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The Top 20 lists

By Srinivas Bhogle and K Anil Kumar
April 06, 2007 21:55 IST
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With the World Cup taking a brief respite, we had the time to prepare the "Top 20" lists of batsmen (most runs scored) and bowlers (most wickets taken) in the 2007 World Cup.

It's interesting that half of the Top 20 batsmen have a strike rate of over 90, and six of the Top 20 have a strike rate of over 100.

The Top 20 batsmen have also scored nine centuries and 36 fifties.

Player Country Matches Runs Strike Rate Highest Score 100's 50's
Matthew Hayden Aus 5 395 110.64 158 2 1
Graeme Smith SA 5 332 109.57 91 0 4
Jacques Kallis SA 5 328 89.13 128 1 2
Sanath Jayasuriya SL 6 303 104.48 115 2 0
Mahela Jayawardene SL 6 288 74.81 85 0 3
Stephen Fleming NZ 5 280 94.28 102 1 2
Ricky Ponting Aus 5 262 108.26 113 1 1
Scott Styris NZ 5 258 91.49 87 0 3
Michael Clarke Aus 5 241 106.17 93 0 2
Kevin Pietersen Eng 5 227 76.95 60 0 3
Shivnarine Chanderpaul WI 6 227 58.81 102 1 1
Chamara Silva SL 6 222 86.72 59 0 3
Paul Collingwood Eng 5 215 97.29 90 0 2
Adam Gilchrist Aus 5 211 98.60 59 0 2
Upul Tharanga SL 6 202 64.33 64 0 2
Kumar Sangakkara SL 6 199 78.35 76 0 2
Brian Lara WI 6 197 75.77 77 0 1
Imran Nazir Pak 3 190 108.57 160 1 0
Ramnaresh Sarwan WI 6 189 61.36 49 0 0
Niall O'Brien Ire 5 172 67.19 72 0 2

Only Niall O'Brien of Ireland is from a "minnow" team, and he too is trying to get into the England cricket team!

And here's the Top 20 list of bowlers. Bowlers with the most wickets are listed at the top and, if two or more bowlers have the same number of wickets, those with a better economy rate appear higher on the list.

There is only one instance of a bowler taking 5 wickets in an innings, but four bowlers from the Top 20 have had 4-wicket hauls.

Shane Bond's economy rate of 2.29 is truly remarkable.

Player Country Matches Wickets Economy Rate Best Bowling
Lasith Malinga SL 6 15 4.94 4-54
Muttiah Muralitharan SL 6 12 4.12 3-34
Glenn McGrath Aus 5 12 4.31 3-5
Charles Langeveldt SA 5 12 5.40 5-39
Daren Powell WI 6 11 3.84 2-24
Brad Hogg Aus 5 11 4.86 4-27
Andrew Flintoff Eng 4 9 3.70 4-43
Andrew Hall SA 5 9 4.54 3-48
Shane Bond NZ 4 8 2.29 3-31
Chaminda Vaas SL 6 8 3.32 2-19
Scott Styris NZ 5 8 3.76 4-43
Daniel Vettori NZ 5 8 4.65 3-39
Boyd Rankin Ire 5 8 4.77 3-32
Shaun Tait Aus 5 8 5.64 2-43
Dwayne Bravo WI 6 8 5.71 3-42
Jacob Oram NZ 5 7 3.46 3-23
Nathan Bracken Aus 5 7 3.71 2-20
Abdur Razzak Ban 5 7 5.63 3-20
Kyle McCallan Ire 5 6 4.24 2-12
Elton Chigumbura Zim 3 6 5.12 3-50

 

Srinivas Bhogle and K Anil Kumar work with Cranes Software International Limited, Bangalore.

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Srinivas Bhogle and K Anil Kumar