Ireland v West Indies

West Indies were always in control as they achieved the victory that takes points through to the Special 8 stage. Chanderpaul's unbeaten century was undoubtedly the performance of the match.

Scorecard

5 S Chanderpaul 122 (OMOM)
4 CH Gayle 79
3 D Ramdin 75
2 DB Powell 66
1 DJ Bravo 35

Sri Lanka v India

India were effectively eliminated (barring Bermudan heroics) by a strong Sri Lankan team performance. Muralitharan's 3-41 and 2 catches was the top performance and moved him up into the top 10 contributors of the World Cup so far. India's player of the tournament was Sehwag who was one of their top contributors in each match they played.

Scorecard

5 M Muralitharan 82 (OMOM)
4 WPUJC Vaas 61
3 RP Arnold 57
2 TM Dilshan 52
1 LPC Silva 37

India Tournament contributions
V Sehwag 145
A Kumble 94
Yuvraj Singh 69
SR Tendulkar 51
Z Khan 49
MS Dhoni 40
MM Patel 26
R Dravid 25
SC Ganguly 19
KD Karthik 19
AB Agarkar 18
AR Uthappa -48
Harbhajan Singh -89

Scotland v Netherlands

The tournament finished for these 2 teams with a surprisingly easy win for the Netherlands. South African William Frederick Stelling was top player with brilliant figures of 3-12 from 8 overs overshadowing a good unbeaten 70 from ten Doeschate that saw his team home. This also gave Stelling top position in Netherlands' player of the tournament rankings
Scotland's top player of the tournament was Smith who scored their only 50 and was their only net positive contributor. Scotland's worst players were England rejects Brown and Hamilton.

Scorecard

5 WF Stelling 95 (OMOM)
4 RN ten Doeschate 78
3 B Zuiderent 42
2 J Smits 35
1 MBS Jonkman 26

Scotland player of the tournament
CJO Smith 2
JD Nel -33
NFI McCallum -38
NS Poonia -57
DF Watts -58
GA Rogers -67
RR Watson -71
JAR Blain -73
RM Haq -79
PJC Hoffmann -91
CM Wright -100
GM Hamilton -103
DR Brown -133

Netherlands player of the tournament
WF Stelling 109
Mohammad Kashif 39
J Smits 22
ES Szwarczynski -29
MBS Jonkman -40
B Zuiderent -52
RN ten Doeschate -53
Adeel Raja -71
TBM de Leede -87
DLS van Bunge -88
AN Kervezee -94
LP van Troost -96
PW Borren -110
DJ Reekers -144

New Zealand v Canada

Jeetan Shashi Patel's economical 3-25 was top performance in a match where Canada made a brave effort to chase New Zealand's massive total. Styris snook up into the position of top world cup contributor so far with some quick runs and an economical wicket. Despite poor bowling figures in this match, Dhaniram was Canada's top player of the tournament.

Scorecard

5 JS Patel 149
4 BB McCullum 106
3 DL Vettori 89
2 L Vincent 85 (OMOM)
1 JDP Oram 53

Top 5 World Cup contributors
SB Styris 244
GC Smith 229
GB Hogg 224
GD McGrath 182
Imran Nazir 173

Canada tournament contributions
S Dhaniram 62
DR Chumney 11
KT Sandher -6
AA Mulla -8
JM Davison -12
GR Codrington -19
IS Billcliff -19
Qaiser Ali -30
A Bagai -34
GEF Barnett -53
AM Samad -91
AC Cummins -105
U Bhatti -150
H Osinde -179

Pakistan v Zimbabwe

A thoroughly dominating performance from Imran Nazir gave Pakistan a big victory over Zimbabwe before both teams head home (Jamaican police allowing). Nazir's performance was the best in the World Cup so far and he score more than 4 times as many runs as any other player in this game. Nazir was Pakistan's biggest World Cup contributor and Chigumbura was Zimbabwe's as he scored 1 point for the third match running.

Scorecard

5 Imran Nazir 179
4 Umar Gul 66
3 Shahid Afridi 59
2 Inzamam-ul-Haq 51
1 E Chigumbura 39

Pakistan World Cup Contributions
Imran Nazir 173
Iftikhar Anjum 59
Shahid Afridi 59
Kamran Akmal 51
Inzamam-ul-Haq 50
Shoaib Malik 19
Mohammad Sami 14
Umar Gul 13
Younis Khan -2
Mohammad Yousuf -4
Mohammad Hafeez -9
Danish Kaneria -39
Azhar Mahmood -49
Naved-ul-Hasan -68

Zimbabwe World Cup Contributions

E Chigumbura 117
SC Williams 66
S Matsikenyeri 62
V Sibanda 40
BRM Taylor 35
AJ Ireland 4
GB Brent -14
T Duffin -15
T Mupariwa -30
EC Rainsford -50
CJ Chibhabha -67
F Kasteni -75
CB Mpofu -76
P Utseya -86

Sri Lanka v Bangladesh

Sri Lanka showed India how to deal with Bangladesh lead by a typically dominating 109 from Jayasuriya with everyone in the team making a positive contribution. Malinga's 4 points for his 3-27 took him to joint top overall in the points standing. Meanwhile Abdur Razzaq followed up a great performance against India with the worst single performance in the world cup so far with his duck and 1-86.

Scorecard

5 ST Jayasuriya 139 (OMOM)
4 SL Malinga 83
3 TM Dilshan 80
2 KC Sangakkara 72
1 LPC Silva 64

Top 5 points scorers so far
SL Malinga 8
GC Smith 8
KC Sangakkara 7
GD McGrath 7
GB Hogg 6

Scotland v South Africa

South Africa completed the massacring of the minnows in group A by hammering Scotland. There were three great performances as Hall with 3 wickets and Smith with 91 runs came close to top place, but under-pressure Abraham Benjamin de Villiers finished top with his rapid 62, his catch and his run out. Smith's 4 points take him to the top of the points table after he was also runner-up in South Africa's first match. South Africa are also dominating the overall contribution table now with 5 of the top 10 players. 3 Australians, a New Zealander and a Kenyan make up the numbers.

Scorecard

5 AB de Villiers 114
4 GC Smith 103 (OMOM)
3 AJ Hall 100
2 SM Pollock 43
1 MV Boucher 42

Overall World Cup Contribution

GC Smith 229
GB Hogg 224
SB Styris 207
GD McGrath 182
AJ Hall 161
MV Boucher 160
JH Kallis 160
BJ Hodge 155
SM Pollock 152
SO Tikolo 151

New Zealand v Kenya

James Edwards Charles Franklin (parents fans of English kings?) led New Zealand's clean sweep of the top 5 with his 2-20 from 7.2 overs as Kenya were dominated in a way that hopefully England can repeat. Official man of the match choice was a poor decision as 5th placed Taylor got it for his unhelpfully slow 85.

Scorecard

5 JEC Franklin 97
4 DL Vettori 83
3 MJ Mason 68
2 SP Fleming 57
1 RL Taylor 47 (OMOM)

Zimbabwe v West Indies

Perhaps surprisingly Daren Brentlyle Powell just proved to be the top player with his tight bowling including a wicket and a catch. Official man of the match Williams blew his lead in the standings by bowling 3 ineffective and expensive overs after his top-scoring unbeaten 70.

Scorecard

5 DB Powell 71
4 DJ Bravo 68
3 JE Taylor 59
2 SC Williams 58 (OMOM)
1 E Chigumbura 42

India v Bermuda

India monopolised the top 10 places as Hemp spoilt his rather slow unbeaten 76 with two disastrous overs for 32 runs. Tendulkar's 1-1 from 1 over on top of his unbeaten 57 at virtually 2 runs a ball allowed him to move ahead of Sehwag's century and Agarkar and Kumble's 3 wickets each to claim top spot. Meanwhile everyone's favourite roly-poly cricketer Leverock had the terrible figures of 1-96 and he takes over as the worst player of the World Cup so far.

Scorecard

5 SR Tendulkar 127
4 V Sehwag 102 (OMOM)
3 AB Agarkar 99
2 A Kumble 94
1 Yuvraj Singh 81

Worst 5 World Cup so far
JWM Dalrymple -127
RN ten Doeschate -131
DJ Reekers -139
JJ Tucker -161
RDM Leverock -211

England v Canada

England got their first win of the World Cup with an unconvincing victory over Canada. No minnow-bashing for us. Top player in the match was the Guyanese Sunil Dhaniram who took 3 major English wickets to help keep our total down. Official Man of the Match Collingwood lost out here thanks to his unproductive bowling after his quickfire unbeaten 62. Bopara took his opportunity after Flintoff's drunken antics and his performance was quite a contrast to the other bits-and-pieces Englishman Dalrymple whose disastrous batting and bowling saw him slump to being the third worst contributor altogether in the World Cup so far. Joyce's sluggish top score barely got him into the top ten in the match.

Scorecard

5 S Dhaniram 89
4 PD Collingwood 68 (OMOM)
3 PA Nixon 60
2 RS Bopara 59
1 LE Plunkett 38

Worst 5 in World Cup so far
PW Borren -110
DR Brown -115
JWM Dalrymple -127
RN ten Doeschate -131
DJ Reekers -139

Australia v Netherlands

An easy stroll to victory for Australia with good performances from Hogg (4 wickets in under 5 overs) and Hodge (very rapid 123) just pipped by Michael Clarke's unbeaten 93 with a catch and a run out. Meanwhile McGrath's two economical wickets take him to a total of 7 points overall and the top player of the World Cup so far, 1 point above Hogg, although Hogg leads him on overall contribution.

Scorecard

5 MJ Clarke 131
4 BJ Hodge 120
3 GB Hogg 116
2 GD McGrath 54
1 AC Gilchrist 49

Total run contribution so far:
GB Hogg 224
GD McGrath 182
SB Styris 165
JH Kallis 161
SO Tikolo 161

Pakistan v Ireland

Astonishing win for Ireland after an abject batting display from the Pakistanis. As in their first match Ireland have a single batsmen to thank for giving them a great result, this time Niall O'Brien who scored 72 which was more than 4 times as many as the next highest Irish score. Botha's incredible figures of 2-5 off 8 overs gained him 2nd despite his duck when batting.

Scorecard

5 NJ O'Brien 90
4 AC Botha 35
3 DT Johnston 23
2 Kamran Akmal 22
1 Mohammad Sami 10

India v Bangladesh

A great win for Bangladesh in a match they always seemed to have under control. Top player (just) was Mushfiqur Rahim who's unbeaten 56 saw his team home and who also took 2 catches. Impressive figures for three Bangladeshi bowlers see them in the next 3 positions.

Scorecard

5 Mushfiqur Rahim 68
4 Abdur Razzaq 65
3 Mashrafe Mortaza 63
2 Mohammed Rafique 46
1 Tamim Iqbal 42

South Africa vs Netherlands

Another clobbering of a minnow as South Africa totally dominated with the top 9 players in the match. Gibbs astonishing six sixes in an over was not enough to lift him into the top 5 as Kallis took top spot with an unbeaten 128 at easily over a run a ball. Netherlands' top player was Smits, despite him neither batting nor bowling.

Scorecard

5 JH Kallis 161
4 GC Smith 126
3 MV Boucher 119
2 SM Pollock 109
1 JM Kemp 96

England v New Zealand

New Zealand proved to strong for England in batting and bowling lead by a strong performance by Scott Bernard Styris with an unbeaten 87 and 2-25 overtaking Tikolo as the best of the World Cup so far. Nixon snook in with England's only point.

Scorecard

5 SB Styris 165
4 SE Bond 84
3 JDP Oram 78
2 BB McCullum 76
1 PA Nixon 72

Ireland v Zimbabwe

A thrilling tie grabbed by the Irish from a seemingly lost position. Ireland's Jeremy Bray was the top player of the match with an unbeaten 115. If only the Australian had a bit of support from any of his team mates they could have registered a great victory. Positions 2-5 all taken by Zimbabwe players.

Scorecard

5 JP Bray 144
4 S Matsikenyeri 82
3 V Sibanda 64
2 BRM Taylor 54
1 E Chigumbura 36

Sri Lanka vs Bermuda

Sri Lanka massacred Bermuda, somewhat predictably, with their top 5 performers all contributing significantly. Sangakkara's 3 catches on top of his 76 runs just meant he pipped his colleagues to the 5 points. No Bermudan registered a positive contibution.

Scorecard

5 KC Sangakkara 91
4 SL Malinga 82
3 MF Maharoof 80
2 DPMD Jayawardene 77
1 LPC Silva 70

Canada v Kenya

The best singular performance in the World Cup so far came from Kenya's biggest star as Steve Tikolo scored a rapid unbeaten 72 after taking 2-34 and a catch to take his team to their expect victory over Group C's weakest team. I have given Varaiya full credit for the final run-out as it was clearly a direct hit despite the cricinfo scorecard implying otherwise, enabling him to nick 2nd place in a Kenyan top 5 clean sweep.

Scorecard

5 SO Tikolo 161
4 HA Varaiya 85
3 MA Ouma 81
2 JK Kamande 73
1 T Mishra 71

Australia vs Scotland

The top 9 players in this match were Australians, with only Clarke and Hussey failing to make a positive contribution so no wonder they won by 203 runs. For Scotland only Smith with 51 had a reasonable match. It was a close battle for top player with McGrath's 3-14 off 6 overs and part in a run-out just pipping Ponting's 113 and Hoggs 40 not out off 15 balls and 1-16 off 7 overs.

Scorecard

Top 5
5 GD McGrath 128
4 RT Ponting 115
3 GB Hogg 108
2 AC Gilchrist 49
1 SR Watson 45

Cricket is, of course, a beautiful mix of numbers and sport, so far advanced of the primitive sports that most cavemen of the world still play.
Statmeister Wah's enhancement to the World Cup is a competition to decide the best player at the world cup. We will all find out in due course which is the World Champion country, but which player will prove himself the player of the greatest value to his team in the tournament, or the MVP - Majorly Voracious Participant.

Each player's overall positive contribution can be calculated in terms of runs worth to the team.
Positive:
Runs scored
Batting at a high strike rate
Wickets taken
Bowling with a low economy rate
Catches taken
Stumpings
Run outs

Negative contributions:
Getting dismissed
Batting at a low strike rate
Conceding runs
Bowling at a high economy rate

The top 5 performers in each match will be awarded 5,4,3,2,1 points and the player collecting the most of these points during the tournament will be the MVP. This system whould reward players who regularly make one of the largest contributions to a match.

West Indies v Pakistan
A good all-round performance from Dwayne Romel Smith (32 runs off 15 balls and 3-36) earned him the man of the match award and, more importantly, the first 5 points for this competition

Points awarded with net positive contribution (in runs) as follows.

5 DR Smith 74
4 MN Samuels 52
3 Shoaib Malik 43
2 Iftikhar Anjum 37
1 DJ Bravo 36

Any predictions for the eventual overall MVP?