When we completed Sunday's Most Valuable Player calculations (it takes almost three hours to carry out the business), we were surprised that Australia's Brad Hodge had sneaked past the South African captain Graeme Smith.

It didn't seem right after Smith's superlative knock on Saturday, and given that Hodge hadn't even made it to the Australian eleven for the South Africa match.

But we could not change things unless we changed our rules (for example, by ranking on the total points instead of the average points) or fudged our data.

Shahid Afridi at No. 5 too is hard to accept. He is up there only because he got three cheap Zimbabwe wickets in the only match he played.

If we temporarily ignore these (and they will disappear once the Super Eight starts), we find that the formula has picked out the most valuable players sufficiently well: Smith is South Africa's best (with AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis not far behind).

Scott Styris is New Zealand's best so far, Ricky Ponting has brought the greatest value to his Australian team followed by Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hogg and Adam Gilchrist.

Steve Tikolo is certainly Kenya's most valuable player, perhaps the only valuable player and Sehwag has indeed played better for India than anyone else even if that was hardly good enough.

Rank	Country	Player	Runs	Balls	Ct|St	Rc	Bb	W	Run outs*	M	Total	AVG
1	Aus	Brad Hodge	152	117	0	17	36	1	0	2	246.20	123.10
2	SA	Graeme Smith	232	193	2	59	78	1	0.5	3	359.00	119.67
3	NZ	Scott Styris	178	192	1	46	78	3	0	3	295.80	98.60
4	Aus	Ricky Ponting	227	206	0	0	0	0	0	3	289.20	96.40
5	Pak	Shahid Afridi	16	10	0	20	24	3	0	1	95.20	95.20
6	Ind	Virender Sehwag	164	139	0	32	60	2	0	3	280.80	93.60
7	Aus	Michael Clarke	200	180	2	0	0	0	0.5	3	278.00	92.67
8	Ken	Steve Tikolo	155	189	5	97	114	4	0	3	274.00	91.33
9	SA	AB De Villiers	154	117	2	0	0	0	2	3	272.40	90.80
10	Aus	Matthew Hayden	190	175	2	0	0	0	0.5	3	262.00	87.33
11	Aus	Brad Hogg	40	15	0	104	132	8	0	3	261.60	87.20
12	SA	Jacques Kallis	176	172	1	105	126	1	0.5	3	251.20	83.73
13	Pak	Imran Nazir	190	175	1	0	0	0	0	3	245.00	81.67
14	SL	Farveez Maharoof	9	5	1	49	84	5	0	2	157.20	78.60
15	Ind	Anil Kumble	0	0	0	38	55	3	0	1	78.00	78.00
16	SL	Sanath Jayasuriya	137	136	1	33	65	1	0.5	3	225.20	75.07
17	Zim	Elton Chigumbura	61	49	1	116	136	6	0	3	224.60	74.87
18	Aus	Adam Gilchrist	145	161	2 | 2	0	0	0	1	3	215.20	71.73
19	Pak	Iftikhar Anjum	51	77	0	73	120	5	1	3	207.40	69.13
20	SL	Chamara Silva	166	161	0	0	0	0	0	3	203.20	67.73
21	NZ	James Franklin	0	0	2	63	98	4	0.5	2	133.40	66.70
22	WI	Dwayne Bravo	53	63	2	77	96	5	0.5	3	197.40	65.80
23	SL	Muttiah Muralitharan	0	0	2	84	154	6	0	3	193.20	64.40
24	Ire	Trent Johnston	29	38	2	52	102	2	0.5	2	127.20	63.60
25	Eng	Paul Collingwood	111	119	1	94	114	2	0.5	3	189.00	63.00
26	SL	Lasith Malinga	0	0	1	76	114	7	0	3	188.20	62.73
27	Pak	Mohammad Sami	17	44	0	44	90	4	0	2	122.80	61.40
28	NL	William Stelling	1	4	1	55	96	4	0	2	121.60	60.80
29	SL	Kumar Sangakkara	147	173	5 | 0	0	0	0	0	3	180.60	60.20
30	NZ	Shane Bond	0	0	0	38	108	3	0	2	120.40	60.20
31	Zim	Gary Brent	12	21	1	108	120	5	0	2	120.20	60.10
32	Ind	Yuvraj Singh	136	116	0	15	18	0	0	3	178.60	59.53
33	Ire	Kyle McCallan	20	28	0	103	148	5	1	3	177.00	59.00
34	Can	Sunil Dhaniram	81	87	1	147	162	4	0	3	176.00	58.67
35	SL	Chaminda Vaas	19	12	2	61	126	4	0	3	174.20	58.07
36	NL	Mohammad Kashif	0	0	1	29	42	2	0	1	57.60	57.60
37	NZ	Lou Vincent	101	127	0	0	0	0	3	3	172.40	57.47
38	Can	John Davison	81	75	2	130	174	2	0	3	169.20	56.40
39	NZ	Peter Fulton	47	47	0	0	0	0	0	1	56.40	56.40
40	NZ	Jacob Oram	101	116	1	70	108	1	0.5	3	166.60	55.53
41	SL	Mahela Jayawardene	138	180	2	0	0	0	1	3	166.00	55.33
42	SA	Mark Boucher	97	57	1 | 0	0	0	0	0.5	3	165.40	55.13
43	WI	Daren Powell	1	1	1	81	150	5	0	3	165.20	55.07
44	SA	Andre Hall	8	12	0	123	156	6	0.5	3	164.20	54.73
45	Ban	Mohammad Rafique	7	17	0	83	120	4	0	2	109.40	54.70
46	Zim	Sean Williams	95	110	1	79	90	2	0.5	3	160.00	53.33
47	NZ	Stephen Fleming	133	139	1	0	0	0	0	3	159.80	53.27
48	WI	Chris Gayle	60	68	1	55	120	2	0	3	159.60	53.20
49	Aus	Glenn McGrath	0	0	0	109	138	6	0.5	3	157.40	52.47
50	WI	Dwayne Smith	32	15	0	64	90	4	0	3	156.00	52.00
51	Eng	Ravinder Bopara	29	30	0	50	60	2	1	2	104.00	52.00
52	Ind	Zaheer Khan	16	22	0	122	174	5	0	3	151.60	50.53
53	Ire	Jeremy Bray	159	222	2	0	0	0	0	3	150.40	50.13
54	NZ	Craig McMillan	108	88	0	60	78	0	0	3	148.00	49.33
55	Ind	Munaf Patel	25	32	1	105	159	4	0	3	147.60	49.20
56	Pak	Umar Gul	11	20	1	72	138	4	0	3	145.40	48.47
57	Eng	James Anderson	0	0	0	106	162	5	0	3	143.60	47.87
58	SL	Tillakaratne Dilshan	50	56	1	14	31	2	1	3	143.00	47.67
59	NZ	Daniel Vettori	14	7	2	155	180	5	0	3	141.40	47.13
60	SA	Herschelle Gibbs	89	59	2	0	0	0	0	3	140.80	46.93
61	NL	Ryan ten Doeschate	128	148	2	151	120	2	0	3	140.60	46.87
62	Pak	Mohammad Hafeez	15	34	2	54	78	3	0	2	93.20	46.60
63	Ken	Thomas Odoyo	46	78	0	114	144	4	0.5	3	138.80	46.27
64	Ind	Sachin Tendulkar	64	58	0	49	72	2	0	3	138.20	46.07
65	Eng	Liam Plunkett	29	34	0	89	96	3	0	2	90.60	45.30
66	Ban	Mashrafe Mortaza	7	14	0	104	117	4	0	2	88.40	44.20
67	Ind	Sourav Ganguly	162	266	0	22	24	1	0	3	132.40	44.13
68	NZ	Jeetan Patel	0	0	0	67	104	3	0	2	88.20	44.10
69	Eng	Ed Joyce	141	195	1	0	0	0	0	3	131.00	43.67
70	WI	Marlon Samuels	118	149	0	71	90	0	0.5	3	129.80	43.27
71	Eng	Paul Nixon	65	49	1 | 1	0	0	0	1	3	129.80	43.27
72	Aus	Shane Watson	44	24	1	64	90	1	1	3	129.80	43.27
73	Ber	Saleem Mukuddem	0	4	0	50	60	2	0	1	42.80	42.80
74	NZ	Ross Taylor	85	108	0	0	0	0	0	2	83.60	41.80
75	Ire	Andre Botha	29	69	1	72	144	3	0	3	123.00	41.00
76	Eng	Andrew Flintoff	0	1	1	52	102	2	0	2	81.80	40.90
77	Ind	Ajit Agarkar	10	27	1	112	168	4	0	3	121.80	40.60
78	Aus	Nathan Bracken	0	0	1	85	132	4	0	3	121.60	40.53
79	WI	Ian Bradshaw	0	0	0	27	54	1	0	1	40.20	40.20
80	Zim	Stuart Matsikenyeri	107	128	2	6	6	0	0	3	120.40	40.13
81	NZ	Brendon McCullum	58	30	5 | 0	0	0	0	0	3	117.00	39.00
82	Aus	Shaun Tait	0	0	0	135	150	5	0.5	3	117.00	39.00
83	Ire	Langford-Smith	23	24	1	98	168	2	0	3	116.20	38.73
84	Eng	Kevin Pietersen	121	168	1	2	6	0	0	3	115.40	38.47
85	Pak	Shoaib Malik	92	111	1	33	30	1	0	3	115.20	38.40
86	Ban	Abdur Razzak	0	2	2	124	120	4	0	2	76.40	38.20
87	WI	Jerome Taylor	2	4	0	117	168	4	0	3	114.20	38.07
88	Can	Kevin Sandher	2	6	0	58	60	2	0	1	37.20	37.20
89	Ban	Tamim Iqbal	57	60	1	0	0	0	0	2	71.00	35.50
90	SL	Upul Tharanga	120	174	1	0	0	0	0	3	105.80	35.27
91	NZ	Michael Mason	0	0	1	89	102	3	0	2	69.60	34.80
92	Ire	Niall O'Brien	84	131	3 | 0	0	0	0	1	3	102.20	34.07
93	WI	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	142	236	1	0	0	0	0	3	100.20	33.40
94	WI	Corey Collymore	8	2	0	56	104	1	0	2	65.60	32.80
95	Ber	David Hemp	90	123	1	32	12	0	0	2	64.20	32.10
96	Ber	Kevin Hurdle	6	7	1	114	114	3	0	2	60.60	30.30
97	Can	Ashif Mulla	83	101	1	0	0	0	0	3	90.20	30.07
98	Ire	Boyd Rankin	0	0	1	113	126	4	0	3	88.80	29.60
99	Zim	Christopher Mpofu	1	10	0	166	174	4	1	3	87.20	29.07
100	SA	Shaun Pollock	7	7	1	112	156	2	0.5	3	86.20	28.73
101	Pak	Inzamam ul-Haq	74	103	4	0	0	0	0	3	85.60	28.53
102	Can	Ian Billcliff	104	160	1	0	0	0	0	3	85.00	28.33
103	Eng	Sajid Mahmood	0	0	0	39	54	1	0	1	28.20	28.20
104	Eng	Monty Panesar	0	0	0	110	168	2	0.5	3	84.40	28.13
105	Ban	Saqibul Hasan	57	106	0	93	120	1	0	2	56.20	28.10
106	Ken	Maurice Ouma	75	155	0 | 1	0	0	0	2	3	84.00	28.00
107	Pak	Kamran Akmal	42	74	3 | 2	0	0	0	1	3	83.80	27.93
108	Scot	Colin Smith	85	129	1 | 1	0	0	0	0	3	81.80	27.27
109	Ind	Mahendra Dhoni	29	29	5 | 2	0	0	0	0	3	79.80	26.60
110	Eng	Michael Vaughan	72	120	1	0	0	0	1	3	77.00	25.67
111	Ken	Jimmy Kamande	29	43	0	110	144	2	0	3	76.80	25.60
112	SL	Russel Arnold	26	19	1	17	19	1	0.5	3	76.00	25.33
113	SA	Charles Langeveldt	0	6	0	152	156	4	0.5	3	76.00	25.33
114	Pak	Danish Kaneria	6	4	0	93	78	3	0	2	50.20	25.10
115	WI	Ramnaresh Sarwan	97	155	1	0	0	0	0	3	75.00	25.00
116	Zim	Vusumuzi Sibanda	68	95	3	0	0	0	0	3	75.00	25.00
117	NL	Tim de Leede	35	58	1	112	108	3	0	3	75.00	25.00
118	Zim	Anthony Ireland	0	0	1	38	42	1	0	1	24.60	24.60
119	Zim	Brendan Taylor	87	178	4 | 1	0	0	0	0.5	3	73.60	24.53
120	Can	Geoff Barnett	88	129	0	0	0	0	0	3	72.80	24.27
121	WI	Brian Lara	81	124	2	0	0	0	0	3	72.80	24.27
122	Ind	Rahul Dravid	81	112	0	0	0	0	0	3	72.40	24.13
123	Scot	Majid Haq	35	70	0	121	101	4	0	3	69.80	23.27
124	SA	Justin Kemp	13	13	1	18	24	2	0	3	69.80	23.27
125	Ire	Andrew White	50	80	1	28	25	1	0.5	3	69.00	23.00
126	Zim	Tawanda Mupariwa	0	3	0	91	114	2	0	2	45.80	22.90
127	SL	Dilhara Fernando	0	0	0	32	38	1	0	1	22.40	22.40
128	Ken	Peter Ongondo	7	24	1	146	144	4	0	3	65.00	21.67
129	NL	Mark Jonkman	0	2	0	57	67	2	0	2	43.00	21.50
130	Ken	Ravindu Shah	81	126	0	0	0	0	0	3	61.20	20.40
131	Ban	Aftab Ahmed	20	26	4	0	0	0	0	2	39.20	19.60
132	Ban	Mohammad Ashraful	53	86	0	0	0	0	0	2	37.20	18.60
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	0	0	0	2	33.80	16.90
137	Ken	Collins Obuya	31	44	1	8	18	0	0.5	3	50.20	16.73
138	NL	Darron Reekers	38	33	0	106	102	1	0	3	49.20	16.40
139	Can	Abdool Samad	60	113	1	85	64	2	0	3	48.80	16.27
140	Aus	Andrew Symonds	18	13	0	19	12	0	0	1	16.20	16.20
141	Ken	Tanmay Mishra	37	61	2	0	0	0	0.5	3	47.20	15.73
142	SA	Ashwell Prince	22	26	0	0	0	0	1	3	47.20	15.73
143	Ban	Syed Rasel	0	1	0	89	120	1	0	2	30.20	15.10
144	Ken	Hiren Varaiya	5	23	1	98	138	1	0.5	3	45.00	15.00
145	Pak	Mohammad Yousuf	55	113	0	0	1	1	0	3	44.40	14.80
146	Zim	Edward Rainsford	1	1	0	44	42	1	0	1	14.80	14.80
147	Ire	Eoin Morgan	41	66	3	0	0	0	0	3	44.20	14.73
148	Can	George Codrington	7	8	1	70	60	1	0	1	14.60	14.60
149	Ind	Harbhajan Singh	17	23	0	83	120	0	0	2	28.60	14.30
150	Scot	Paul Hoffmann	25	19	1	104	102	1	0	3	41.40	13.80
151	Ire	Kevin O'Brien	43	126	1	50	66	2	0	3	41.00	13.67
152	Can	Ashish Bagai	62	123	3 | 0	0	0	0	0	3	40.60	13.53
153	Can	Desmond Chumney	27	51	0	0	0	0	0	1	13.20	13.20
154	Eng	Ian Bell	49	81	1	0	0	0	0	3	38.20	12.73
155	SA	Makhaya Ntini	7	8	0	93	108	1	0	2	25.00	12.50
156	NL	Daan van Bunge	38	49	2	60	31	1	0	3	35.60	11.87
157	WI	Denesh Ramdin	1	4	7 | 0	0	0	0	0	3	33.80	11.27
158	Ber	Lionel Cann	28	34	0	88	72	1	0	2	22.40	11.20
159	Ban	Mushfiqur Rahim	62	140	2 | 0	0	0	0	0	2	22.00	11.00
160	Zim	Prosper Utseya	5	8	1	101	156	0	0	3	32.40	10.80
161	NL	Peter Borren	26	24	1	141	108	2	0	3	31.20	10.40
162	Can	Anderson Cummins	10	11	0	149	150	2	0	3	30.20	10.07
163	NL	Bas Zuiderent	53	95	0	0	0	0	0	3	30.00	10.00
164	SA	Andre Nel	0	0	0	19	36	0	0	1	9.80	9.80
165	Ind	Robin Uthappa	30	48	1	0	0	0	0	3	26.60	8.87
166	Ber	Delyone Borden	19	63	0	57	48	2	0	2	17.00	8.50
167	NL	Eric Szwarczynski	24	42	0	0	0	0	0	2	14.40	7.20
168	Scot	Dougie Brown	64	102	1	126	90	1	0	3	21.40	7.13
169	NL	Jeroen Smits	3	12	3 | 1	0	0	0	0	3	21.40	7.13
170	Scot	Ryan Watson	53	107	0	0	0	0	0	3	20.40	6.80
171	Zim	Terry Duffin	12	22	0	0	0	0	0	1	6.40	6.40
172	Can	Umar Bhatti	11	30	0	110	134	1	0	3	19.20	6.40
173	Aus	Michael Hussey	11	13	1	0	0	0	0	3	16.60	5.53
174	Scot	Fraser Watts	33	69	0	0	0	0	0	2	10.80	5.40
175	Ber	Steven Outerbridge	9	16	0	0	0	0	0	1	5.20	5.20
176	Scot	Craig Wright	5	28	1	75	84	1	0	2	8.80	4.40
177	Ken	Tony Suji	14	29	0	15	18	0	0	1	4.20	4.20
178	Ban	Habibul Bashar	19	55	2	0	0	0	0	2	4.00	2.00
179	Scot	Neil McCallum	25	64	1	0	0	0	0	2	3.80	1.90
180	Ire	John Mooney	0	1	1	22	24	0	0	1	1.40	1.40
181	Zim	Chamu Chibhabha	27	69	2	11	6	0	0	3	2.60	0.87
182	Ken	Lameck Onyango	16	35	0	77	60	1	0	2	-1.00	-0.50
183	Zim	Friday Kasteni	9	24	0	0	0	0	0	2	-1.20	-0.60
184	Can	Qaiser Ali	6	16	0	0	0	0	0	1	-0.80	-0.80
185	Pak	Azhar Mahmood	2	21	0	25	46	0	0	1	-1.00	-1.00
186	Scot	Navdeep Poonia	1	6	0	0	0	0	0	2	-2.80	-1.40
187	Pak	Naved-ul-Hasan	11	29	1	49	54	0	0	1	-2.00	-2.00
188	Ban	Shahriar Nafees	2	11	0	0	0	0	0	2	-4.80	-2.40
189	Ken	David Obuya	5	22	0	0	0	0	0	2	-7.60	-3.80
190	Ber	Clay Smith	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	-4.00	-4.00
191	Scot	Gavin Hamilton	11	44	0	0	0	0	0	3	-13.20	-4.40
192	NL	Luuk van Troost	5	10	1	59	24	1	0	2	-8.80	-4.40
193	NL	Alexei Kervezee	17	54	0	0	0	0	0	2	-9.20	-4.60
194	Ber	Oliver Pitcher	6	34	1	0	0	0	0	2	-10.20	-5.10
195	Ire	William Porterfield	13	58	1	0	0	0	0	3	-15.40	-5.13
196	Eng	Jamie Dalrymple	5	16	1	50	42	0	0	2	-14.20	-7.10
197	Scot	Dewald Nel	0	0	0	24	18	0	0	1	-9.60	-9.60
198	Ber	Malachi Jones	1	8	2	74	42	1	0	1	-10.80	-10.80
199	NZ	Daryl Tuffey	0	0	0	40	36	0	0	1	-11.20	-11.20
200	Ber	Irvine Romaine	0	11	0	29	18	0	0	2	-23.40	-11.70
201	Ber	Janeiro Tucker	4	27	3	117	114	0	0	2	-24.40	-12.20
202	Ber	Dwayne Leverock	10	39	1	163	120	2	0	2	-25.20	-12.60
203	Can	Henry Osinde	1	3	0	76	56	0	0	2	-31.60	-15.80
204	NL	Adeel Raja	8	14	0	61	47	0	0	1	-18.60	-18.60
205	Ken	Nehemiah Odhiambo	0	0	0	33	18	0	0	1	-18.60	-18.60

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 player is an equal participant in a run out dismissal.)

Today's Chernoff gallery features the top twelve players:

Pure batsmen, with round, smiling faces and wide noses, have captured half of the top 12 positions (1,2,4,7,9,10).

Batting all-rounders are at positions 3,6,8 and 12. Batting all-rounders smile like pure batsmen, but have taller noses and bigger ears because they also took some wickets.

Only two positions (5 and 11) go to pure bowlers with their tapered faces, tall and thin noses and big ears; although Afridi must seem an unlikely candidate for the pure bowler's slot.

To see the faces of the 12 highest wicket-taking bowlers, click here.

• What is MVP?
• MVP Day 11: Still Graeme Smith

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