MVP countdown: It should be Hayden or Jayasuriya

Australia's Matthew Hayden (1) has the best chance to emerge as the most valuable player (MVP) of the 2007 World Cup. Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya (3) is most likely to challenge Hayden when Sri Lanka clash with Australia in Saturday's World Cup final.

Glenn McGrath (7) however looks set to be chosen as the "official" player of the series, based on the rule that gives three points to the man of the match, two points to the second best player and one point to the third best player --- and then picks the player with the largest number of points.

If you look at cold numbers, it's hard to explain how McGrath can be rated so much above Muttiah Muralitharan (6) and Brad Hogg (8). All three have 20+ wickets, and Murali's economy rate is the best among the three; Murali has also played one game less than McGrath.

However no one can deny that McGrath and his Australians teammates have played awesome cricket. Australia has been a truly formidable force in ODI cricket for five years now. By comprehensively defeating South Africa two times out of two, Australia has also questioned the veracity of ICC's ODI ranking scheme that surprisingly put Australia below South Africa when the World Cup started.

Rank	Country	Player	Runs	Balls	Ct \| St	Rc	Bb	W	Run Outs	M	Total Points
1	Aus	Matthew Hayden	621	597	7				0.5	10	811.40
2	NZ	Scott Styris	499	598	5	242	342	9	0.5	10	804.20
3	SL	Sanath Jayasuriya	404	408	3	269	374	7	1.5	10	730.80
4	SA	Jacques Kallis	485	578	3	271	366	5	0.5	10	676.40
5	SA	Graeme Smith	443	424	8	152	150	4	0.5	10	662.80
6	SL	Muttiah Muralitharan	3	3	5	307	466	23	0	9	646.40
7	Aus	Glenn McGrath	0	0	1	315	429	25	0.5	10	645.20
8	Aus	Brad Hogg	45	21	4	313	479	20	0	10	643.40
9	Aus	Ricky Ponting	502	523	6				0	10	615.60
10	SL	Mahela Jayawardene	529	625	4				1	10	602.00
11	Aus	Shaun Tait	0	0	1	425	471	23	1.5	10	544.80
12	Aus	Michael Clarke	428	453	5	63	72	0	0.5	10	525.20
13	SA	AB De Villiers	372	369	5				2	10	521.80
14	Eng	Andrew Flintoff	92	140	3	298	414	14	2	8	504.20
15	WI	Dwayne Bravo	129	158	5	361	389	13	3.5	9	502.80
16	Eng	Kevin Pietersen	444	548	2	2	6	0	1.5	9	498.40
17	NZ	Jacob Oram	165	234	5	252	375	10	1.5	9	491.80
18	Eng	Paul Collingwood	276	368	8	292	348	6	1.5	9	464.00
19	Aus	Nathan Bracken	0	0	2	224	394	15	0	9	461.20
20	SL	Chaminda Vaas	23	18	3	232	418	13	0	9	461.00
21	Aus	Adam Gilchrist	304	332	10 \| 4				1	10	456.40
22	NZ	Shane Bond	2	4	3	213	418	13	0	8	449.20
23	NZ	Daniel Vettori	28	29	2	447	586	16	0	10	448.60
24	SA	Herschelle Gibbs	342	373	7				1	10	444.60
25	WI	Daren Powell	56	52	2	385	510	14	0	9	439.40
26	SL	Tillakaratne Dilshan	203	223	3	135	209	5	1	10	418.80
27	SA	Andrew Hall	28	38	2	335	456	14	0.5	9	413.40
28	SL	Lasith Malinga	2	9	2	235	302	16	0.5	7	409.40
29	WI	Ramnaresh Sarwan	375	481	1	73	78	2	0	9	407.60
30	SA	Shaun Pollock	63	93	2	296	504	8	1.5	10	396.80
31	NZ	Stephen Fleming	353	409	2				0	10	388.80
32	NZ	James Franklin	95	96	2	331	392	11	0.5	9	381.80
33	WI	Chris Gayle	228	272	2	281	355	5	0	9	371.40
34	SL	Kumar Sangakkara	296	413	11 \| 4				0.5	10	368.60
35	Ire	Trent Johnston	129	144	5	258	302	8	1	8	367.40
36	Ban	Abdur Razzak	29	54	2	344	442	13	0	9	346.40
37	SL	Chamara Silva	330	430	5				0	10	341.00
38	Aus	Shane Watson	142	82	2	168	225	3	1	7	336.40
39	Eng	Paul Nixon	193	194	7 \| 2				2	9	333.80
40	Ban	Mashrafe Mortaza	109	160	1	323	428	9	0	9	330.40
41	Eng	Michael Vaughan	209	309	1	87	132	4	1.5	9	326.40
42	WI	Brian Lara	269	330	5				1	9	323.00
43	SA	Mark Boucher	177	129	9 \| 0				1	10	319.80
44	Ire	Kyle McCallan	33	75	0	233	352	10	1	9	318.60
45	NZ	Craig McMillan	228	261	0	110	135	3	0	10	317.20
46	SA	Andre Nel	9	46	2	217	314	12	0	6	313.40
47	SL	Farveez Maharoof	39	36	2	198	264	9	1	6	312.40
48	Ban	Saqibul Hasan	202	353	1	302	365	7	0.5	9	296.60
49	SA	Charles Langeveldt	16	57	1	361	396	14	0.5	8	295.20
50	Ire	Langford-Smith	67	72	3	291	396	7	0	9	285.20
51	Ban	Mohammad Rafique	42	78	3	302	432	8	0.5	9	284.20
52	Ind	Virender Sehwag	164	139	0	32	60	2	0	3	280.80
53	Ken	Steve Tikolo	155	189	5	97	114	4	0	3	274.00
54	Aus	Brad Hodge	152	117	4	17	36	1	0	5	266.20
55	Ban	Syed Rasel	16	34	1	239	372	8	0	7	260.40
56	WI	Marlon Samuels	216	285	2	129	144	1	1.5	8	260.20
57	NZ	Peter Fulton	297	424	1				0	8	259.80
58	Aus	Andrew Symonds	166	143	3	129	122	2	0	8	249.20
59	Ire	Boyd Rankin	15	45	1	324	356	12	0	9	247.80
60	Pak	Imran Nazir	190	175	1				0	3	245.00
61	SL	Upul Tharanga	292	438	2				0	10	243.60
62	NZ	Brendon McCullum	117	87	13 \| 1				0	10	239.40
63	Eng	Ravinder Bopara	165	215	1	56	72	2	1	8	236.60
64	WI	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	315	517	2				0	9	226.40
65	NZ	Jeetan Patel	34	39	1	245	326	7	0	6	225.60
66	Zim	Elton Chigumbura	61	49	1	116	136	6	0	3	224.60
67	Ire	Andre Botha	62	131	1	181	294	5	1	7	222.40
68	Ire	Andrew White	128	173	2	89	109	3	1	8	221.80
69	SL	Russel Arnold	117	142	2	46	61	3	0.5	10	217.20
70	Ban	Mohammad Ashraful	216	267	0	7	2	0	0	9	213.00
71	Pak	Iftikhar Anjum	51	77	0	73	120	5	1	3	207.40
72	Eng	James Anderson	0	8	0	330	438	8	0	9	206.00
73	WI	Corey Collymore	22	23	0	268	380	6	0	7	205.60
74	Ire	Niall O'Brien	216	374	9 \| 0				1	9	201.80
75	Ire	Kevin O'Brien	170	263	1	100	108	3	0	8	193.00
76	Ban	Aftab Ahmed	128	151	6	38	31	1	0.5	9	188.00
77	Eng	Sajid Mahmood	2	5	0	259	288	8	1	6	187.40
78	WI	Jerome Taylor	37	41	0	306	384	6	0	7	186.40
79	Eng	Monty Panesar	3	30	0	283	384	7	0.5	8	186.20
80	Ind	Yuvraj Singh	136	116	0	15	18	0	0	3	178.60
81	Ban	Tamim Iqbal	172	275	6				1	9	178.00
82	Eng	Ian Bell	211	349	2				1	8	176.80
83	Can	Sunil Dhaniram	81	87	1	147	162	4	0	3	176.00
84	SA	Makhaya Ntini	15	20	1	293	378	6	0	7	172.40
85	NZ	Lou Vincent	101	127	0				3	3	172.40
86	WI	Dwayne Smith	49	30	0	111	138	4	0	6	169.40
87	Can	John Davison	81	75	2	130	174	2	0	3	169.20
88	Ire	Jeremy Bray	212	338	2				0	9	163.60
89	SA	Ashwell Prince	107	136	2				2	9	163.20
90	Zim	Sean Williams	95	110	1	79	90	2	0.5	3	160.00
91	WI	Denesh Ramdin	84	94	13 \| 0				0	9	157.80
92	Ind	Zaheer Khan	16	22	0	122	174	5	0	3	151.60
93	Ind	Munaf Patel	25	32	1	105	159	4	0	3	147.60
94	Pak	Umar Gul	11	20	1	72	138	4	0	3	145.40
95	Eng	Ed Joyce	152	221	3				0	5	142.20
96	NL	Ryan ten Doeschate	128	148	2	151	120	2	0	3	140.60
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	3	138.20
99	Ind	Sourav Ganguly	162	266	0	22	24	1	0	3	132.40
100	Pak	Mohammad Sami	17	44	0	44	90	4	0	2	122.80
101	Ind	Ajit Agarkar	10	27	1	112	168	4	0	3	121.80
102	NL	William Stelling	1	4	1	55	96	4	0	2	121.60
103	Zim	Stuart Matsikenyeri	107	128	2	6	6	0	0	3	120.40
104	Zim	Gary Brent	12	21	1	108	120	5	0	2	120.20
105	Ber	Saleem Mukuddem	0	4	0	69	90	5	0	2	119.80
106	Pak	Shoaib Malik	92	111	1	33	30	1	0	3	115.20
107	WI	Devon Smith	99	145	1				1	3	111.00
108	Ban	Mushfiqur Rahim	131	273	3 \| 0				2	9	106.60
109	Aus	Michael Hussey	87	116	5				0	10	106.20
110	SA	Justin Kemp	74	149	3	65	78	2	0.5	8	101.20
111	NZ	Hamish Marshall	81	98	1				0.5	3	100.60
112	SL	Dilhara Fernando	2	2	2	204	242	4	0	6	98.00
113	Pak	Shahid Afridi	16	10	0	20	24	3	0	1	95.20
114	Pak	Mohammad Hafeez	15	34	2	54	78	3	0	2	93.20
115	NZ	Ross Taylor	107	158	1				0	6	92.60
116	Can	Ashif Mulla	83	101	1				0	3	90.20
117	Zim	Christopher Mpofu	1	10	0	166	174	4	1	3	87.20
118	Pak	Inzamam ul-Haq	74	103	4				0	3	85.60
119	Can	Ian Billcliff	104	160	1				0	3	85.00
120	Ken	Maurice Ouma	75	155	0 \| 1				2	3	84.00
121	Eng	Liam Plunkett	31	37	1	160	138	4	0	3	83.80
122	Pak	Kamran Akmal	42	74	3 \| 2				1	3	83.80
123	Scot	Colin Smith	85	129	1 \| 1				0	3	81.80
124	Ind	Mahendra Dhoni	29	29	5 \| 2				0	3	79.80
125	Ind	Anil Kumble	0	0	0	38	55	3	0	1	78.00
126	Ken	Jimmy Kamande	29	43	0	110	144	2	0	3	76.80
127	NZ	Michael Mason	0	5	2	134	165	3	0	5	76.00
128	Eng	Andrew Strauss	83	126	2				0	4	75.20
129	Zim	Vusumuzi Sibanda	68	95	3				0	3	75.00
130	NL	Tim de Leede	35	58	1	112	108	3	0	3	75.00
131	Ire	Eoin Morgan	91	179	7				0	9	73.80
132	Zim	Brendan Taylor	87	178	4 \| 1				0.5	3	73.60
133	Can	Geoff Barnett	88	129	0				0	3	72.80
134	Ind	Rahul Dravid	81	112	0				0	3	72.40
135	Scot	Majid Haq	35	70	0	121	101	4	0	3	69.80
136	Ire	William Porterfield	172	379	5				0	9	65.80
137	Ken	Peter Ongondo	7	24	1	146	144	4	0	3	65.00
138	Ken	Ravindu Shah	81	126	0				0	3	61.20
139	Ber	David Hemp	90	127	1	32	12	0	0	3	61.00
140	Ber	Dean Minors	48	64	1 \| 1				0	3	59.80
141	NL	Mohammad Kashif	0	0	1	29	42	2	0	1	57.60
142	Ber	Kevin Hurdle	6	11	2	139	138	3	0	3	56.60
143	Scot	John Blain	41	63	0	90	78	2	0	3	52.00
144	Scot	Glenn Rogers	32	49	1	114	110	2	0	3	51.80
145	Ban	Habibul Bashar	105	229	5				0	9	51.80
146	Pak	Younis Khan	37	47	3	5	6	0	0	3	51.20
147	Pak	Danish Kaneria	6	4	0	93	78	3	0	2	50.20
148	Ken	Collins Obuya	31	44	1	8	18	0	0.5	3	50.20
149	Ber	Lionel Cann	44	40	0	88	72	1	0	3	49.60
150	NL	Darron Reekers	38	33	0	106	102	1	0	3	49.20
151	Can	Abdool Samad	60	113	1	85	64	2	0	3	48.80
152	Ken	Tanmay Mishra	37	61	2				0.5	3	47.20
153	Zim	Tawanda Mupariwa	0	3	0	91	114	2	0	2	45.80
154	Ken	Hiren Varaiya	5	23	1	98	138	1	0.5	3	45.00
155	Pak	Mohammad Yousuf	55	113	0	0	1	1	0	3	44.40
156	Aus	Stuart Clark	0	0	0	19	48	1	0	1	43.40
157	NL	Mark Jonkman	0	2	0	57	67	2	0	2	43.00
158	Scot	Paul Hoffmann	25	19	1	104	102	1	0	3	41.40
159	Can	Ashish Bagai	62	123	3 \| 0				0	3	40.60
160	Can	Kevin Sandher	2	6	0	58	60	2	0	1	37.20
161	SA	Robin Petersen	12	16	1	61	72	1	0	2	36.80
162	SL	Malinga Bandara	17	19	0	53	58	1	0	1	36.20
163	NL	Daan van Bunge	38	49	2	60	31	1	0	3	35.60
164	Zim	Prosper Utseya	5	8	1	101	156	0	0	3	32.40
165	NL	Peter Borren	26	24	1	141	108	2	0	3	31.20
166	Can	Anderson Cummins	10	11	0	149	150	2	0	3	30.20
167	NL	Bas Zuiderent	53	95	0				0	3	30.00
168	Ind	Harbhajan Singh	17	23	0	83	120	0	0	2	28.60
169	Ind	Robin Uthappa	30	48	1				0	3	26.60
170	SL	Nuwan Kulasekara	1	5	1	30	66	0	0	2	25.80
171	Zim	Anthony Ireland	0	0	1	38	42	1	0	1	24.60
172	WI	Ian Bradshaw	26	62	0	167	174	2	0	3	22.60
173	NL	Jeroen Smits	3	12	3 \| 1				0	3	21.40
174	Scot	Dougie Brown	64	102	1	126	90	1	0	3	21.40
175	Scot	Ryan Watson	53	107	0				0	3	20.40
176	Can	Umar Bhatti	11	30	0	110	134	1	0	3	19.20
177	Zim	Edward Rainsford	1	1	0	44	42	1	0	1	14.80
178	Can	George Codrington	7	8	1	70	60	1	0	1	14.60
179	NL	Eric Szwarczynski	24	42	0				0	2	14.40
180	Can	Desmond Chumney	27	51	0				0	1	13.20
181	WI	Lendl Simmons	14	26	1				0	1	12.20
182	Scot	Fraser Watts	33	69	0				0	2	10.80
183	Scot	Craig Wright	5	28	1	75	84	1	0	2	8.80
184	Eng	Stuart Broad	5	5	1	32	36	0	0	1	7.80
185	Ber	Delyone Borden	21	74	0	72	60	2	0	3	6.80
186	Zim	Terry Duffin	12	22	0				0	1	6.40
187	Ban	Shahriar Nafees	31	76	1				0	6	6.20
188	Ken	Tony Suji	14	29	0	15	18	0	0	1	4.20
189	Scot	Neil McCallum	25	64	1				0	2	3.80
190	Ire	John Mooney	23	45	1	36	30	0	0	2	3.00
191	Ban	Shahadat Hossain	0	2	0	51	54	0	0.5	1	2.60
192	Zim	Chamu Chibhabha	27	69	2	11	6	0	0	3	2.60
193	Ban	Javed Omar	55	141	1				0	3	2.20
194	Ber	Steven Outerbridge	9	20	0				0	2	2.00
195	WI	Kieron Pollard	10	17	0	20	18	0	0	1	0.80
196	Ire	Kenneth Carroll	0	2	1	8	6	0	0	1	0.20
197	SA	Loots Bosman	0	0	0				0	1	0.00
198	Can	Qaiser Ali	6	16	0				0	1	-0.80
199	Pak	Azhar Mahmood	2	21	0	25	46	0	0	1	-1.00
200	Ken	Lameck Onyango	16	35	0	77	60	1	0	2	-1.00
201	Zim	Friday Kasteni	9	24	0				0	2	-1.20
202	Pak	Naved-ul-Hasan	11	29	1	49	54	0	0	1	-2.00
203	Ire	Peter Gillespie	2	8	0				0	1	-2.40
204	Scot	Navdeep Poonia	1	6	0				0	2	-2.80
205	Ber	Oliver Pitcher	28	81	1				0	3	-3.80
206	Ber	Clay Smith	0	5	0				0	1	-4.00
207	Ber	Janeiro Tucker	13	33	4	131	132	0	0	3	-5.80
208	Ken	David Obuya	5	22	0				0	2	-7.60
209	NL	Luuk van Troost	5	10	1	59	24	1	0	2	-8.80
210	NL	Alexei Kervezee	17	54	0				0	2	-9.20
211	Scot	Dewald Nel	0	0	0	24	18	0	0	1	-9.60
212	Ber	Malachi Jones	1	8	2	74	42	1	0	1	-10.80
213	NZ	Daryl Tuffey	0	0	0	40	36	0	0	1	-11.20
214	Eng	Jamie Dalrymple	6	22	3	69	60	0	0	3	-11.60
215	Scot	Gavin Hamilton	11	44	0				0	3	-13.20
216	Ber	Irvine Romaine	11	32	0	29	18	0	0	3	-18.20
217	NL	Adeel Raja	8	14	0	61	47	0	0	1	-18.60
218	Ken	Nehemiah Odhiambo	0	0	0	33	18	0	0	1	-18.60
219	Ban	Tapash Baisya	0	0	0	35	17	0	0	1	-21.40
220	Ire	Paul Mooney	0	1	0	40	21	0	0	1	-24.00
221	Ber	Dwayne Leverock	10	39	1	182	141	2	0	3	-27.40
222	Can	Henry Osinde	1	3	0	76	56	0	0	2	-31.60
223	NZ	Mark Gillespie	2	8	3	109	73	0	0	2	-38.00

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

Here are the faces of the nine highest scoring batsmen in the 2007 World Cup so far (batting points | total runs / scoring rate). If two players have scored the same number of runs, the player with the higher overall 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 2007 World Cup so far (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.

Here are the faces of the nine most successful fielders in the 2007 World Cup so far ( 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 ("Bravo").

What is MVP?

MVP countdown: Styris 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