MVP countdown: Will it be Styris or Hayden today?

There's practically no change at the top in today's list. This isn't surprising: there were only three West Indian and four Bangladeshi players in yesterday's top 50.

After their emphatic 99-run win over Bangladesh last night, Daren Powell (29 -> 13), Dwayne Bravo (43 -> 24), Ramnaresh Sarwan (47 -> 25), Brian Lara (51 -> 41) and Chris Gayle (64 -> 50) have improved their positions. One really wonders what's happened to Gayle, especially Gayle the batsman. He was widely expected to be in the top 5 or top 10 in view of his explosive batting and wicket-taking bowling ability.

For Bangladesh, Abdur Razzak (32 -> 33), Mashrafe Mortaza (50 -> 35), Saqibul Hasan (44 -> 42), Mohammad Rafique (39 -> 45) and Syed Rasel (54 -> 53) end up as the five most valuable WC 2007 players. It's interesting that they are all bowlers, although Saqibul is also a decent batsman.

Today's contest between Australia and New Zealand is certain to result in changes at the top of the MVP table. Sanath Jayasuriya will lose his top place today and Styris and Hayden have the best chance of displacing him.

Rank	Country	Player	Runs	Balls	Ct \| St	Rc	Bb	W	Run Outs	M	Total
1	SL	Sanath Jayasuriya	403	402	3	212	320	5	1.5	9	699.40
2	NZ	Scott Styris	435	538	3	184	276	8	0.5	8	695.40
3	SA	Jacques Kallis	480	569	3	251	336	5	0.5	9	669.60
4	SA	Graeme Smith	441	419	7	152	150	4	0.5	9	657.80
5	Aus	Matthew Hayden	477	437	5				0.5	8	641.40
6	SL	Muttiah Muralitharan	3	3	4	276	418	19	0.0	8	538.00
7	SA	AB De Villiers	357	335	5				2.0	9	519.00
8	Aus	Ricky Ponting	414	428	5				0.0	8	510.60
9	Aus	Glenn McGrath	0	0	0	272	357	20	0.5	8	505.60
10	Aus	Brad Hogg	45	21	3	260	378	15	0.0	8	490.60
11	NZ	Jacob Oram	162	227	5	192	315	9	1.5	8	479.40
12	SL	Mahela Jayawardene	414	516	3				1.0	9	454.20
13	WI	Daren Powell	56	51	1	327	450	14	0.0	8	445.20
14	NZ	Daniel Vettori	24	21	2	336	466	15	0.0	8	438.00
15	NZ	Shane Bond	0	0	3	154	358	12	0.0	7	435.40
16	Aus	Adam Gilchrist	302	325	5 \| 4				1.0	8	433.00
17	Eng	Paul Collingwood	270	357	6	252	300	5	1.5	8	428.40
18	Aus	Nathan Bracken	0	0	2	182	328	14	0.0	7	426.40
19	SA	Andrew Hall	25	30	2	292	417	14	0.5	8	425.60
20	SL	Chaminda Vaas	23	18	3	207	370	12	0.0	8	423.60
21	Aus	Michael Clarke	319	321	4	63	72	0	0.5	8	407.80
22	Eng	Andrew Flintoff	77	120	3	239	355	12	0.0	7	406.00
23	SA	Herschelle Gibbs	303	324	7				1.0	9	405.80
24	WI	Dwayne Bravo	116	147	4	314	330	11	1.5	8	384.40
25	WI	Ramnaresh Sarwan	372	473	1	52	48	1	0.0	8	381.00
26	SL	Lasith Malinga	2	9	2	214	260	15	0.5	6	372.80
27	Aus	Shaun Tait	0	0	1	354	375	16	1.5	8	371.00
28	NZ	Stephen Fleming	340	396	1				0.0	8	368.20
29	Ire	Trent Johnston	129	144	5	258	302	8	1.0	8	367.40
30	SL	Kumar Sangakkara	278	371	11 \| 4				0.5	9	366.20
31	SA	Shaun Pollock	58	80	2	280	474	7	1.5	9	365.20
32	Eng	Kevin Pietersen	344	457	2	2	6	0	0.5	8	347.20
33	Ban	Abdur Razzak	29	54	2	344	442	13	0.0	9	346.40
34	SL	Tillakaratne Dilshan	173	196	3	113	181	3	1.0	9	332.00
35	Ban	Mashrafe Mortaza	109	160	1	323	428	9	0.0	9	330.40
36	SA	Mark Boucher	177	128	9 \| 0				1.0	9	320.60
37	Ire	Kyle McCallan	33	75	0	233	352	10	1.0	9	318.60
38	SL	Chamara Silva	309	397	3				0.0	9	315.40
39	SL	Farveez Maharoof	39	36	2	198	264	9	1.0	6	312.40
40	SA	Andre Nel	1	5	2	186	272	11	0.0	5	303.60
41	WI	Brian Lara	251	313	5				1.0	8	300.60
42	Ban	Saqibul Hasan	202	353	1	302	365	7	0.5	9	296.60
43	NZ	Craig McMillan	202	236	0	89	117	3	0.0	8	291.80
44	Ire	Langford-Smith	67	72	3	291	396	7	0.0	9	285.20
45	Ban	Mohammad Rafique	42	78	3	302	432	8	0.5	9	284.20
46	Eng	Paul Nixon	155	155	6 \| 2				2.0	8	284.00
47	Ind	Virender Sehwag	164	139	0	32	60	2	0.0	3	280.80
48	Ken	Steve Tikolo	155	189	5	97	114	4	0.0	3	274.00
49	SA	Charles Langeveldt	10	47	1	327	360	13	0.5	7	272.40
50	WI	Chris Gayle	149	214	2	249	325	5	0.0	8	267.80
51	Aus	Brad Hodge	152	117	4	17	36	1	0.0	5	266.20
52	NZ	James Franklin	59	49	2	211	290	6	0.5	7	265.80
53	Ban	Syed Rasel	16	34	1	239	372	8	0.0	7	260.40
54	Ire	Boyd Rankin	15	45	1	324	356	12	0.0	9	247.80
55	Pak	Imran Nazir	190	175	1				0.0	3	245.00
56	NZ	Brendon McCullum	110	70	13 \| 1				0.0	8	239.00
57	Zim	Elton Chigumbura	61	49	1	116	136	6	0.0	3	224.60
58	Ire	Andre Botha	62	131	1	181	294	5	1.0	7	222.40
59	Ire	Andrew White	128	173	2	89	109	3	1.0	8	221.80
60	Eng	Ravinder Bopara	139	172	1	56	72	2	1.0	7	219.00
61	Eng	James Anderson	0	7	0	291	402	8	0.0	8	217.00
62	Ban	Mohammad Ashraful	216	267	0	7	2	0	0.0	9	213.00
63	Aus	Andrew Symonds	137	111	2	129	122	2	0.0	6	211.80
64	Pak	Iftikhar Anjum	51	77	0	73	120	5	1.0	3	207.40
65	Ire	Niall O'Brien	216	374	9 \| 0				1.0	9	201.80
66	SL	Russel Arnold	103	128	2	46	61	3	0.5	9	200.40
67	WI	Corey Collymore	21	21	0	207	320	5	0.0	6	194.20
68	Ire	Kevin O'Brien	170	263	1	100	108	3	0.0	8	193.00
69	WI	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	281	478	2				0.0	8	189.60
70	WI	Marlon Samuels	165	246	2	129	144	1	1.5	7	189.40
71	Ban	Aftab Ahmed	128	151	6	38	31	1	0.5	9	188.00
72	Eng	Sajid Mahmood	2	5	0	259	288	8	1.0	6	187.40
73	Aus	Shane Watson	77	50	2	99	142	1	1.0	5	186.60
74	Eng	Monty Panesar	3	30	0	283	384	7	0.5	8	186.20
75	Ind	Yuvraj Singh	136	116	0	15	18	0	0.0	3	178.60
76	Ban	Tamim Iqbal	172	275	6				1.0	9	178.00
77	Eng	Ian Bell	211	349	2				1.0	8	176.80
78	Can	Sunil Dhaniram	81	87	1	147	162	4	0.0	3	176.00
79	SA	Makhaya Ntini	15	20	1	293	378	6	0.0	7	172.40
80	NZ	Lou Vincent	101	127	0				3.0	3	172.40
81	WI	Dwayne Smith	49	30	0	111	138	4	0.0	6	169.40
82	Can	John Davison	81	75	2	130	174	2	0.0	3	169.20
83	SA	Ashwell Prince	107	134	2				2.0	8	164.80
84	Ire	Jeremy Bray	212	338	2				0.0	9	163.60
85	NZ	Peter Fulton	189	275	1				0.0	6	163.00
86	Zim	Sean Williams	95	110	1	79	90	2	0.5	3	160.00
87	SL	Upul Tharanga	219	364	2				0.0	9	156.80
88	NZ	Jeetan Patel	0	0	1	135	206	5	0.0	4	154.80
89	Ind	Zaheer Khan	16	22	0	122	174	5	0.0	3	151.60
90	Ind	Munaf Patel	25	32	1	105	159	4	0.0	3	147.60
91	WI	Denesh Ramdin	74	83	13 \| 0				0.0	8	146.60
92	Pak	Umar Gul	11	20	1	72	138	4	0.0	3	145.40
93	Eng	Ed Joyce	152	221	3				0.0	5	142.20
94	Eng	Michael Vaughan	130	241	1	48	72	1	1.5	8	141.80
95	NL	Ryan ten Doeschate	128	148	2	151	120	2	0.0	3	140.60
96	WI	Jerome Taylor	25	31	0	241	324	4	0.0	6	139.40
97	Ken	Thomas Odoyo	46	78	0	114	144	4	0.5	3	138.80
98	Ind	Sachin Tendulkar	64	58	0	49	72	2	0.0	3	138.20
99	Ind	Sourav Ganguly	162	266	0	22	24	1	0.0	3	132.40
100	Pak	Mohammad Sami	17	44	0	44	90	4	0.0	2	122.80
101	Ind	Ajit Agarkar	10	27	1	112	168	4	0.0	3	121.80
102	NL	William Stelling	1	4	1	55	96	4	0.0	2	121.60
103	Zim	Stuart Matsikenyeri	107	128	2	6	6	0	0.0	3	120.40
104	Zim	Gary Brent	12	21	1	108	120	5	0.0	2	120.20
105	Ber	Saleem Mukuddem	0	4	0	69	90	5	0.0	2	119.80
106	Pak	Shoaib Malik	92	111	1	33	30	1	0.0	3	115.20
107	SL	Dilhara Fernando	2	2	1	159	212	4	0.0	5	114.00
108	Ban	Mushfiqur Rahim	131	273	3				2.0	9	106.60
109	NZ	Hamish Marshall	81	98	1				0.5	3	100.60
110	Pak	Shahid Afridi	16	10	0	20	24	3	0.0	1	95.20
111	Pak	Mohammad Hafeez	15	34	2	54	78	3	0.0	2	93.20
112	Eng	Liam Plunkett	29	34	0	89	96	3	0.0	2	90.60
113	Can	Ashif Mulla	83	101	1				0.0	3	90.20
114	NZ	Ross Taylor	95	127	0				0.0	4	88.40
115	NZ	Michael Mason	0	0	1	107	147	3	0.0	4	87.60
116	Zim	Christopher Mpofu	1	10	0	166	174	4	1.0	3	87.20
117	Pak	Inzamam ul-Haq	74	103	4				0.0	3	85.60
118	Can	Ian Billcliff	104	160	1				0.0	3	85.00
119	Ken	Maurice Ouma	75	155	0 \| 1				2.0	3	84.00
120	Pak	Kamran Akmal	42	74	3 \| 2				1.0	3	83.80
121	Scot	Colin Smith	85	129	1 \| 1				0.0	3	81.80
122	Ind	Mahendra Dhoni	29	29	5 \| 2				0.0	3	79.80
123	Ind	Anil Kumble	0	0	0	38	55	3	0.0	1	78.00
124	Ken	Jimmy Kamande	29	43	0	110	144	2	0.0	3	76.80
125	Zim	Vusumuzi Sibanda	68	95	3				0.0	3	75.00
126	NL	Tim de Leede	35	58	1	112	108	3	0.0	3	75.00
127	Ire	Eoin Morgan	91	179	7				0.0	9	73.80
128	Zim	Brendan Taylor	87	178	4 \| 1				0.5	3	73.60
129	Can	Geoff Barnett	88	129	0				0.0	3	72.80
130	Ind	Rahul Dravid	81	112	0				0.0	3	72.40
131	Eng	Andrew Strauss	76	114	2				0.0	3	70.80
132	SA	Justin Kemp	25	58	3	61	66	2	0.5	7	70.40
133	Scot	Majid Haq	35	70	0	121	101	4	0.0	3	69.80
134	Ire	William Porterfield	172	379	5				0.0	9	65.80
135	Ken	Peter Ongondo	7	24	1	146	144	4	0.0	3	65.00
136	Ken	Ravindu Shah	81	126	0				0.0	3	61.20
137	Ber	David Hemp	90	127	1	32	12	0	0.0	3	61.00
138	Ber	Dean Minors	48	64	1 \| 1				0.0	3	59.80
139	NL	Mohammad Kashif	0	0	1	29	42	2	0.0	1	57.60
140	Aus	Michael Hussey	50	72	3				0.0	8	57.40
141	Ber	Kevin Hurdle	6	11	2	139	138	3	0.0	3	56.60
142	Scot	John Blain	41	63	0	90	78	2	0.0	3	52.00
143	Scot	Glenn Rogers	32	49	1	114	110	2	0.0	3	51.80
144	Ban	Habibul Bashar	105	229	5				0.0	9	51.80
145	Pak	Younis Khan	37	47	3	5	6	0	0.0	3	51.20
146	Pak	Danish Kaneria	6	4	0	93	78	3	0.0	2	50.20
147	Ken	Collins Obuya	31	44	1	8	18	0	0.5	3	50.20
148	Ber	Lionel Cann	44	40	0	88	72	1	0.0	3	49.60
149	NL	Darron Reekers	38	33	0	106	102	1	0.0	3	49.20
150	Can	Abdool Samad	60	113	1	85	64	2	0.0	3	48.80
151	Ken	Tanmay Mishra	37	61	2				0.5	3	47.20
152	Zim	Tawanda Mupariwa	0	3	0	91	114	2	0.0	2	45.80
153	Ken	Hiren Varaiya	5	23	1	98	138	1	0.5	3	45.00
154	WI	Devon Smith	38	39	0				0.0	2	44.80
155	Pak	Mohammad Yousuf	55	113	0	0	1	1	0.0	3	44.40
156	Aus	Stuart Clark	0	0	0	19	48	1	0.0	1	43.40
157	NL	Mark Jonkman	0	2	0	57	67	2	0.0	2	43.00
158	Scot	Paul Hoffmann	25	19	1	104	102	1	0.0	3	41.40
159	Can	Ashish Bagai	62	123	3 \| 0				0.0	3	40.60
160	Can	Kevin Sandher	2	6	0	58	60	2	0.0	1	37.20
161	SA	Robin Petersen	12	16	1	61	72	1	0.0	2	36.80
162	SL	Malinga Bandara	17	19	0	53	58	1	0.0	1	36.20
163	NL	Daan van Bunge	38	49	2	60	31	1	0.0	3	35.60
164	Zim	Prosper Utseya	5	8	1	101	156	0	0.0	3	32.40
165	NL	Peter Borren	26	24	1	141	108	2	0.0	3	31.20
166	Can	Anderson Cummins	10	11	0	149	150	2	0.0	3	30.20
167	NL	Bas Zuiderent	53	95	0				0.0	3	30.00
168	Ind	Harbhajan Singh	17	23	0	83	120	0	0.0	2	28.60
169	Ind	Robin Uthappa	30	48	1				0.0	3	26.60
170	SL	Nuwan Kulasekara	1	5	1	30	66	0	0.0	2	25.80
171	Zim	Anthony Ireland	0	0	1	38	42	1	0.0	1	24.60
172	WI	Ian Bradshaw	26	62	0	167	174	2	0.0	3	22.60
173	NL	Jeroen Smits	3	12	3 \| 1				0.0	3	21.40
174	Scot	Dougie Brown	64	102	1	126	90	1	0.0	3	21.40
175	Scot	Ryan Watson	53	107	0				0.0	3	20.40
176	Can	Umar Bhatti	11	30	0	110	134	1	0.0	3	19.20
177	Zim	Edward Rainsford	1	1	0	44	42	1	0.0	1	14.80
178	Can	George Codrington	7	8	1	70	60	1	0.0	1	14.60
179	NL	Eric Szwarczynski	24	42	0				0.0	2	14.40
180	Can	Desmond Chumney	27	51	0				0.0	1	13.20
181	WI	Lendl Simmons	14	26	1				0.0	1	12.20
182	Scot	Fraser Watts	33	69	0				0.0	2	10.80
183	Scot	Craig Wright	5	28	1	75	84	1	0.0	2	8.80
184	Ber	Delyone Borden	21	74	0	72	60	2	0.0	3	6.80
185	Zim	Terry Duffin	12	22	0				0.0	1	6.40
186	Ban	Shahriar Nafees	31	76	1				0.0	6	6.20
187	Ken	Tony Suji	14	29	0	15	18	0	0.0	1	4.20
188	Scot	Neil McCallum	25	64	1				0.0	2	3.80
189	Ire	John Mooney	23	45	1	36	30	0	0.0	2	3.00
190	Ban	Shahadat Hossain	0	2	0	51	54	0	0.5	1	2.60
191	Zim	Chamu Chibhabha	27	69	2	11	6	0	0.0	3	2.60
192	Ban	Javed Omar	55	141	1				0.0	3	2.20
193	Ber	Steven Outerbridge	9	20	0				0.0	2	2.00
194	WI	Kieron Pollard	10	17	0	20	18	0	0.0	1	0.80
195	Ire	Kenneth Carroll	0	2	1	8	6	0	0.0	1	0.20
196	SA	Loots Bosman	0	0	0				0.0	1	0.00
197	Can	Qaiser Ali	6	16	0				0.0	1	-0.80
198	Pak	Azhar Mahmood	2	21	0	25	46	0	0.0	1	-1.00
199	Ken	Lameck Onyango	16	35	0	77	60	1	0.0	2	-1.00
200	Zim	Friday Kasteni	9	24	0				0.0	2	-1.20
201	Pak	Naved-ul-Hasan	11	29	1	49	54	0	0.0	1	-2.00
202	NZ	Mark Gillespie	0	0	2	42	37	0	0.0	1	-2.40
203	Ire	Peter Gillespie	2	8	0				0.0	1	-2.40
204	Scot	Navdeep Poonia	1	6	0				0.0	2	-2.80
205	Ber	Oliver Pitcher	28	81	1				0.0	3	-3.80
206	Ber	Clay Smith	0	5	0				0.0	1	-4.00
207	Ber	Janeiro Tucker	13	33	4	131	132	0	0.0	3	-5.80
208	Ken	David Obuya	5	22	0				0.0	2	-7.60
209	NL	Luuk van Troost	5	10	1	59	24	1	0.0	2	-8.80
210	NL	Alexei Kervezee	17	54	0				0.0	2	-9.20
211	Scot	Dewald Nel	0	0	0	24	18	0	0.0	1	-9.60
212	Ber	Malachi Jones	1	8	2	74	42	1	0.0	1	-10.80
213	NZ	Daryl Tuffey	0	0	0	40	36	0	0.0	1	-11.20
214	Scot	Gavin Hamilton	11	44	0				0.0	3	-13.20
215	Eng	Jamie Dalrymple	5	16	1	50	42	0	0.0	2	-14.20
216	Ber	Irvine Romaine	11	32	0	29	18	0	0.0	3	-18.20
217	NL	Adeel Raja	8	14	0	61	47	0	0.0	1	-18.60
218	Ken	Nehemiah Odhiambo	0	0	0	33	18	0	0.0	1	-18.60
219	Ban	Tapash Baisya	0	0	0	35	17	0	0.0	1	-21.40
220	Ire	Paul Mooney	0	1	0	40	21	0	0.0	1	-24.00
221	Ber	Dwayne Leverock	10	39	1	182	141	2	0.0	3	-27.40
222	Can	Henry Osinde	1	3	0	76	56	0	0.0	2	-31.60

The Chernoff gallery of the top nine World Cup 2007 players appears below. The data below the face is in the following format: total points | total runs / strike rate | wickets / economy rate.

There are three Australians, three South Africans, two Sri Lankans, and one New Zealander in this list. It is very likely that one of these will go on to become the MVP.

Here are the faces of the nine highest scoring batsmen in the Super Eights (batting points | 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 (bowling points | 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 not particularly surprising that eight of the nine bowlers belong to teams that have made it to the semi-finals.

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" or "Sangakkara"), and those that participate in run out dismissals have bigger eyes ("Vincent").

What is MVP?

MVP countdown: Jayasuriya faces pressure 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.