Graeme Smith reigns as MVP on Day 9

One of our readers remarked yesterday that she wishes that Graeme Smith stays as Rediff's most valuable player (MVP) day after day. If he continues to bat so explosively, and can pick up a few wickets, he could indeed stay up there.

Sri Lanka's Farveez Maharoof drops to the 18th place after the Bangladesh game. He bowled very economically but only got one wicket. Bangladesh's Mashrafe Mortaza, who was 6th, has dropped to the 65th place after he was badly thumped by Jayasuriya and others, and gave away 66 runs in 10 overs.

Pakistan's Shahid Afridi makes a fleeting appearance at the 8th place after he took three wickets against Zimbabwe. He won't stay there very long because Pakistan have been eliminated. But we should expect to see much more of Sanath Jayasuriya, who is currently 10th after yesterday's fine century, especially after he starts bowling a little more (Jayasuriya always gets wickets when he bowls).

In fact this MVP table will look very different once the Super Eight begins. All players from the eliminated teams will drop off, and only the data relating to matches with other qualifying teams will be retained.

Rank	Country	Player	Runs	Balls	Ct \| St	Rc	Bb	W	Run outs	M	Total	Average
1	SA	Graeme Smith	158	124	2	45	66	1	0.5	2	270.60	135.30
2	Aus	Brad Hodge	152	117	0	17	36	1	0	2	246.20	123.10
3	NZ	Scott Styris	150	175	1	25	42	2	0	2	221.60	110.80
4	Ind	Virender Sehwag	116	93	0	32	60	2	0	2	221.60	110.80
5	Aus	Brad Hogg	40	15	0	43	72	5	0	2	202.60	101.30
6	SA	Jacques Kallis	128	109	0	39	72	0	0.5	2	199.40	99.70
7	Can	Sunil Dhaniram	64	68	1	75	114	4	0	2	190.80	95.40
8	Pak	Shahid Afridi	16	10	0	20	24	3	0	1	95.20	95.20
9	Eng	Ravinder Bopara	29	30	0	43	54	2	0.5	1	94.20	94.20
10	SL	Sanath Jayasuriya	131	113	1	2	11	0	0	2	183.40	91.70
11	Aus	Ricky Ponting	136	115	0				0	2	180.00	90.00
12	SL	Kumar Sangakkara	132	138	5 \| 0				0	2	178.60	89.30
13	Ind	Yuvraj Singh	130	104	0	15	18	0	0	2	176.20	88.10
14	Ken	Steve Tikolo	79	92	5	79	90	3	0	2	174.40	87.20
15	Pak	Imran Nazir	190	175	1				0	3	245.00	81.67
16	SL	Mahela Jayawardene	131	160	1				1	2	163.00	81.50
17	SL	Lasith Malinga	0	0	0	37	66	6	0	2	159.80	79.90
18	SL	Farveez Maharoof	9	5	1	49	84	5	0	2	157.20	78.60
19	WI	Dwayne Smith	32	15	0	64	90	4	0	2	156.00	78.00
20	Ind	Anil Kumble	0	0	0	38	55	3	0	1	78.00	78.00
21	Aus	Glenn McGrath	0	0	0	47	84	5	0.5	2	152.20	76.10
22	WI	Dwayne Bravo	53	63	2	42	54	3	0.5	2	150.80	75.40
23	Aus	Adam Gilchrist	103	119	1 \| 1				1	2	149.80	74.90
24	Zim	Elton Chigumbura	61	49	1	116	136	6	0	3	224.60	74.87
25	Aus	Michael Clarke	108	105	1				0.5	2	149.00	74.50
26	SA	Mark Boucher	75	31	1 \| 0				0.5	2	142.20	71.10
27	SL	Chamara Silva	107	93	0				0	2	139.60	69.80
28	NZ	Craig McMillan	98	82	0	39	60	0	0	2	139.40	69.70
29	SA	AB De Villiers	62	47	1				2	2	139.40	69.70
30	Pak	Iftikhar Anjum	51	77	0	73	120	5	1	3	207.40	69.13
31	NZ	James Franklin	0	0	2	63	98	4	0.5	2	133.40	66.70
32	Ire	Trent Johnston	29	38	2	52	102	2	0.5	2	127.20	63.60
33	Ire	Jeremy Bray	118	150	2				0	2	126.00	63.00
34	NZ	Michael Mason	0	0	0	29	54	2	0	1	62.20	62.20
35	Pak	Mohammad Sami	17	44	0	44	90	4	0	2	122.80	61.40
36	SA	Andre Hall	0	0	0	63	96	4	0.5	2	121.80	60.90
37	NZ	Shane Bond	0	0	0	38	108	3	0	2	120.40	60.20
38	Zim	Gary Brent	12	21	1	108	120	5	0	2	120.20	60.10
39	Ire	Kyle McCallan	0	4	0	68	88	4	1	2	119.20	59.60
40	Ind	Sachin Tendulkar	64	55	0	9	24	1	0	2	118.20	59.10
41	Ire	Andre Botha	1	13	1	37	108	3	0	2	118.00	59.00
42	Ind	Sourav Ganguly	155	243	0				0	2	115.60	57.80
43	Ken	Thomas Odoyo	42	67	0	87	108	3	0.5	2	113.80	56.90
44	Eng	Paul Collingwood	93	102	0	61	72	0	0.5	2	113.00	56.50
45	SA	Herschelle Gibbs	72	40	0				0	2	112.00	56.00
46	Ind	Munaf Patel	15	15	0	59	99	3	0	2	110.20	55.10
47	Aus	Matthew Hayden	89	107	1				0.5	2	109.40	54.70
48	Ban	Mohammad Rafique	7	17	0	83	120	4	0	2	109.40	54.70
49	Zim	Sean Williams	95	110	1	79	90	2	0.5	3	160.00	53.33
50	Ind	Zaheer Khan	15	17	0	73	114	3	0	2	106.60	53.30
51	Eng	Paul Nixon	65	49	1 \| 1				0	2	105.80	52.90
52	SL	Muttiah Muralidaran	0	0	0	43	94	3	0	2	104.20	52.10
53	Ire	Boyd Rankin	0	0	1	75	96	4	0	2	102.80	51.40
54	SA	Shaun Pollock	0	0	1	29	96	2	0	2	100.80	50.40
55	NZ	Jacob Oram	66	89	1	54	66	1	0.5	2	100.60	50.30
56	WI	Marlon Samuels	91	118	0	48	60	0	0.5	2	99.60	49.80
57	WI	Daren Powell	1	1	1	57	96	3	0	2	98.00	49.00
58	Pak	Umar Gul	11	20	1	72	138	4	0	3	145.40	48.47
59	Ire	Niall O'Brien	73	112	3 \| 0				1	2	95.40	47.70
60	Ken	Maurice Ouma	62	110	0 \| 1				2	2	94.00	47.00
61	Pak	Mohammad Hafeez	15	34	2	54	78	3	0	2	93.20	46.60
62	Can	Ashif Mulla	83	99	1				0	2	91.80	45.90
63	Eng	Liam Plunkett	29	34	0	89	96	3	0	2	90.60	45.30
64	WI	Jerome Taylor	2	4	0	80	120	3	0	2	88.80	44.40
65	Ban	Mashrafe Mortaza	7	14	0	104	117	4	0	2	88.40	44.20
66	SL	Chaminda Vaas	0	0	0	22	78	2	0	2	88.40	44.20
67	Ind	Ajit Agarkar	0	2	0	79	120	3	0	2	87.40	43.70
68	Ber	Saleem Mukuddem	0	4	0	50	60	2	0	1	42.80	42.80
69	NZ	Ross Taylor	85	108	0				0	2	83.60	41.80
70	Aus	Shaun Tait	0	0	0	74	90	3	0.5	2	82.00	41.00
71	NZ	Stephen Fleming	67	72	1				0	2	81.40	40.70
72	Scot	Majid Haq	29	55	0	92	78	4	0	2	80.40	40.20
73	Zim	Stuart Matsikenyeri	107	128	2	6	6	0	0	3	120.40	40.13
74	Eng	James Anderson	0	0	0	79	108	3	0	2	79.40	39.70
75	SA	Charles Langeveldt	0	0	0	70	96	3	0	2	78.80	39.40
76	NZ	Daniel Vettori	14	7	2	98	120	2	0	2	78.40	39.20
77	Pak	Shoaib Malik	92	111	1	33	30	1	0	3	115.20	38.40
78	Ban	Abdur Razzak	0	2	2	124	120	4	0	2	76.40	38.20
79	WI	Brian Lara	81	124	2				0	2	72.80	36.40
80	SA	Justin Kemp	12	7	1	18	24	2	0	2	72.60	36.30
81	Ire	Langford-Smith	15	17	1	65	114	1	0	2	71.60	35.80
82	Ban	Tamim Iqbal	57	60	1				0	2	71.00	35.50
83	Aus	Nathan Bracken	0	0	1	45	78	2	0	2	70.40	35.20
84	Aus	Shane Watson	30	15	1	18	42	0	0	2	68.60	34.30
85	SL	Tillakaratne Dilshan	12	15	1	12	18	1	1	2	67.40	33.70
86	Ind	Mahendra Dhoni	29	28	2 \| 2				0	2	65.60	32.80
87	WI	Corey Collymore	8	2	0	56	104	1	0	2	65.60	32.80
88	Ken	Jimmy Kamande	12	15	0	86	114	2	0	2	65.20	32.60
89	Ber	David Hemp	90	123	1	32	12	0	0	2	64.20	32.10
90	Ken	Ravindu Shah	77	115	0				0	2	62.00	31.00
91	Eng	Monty Panesar	0	0	0	82	120	2	0	2	62.00	31.00
92	Eng	Kevin Pietersen	65	96	1	2	6	0	0	2	61.00	30.50
93	Ber	Kevin Hurdle	6	7	1	114	114	3	0	2	60.60	30.30
94	Ire	Andrew White	32	51	0	15	18	1	0.5	2	58.60	29.30
95	Zim	Christopher Mpofu	1	10	0	166	174	4	1	3	87.20	29.07
96	Scot	Colin Smith	66	106	0 \| 1				0	2	57.20	28.60
97	Pak	Inzamam ul-Haq	74	103	4				0	3	85.60	28.53
98	WI	Chris Gayle	42	54	0	32	60	0	0	2	56.80	28.40
99	Ban	Saqibul Hasan	57	106	0	93	120	1	0	2	56.20	28.10
100	Can	John Davison	29	44	1	63	114	0	0	2	56.00	28.00
101	Pak	Kamran Akmal	42	74	3 \| 2				1	3	83.80	27.93
102	WI	Ramnaresh Sarwan	61	84	0				0	2	54.80	27.40
103	Eng	Ed Joyce	66	105	1				0	2	53.00	26.50
104	Ken	Hiren Varaiya	1	16	1	59	102	1	0.5	2	52.80	26.40
105	NL	Ryan ten Doeschate	58	80	1	134	102	2	0	2	52.60	26.30
106	Eng	Andrew Flintoff	0	1	1	17	48	0	0	1	25.60	25.60
107	NL	Tim de Leede	35	58	0	88	84	2	0	2	50.80	25.40
108	Can	Geoff Barnett	48	57	0				0	2	50.40	25.20
109	Pak	Danish Kaneria	6	4	0	93	78	3	0	2	50.20	25.10
110	Zim	Vusumuzi Sibanda	68	95	3				0	3	75.00	25.00
111	SL	Upul Tharanga	56	84	1				0	2	49.80	24.90
112	Ken	Tanmay Mishra	37	58	2				0.5	2	49.60	24.80
113	Eng	Michael Vaughan	71	116	0				0	2	49.20	24.60
114	Ken	Peter Ongondo	4	21	1	115	120	3	0	2	49.20	24.60
115	Zim	Anthony Ireland	0	0	1	38	42	1	0	1	24.60	24.60
116	Zim	Brendan Taylor	87	178	4 \| 1				0.5	3	73.60	24.53
117	SA	Ashwell Prince	21	23	0				1	2	47.60	23.80
118	Zim	Tawanda Mupariwa	0	3	0	91	114	2	0	2	45.80	22.90
119	Scot	Paul Hoffmann	18	11	1	78	78	1	0	2	40.60	20.30
120	NZ	Lou Vincent	0	10	0				2	2	40.00	20.00
121	Ban	Aftab Ahmed	20	26	4				0	2	39.20	19.60
122	Ire	Kevin O'Brien	26	80	0	37	48	2	0	2	37.40	18.70
123	Ban	Mohammad Ashraful	53	86	0				0	2	37.20	18.60
124	NL	William Stelling	1	4	0	43	48	1	0	1	18.20	18.20
125	SA	Makhaya Ntini	0	0	0	25	54	0	0	1	18.20	18.20
126	Ire	Eoin Morgan	23	32	3				0	2	35.40	17.70
127	Can	Abdool Samad	51	96	0	54	49	1	0	2	34.40	17.20
128	Pak	Younis Khan	37	47	3	5	6	0	0	3	51.20	17.07
129	Ber	Dean Minors	25	39	1 \| 1				0	2	33.80	16.90
130	SL	Russel Arnold	7	6	0	17	19	1	0	2	31.40	15.70
131	NL	Peter Borren	26	24	1	141	108	2	0	2	31.20	15.60
132	Ind	Harbhajan Singh	0	3	0	30	60	0	0	1	15.60	15.60
133	Ban	Syed Rasel	0	1	0	89	120	1	0	2	30.20	15.10
134	Pak	Mohammad Yousuf	55	113	0	0	1	1	0	3	44.40	14.80
135	Zim	Edward Rainsford	1	1	0	44	42	1	0	1	14.80	14.80
136	Can	Anderson Cummins	1	3	0	90	90	2	0	2	29.60	14.80
137	Ken	Collins Obuya	21	31	0				0.5	2	29.20	14.60
138	Can	George Codrington	7	8	1	70	60	1	0	1	14.60	14.60
139	Can	Desmond Chumney	27	51	0				0	1	13.20	13.20
140	Can	Ian Billcliff	54	104	0				0	2	24.80	12.40
141	NZ	Brendon McCullum	6	9	4 \| 0				0	2	24.80	12.40
142	Scot	Glenn Rogers	6	19	1	99	92	2	0	2	24.40	12.20
143	Scot	Dougie Brown	64	101	1	106	66	1	0	2	23.00	11.50
144	Ber	Lionel Cann	28	34	0	88	72	1	0	2	22.40	11.20
145	Ban	Mushfiqur Rahim	62	140	2 \| 0				0	2	22.00	11.00
146	Zim	Prosper Utseya	5	8	1	101	156	0	0	3	32.40	10.80
147	Eng	Ian Bell	33	63	1				0	2	20.60	10.30
148	Can	Umar Bhatti	1	2	0	85	101	1	0	2	20.20	10.10
149	SA	Andre Nel	0	0	0	19	36	0	0	1	9.80	9.80
150	Scot	Ryan Watson	37	70	0				0	2	18.00	9.00
151	Ind	Rahul Dravid	21	30	0				0	2	18.00	9.00
152	Ber	Delyone Borden	19	63	0	57	48	2	0	2	17.00	8.50
153	WI	Denesh Ramdin	1	4	3 \| 0				0	2	13.80	6.90
154	Can	Ashish Bagai	25	59	2 \| 0				0	2	12.80	6.40
155	Zim	Terry Duffin	12	22	0				0	1	6.40	6.40
156	Ind	Robin Uthappa	12	21	1				0	2	12.20	6.10
157	Scot	Fraser Watts	33	69	0				0	2	10.80	5.40
158	Ber	Steven Outerbridge	9	16	0				0	1	5.20	5.20
159	Scot	Craig Wright	4	21	0	58	60	1	0	1	5.20	5.20
160	NL	Daan van Bunge	38	49	2	56	24	0	0	2	10.00	5.00
161	Aus	Michael Hussey	6	10	1				0	2	9.00	4.50
162	NL	Darron Reekers	29	25	0	83	66	0	0	2	7.80	3.90
163	Ban	Habibul Bashar	19	55	2				0	2	4.00	2.00
164	Zim	Chamu Chibhabha	27	69	2	11	6	0	0	3	2.60	0.87
165	NL	Jeroen Smits	3	12	1 \| 0				0	2	1.40	0.70
166	Zim	Friday Kasteni	9	24	0				0	2	-1.20	-0.60
167	NL	Eric Szwarczynski	12	31	0				0	1	-0.80	-0.80
168	Can	Qaiser Ali	6	16	0				0	1	-0.80	-0.80
169	Pak	Azhar Mahmood	2	21	0	25	46	0	0	1	-1.00	-1.00
170	Scot	Navdeep Poonia	1	4	0				0	1	-1.20	-1.20
171	Pak	Naved-ul-Hasan	11	29	1	49	54	0	0	1	-2.00	-2.00
172	Ken	Lameck Onyango	6	17	0	63	48	1	0	1	-2.20	-2.20
173	Scot	John Blain	23	35	0	61	48	0	0	2	-4.60	-2.30
174	Ban	Shahriar Nafees	2	11	0				0	2	-4.80	-2.40
175	NZ	Jeetan Patel	0	0	0	42	48	0	0	1	-3.60	-3.60
176	Ken	David Obuya	5	22	0				0	2	-7.60	-3.80
177	Ber	Clay Smith	0	5	0				0	1	-4.00	-4.00
178	NL	Luuk van Troost	5	10	1	59	24	1	0	2	-8.80	-4.40
179	NL	Alexei Kervezee	17	54	0				0	2	-9.20	-4.60
180	Can	Henry Osinde	1	2	0	31	32	0	0	1	-5.00	-5.00
181	Ber	Oliver Pitcher	6	34	1				0	2	-10.20	-5.10
182	Scot	Gavin Hamilton	7	31	0				0	2	-10.80	-5.40
183	NL	Bas Zuiderent	10	39	0				0	2	-11.20	-5.60
184	WI	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	40	123	1				0	2	-13.40	-6.70
185	Ire	William Porterfield	13	56	1				0	2	-13.80	-6.90
186	NL	Mark Jonkman	0	2	0	35	37	0	0	1	-7.00	-7.00
187	Eng	Jamie Dalrymple	5	16	1	50	42	0	0	2	-14.20	-7.10
188	Scot	Dewald Nel	0	0	0	24	18	0	0	1	-9.60	-9.60
189	Scot	Neil McCallum	1	21	1				0	1	-9.80	-9.80
190	Ber	Malachi Jones	1	8	2	74	42	1	0	1	-10.80	-10.80
191	Ber	Irvine Romaine	0	11	0	29	18	0	0	2	-23.40	-11.70
192	Ber	Janeiro Tucker	4	27	3	117	114	0	0	2	-24.40	-12.20
193	Ber	Dwayne Leverock	10	39	1	163	120	2	0	2	-25.20	-12.60
194	NL	Adeel Raja	8	14	0	61	47	0	0	1	-18.60	-18.60
195	Ken	Nehemiah Odhiambo	0	0	0	33	18	0	0	1	-18.60	-18.60

*Run outs are counted as 1 for a direct hit, and 0.5 if the fielder is an equal participant in a run out dismissal.

Today's Chernoff gallery of the top nine players is shown below:

The round and smiling faces with a wide nose ("Smith", "Hodge" and "Kallis") belong to pure batsmen, or batsmen who might have bowled a bit. "Sehwag" and "Styris" look like batsmen too, but with a taller nose and slightly bigger ears they've taken a few wickets too. "Hogg" and "Afridi" with their tapered faces and very tall noses have qualified as pure bowlers.

Finally notice that "Smith", "Kallis" and "Bopara" have slightly bigger and keener eyes than the rest. This is because only this trio has participated in a run out dismissal among the top nine.

This list and the Chernoff faces have been prepared by my colleagues Debasish Ghosh and K Anil Kumar of Cranes Software International Limited using the SYSTAT software.