21.40
108	Ire	Paul Mooney	0	1	0	40	21	0	0	1	-24.00	-24.00

The Chernoff gallery of the top nine Super Eight players after Day 28 appears below.

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

Recall that batsmen have round faces and a short and wide nose. They smile more when they score more runs.

Here are the faces of the nine highest wicket-taking bowlers in the Super Eight (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.

Bowlers have tapered faces, a tall and thin nose, and bigger ears if they take more wickets.

And, finally, here are the faces of the nine most successful fielders in the Super Eight (fielding points | run outs / catches / stumpings.

Fielders who take a lot of catches have wide eyebrows, and those that participate in run out dismissals have bigger eyes. Notice the large number of wicket-keepers in this list.

What is MVP?

MVP Day 27: Jayasuriya back at the top

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.