Graeme Smith continues to be MVP on Day 10

The two games yesterday: New Zealand-Canada and Scotland-Netherlands have had practically no impact on the MVP rankings; only Sunil Dhaniram of Canada, who was seventh, has dropped to the 40th place after a dreadful bowling spell of 0/72 in 8 overs.

Graeme Smith continues to top the list, while Virender Sehwag has inched up to the third place because of higher-ranked players dropping off. Today is Sehwag's and India's day of reckoning. Tomorrow's MVP list should be very interesting.

As we near the end of the first round of matches we note that only Steve Tikolo of Kenya has survived in the top 20; all other players are from the stronger teams. Scott Styris of New Zealand, now 6th, continues his very impressive World Cup run.

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	Ind	Virender Sehwag	116	93	0	32	60	2	0	2	221.60	110.80
4	Aus	Brad Hogg	40	15	0	43	72	5	0	2	202.60	101.30
5	SA	Jacques Kallis	128	109	0	39	72	0	0.5	2	199.40	99.70
6	NZ	Scott Styris	178	192	1	46	78	3	0	3	295.80	98.60
7	Pak	Shahid Afridi	16	10	0	20	24	3	0	1	95.20	95.20
8	Eng	Ravinder Bopara	29	30	0	43	54	2	0.5	1	94.20	94.20
9	SL	Sanath Jayasuriya	131	113	1	2	11	0	0	2	183.40	91.70
10	Aus	Ricky Ponting	136	115	0				0	2	180.00	90.00
11	SL	Kumar Sangakkara	132	138	5 \| 0				0	2	178.60	89.30
12	Ind	Yuvraj Singh	130	104	0	15	18	0	0	2	176.20	88.10
13	Ken	Steve Tikolo	79	92	5	79	90	3	0	2	174.40	87.20
14	Pak	Imran Nazir	190	175	1				0	3	245.00	81.67
15	SL	Mahela Jayawardene	131	160	1				1	2	163.00	81.50
16	SL	Lasith Malinga	0	0	0	37	66	6	0	2	159.80	79.90
17	SL	Farveez Maharoof	9	5	1	49	84	5	0	2	157.20	78.60
18	WI	Dwayne Smith	32	15	0	64	90	4	0	2	156.00	78.00
19	Ind	Anil Kumble	0	0	0	38	55	3	0	1	78.00	78.00
20	Aus	Glenn McGrath	0	0	0	47	84	5	0.5	2	152.20	76.10
21	WI	Dwayne Bravo	53	63	2	42	54	3	0.5	2	150.80	75.40
22	Aus	Adam Gilchrist	103	119	1 \| 1				1	2	149.80	74.90
23	Zim	Elton Chigumbura	61	49	1	116	136	6	0	3	224.60	74.87
24	Aus	Michael Clarke	108	105	1				0.5	2	149.00	74.50
25	SA	Mark Boucher	75	31	1 \| 0				0.5	2	142.20	71.10
26	SL	Chamara Silva	107	93	0				0	2	139.60	69.80
27	SA	AB De Villiers	62	47	1				2	2	139.40	69.70
28	Pak	Iftikhar Anjum	51	77	0	73	120	5	1	3	207.40	69.13
29	NZ	James Franklin	0	0	2	63	98	4	0.5	2	133.40	66.70
30	Ire	Trent Johnston	29	38	2	52	102	2	0.5	2	127.20	63.60
31	Ire	Jeremy Bray	118	150	2				0	2	126.00	63.00
32	Pak	Mohammad Sami	17	44	0	44	90	4	0	2	122.80	61.40
33	SA	Andre Hall	0	0	0	63	96	4	0.5	2	121.80	60.90
34	NL	William Stelling	1	4	1	55	96	4	0	2	121.60	60.80
35	NZ	Shane Bond	0	0	0	38	108	3	0	2	120.40	60.20
36	Zim	Gary Brent	12	21	1	108	120	5	0	2	120.20	60.10
37	Ire	Kyle McCallan	0	4	0	68	88	4	1	2	119.20	59.60
38	Ind	Sachin Tendulkar	64	55	0	9	24	1	0	2	118.20	59.10
39	Ire	Andre Botha	1	13	1	37	108	3	0	2	118.00	59.00
40	Can	Sunil Dhaniram	81	87	1	147	162	4	0	3	176.00	58.67
41	Ind	Sourav Ganguly	155	243	0				0	2	115.60	57.80
42	NL	Mohammad Kashif	0	0	1	29	42	2	0	1	57.60	57.60
43	NZ	Lou Vincent	101	127	0				3	3	172.40	57.47
44	Ken	Thomas Odoyo	42	67	0	87	108	3	0.5	2	113.80	56.90
45	Eng	Paul Collingwood	93	102	0	61	72	0	0.5	2	113.00	56.50
46	Can	John Davison	81	75	2	130	174	2	0	3	169.20	56.40
47	NZ	Peter Fulton	47	47	0				0	1	56.40	56.40
48	SA	Herschelle Gibbs	72	40	0				0	2	112.00	56.00
49	NZ	Jacob Oram	101	116	1	70	108	1	0.5	3	166.60	55.53
50	Ind	Munaf Patel	15	15	0	59	99	3	0	2	110.20	55.10
51	Aus	Matthew Hayden	89	107	1				0.5	2	109.40	54.70
52	Ban	Mohammad Rafique	7	17	0	83	120	4	0	2	109.40	54.70
53	Zim	Sean Williams	95	110	1	79	90	2	0.5	3	160.00	53.33
54	Ind	Zaheer Khan	15	17	0	73	114	3	0	2	106.60	53.30
55	NZ	Stephen Fleming	133	139	1				0	3	159.80	53.27
56	Eng	Paul Nixon	65	49	1 \| 1				0	2	105.80	52.90
57	SL	Muttiah Muralitharan	0	0	0	43	94	3	0	2	104.20	52.10
58	Ire	Boyd Rankin	0	0	1	75	96	4	0	2	102.80	51.40
59	SA	Shaun Pollock	0	0	1	29	96	2	0	2	100.80	50.40
60	WI	Marlon Samuels	91	118	0	48	60	0	0.5	2	99.60	49.80
61	NZ	Craig McMillan	108	88	0	60	78	0	0	3	148.00	49.33
62	WI	Daren Powell	1	1	1	57	96	3	0	2	98.00	49.00
63	Pak	Umar Gul	11	20	1	72	138	4	0	3	145.40	48.47
64	Ire	Niall O'Brien	73	112	3 \| 0				1	2	95.40	47.70
65	NZ	Daniel Vettori	14	7	2	155	180	5	0	3	141.40	47.13
66	Ken	Maurice Ouma	62	110	0 \| 1				2	2	94.00	47.00
67	NL	Ryan ten Doeschate	128	148	2	151	120	2	0	3	140.60	46.87
68	Pak	Mohammad Hafeez	15	34	2	54	78	3	0	2	93.20	46.60
69	Eng	Liam Plunkett	29	34	0	89	96	3	0	2	90.60	45.30
70	WI	Jerome Taylor	2	4	0	80	120	3	0	2	88.80	44.40
71	Ban	Mashrafe Mortaza	7	14	0	104	117	4	0	2	88.40	44.20
72	SL	Chaminda Vaas	0	0	0	22	78	2	0	2	88.40	44.20
73	NZ	Jeetan Patel	0	0	0	67	104	3	0	2	88.20	44.10
74	Ind	Ajit Agarkar	0	2	0	79	120	3	0	2	87.40	43.70
75	Ber	Saleem Mukuddem	0	4	0	50	60	2	0	1	42.80	42.80
76	NZ	Ross Taylor	85	108	0				0	2	83.60	41.80
77	Aus	Shaun Tait	0	0	0	74	90	3	0.5	2	82.00	41.00
78	Zim	Stuart Matsikenyeri	107	128	2	6	6	0	0	3	120.40	40.13
79	Eng	James Anderson	0	0	0	79	108	3	0	2	79.40	39.70
80	SA	Charles Langeveldt	0	0	0	70	96	3	0	2	78.80	39.40
81	NZ	Brendon McCullum	58	30	5 \| 0				0	3	117.00	39.00
82	Pak	Shoaib Malik	92	111	1	33	30	1	0	3	115.20	38.40
83	Ban	Abdur Razzak	0	2	2	124	120	4	0	2	76.40	38.20
84	Can	Kevin Sandher	2	6	0	58	60	2	0	1	37.20	37.20
85	WI	Brian Lara	81	124	2				0	2	72.80	36.40
86	SA	Justin Kemp	12	7	1	18	24	2	0	2	72.60	36.30
87	Ire	Langford-Smith	15	17	1	65	114	1	0	2	71.60	35.80
88	Ban	Tamim Iqbal	57	60	1				0	2	71.00	35.50
89	Aus	Nathan Bracken	0	0	1	45	78	2	0	2	70.40	35.20
90	NZ	Michael Mason	0	0	1	89	102	3	0	2	69.60	34.80
91	Aus	Shane Watson	30	15	1	18	42	0	0	2	68.60	34.30
92	SL	Tillakaratne Dilshan	12	15	1	12	18	1	1	2	67.40	33.70
93	Ind	Mahendra Dhoni	29	28	2 \| 2				0	2	65.60	32.80
94	WI	Corey Collymore	8	2	0	56	104	1	0	2	65.60	32.80
95	Ken	Jimmy Kamande	12	15	0	86	114	2	0	2	65.20	32.60
96	Ber	David Hemp	90	123	1	32	12	0	0	2	64.20	32.10
97	Ken	Ravindu Shah	77	115	0				0	2	62.00	31.00
98	Eng	Monty Panesar	0	0	0	82	120	2	0	2	62.00	31.00
99	Eng	Kevin Pietersen	65	96	1	2	6	0	0	2	61.00	30.50
100	Ber	Kevin Hurdle	6	7	1	114	114	3	0	2	60.60	30.30
101	Can	Ashif Mulla	83	101	1				0	3	90.20	30.07
102	Ire	Andrew White	32	51	0	15	18	1	0.5	2	58.60	29.30
103	Zim	Christopher Mpofu	1	10	0	166	174	4	1	3	87.20	29.07
104	Pak	Inzamam ul-Haq	74	103	4				0	3	85.60	28.53
105	WI	Chris Gayle	42	54	0	32	60	0	0	2	56.80	28.40
106	Can	Ian Billcliff	104	160	1				0	3	85.00	28.33
107	Ban	Saqibul Hasan	57	106	0	93	120	1	0	2	56.20	28.10
108	Pak	Kamran Akmal	42	74	3 \| 2				1	3	83.80	27.93
109	WI	Ramnaresh Sarwan	61	84	0				0	2	54.80	27.40
110	Scot	Colin Smith	85	129	1 \| 1				0	3	81.80	27.27
111	Eng	Ed Joyce	66	105	1				0	2	53.00	26.50
112	Ken	Hiren Varaiya	1	16	1	59	102	1	0.5	2	52.80	26.40
113	Eng	Andrew Flintoff	0	1	1	17	48	0	0	1	25.60	25.60
114	Pak	Danish Kaneria	6	4	0	93	78	3	0	2	50.20	25.10
115	Zim	Vusumuzi Sibanda	68	95	3				0	3	75.00	25.00
116	NL	Tim de Leede	35	58	1	112	108	3	0	3	75.00	25.00
117	SL	Upul Tharanga	56	84	1				0	2	49.80	24.90
118	Ken	Tanmay Mishra	37	58	2				0.5	2	49.60	24.80
119	Eng	Michael Vaughan	71	116	0				0	2	49.20	24.60
120	Ken	Peter Ongondo	4	21	1	115	120	3	0	2	49.20	24.60
121	Zim	Anthony Ireland	0	0	1	38	42	1	0	1	24.60	24.60
122	Zim	Brendan Taylor	87	178	4 \| 1				0.5	3	73.60	24.53
123	Can	Geoff Barnett	88	129	0				0	3	72.80	24.27
124	SA	Ashwell Prince	21	23	0				1	2	47.60	23.80
125	Scot	Majid Haq	35	70	0	121	101	4	0	3	69.80	23.27
126	Zim	Tawanda Mupariwa	0	3	0	91	114	2	0	2	45.80	22.90
127	NL	Mark Jonkman	0	2	0	57	67	2	0	2	43.00	21.50
128	Ban	Aftab Ahmed	20	26	4				0	2	39.20	19.60
129	Ire	Kevin O'Brien	26	80	0	37	48	2	0	2	37.40	18.70
130	Ban	Mohammad Ashraful	53	86	0				0	2	37.20	18.60
131	SA	Makhaya Ntini	0	0	0	25	54	0	0	1	18.20	18.20
132	Ire	Eoin Morgan	23	32	3				0	2	35.40	17.70
133	Scot	John Blain	41	63	0	90	78	2	0	3	52.00	17.33
134	Scot	Glenn Rogers	32	49	1	114	110	2	0	3	51.80	17.27
135	Pak	Younis Khan	37	47	3	5	6	0	0	3	51.20	17.07
136	Ber	Dean Minors	25	39	1 \| 1				0	2	33.80	16.90
137	NL	Darron Reekers	38	33	0	106	102	1	0	3	49.20	16.40
138	Can	Abdool Samad	60	113	1	85	64	2	0	3	48.80	16.27
139	SL	Russel Arnold	7	6	0	17	19	1	0	2	31.40	15.70
140	Ind	Harbhajan Singh	0	3	0	30	60	0	0	1	15.60	15.60
141	Ban	Syed Rasel	0	1	0	89	120	1	0	2	30.20	15.10
142	Pak	Mohammad Yousuf	55	113	0	0	1	1	0	3	44.40	14.80
143	Zim	Edward Rainsford	1	1	0	44	42	1	0	1	14.80	14.80
144	Ken	Collins Obuya	21	31	0				0.5	2	29.20	14.60
145	Can	George Codrington	7	8	1	70	60	1	0	1	14.60	14.60
146	Scot	Paul Hoffmann	25	19	1	104	102	1	0	3	41.40	13.80
147	Can	Ashish Bagai	62	123	3 \| 0				0	3	40.60	13.53
148	Can	Desmond Chumney	27	51	0				0	1	13.20	13.20
149	NL	Daan van Bunge	38	49	2	60	31	1	0	3	35.60	11.87
150	Ber	Lionel Cann	28	34	0	88	72	1	0	2	22.40	11.20
151	Ban	Mushfiqur Rahim	62	140	2 \| 0				0	2	22.00	11.00
152	Zim	Prosper Utseya	5	8	1	101	156	0	0	3	32.40	10.80
153	NL	Peter Borren	26	24	1	141	108	2	0	3	31.20	10.40
154	Eng	Ian Bell	33	63	1				0	2	20.60	10.30
155	Can	Anderson Cummins	10	11	0	149	150	2	0	3	30.20	10.07
156	NL	Bas Zuiderent	53	95	0				0	3	30.00	10.00
157	SA	Andre Nel	0	0	0	19	36	0	0	1	9.80	9.80
158	Ind	Rahul Dravid	21	30	0				0	2	18.00	9.00
159	Ber	Delyone Borden	19	63	0	57	48	2	0	2	17.00	8.50
160	NL	Eric Szwarczynski	24	42	0				0	2	14.40	7.20
161	Scot	Dougie Brown	64	102	1	126	90	1	0	3	21.40	7.13
162	NL	Jeroen Smits	3	12	3 \| 1				0	3	21.40	7.13
163	WI	Denesh Ramdin	1	4	3 \| 0				0	2	13.80	6.90
164	Scot	Ryan Watson	53	107	0				0	3	20.40	6.80
165	Zim	Terry Duffin	12	22	0				0	1	6.40	6.40
166	Can	Umar Bhatti	11	30	0	110	134	1	0	3	19.20	6.40
167	Ind	Robin Uthappa	12	21	1				0	2	12.20	6.10
168	Scot	Fraser Watts	33	69	0				0	2	10.80	5.40
169	Ber	Steven Outerbridge	9	16	0				0	1	5.20	5.20
170	Aus	Michael Hussey	6	10	1				0	2	9.00	4.50
171	Scot	Craig Wright	5	28	1	75	84	1	0	2	8.80	4.40
172	Ban	Habibul Bashar	19	55	2				0	2	4.00	2.00
173	Scot	Neil McCallum	25	64	1				0	2	3.80	1.90
174	Zim	Chamu Chibhabha	27	69	2	11	6	0	0	3	2.60	0.87
175	Zim	Friday Kasteni	9	24	0				0	2	-1.20	-0.60
176	Can	Qaiser Ali	6	16	0				0	1	-0.80	-0.80
177	Pak	Azhar Mahmood	2	21	0	25	46	0	0	1	-1.00	-1.00
178	Scot	Navdeep Poonia	1	6	0				0	2	-2.80	-1.40
179	Pak	Naved-ul-Hasan	11	29	1	49	54	0	0	1	-2.00	-2.00
180	Ken	Lameck Onyango	6	17	0	63	48	1	0	1	-2.20	-2.20
181	Ban	Shahriar Nafees	2	11	0				0	2	-4.80	-2.40
182	Ken	David Obuya	5	22	0				0	2	-7.60	-3.80
183	Ber	Clay Smith	0	5	0				0	1	-4.00	-4.00
184	Scot	Gavin Hamilton	11	44	0				0	3	-13.20	-4.40
185	NL	Luuk van Troost	5	10	1	59	24	1	0	2	-8.80	-4.40
186	NL	Alexei Kervezee	17	54	0				0	2	-9.20	-4.60
187	Ber	Oliver Pitcher	6	34	1				0	2	-10.20	-5.10
188	WI	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	40	123	1				0	2	-13.40	-6.70
189	Ire	William Porterfield	13	56	1				0	2	-13.80	-6.90
190	Eng	Jamie Dalrymple	5	16	1	50	42	0	0	2	-14.20	-7.10
191	Scot	Dewald Nel	0	0	0	24	18	0	0	1	-9.60	-9.60
192	Ber	Malachi Jones	1	8	2	74	42	1	0	1	-10.80	-10.80
193	NZ	Daryl Tuffey	0	0	0	40	36	0	0	1	-11.20	-11.20
194	Ber	Irvine Romaine	0	11	0	29	18	0	0	2	-23.40	-11.70
195	Ber	Janeiro Tucker	4	27	3	117	114	0	0	2	-24.40	-12.20
196	Ber	Dwayne Leverock	10	39	1	163	120	2	0	2	-25.20	-12.60
197	Can	Henry Osinde	1	3	0	76	56	0	0	2	-31.60	-15.80
198	NL	Adeel Raja	8	14	0	61	47	0	0	1	-18.60	-18.60
199	Ken	Nehemiah Odhiambo	0	0	0	33	18	0	0	1	-18.60	-18.60

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

With at least six of the top nine having rounded, smiling faces, and wide noses, it's clear that batsmen, or batting allrounders, have dominated the opening round encounters.

"Brad Hogg"'s five wickets from two matches earn him a tall nose and big ears typical of a successful bowler. As matches get competitive, and pitches start wearing out, we should find more bowlers penetrating the top ranks.

To see the faces of the nine highest scoring batsmen click here. (In particular, note Kumar Sangakkara's wide eyebrows because of his five catches.)

To see the faces of the nine highest wicket-taking bowlers, click here.

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

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