In the World Cup Super Eights match between South Africa and New Zealand, Scott Styris played a valuable innings of 56, but hardly bowled.

Jacques Kallis had to bat with utmost caution and only bowled four average overs. Neither player's performance was good enough to unseat Sanath Jayasuriya from the top of the Super Eights most valuable player (MVP) list.

Recall that batsmen score high points if they score a lot of runs in the least possible balls, bowlers score high points if they take a lot of wickets with the best possible economy rate, and fielders are rewarded for catches, stumpings and run outs.

With this scheme, all-rounders are always more advantaged; but then they also bring greater "value" to ODI games.

Andre Nel moved to the fourth place, ahead of Kallis, with his figures of 9.2-0-33-2, although only a tiny fraction separates these two.

Jacob Oram (6th place) is ahead of his compatriot Shane Bond (8). Most would agree that Bond has been the much better bowler, but he hasn't scored a single run so far in the Super Eights.

AB de Villiers, a pure batsman, drops to no. 14 after his duck against New Zealand. Graeme Smith, who was the MVP in the early phase of the World Cup is now down to no. 36 after another batting failure and to make matters worse, he also conceded 56 runs in 5 overs against West Indies.

Rank	Country	Player	Runs	Balls	Ct| St	Rc	Bb	W	Run Out	M	Total	AVG
1	SL	Sanath Jayasuriya	339	321	1	149	230	4	1.0	5	581.20	116.24
2	Aus	Matthew Hayden	347	300	2				0.0	5	464.00	92.80
3	NZ	Scott Styris	344	459	3	163	240	7	0.5	6	544.80	90.80
4	SA	Andre Nel	1	5	2	132	176	8	0.0	3	208.80	69.60
5	SA	Jacques Kallis	335	435	3	190	216	4	0.0	6	415.80	69.30
6	NZ	Jacob Oram	124	194	4	147	243	9	1.0	6	400.20	66.70
7	Eng	Andrew Flintoff	72	110	3	168	265	9	0.0	5	331.00	66.20
8	NZ	Shane Bond	0	0	3	135	310	11	0.0	6	392.00	65.33
9	SL	Lasith Malinga	2	9	1	165	182	11	0.5	4	258.40	64.60
10	Aus	Glenn McGrath	0	0	0	177	219	13	0.0	5	310.20	62.04
11	SL	Muttiah Muralitharan	3	3	2	188	288	10	0.0	5	296.00	59.20
12	Aus	Nathan Bracken	0	0	1	118	192	8	0.0	4	232.60	58.15
13	Eng	Kevin Pietersen	280	366	1	2	6	0	0.5	5	287.00	57.40
14	SA	AB De Villiers	253	253	4				0.0	6	323.60	53.93
15	WI	Daren Powell	55	50	0	232	294	8	0.0	5	265.20	53.04
16	SL	Chaminda Vaas	4	6	1	139	252	8	0.0	5	262.80	52.56
17	Aus	Ricky Ponting	212	233	5				0.0	5	262.60	52.52
18	Aus	Shaun Tait	0	0	1	212	225	11	1.0	5	261.00	52.20
19	Aus	Adam Gilchrist	169	157	4 | 2				0.0	5	252.40	50.48
20	SA	Herschelle Gibbs	231	284	7				1.0	6	293.80	48.97
21	NZ	Daniel Vettori	10	14	0	234	346	10	0.0	6	291.60	48.60
22	Eng	Paul Collingwood	160	235	5	166	192	3	1.0	5	240.60	48.12
23	Ban	Syed Rasel	14	21	1	146	222	6	0.0	4	191.80	47.95
24	SL	Kumar Sangakkara	177	240	5 | 4				0.5	5	239.00	47.80
25	Eng	Sajid Mahmood	2	4	0	171	208	7	1.0	4	188.20	47.05
26	Aus	Michael Clarke	188	185	2	27	24	0	0.0	5	230.20	46.04
27	Eng	Liam Plunkett	29	34	0	43	42	1	0.0	1	45.40	45.40
28	Aus	Brad Hogg	5	6	2	182	246	8	0.0	5	222.00	44.40
29	WI	Devon Smith	33	27	0				0.0	1	44.40	44.40
30	SL	Tillakaratne Dilshan	116	128	1	92	132	2	1.0	5	220.20	44.04
31	SL	Mahela Jayawardene	211	291	1				1.0	5	218.20	43.64
32	SA	Charles Langeveldt	10	47	1	219	222	9	0.5	4	174.00	43.50
33	Aus	Stuart Clark	0	0	0	19	48	1	0.0	1	43.40	43.40
34	WI	Ramnaresh Sarwan	220	299	1	52	48	1	0.0	5	216.20	43.24
35	Eng	Paul Nixon	131	145	5 | 1				1.0	5	205.00	41.00
36	SA	Graeme Smith	194	237	3	107	84	3	0.0	6	245.60	40.93
37	Aus	Shane Watson	47	35	1	81	100	1	1.0	3	118.00	39.33
38	SA	Shaun Pollock	58	80	1	234	318	5	1.5	6	233.40	38.90
39	Ire	Trent Johnston	70	79	2	166	156	4	0.5	4	153.60	38.40
40	WI	Brian Lara	137	162	2				1.0	5	178.40	35.68
41	NZ	Stephen Fleming	214	268	0				0.0	6	213.60	35.60
42	WI	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	191	270	1				0.0	5	171.00	34.20
43	NZ	Hamish Marshall	81	98	1				0.5	3	100.60	33.53
44	SL	Dilhara Fernando	2	2	1	91	138	3	0.0	3	98.80	32.93
45	Ban	Mohammad Rafique	40	64	1	161	228	4	0.5	5	163.20	32.64
46	Ban	Abdur Razzak	17	23	0	194	244	6	0.0	5	160.80	32.16
47	Eng	Monty Panesar	1	2	0	196	264	6	0.0	5	159.60	31.92
48	Ire	Andrew White	92	118	2	74	91	2	0.5	5	158.40	31.68
49	NZ	James Franklin	59	49	1	191	246	4	0.0	6	185.60	30.93
50	SA	Andre Hall	25	30	2	211	261	5	0.0	5	153.80	30.76
51	WI	Chris Gayle	106	149	1	189	212	3	0.0	5	150.40	30.08
52	Ire	Kyle McCallan	33	62	0	140	216	4	0.0	5	145.20	29.04
53	Ban	Mohammad Ashraful	142	168	0	7	2	0	0.0	5	144.20	28.84
54	NZ	Craig McMillan	121	182	0	29	39	3	0.0	6	170.60	28.43
55	SA	Mark Boucher	102	97	6 | 0				0.5	6	168.40	28.07
56	Aus	Andrew Symonds	74	40	1	114	104	2	0.0	5	138.20	27.64
57	Eng	Ian Bell	160	264	1				1.0	5	137.80	27.56
58	SL	Chamara Silva	131	177	3				0.0	5	135.40	27.08
59	Eng	James Anderson	0	1	0	192	258	5	0.0	5	133.60	26.72
60	Ban	Aftab Ahmed	95	110	3	1	1	0	0.5	5	128.80	25.76
61	SA	Makhaya Ntini	15	20	1	268	324	6	0.0	6	154.20	25.70
62	WI	Dwayne Bravo	54	75	1	244	216	6	0.0	5	125.80	25.16
63	WI	Denesh Ramdin	73	79	8 | 0				0.0	5	122.80	24.56
64	Ban	Saqibul Hasan	120	219	1	164	179	3	0.0	5	121.00	24.20
65	Eng	Ravinder Bopara	83	98	1	6	12	0	0.0	4	96.20	24.05
66	NZ	Brendon McCullum	52	40	12 | 1				0.0	6	142.00	23.67
67	Ire	Kevin O'Brien	94	135	1	59	54	1	0.0	4	93.20	23.30
68	SA	Ashwell Prince	86	111	1				1.0	5	112.20	22.44
69	NZ	Peter Fulton	142	228	1				0.0	5	106.60	21.32
70	NZ	Jeetan Patel	0	0	1	110	150	2	0.0	3	63.00	21.00
71	SL	Russel Arnold	79	104	0	26	37	1	0.0	5	102.40	20.48
72	Ire	Niall O'Brien	129	220	4 | 0				0.0	5	102.00	20.40
73	Ire	Dave Langford-Smith	28	30	0	170	204	3	0.0	5	97.20	19.44
74	WI	Corey Collymore	13	19	0	140	174	2	0.0	3	58.00	19.33
75	WI	Marlon Samuels	43	62	1	81	84	1	1.0	4	75.60	18.90
76	Ban	Tamim Iqbal	84	141	3				1.0	5	94.20	18.84
77	Ire	Boyd Rankin	8	28	0	171	188	5	0.0	5	93.00	18.60
78	SA	Robin Petersen	12	16	1	61	72	1	0.0	2	36.80	18.40
79	SL	Upul Tharanga	119	198	2				0.0	5	89.60	17.92
80	Ire	Andre Botha	60	115	0	109	132	1	0.0	3	48.60	16.20
81	Eng	Andrew Strauss	30	47	2				0.0	2	32.40	16.20
82	Eng	Michael Vaughan	67	135	0	48	72	1	0.5	5	71.60	14.32
83	WI	Jerome Taylor	23	27	0	136	156	1	0.0	3	37.20	12.40
84	WI	Lendl Simmons	14	26	1				0.0	1	12.20	12.20
85	SL	Farveez Maharoof	5	9	2	98	120	1	0.0	3	34.80	11.60
86	Aus	Michael Hussey	44	62	2				0.0	5	48.40	9.68
87	Ban	Mashrafe Mortaza	72	106	1	200	227	0	0.0	5	45.80	9.16
88	NZ	Michael Mason	0	0	0	18	45	0	0.0	2	18.00	9.00
89	WI	Ian Bradshaw	26	62	0	167	174	2	0.0	3	22.60	7.53
90	Aus	Brad Hodge	0	0	3				0.0	2	15.00	7.50
91	Ire	Eoin Morgan	63	137	4				0.0	5	36.40	7.28
92	Eng	Ed Joyce	11	28	3				0.0	3	14.60	4.87
93	Ire	William Porterfield	57	136	3				0.0	5	20.20	4.04
94	WI	Dwayne Smith	17	15	0	47	48	0	0.0	4	13.40	3.35
95	Ban	Habibul Bashar	60	143	2				0.0	5	15.60	3.12
96	Ire	Jeremy Bray	43	89	0				0.0	5	14.80	2.96
97	Ban	Javed Omar	39	92	0				0.0	2	4.40	2.20
98	NZ	Ross Taylor	10	20	0				0.0	3	4.00	1.33
99	WI	Kieron Pollard	10	17	0	20	18	0	0.0	1	0.80	0.80
100	Ban	Shahriar Nafees	10	25	0				0.0	3	0.00	0.00
101	SA	Loots Bosman	0	0	0				0.0	1	0.00	0.00
102	SA	Justin Kemp	13	51	2	27	24	0	0.5	4	-0.60	-0.15
103	Ire	John Mooney	23	45	0	36	30	0	0.0	2	-2.00	-1.00
104	Ban	Mushfiqur Rahim	21	65	0 | 0				0.0	5	-10.00	-2.00
105	NZ	Mark Gillespie	0	0	2	42	37	0	0.0	1	-2.40	-2.40
106	Ire	Peter Gillespie	2	8	0				0.0	1	-2.40	-2.40
107	NZ	Lou Vincent	0	6	0				0.0	1	-4.80	-4.80
108	Eng	Jamie Dalrymple	3	12	1	29	24	0	0.0	1	-8.40	-8.40
109	Ban	Tapash Baisya	0	0	0	35	17	0	0.0	1	-21.40	-21.40
110	Ire	Paul Mooney	0	1	0	40	21	0	0.0	1	-24.00	-24.00

Ct: Catches taken | St: Stumpings | Rc: Runs conceded | Bb: Balls bowled | W: Wickets taken | M: Matches played.
Note: *Run outs are counted as 1 for a direct hit, and 0.5 if the player is an equal participant in a run out dismissal.

The Chernoff gallery of the top nine Super Eight players after Day 31 appears below.

Here are the faces of the nine highest scoring batsmen in the Super Eights (total runs / scoring rate). If two players have scored the same number of runs, the player with the higher points appears first.

Recall that batsmen have round faces and a short and wide nose. They smile more when they score more runs. "Scott Styris", "Sanath Jayasuriya" and "Jacques Kallis" have taller noses, and faces that aren't so round -- because they are really bowling all-rounders.

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.

Bowlers have tapered faces, a tall and thin nose, and bigger ears if they take more wickets.

And, finally, here are the faces of the nine most successful fielders in the Super Eight ( run outs / catches / stumpings).

Fielders who take a lot of catches have wide eyebrows (see "Brendon McCullum"), and those that participate in run out dismissals have bigger eyes.

The bar chart below shows the average "value" that every team player in the Super Eights stage contributes. An English player contributes marginally less value than his South African counterpart. This isn't particularly surprising: players like Michael Vaughan, Andrew Strauss and Ed Joyce have contributed practically nothing!

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