MVP Day 33: Still Jayasuriya

Sanath Jayasuriya still heads the list of the most valuable player (MVP) in the Super Eights in spite of a poor match against Australia. Jayasuriya only picked up 11 points yesterday; so his average dropped from 116 to 99.

Matthew Hayden scored a brisk 40 and took two catches to amass 68 points, but that wasn't good enough because he averaged 93 before the Sri Lanka match. He's now placed third, just behind Scott Styris.

With a tremendous spell of 9.4-3-19-4, Nathan Bracken piled up 123 points to jump from the twelfth to the fourth place. Symonds (56 -> 43) also gained 74 points with his 63 in 71 balls and the Maharoof catch. But Symonds has still not made the big impact that he was supposed to make.

For Sri Lanka, Kumar Sangakkara (25 -> 38) had a bad match, but Mahela Jayawardene (32 -> 20) improved his position with 72 in 88 balls. Chamara Silva (54) didn't gain too many points because he took 107 balls for his 64 runs.

Today's England v South Africa match is a delicious prospect. Both Flintoff (7) and Pietersen (13) must fire if England are to have any realistic chance.

Rank	Country	Player	Runs	Balls	Ct \| St	Rc	Bb	W	Run Outs	M	Total	Average
1	SL	Sanath Jayasuriya	351	333	1	181	266	4	1.0	6	592.40	98.73
2	NZ	Scott Styris	344	459	3	163	240	7	0.5	6	544.80	90.80
3	Aus	Matthew Hayden	388	330	4				0.0	6	532.00	88.67
4	Aus	Nathan Bracken	0	0	1	137	250	12	0.0	5	356.00	71.20
5	SA	Andre Nel	1	5	2	132	176	8	0.0	3	208.80	69.60
6	SA	Jacques Kallis	335	435	3	190	216	4	0.0	6	415.80	69.30
7	NZ	Jacob Oram	124	194	4	147	243	9	1.0	6	400.20	66.70
8	Eng	Andrew Flintoff	72	110	3	168	265	9	0.0	5	331.00	66.20
9	NZ	Shane Bond	0	0	3	135	310	11	0.0	6	392.00	65.33
10	SL	Lasith Malinga	2	9	1	165	182	11	0.5	4	258.40	64.60
11	SL	Muttiah Muralitharan	3	3	2	188	288	10	0.0	5	296.00	59.20
12	Aus	Glenn McGrath	0	0	0	225	273	15	0.0	6	353.40	58.90
13	Eng	Kevin Pietersen	280	366	1	2	6	0	0.5	5	287.00	57.40
14	Aus	Ricky Ponting	278	313	5				0.0	6	330.60	55.10
15	SA	AB De Villiers	253	253	4				0.0	6	323.60	53.93
16	WI	Daren Powell	55	50	0	232	294	8	0.0	5	265.20	53.04
17	SL	Chaminda Vaas	4	6	1	139	252	8	0.0	5	262.80	52.56
18	SA	Herschelle Gibbs	231	284	7				1.0	6	293.80	48.97
19	Ire	Trent Johnston	100	102	3	206	200	6	0.5	5	243.40	48.68
20	SL	Mahela Jayawardene	283	379	1				1.0	6	291.80	48.63
21	NZ	Daniel Vettori	10	14	0	234	346	10	0.0	6	291.60	48.60
22	Aus	Shaun Tait	0	0	1	280	285	13	1.0	6	289.00	48.17
23	Eng	Paul Collingwood	160	235	5	166	192	3	1.0	5	240.60	48.12
24	Aus	Brad Hogg	5	6	3	217	306	10	0.0	6	288.00	48.00
25	Ban	Syed Rasel	14	21	1	146	222	6	0.0	4	191.80	47.95
26	Aus	Adam Gilchrist	199	206	4 \| 3				0.0	6	283.20	47.20
27	Eng	Sajid Mahmood	2	4	0	171	208	7	1.0	4	188.20	47.05
28	Eng	Liam Plunkett	29	34	0	43	42	1	0.0	1	45.40	45.40
29	WI	Devon Smith	33	27	0				0.0	1	44.40	44.40
30	SA	Charles Langeveldt	10	47	1	219	222	9	0.5	4	174.00	43.50
31	Aus	Stuart Clark	0	0	0	19	48	1	0.0	1	43.40	43.40
32	WI	Ramnaresh Sarwan	220	299	1	52	48	1	0.0	5	216.20	43.24
33	Aus	Michael Clarke	211	216	3	63	72	0	0.0	6	258.80	43.13
34	Eng	Paul Nixon	131	145	5 \| 1				1.0	5	205.00	41.00
35	SA	Graeme Smith	194	237	3	107	84	3	0.0	6	245.60	40.93
36	SL	Tillakaratne Dilshan	123	140	3	111	168	2	1.0	6	244.40	40.73
37	Aus	Shane Watson	47	35	1	81	100	1	1.0	3	118.00	39.33
38	SL	Kumar Sangakkara	177	244	5 \| 4				0.5	6	235.80	39.30
39	SA	Shaun Pollock	58	80	1	234	318	5	1.5	6	233.40	38.90
40	SL	Malinga Bandara	17	19	0	53	58	1	0.0	1	36.20	36.20
41	WI	Brian Lara	137	162	2				1.0	5	178.40	35.68
42	NZ	Stephen Fleming	214	268	0				0.0	6	213.60	35.60
43	Aus	Andrew Symonds	137	111	2	129	122	2	0.0	6	211.80	35.30
44	Ire	Kyle McCallan	33	62	0	165	264	6	0.0	6	206.60	34.43
45	WI	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	191	270	1				0.0	5	171.00	34.20
46	NZ	Hamish Marshall	81	98	1				0.5	3	100.60	33.53
47	Eng	Monty Panesar	1	2	0	196	264	6	0.0	5	159.60	31.92
48	NZ	James Franklin	59	49	1	191	246	4	0.0	6	185.60	30.93
49	Ban	Mohammad Ashraful	177	204	0	7	2	0	0.0	6	185.40	30.90
50	Ire	Dave Langford-Smith	34	34	2	197	264	5	0.0	6	185.00	30.83
51	Ire	Kevin O'Brien	142	179	1	59	54	1	0.0	5	154.00	30.80
52	SA	Andre Hall	25	30	2	211	261	5	0.0	5	153.80	30.76
53	WI	Chris Gayle	106	149	1	189	212	3	0.0	5	150.40	30.08
54	SL	Chamara Silva	195	284	3				0.0	6	177.80	29.63
55	Ban	Mohammad Rafique	42	73	2	203	288	4	0.5	6	171.00	28.50
56	NZ	Craig McMillan	121	182	0	29	39	3	0.0	6	170.60	28.43
57	SA	Mark Boucher	102	97	6 \| 0				0.5	6	168.40	28.07
58	Eng	Ian Bell	160	264	1				1.0	5	137.80	27.56
59	Ire	Andrew White	96	122	2	74	91	2	0.5	6	163.20	27.20
60	Ban	Abdur Razzak	28	44	0	242	298	6	0.0	6	161.20	26.87
61	Ban	Saqibul Hasan	123	227	1	208	239	4	0.5	6	160.60	26.77
62	Eng	James Anderson	0	1	0	192	258	5	0.0	5	133.60	26.72
63	Ire	Andre Botha	61	116	0	140	180	2	1.0	4	105.20	26.30
64	SA	Makhaya Ntini	15	20	1	268	324	6	0.0	6	154.20	25.70
65	WI	Dwayne Bravo	54	75	1	244	216	6	0.0	5	125.80	25.16
66	SL	Russel Arnold	82	114	0	46	61	3	0.0	6	147.60	24.60
67	WI	Denesh Ramdin	73	79	8 \| 0				0.0	5	122.80	24.56
68	Ban	Aftab Ahmed	107	119	3	9	13	0	0.5	6	147.20	24.53
69	Eng	Ravinder Bopara	83	98	1	6	12	0	0.0	4	96.20	24.05
70	NZ	Brendon McCullum	52	40	12 \| 1				0.0	6	142.00	23.67
71	SL	Dilhara Fernando	2	2	1	127	174	3	0.0	4	91.60	22.90
72	Ire	Boyd Rankin	8	28	0	213	236	7	0.0	6	137.40	22.90
73	SA	Ashwell Prince	86	111	1				1.0	5	112.20	22.44
74	NZ	Peter Fulton	142	228	1				0.0	5	106.60	21.32
75	NZ	Jeetan Patel	0	0	1	110	150	2	0.0	3	63.00	21.00
76	Ire	Niall O'Brien	139	234	6 \| 0				0.0	6	120.80	20.13
77	WI	Corey Collymore	13	19	0	140	174	2	0.0	3	58.00	19.33
78	WI	Marlon Samuels	43	62	1	81	84	1	1.0	4	75.60	18.90
79	SA	Robin Petersen	12	16	1	61	72	1	0.0	2	36.80	18.40
80	Ban	Tamim Iqbal	113	200	4				1.0	6	110.00	18.33
81	Ban	Mashrafe Mortaza	72	109	1	238	287	2	0.0	6	101.40	16.90
82	Eng	Andrew Strauss	30	47	2				0.0	2	32.40	16.20
83	Eng	Michael Vaughan	67	135	0	48	72	1	0.5	5	71.60	14.32
84	SL	Upul Tharanga	125	220	2				0.0	6	84.00	14.00
85	Ire	William Porterfield	142	272	3				0.0	6	81.40	13.57
86	WI	Jerome Taylor	23	27	0	136	156	1	0.0	3	37.20	12.40
87	SL	Farveez Maharoof	30	31	2	150	162	1	0.0	4	48.80	12.20
88	WI	Lendl Simmons	14	26	1				0.0	1	12.20	12.20
89	NZ	Michael Mason	0	0	0	18	45	0	0.0	2	18.00	9.00
90	Ban	Mushfiqur Rahim	37	91	0 \| 0				2.0	6	49.20	8.20
91	Aus	Michael Hussey	44	62	2				0.0	6	48.40	8.07
92	WI	Ian Bradshaw	26	62	0	167	174	2	0.0	3	22.60	7.53
93	Aus	Brad Hodge	0	0	4				0.0	3	20.00	6.67
94	Ire	Eoin Morgan	68	146	4				0.0	6	39.20	6.53
95	Ban	Habibul Bashar	92	200	2				0.0	6	34.00	5.67
96	Eng	Ed Joyce	11	28	3				0.0	3	14.60	4.87
97	Ire	Jeremy Bray	74	159	0				0.0	6	20.80	3.47
98	WI	Dwayne Smith	17	15	0	47	48	0	0.0	4	13.40	3.35
99	Ban	Shahadat Hossain	0	2	0	51	54	0	0.5	1	2.60	2.60
100	Ban	Javed Omar	39	92	0				0.0	2	4.40	2.20
101	NZ	Ross Taylor	10	20	0				0.0	3	4.00	1.33
102	Ban	Shahriar Nafees	17	43	1				0.0	4	4.60	1.15
103	WI	Kieron Pollard	10	17	0	20	18	0	0.0	1	0.80	0.80
104	SA	Loots Bosman	0	0	0				0.0	1	0.00	0.00
105	SA	Justin Kemp	13	51	2	27	24	0	0.5	4	-0.60	-0.15
106	Ire	John Mooney	23	45	0	36	30	0	0.0	2	-2.00	-1.00
107	NZ	Mark Gillespie	0	0	2	42	37	0	0.0	1	-2.40	-2.40
108	Ire	Peter Gillespie	2	8	0				0.0	1	-2.40	-2.40
109	SL	Nuwan Kulasekara	1	5	0	20	24	0	0.0	1	-2.80	-2.80
110	NZ	Lou Vincent	0	6	0				0.0	1	-4.80	-4.80
111	Eng	Jamie Dalrymple	3	12	1	29	24	0	0.0	1	-8.40	-8.40
112	Ban	Tapash Baisya	0	0	0	35	17	0	0.0	1	-21.40	-21.40
113	Ire	Paul Mooney	0	1	0	40	21	0	0.0	1	-24.00	-24.00

The Chernoff gallery of the top nine Super Eight players after Day 33 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. Batting all-rounders have taller noses, and their faces that aren't so round.

Here 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.

Bowlers have tapered faces, a tall and thin nose, and bigger ears if they take more wickets. This list contains only Australian, Sri Lankans and New Zealanders.

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.

Finally, here's a chart showing the average "value" contributed by players from all the Super Eight teams. It's interesting that the bars align in almost the same sequence as in the points table. This chart would therefore suggest that South Africa have the edge over England in tonight's crucial "quarter-final".

What is MVP?

MVP Day 32: It could be Jayasuriya vs Hayden today

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.