MVP Day 32: It could be Jayasuriya vs Hayden today

The MVP table doesn't look very different today because yesterday's game between Ireland and Bangladesh involved two teams at the bottom of the Super Eights. If you look closely, however, you'll find four Irishmen in the top 50; yesterday there were only two.

Today's match between Sri Lanka and Australia will also feature a personal contest between Sanath Jayasuriya (1) and Matthew Hayden (2) for the top spot. Looking at the difference in their points, one expects Jayasuriya to retain his top position. Expect Ricky Ponting (17), Adam Gilchrist (19), Kumar Sangakkara (25) and Andrew Symonds (56) to climb. Symonds, in particular could have a very big jump.

Rank	Country	Player	Runs	Balls	Ct \| St	Rc	Bb	W	Run Outs	M	Total	Average
1	SL	Sanath Jayasuriya	339	321	1	149	230	4	1	5	581.20	116.24
2	Aus	Matthew Hayden	347	300	2				0	5	464.00	92.80
3	NZ	Scott Styris	344	459	3	163	240	7	1	6	544.80	90.80
4	SA	Andre Nel	1	5	2	132	176	8	0	3	208.80	69.60
5	SA	Jacques Kallis	335	435	3	190	216	4	0	6	415.80	69.30
6	NZ	Jacob Oram	124	194	4	147	243	9	1	6	400.20	66.70
7	Eng	Andrew Flintoff	72	110	3	168	265	9	0	5	331.00	66.20
8	NZ	Shane Bond	0	0	3	135	310	11	0	6	392.00	65.33
9	SL	Lasith Malinga	2	9	1	165	182	11	1	4	258.40	64.60
10	Aus	Glenn McGrath	0	0	0	177	219	13	0	5	310.20	62.04
11	SL	Muttiah Muralitharan	3	3	2	188	288	10	0	5	296.00	59.20
12	Aus	Nathan Bracken	0	0	1	118	192	8	0	4	232.60	58.15
13	Eng	Kevin Pietersen	280	366	1	2	6	0	1	5	287.00	57.40
14	SA	AB De Villiers	253	253	4				0	6	323.60	53.93
15	WI	Daren Powell	55	50	0	232	294	8	0	5	265.20	53.04
16	SL	Chaminda Vaas	4	6	1	139	252	8	0	5	262.80	52.56
17	Aus	Ricky Ponting	212	233	5				0	5	262.60	52.52
18	Aus	Shaun Tait	0	0	1	212	225	11	1	5	261.00	52.20
19	Aus	Adam Gilchrist	169	157	4 \| 2				0	5	252.40	50.48
20	SA	Herschelle Gibbs	231	284	7				1	6	293.80	48.97
21	Ire	Trent Johnston	100	102	3	206	200	6	1	5	243.40	48.68
22	NZ	Daniel Vettori	10	14	0	234	346	10	0	6	291.60	48.60
23	Eng	Paul Collingwood	160	235	5	166	192	3	1	5	240.60	48.12
24	Ban	Syed Rasel	14	21	1	146	222	6	0	4	191.80	47.95
25	SL	Kumar Sangakkara	177	240	5 \| 4				1	5	239.00	47.80
26	Eng	Sajid Mahmood	2	4	0	171	208	7	1	4	188.20	47.05
27	Aus	Michael Clarke	188	185	2	27	24	0	0	5	230.20	46.04
28	Eng	Liam Plunkett	29	34	0	43	42	1	0	1	45.40	45.40
29	Aus	Brad Hogg	5	6	2	182	246	8	0	5	222.00	44.40
30	WI	Devon Smith	33	27	0				0	1	44.40	44.40
31	SL	Tillakaratne Dilshan	116	128	1	92	132	2	1	5	220.20	44.04
32	SL	Mahela Jayawardene	211	291	1				1	5	218.20	43.64
33	SA	Charles Langeveldt	10	47	1	219	222	9	1	4	174.00	43.50
34	Aus	Stuart Clark	0	0	0	19	48	1	0	1	43.40	43.40
35	WI	Ramnaresh Sarwan	220	299	1	52	48	1	0	5	216.20	43.24
36	Eng	Paul Nixon	131	145	5 \| 1				1	5	205.00	41.00
37	SA	Graeme Smith	194	237	3	107	84	3	0	6	245.60	40.93
38	Aus	Shane Watson	47	35	1	81	100	1	1	3	118.00	39.33
39	SA	Shaun Pollock	58	80	1	234	318	5	2	6	233.40	38.90
40	WI	Brian Lara	137	162	2				1	5	178.40	35.68
41	NZ	Stephen Fleming	214	268	0				0	6	213.60	35.60
42	Ire	Kyle McCallan	33	62	0	165	264	6	0	6	206.60	34.43
43	WI	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	191	270	1				0	5	171.00	34.20
44	NZ	Hamish Marshall	81	98	1				1	3	100.60	33.53
45	SL	Dilhara Fernando	2	2	1	91	138	3	0	3	98.80	32.93
46	Eng	Monty Panesar	1	2	0	196	264	6	0	5	159.60	31.92
47	NZ	James Franklin	59	49	1	191	246	4	0	6	185.60	30.93
48	Ban	Mohammad Ashraful	177	204	0	7	2	0	0	6	185.40	30.90
49	Ire	Dave Langford-Smith	34	34	2	197	264	5	0	6	185.00	30.83
50	Ire	Kevin O'Brien	142	179	1	59	54	1	0	5	154.00	30.80
51	SA	Andre Hall	25	30	2	211	261	5	0	5	153.80	30.76
52	WI	Chris Gayle	106	149	1	189	212	3	0	5	150.40	30.08
53	Ban	Mohammad Rafique	42	73	2	203	288	4	1	6	171.00	28.50
54	NZ	Craig McMillan	121	182	0	29	39	3	0	6	170.60	28.43
55	SA	Mark Boucher	102	97	6 \| 0				1	6	168.40	28.07
56	Aus	Andrew Symonds	74	40	1	114	104	2	0	5	138.20	27.64
57	Eng	Ian Bell	160	264	1				1	5	137.80	27.56
58	Ire	Andrew White	96	122	2	74	91	2	1	6	163.20	27.20
59	SL	Chamara Silva	131	177	3				0	5	135.40	27.08
60	Ban	Abdur Razzak	28	44	0	242	298	6	0	6	161.20	26.87
61	Ban	Saqibul Hasan	123	227	1	208	239	4	1	6	160.60	26.77
62	Eng	James Anderson	0	1	0	192	258	5	0	5	133.60	26.72
63	Ire	Andre Botha	61	116	0	140	180	2	1	4	105.20	26.30
64	SA	Makhaya Ntini	15	20	1	268	324	6	0	6	154.20	25.70
65	WI	Dwayne Bravo	54	75	1	244	216	6	0	5	125.80	25.16
66	WI	Denesh Ramdin	73	79	8 \| 0				0	5	122.80	24.56
67	Ban	Aftab Ahmed	107	119	3	9	13	0	1	6	147.20	24.53
68	Eng	Ravinder Bopara	83	98	1	6	12	0	0	4	96.20	24.05
69	NZ	Brendon McCullum	52	40	12 \| 1				0	6	142.00	23.67
70	Ire	Boyd Rankin	8	28	0	213	236	7	0	6	137.40	22.90
71	SA	Ashwell Prince	86	111	1				1	5	112.20	22.44
72	NZ	Peter Fulton	142	228	1				0	5	106.60	21.32
73	NZ	Jeetan Patel	0	0	1	110	150	2	0	3	63.00	21.00
74	SL	Russel Arnold	79	104	0	26	37	1	0	5	102.40	20.48
75	Ire	Niall O'Brien	139	234	6 \| 0				0	6	120.80	20.13
76	WI	Corey Collymore	13	19	0	140	174	2	0	3	58.00	19.33
77	WI	Marlon Samuels	43	62	1	81	84	1	1	4	75.60	18.90
78	SA	Robin Petersen	12	16	1	61	72	1	0	2	36.80	18.40
79	Ban	Tamim Iqbal	113	200	4				1	6	110.00	18.33
80	SL	Upul Tharanga	119	198	2				0	5	89.60	17.92
81	Ban	Mashrafe Mortaza	72	109	1	238	287	2	0	6	101.40	16.90
82	Eng	Andrew Strauss	30	47	2				0	2	32.40	16.20
83	Eng	Michael Vaughan	67	135	0	48	72	1	1	5	71.60	14.32
84	Ire	William Porterfield	142	272	3				0	6	81.40	13.57
85	WI	Jerome Taylor	23	27	0	136	156	1	0	3	37.20	12.40
86	WI	Lendl Simmons	14	26	1				0	1	12.20	12.20
87	SL	Farveez Maharoof	5	9	2	98	120	1	0	3	34.80	11.60
88	Aus	Michael Hussey	44	62	2				0	5	48.40	9.68
89	NZ	Michael Mason	0	0	0	18	45	0	0	2	18.00	9.00
90	Ban	Mushfiqur Rahim	37	91	0 \| 0				2	6	49.20	8.20
91	WI	Ian Bradshaw	26	62	0	167	174	2	0	3	22.60	7.53
92	Aus	Brad Hodge	0	0	3				0	2	15.00	7.50
93	Ire	Eoin Morgan	68	146	4				0	6	39.20	6.53
94	Ban	Habibul Bashar	92	200	2				0	6	34.00	5.67
95	Eng	Ed Joyce	11	28	3				0	3	14.60	4.87
96	Ire	Jeremy Bray	74	159	0				0	6	20.80	3.47
97	WI	Dwayne Smith	17	15	0	47	48	0	0	4	13.40	3.35
98	Ban	Shahadat Hossain	0	2	0	51	54	0	1	1	2.60	2.60
99	Ban	Javed Omar	39	92	0				0	2	4.40	2.20
100	NZ	Ross Taylor	10	20	0				0	3	4.00	1.33
101	Ban	Shahriar Nafees	17	43	1				0	4	4.60	1.15
102	WI	Kieron Pollard	10	17	0	20	18	0	0	1	0.80	0.80
103	SA	Loots Bosman	0	0	0				0	1	0.00	0.00
104	SA	Justin Kemp	13	51	2	27	24	0	1	4	-0.60	-0.15
105	Ire	John Mooney	23	45	0	36	30	0	0	2	-2.00	-1.00
106	NZ	Mark Gillespie	0	0	2	42	37	0	0	1	-2.40	-2.40
107	Ire	Peter Gillespie	2	8	0				0	1	-2.40	-2.40
108	NZ	Lou Vincent	0	6	0				0	1	-4.80	-4.80
109	Eng	Jamie Dalrymple	3	12	1	29	24	0	0	1	-8.40	-8.40
110	Ban	Tapash Baisya	0	0	0	35	17	0	0	1	-21.40	-21.40
111	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 32 appears below. The data below the face is in the following format: total runs / strike rate | wickets / economy rate.

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.

Recall that batsmen have round faces and a short and wide nose. They smile more when they score more runs. "Styris" , "Jayasuriya" and "Kallis" have taller noses, and faces that aren't so round -- 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.

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 (see "McCullum"), and those that participate in run out dismissals have bigger eyes.

What is MVP?

MVP Day 31: Sanath Jayasuriya stays on 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.