MVP Day 30: Sanath Jayasuriya faces a dual threat

Sanath Jayasuriya continues to be the most valuable player (MVP) in the Super Eights after Day 30. He however faces a dual challenge from New Zealand's Scott Styris (2) and South Africa's Jacques Kallis (4) when South Africa plays New Zealand at Grenada on Day 31.

The big beneficiaries of yesterday's absurd contest between Ireland and Australia were the Aussie pacemen Glenn McGrath and Shaun Tait. McGrath jumped five places (16 -> 11) after his figures of 7-1-17-3 while Tait advanced from 34 -> 19 after his lively spell of 6-1-39-3. Tait could even have been in the top 15 if he hadn't given away so many runs.

Matthew Hayden and other Aussie batsmen like Ponting and Clarke dropped further in the MVP list because they didn't get to bat; although he couldn't have scored too much with a target of 92

Symonds (70 -> 55) moved up a little, but Hussey (91 -> 85) needs more batting outings if he is to make any impact in what could be his only World Cup.

Rank	Country	Player	Runs	Balls	Ct\| St	Rc	Bb	W	Run Out	M	Total	AVG
1	SL	Sanath Jayasuriya	339	321	1	149	230	4	1	5	581.2	116.24
2	NZ	Scott Styris	288	375	3	147	222	7	0.5	5	501.6	100.32
3	Aus	Matthew Hayden	347	300	2					5	464	92.8
4	SA	Jacques Kallis	313	381	3	173	192	4		5	412.8	82.56
5	NZ	Jacob Oram	114	176	2	124	213	9	1	5	383.6	76.72
6	SA	Andre Nel	1	5	2	99	120	6		2	149	74.5
7	Eng	Andrew Flintoff	72	110	3	168	265	9		5	331	66.2
8	SA	AB De Villiers	253	247	4					5	328.4	65.68
9	SL	Lasith Malinga	2	9	1	165	182	11	0.5	4	258.4	64.6
10	NZ	Shane Bond			2	109	250	9		5	317	63.4
11	Aus	Glenn McGrath			0	177	219	13		5	310.2	62.04
12	SL	Muttiah Muralitharan	3	3	2	188	288	10		5	296	59.2
13	Aus	Nathan Bracken			1	118	192	8		4	232.6	58.15
14	Eng	Kevin Pietersen	280	366	1	2	6	0	0.5	5	287	57.4
15	NZ	Daniel Vettori	10	14	0	184	286	9		5	269.6	53.92
16	WI	Daren Powell	55	50	0	232	294	8		5	265.2	53.04
17	SL	Chaminda Vaas	4	6	1	139	252	8		5	262.8	52.56
18	Aus	Ricky Ponting	212	233	5					5	262.6	52.52
19	Aus	Shaun Tait			1	212	225	11	1	5	261	52.2
20	SA	Graeme Smith	193	225	3	107	84	3		5	253.2	50.64
21	Aus	Adam Gilchrist (wk)	169	157	4\| 2					5	252.4	50.48
22	SA	Herschelle Gibbs	171	184	6				1	5	248.8	49.76
23	Eng	Paul Collingwood	160	235	5	166	192	3	1	5	240.6	48.12
24	Ban	Syed Rasel	14	21	1	146	222	6		4	191.8	47.95
25	SL	Kumar Sangakkara (wk)	177	240	5\| 4				0.5	5	239	47.8
26	Eng	Sajid Mahmood	2	4	0	171	208	7	1	4	188.2	47.05
27	Aus	Michael Clarke	188	185	2	27	24	0		5	230.2	46.04
28	Eng	Liam Plunkett	29	34	0	43	42	1		1	45.4	45.4
29	WI	Devon Smith	33	27	0					1	44.4	44.4
30	Aus	Brad Hogg	5	6	2	182	246	8		5	222	44.4
31	SL	Tillakaratne Dilshan	116	128	1	92	132	2	1	5	220.2	44.04
32	SL	Mahela Jayawardene	211	291	1				1	5	218.2	43.64
33	SA	Charles Langeveldt	10	47	1	219	222	9	0.5	4	174	43.5
34	Aus	Stuart Clark			0	19	48	1		1	43.4	43.4
35	WI	Ramnaresh Sarwan	220	299	1	52	48	1		5	216.2	43.24
36	Eng	Paul Nixon (wk)	131	145	5\| 1				1	5	205	41
37	Aus	Shane Watson	47	35	1	81	100	1	1	3	118	39.3333
38	Ire	Trent Johnston	70	79	2	166	156	4	0.5	4	153.6	38.4
39	NZ	Stephen Fleming	164	184	0					5	180.8	36.16
40	WI	Brian Lara	137	162	2				1	5	178.4	35.68
41	WI	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	191	270	1					5	171	34.2
42	SA	Shaun Pollock	37	54	1	204	258	4	1.5	5	170.2	34.04
43	NZ	Hamish Marshall	81	98	1				0.5	3	100.6	33.5333
44	SL	Dilhara Fernando	2	2	1	91	138	3		3	98.8	32.9333
45	Ban	Mohammad Rafique	40	64	1	161	228	4	0.5	5	163.2	32.64
46	Ban	Abdur Razzak	17	23	0	194	244	6		5	160.8	32.16
47	Eng	Monty Panesar	1	2	0	196	264	6		5	159.6	31.92
48	Ire	Andrew White	92	118	2	74	91	2	0.5	5	158.4	31.68
49	SA	Andrew Hall	8	13	1	179	213	5		4	122	30.5
50	WI	Chris Gayle	106	149	1	189	212	3		5	150.4	30.08
51	SA	Mark Boucher (wk)	86	76	5\| 0				0.5	5	148.2	29.64
52	Ire	Kyle McCallan	33	62	0	140	216	4		5	145.2	29.04
53	Ban	Mohammad Ashraful	142	168	0	7	2	0		5	144.2	28.84
54	NZ	James Franklin	59	49	1	175	204	3		5	144	28.8
55	Aus	Andrew Symonds	74	40	1	114	104	2		5	138.2	27.64
56	Eng	Ian Bell	160	264	1				1	5	137.8	27.56
57	SL	Chamara Silva	131	177	3					5	135.4	27.08
58	NZ	Brendon McCullum (wk)	48	39	12\| 1					5	134.8	26.96
59	Eng	James Anderson	0	1	0	192	258	5		5	133.6	26.72
60	Ban	Aftab Ahmed	95	110	3	1	1	0	0.5	5	128.8	25.76
61	WI	Dwayne Bravo	54	75	1	244	216	6		5	125.8	25.16
62	SA	Makhaya Ntini	15	20	1	226	264	5		5	124.2	24.84
63	WI	Denesh Ramdin (wk)	73	79	8\| 0					5	122.8	24.56
64	Ban	Saqibul Hasan	120	219	1	164	179	3		5	121	24.2
65	Eng	Ravinder Bopara	83	98	1	6	12	0		4	96.2	24.05
66	NZ	Peter Fulton	126	196	0					4	95.2	23.8
67	Ire	Kevin O'Brien	94	135	1	59	54	1		4	93.2	23.3
68	NZ	Jeetan Patel			0	74	90	2		2	46	23
69	SA	Ashwell Prince	49	54	1				1	4	83.8	20.95
70	SL	Russel Arnold	79	104	0	26	37	1		5	102.4	20.48
71	Ire	Niall O'Brien (wk)	129	220	4\| 0					5	102	20.4
72	Ire	Dave Langford-Smith	28	30	0	170	204	3		5	97.2	19.44
73	WI	Corey Collymore	13	19	0	140	174	2		3	58	19.3333
74	WI	Marlon Samuels	43	62	1	81	84	1	1	4	75.6	18.9
75	Ban	Tamim Iqbal	84	141	3				1	5	94.2	18.84
76	Ire	Boyd Rankin	8	28	0	171	188	5		5	93	18.6
77	SL	Upul Tharanga	119	198	2					5	89.6	17.92
78	Ire	Andre Botha	60	115	0	109	132	1		3	48.6	16.2
79	Eng	Andrew Strauss	30	47	2					2	32.4	16.2
80	Eng	Michael Vaughan	67	135	0	48	72	1	0.5	5	71.6	14.32
81	NZ	Craig McMillan	83	127	0	6	9	0		5	65.6	13.12
82	WI	Jerome Taylor	23	27	0	136	156	1		3	37.2	12.4
83	WI	Lendl Simmons	14	26	1					1	12.2	12.2
84	SL	Farveez Maharoof	5	9	2	98	120	1		3	34.8	11.6
85	Aus	Michael Hussey	44	62	2					5	48.4	9.68
86	Ban	Mashrafe Mortaza	72	106	1	200	227	0		5	45.8	9.16
87	NZ	Michael Mason			0	18	45	0		2	18	9
88	SA	Robin Petersen	4	8	1	22	30	0		1	8.6	8.6
89	WI	Ian Bradshaw	26	62	0	167	174	2		3	22.6	7.53333
90	Aus	Brad Hodge			3					2	15	7.5
91	Ire	Eoin Morgan	63	137	4					5	36.4	7.28
92	Eng	Ed Joyce	11	28	3					3	14.6	4.86667
93	Ire	William Porterfield	57	136	3					5	20.2	4.04
94	WI	Dwayne Smith	17	15	0	47	48	0		4	13.4	3.35
95	Ban	Habibul Bashar	60	143	2					5	15.6	3.12
96	Ire	Jeremy Bray	43	89	0					5	14.8	2.96
97	Ban	Javed Omar	39	92	0					2	4.4	2.2
98	WI	Kieron Pollard	10	17	0	20	18	0		1	0.8	0.8
99	Ban	Shahriar Nafees	10	25	0					3	0	0
100	SA	Loots Bosman			0					1	0	0
101	SA	Justin Kemp	13	51	2	27	24	0	0.5	4	-0.6	-0.15
102	Ire	John Mooney	23	45	0	36	30	0		2	-2	-1
103	NZ	Ross Taylor	0	3	0					2	-2.4	-1.2
104	Ban	Mushfiqur Rahim (wk)	21	65	0					5	-10	-2
105	NZ	Mark Gillespie			2	42	37	0		1	-2.4	-2.4
106	Ire	Peter Gillespie	2	8	0					1	-2.4	-2.4
107	NZ	Lou Vincent	0	6	0					1	-4.8	-4.8
108	Eng	Jamie Dalrymple	3	12	1	29	24	0		1	-8.4	-8.4
109	Ban	Tapash Baisya			0	35	17	0		1	-21.4	-21.4
110	Ire	Paul Mooney	0	1	0	40	21	0		1	-24	-24

The Chernoff gallery of the top nine Super Eight players after Day 30 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. "Jayasuriya", "Styris" and "Kallis" have faces that aren't so round -- and taller noses -- because they are really bowling all-rounders.

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. It's disappointing that "Andrew Flintoff" is looking so much like a bowler; he's much more than just a bowler. Glenn McGrath now heads the bowlers' list; and remember these are only wickets taken in the Super Eights.

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.

What is MVP?

MVP Day 29: Sanath Jayasuriya staves off the Styris challenge

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.