Andre Nel is at the top of the most valuable player (MVP) list after Day 25. As one of our readers remarked, this doesn't seem right. Quite honestly, we didn't expect a player to suddenly emerge out of the blue with a thundering Super Eight performance! Nel is however likely to have a fall after his second match against the West Indies tomorrow.
The real heroes of the 2007 World Cup are the players who have been consistently in the top 5 (see the chart at the end of this note): Hayden, Jayasuriya, Styris, Ponting, Smith, Kallis, Bond and others.
After his excellent century against Australia, Kevin Pietersen is now seventh on the MVP list. Hayden drops to the fourth place because he had a poorer-than-usual match against England.
| Rank | Country | Player | Runs | Balls | Ct | St | Rc | Bb | W | Run Outs | M | Total | AVG |
| 1 | SA | Andre Nel | 1 | 5 | 2 | 45 | 60 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 131.00 | 131.00 |
| 2 | SL | Sanath Jayasuriya | 275 | 241 | 1 | 105 | 170 | 4 | 24 | 4 | 513.20 | 128.30 |
| 3 | NZ | Scott Styris | 167 | 203 | 2 | 103 | 162 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 376.20 | 125.40 |
| 4 | Aus | Matthew Hayden | 347 | 300 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 459.00 | 114.75 | |||
| 5 | NZ | Jacob Oram | 63 | 83 | 1 | 78 | 141 | 7 | 24 | 3 | 291.40 | 97.13 |
| 6 | NZ | Shane Bond | 0 | 0 | 0 | 65 | 172 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 240.60 | 80.20 |
| 7 | Eng | Kevin Pietersen | 270 | 341 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 4 | 287.00 | 71.75 |
| 8 | Eng | Andrew Flintoff | 49 | 89 | 2 | 130 | 217 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 272.40 | 68.10 |
| 9 | SA | Jacques Kallis | 232 | 295 | 3 | 137 | 144 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 269.20 | 67.30 |
| 10 | SL | Lasith Malinga | 2 | 9 | 1 | 165 | 182 | 11 | 12 | 4 | 258.40 | 64.60 |
| 11 | Aus | Ricky Ponting | 212 | 233 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 257.60 | 64.40 | |||
| 12 | Eng | Paul Collingwood | 137 | 161 | 3 | 152 | 168 | 3 | 24 | 4 | 238.60 | 59.65 |
| 13 | SA | Graeme Smith | 186 | 203 | 2 | 51 | 54 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 235.80 | 58.95 |
| 14 | Aus | Nathan Bracken | 0 | 0 | 1 | 118 | 192 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 232.60 | 58.15 |
| 15 | NZ | Stephen Fleming | 154 | 169 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 172.80 | 57.60 | |||
| 16 | Aus | Michael Clarke | 188 | 185 | 2 | 27 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 230.20 | 57.55 |
| 17 | WI | Daren Powell | 7 | 14 | 0 | 154 | 234 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 228.00 | 57.00 |
| 18 | Aus | Glenn McGrath | 0 | 0 | 0 | 160 | 177 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 221.60 | 55.40 |
| 19 | SL | Muttiah Muralitharan | 3 | 3 | 2 | 156 | 228 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 208.00 | 52.00 |
| 20 | Aus | Adam Gilchrist | 135 | 132 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 204.40 | 51.10 | |||
| 21 | SL | Mahela Jayawardene | 196 | 275 | 1 | 24 | 4 | 201.00 | 50.25 | |||
| 22 | SL | Tillakaratne Dilshan | 102 | 104 | 1 | 48 | 84 | 1 | 24 | 4 | 193.00 | 48.25 |
| 23 | SL | Dilhara Fernando | 2 | 2 | 1 | 60 | 96 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 96.20 | 48.10 |
| 24 | Ire | Trent Johnston | 40 | 35 | 1 | 85 | 78 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 94.40 | 47.20 |
| 25 | Eng | Liam Plunkett | 29 | 34 | 0 | 43 | 42 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 45.40 | 45.40 |
Ct: Catches taken | St: Stumpings | Rc: Runs conceded | Bb: Balls bowled | W: Wickets taken | M: Matches played.*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.
The disappointing performers so far at this World Cup have been Vettori (50), Pollock (51), Ntini (52), Gayle (54), Symonds (61; although commentators love to praise him!), Boucher (74), Vaughan (79), Strauss (84), Hussey (87) and Kemp (94).
The Chernoff gallery of the top nine Super Eight players after Day 25 appears below.
Recall that batsmen have round faces and a short and wide nose. They smile more when they score more runs (see "Jayasuriya" and "Hayden"). Bowlers have tapered faces, big ears and a tall and thin nose (see "Oram"). Bowlers have bigger ears if they take more wickets (see "Malinga" in the illustration below).
Every player can have only one "face". All-rounders ("Jayasuriya" or "Styris") have both batsmen's and bowler's features.
Here are the faces of the nine highest scoring batsmen in the Super Eight (total runs / scoring rate). If two players have scored the same number of runs, the player with the higher points appears first.
Here are the faces of the nine highest wicket-taking bowlers in the Super Eight (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.
And, finally, 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 (see "Pollock"). Notice the large number of wicket-keepers in this list.
We end off by looking at the most consistent World Cup 2007 performances. Scott Styris, who is placed third today, has figured in the MVP top five for 19 of the first 24 days! Hayden, Jayasuriya and Oram, who figure in the top 5 for 10 of the first 24 days, are the other consistent performers. See the full list below (number in bracket is today's rank).
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