Ireland v Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka seemed to be trying to beat Ireland even more comprehensively than Australia did, and with 40 overs to spare they succeeded. Maharoof's 4-25 from 10 was the top performance in the match, but isn't enough to guarantee a place in the team with Malinga due back for the semis. Ireland's top contributor of the tournament was their wicketkeeper Niall O'Brien, nicknamed Paddy apparently, who was their only player to twice reach 50 and his batting was the main contribution in their big win over Pakistan.

Scorecard

5 MF Maharoof 64 (OMOM)
4 DPMD Jayawardene 59
3 ST Jayasuriya 48
2 M Muralitharan 40
1 KC Sangakkara 22

Irish World Cup Contributions

NJ O'Brien 112
DT Johnston 21
JP Bray 15
KED Carroll -19
PG Gillespie -24
AR White -26
WK McCallan -39
KJ O'Brien -40
EJG Morgan -80
JF Mooney -83
WTS Porterfield -84
D Langford-Smith -84
PJK Mooney -93
WB Rankin -98
AC Botha -101

England v South Africa

Pathetic England capitulated. Smith's unbeaten 89 from just 58 balls plus his two catches just enabled him to pip Hall's brilliant 5-18 best bowling of the tournament for top spot. Hall's was the biggest contribution of the tournament so far not to win the 5 points. Kallis and Smith move up the points standing to keep a small chance of being able to challenge McGrath. Vaughan almost reclaimed bottom spot in the batting tables with his slow 17.

Scorecard

5 GC Smith 162
4 AJ Hall 152 (OMOM)
3 A Nel 61
2 JH Kallis 36
1 AB de Villiers 29

MVP
GD McGrath 23
GB Hogg 18
JH Kallis 17
GC Smith 16
SB Styris 15

World Cup negative batting contribution
WTS Porterfield -126
Shahriar Nafees -144
EJG Morgan -148
MP Vaughan -164
Habibul Bashar -169

Sri Lanka v Australia

Sri Lanka allowed Australia to win this match to attempt to ensure a semi final against New Zealand. Nathan Wade Bracken produced the best bowling of the World Cup so far taking 4-19 from 9.4 overs and stopping the Sri Lankan innings in its tracks by removing both openers cheaply. This moved Bracken ahead of McGrath as the World Cup's top bowler, whilst the 3 Sri Lankans in the top 7 watched from the sidelines. Hogg emerged as McGrath's top challenger for player of the tournament.

Scorecard

5 NW Bracken 151 (OMOM)
4 A Symonds 70
3 GB Hogg 68
2 RT Ponting 66
1 ML Hayden 57

MVP

GD McGrath 23
GB Hogg 18
SB Styris 15
JH Kallis 15
NW Bracken 14

Top Bowling Contribution
NW Bracken 483
GD McGrath 464
GB Hogg 385
SE Bond 347
M Muralitharan 266
WPUJC Vaas 256
SL Malinga 223

Ireland v Bangladesh

The Australian Dave Langford-Smith took 2-27 from his 10 overs with a catch and 6* from 4 balls to earn himself top spot as Ireland finally won another match. Official man of the match Porterfield just missed out on the top 5 with his ponderous though useful 85 which was enough to drop him to 5th in worst batsman as Habibul Bashar reclaimed top spot despite stiff opposition from Morgan and Shahriar Nafees.

Scorecard

5 D Langford-Smith 86
4 DT Johnston 57
3 Mushfiqur Rahim 57
2 WK McCallan 55
1 AC Botha 44

Worst World Cup Batting Contribution
WTS Porterfield -126
MP Vaughan -141
Shahriar Nafees -144
EJG Morgan -148
Habibul Bashar -169

South Africa v New Zealand

As top batsman and bowler in the match Craig Douglas McMillan was undoubted man of the match as New Zealand sealed their semi final place. Shane Bond's fine bowling moved him up to number two in the bowling standings, but a mile behind McGrath.

Scorecard

5 CD McMillan 111 (OMOM)
4 SE Bond 69
3 HH Gibbs 38
2 SM Pollock 37
1 A Nel 36

World Cup Bowling Contribution
GD McGrath 445
SE Bond 347
GB Hogg 335
NW Bracken 332
M Muralitharan 266

Ireland v Australia

Glenn McGrath was top player for an unprecedented 3rd time in this World Cup, taking 3 wickets for next to nothing as Ireland were massacred. All 11 Irish players had a negative contribution while 10 Australians had a positive contribution and Michael Clarke didn't bat, bowl or take part in any dismissals. McGrath pulls a massive 8 points clear in the MVP standings, is he unstoppable? Porterfield reclaims bottom spot in the batting standings as Hussey disappears from the bottom 10.

Scorecard

5 GD McGrath 51 (OMOM)
4 A Symonds 41
3 GB Hogg 35
2 AC Gilchrist 33
1 MEK Hussey 30
MVP
GD McGrath 23
SB Styris 15
JH Kallis 15
GB Hogg 15
PD Collingwood 13
KC Sangakkara 13
AB de Villiers 13

Negative batting contribution
WK McCallan -118
Shahriar Nafees -120
EJG Morgan -127
MP Vaughan -141
Habibul Bashar -166
WTS Porterfield -170

New Zealand v Sri Lanka

Some brilliant bowling from Sri Lanka's main two bowlers restricted New Zealand to an inadequate 219 which proved easy for Sri Lanka to get. Muralitharan just pipped Vaas for the top spot. Styris's unbeaten 111 keeping New Zealand together moves him up to top batsman so far as well as holding first position with his overall contributions.

Scorecard

5 M Muralitharan 103
4 WPUJC Vaas 96 (OMOM)
3 KC Sangakkara 78
2 SB Styris 77
1 LPC Silva 40

Top batting contribution
SB Styris 308
ML Hayden 303
JH Kallis 296
ST Jayasuriya 228
MJ Clarke 195

Top overall contribution
SB Styris 526
GD McGrath 412
GB Hogg 398
JH Kallis 381
NW Bracken 367

Bangladesh v England

Paul Andrew Nixon's unbeaten 20 seeing a nervous, unimpressive England home plus two catches and a part in a comical run-out lifted him to top spot in this match. He even had time to donate a further catch to Strauss at second slip. Saqibul Hasan's unbeaten 57 far outstripped any other player's batting performance, but he lost his place as the top player due to 6 unproductive overs of bowling. In the battle for worst batsman of the tournament the Bangladesh captain overtook the England captain thanks to 4 off 18 balls compared to Vaughan's top score of 30 from 59 balls and particularly thanks to Vaughan deliberately dropping a catch from another player so that he could run out Bashar instead.

Scorecard

5 PA Nixon 46
4 Saqibul Hasan 41
3 SI Mahmood 33
2 MS Panesar 33
1 AJ Strauss 25

Worst batting contribution
Shahriar Nafees -120
MEK Hussey -129
MP Vaughan -141
WTS Porterfield -147
Habibul Bashar -166

South Africa v West Indies

Abraham Benjamin de Villiers opened the match with a brilliant 146 that led his team to post a huge total that West Indies tried in vain to get close to. For the first time the top 5 players all had a 100+ run contribution to their team. Kallis moves up to second behind McGrath in the points standings, and closes in very close to Hayden in the Batting standings after a good all-round performance.

Scorecard

5 AB de Villiers 129 (OMOM)
4 SM Pollock 120
3 JH Kallis 107
2 HH Gibbs 106
1 CD Collymore 101
MVP
GD McGrath 18
JH Kallis 15
SB Styris 13
PD Collingwood 13
AB de Villiers 13

Batting Contribution
ML Hayden 303
JH Kallis 296
SB Styris 207
ST Jayasuriya 202
MJ Clarke 195

New Zealand v Ireland

Daniel Luca Vettori polished off an easy New Zealand victory with impressive figures of 4-23. A couple of catches by McCullum after his brisk 47 nearly elevated him to player of the match, but at least put him back at the top of the tournament fielding standings.

Scorecard

5 DL Vettori 69
4 BB McCullum 67
3 PG Fulton 61 (OMOM)
2 JEC Franklin 34
1 SE Bond 33

Fielding Contribution
BB McCullum 218
AC Gilchrist 195
KC Sangakkara 179
AB de Villiers 167
D Ramdin 164

England v Australia

Nathan Wade Bracken finished with the best figures out of the three top Australian bowlers who each picked up 3 wickets. Pietersen's century was supported by Bell whilst the rest of the English batting collapsed completely. Australia's domination of the standings was increased with McGrath pulling ahead in point scored, as well as leading an Australian top 3 in the bowling, while Hayden remains top batsman and Gilchrist takes over as top fielding performer. Vaughan's batting failure sees him establish himself as the worst performing batsman. Flintoff has now positioned himself in the bowling top 10 ... and the batting worst 10.

Scorecard

5 NW Bracken 109
4 SW Tait 93 (OMOM)
3 KP Pietersen 66
2 GD McGrath 50
1 RT Ponting 44

MVP
GD McGrath 18
SB Styris 13
PD Collingwood 13

Bowling contribution
GD McGrath 394
NW Bracken 332
GB Hogg 309
SE Bond 277
SL Malinga 223
A Flintoff 222

Fielding Contribution
AC Gilchrist 195
BB McCullum 194
KC Sangakkara 179
AB de Villiers 167
D Ramdin 164

Worst Batting Contribution
A Flintoff -106
DCC Borden -107
AC Botha -108
Shahriar Nafees -109
MEK Hussey -129
WTS Porterfield -131
Habibul Bashar -145
MP Vaughan -148

Bangladesh v South Africa

Andre Nel took only the second 5 wicket haul of the World Cup, but his team were impressively strangled by left arm spin with only the injured Gibbs putting up any batting resistance after Mohammed Ashraful led Bangladesh to a decent score with his rapid 87. The Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar took over as the worst World Cup batsman thanks to his 5 in this match.

Scorecard

5 A Nel 99
4 Mohammad Ashraful 89 (OMOM)
3 Abdur Razzak 88
2 HH Gibbs 69
1 Tamim Iqbal 55
Negative batting contributions so far
Shahriar Nafees -109
MP Vaughan -113
MEK Hussey -129
WTS Porterfield -131
Habibul Bashar -145

Sri Lanka v England

Sajid Iqbal Mahmood bagged a 4 wicket haul which should have set up England for a win, but their batsmen seemed reluctant to put the effort in as England fell 3 runs short of their target. Bopara got the official man of the match award for his failed attempt to get England back on track, but didn't make the top 5 which for the first time was headed by 3 players from the losing team. Michael Vaughan made his move into the bottom 5 batsmen of the world cup with a duck in this match.

Scorecard

5 SI Mahmood 69
4 KP Pietersen 59
3 PA Nixon 55
2 DPMD Jayawardene 54
1 IR Bell 44

Negative batting contribution
Shahriar Nafees -109
MP Vaughan -113
Habibul Bashar -121
MEK Hussey -129
WTS Porterfield -131

Ireland v South Africa

Ashwell Gavin Prince hit a rapid unbeaten 47 from 44 balls to prevent Ireland getting back into the match and earn him top spot. Official Man of the Match Kallis missed out due to 3 very expensive overs. Porterfield took over from Mike Hussey as the worst batsman of the world cup whose 58 runs in five innings have come at the remarkably slow strike rate of 36.48

Scorecard

5 AG Prince 73
4 SM Pollock 57
3 JH Kallis 52 (OMOM)
2 GC Smith 41
1 WB Rankin 39

Biggest negative batting contribution
AC Botha -108
Shahriar Nafees -109
Habibul Bashar -121
MEK Hussey -129
WTS Porterfield -131

Bangladesh v New Zealand

New Zealand crushed Bangladesh thanks to 3 great bowling performances and Stephen Paul Fleming's unbeaten century. Styris moves up to top spot in total tournament contribution having performed well with the bat and ball in the Carribbean at the head of an all-antipodean top 5. Today's new number 1 fielder is McCullum.

Scorecard

5 SP Fleming 135
4 JDP Oram 124
3 SB Styris 100
2 SE Bond 86 (OMOM)
1 HJH Marshall 59

Total Contribution so far
SB Styris 457
GB Hogg 378
GD McGrath 362
ML Hayden 361
JDP Oram 325

Fielding Contribution
BB McCullum 194
D Ramdin 164
KC Sangakkara 163
AC Gilchrist 154
AB de Villiers 153

Sri Lanka v West Indies

A spectacular century and 3-38 provided the tournament with its best individual performance so far from Jayasuriya. Ramdin and Sangakkara takes the top 2 spots in the tournament fielding standings. Gayle's 10 and 0-60 take him into the worst 10 at both batting and bowling.

Scorecard

5 ST Jayasuriya 183 (OMOM)
4 WPUJC Vaas 92
3 TM Dilshan 58
2 SL Malinga 46
1 DPMD Jayawardene 33
Top Fielding contribution
D Ramdin 164
KC Sangakkara 163
BB McCullum 159
AC Gilchrist 154
AB de Villiers 153

Bangladesh v Australia

Glenn Donald McGrath's figures of 3-16 in 5 overs kept Bangladesh to a low total in a reduced-overs match which gave an easy win to Australia. McGrath takes over as player of the tournament and top bowler and Australia now have 6 of the tournament's top 10 contributors.

Scorecard

5 GD McGrath 102 (OMOM)
4 AC Gilchrist 93
3 NW Bracken 71
2 ML Hayden 56
1 RT Ponting 35

MVP
GD McGrath 16
PD Collingwood 13
ML Hayden 12
GB Hogg 12
SB Styris 10
KC Sangakkara 10

Bowling Contribution
GD McGrath 344
GB Hogg 289
NW Bracken 223
SE Bond 191
SL Malinga 185

Total Contribution
GB Hogg 378 Australia
GD McGrath 362 Australia
ML Hayden 361 Australia
SB Styris 357 New Zealand
GC Smith 272 South Africa
NW Bracken 258 Australia
AC Gilchrist 223 Australia
SO Tikolo 218 Kenya
BB McCullum 215 New Zealand
RT Ponting 215 Australia

England v Ireland

Andrew Flintoff's 4-43 made sure Ireland never got on top of their run chase after England were lifted to a reasonable total by Collingwood's 90 off 82 balls. Collingwood now takes over at the top of the player of the tournament standings as he finishes his 3rd game in a row as one of the top 2 contributors. At the other end of the scale, Bell is now one of the bottom 5 batsmen after his ineffective occupation of the crease.

Scorecard

5 A Flintoff 106
4 PD Collingwood 70 (OMOM)
3 NJ O'Brien 57
2 MS Panesar 52
1 WB Rankin 44

MVP
PD Collingwood 13
GB Hogg 12
GD McGrath 11
SB Styris 10
ML Hayden 10
KC Sangakkara 10

Worst Batsman
IR Bell -99
GM Hamilton -103
WTS Porterfield -104
DCC Borden -107
MEK Hussey -129

West Indies v New Zealand

Scott Bernard Sytris took New Zealand home with a rapid unbeaten 80 as West Indies suffered a second defeat in 3 days after top bowling performances from Oram and Bond. Styris moved up to 2nd place in the top total contributor rankings for the tournament. McCullum provided change for the third consecutive day in the top fielder category with his 4 catches.

Scorecard

5 SB Styris 113
4 JDP Oram 92 (OMOM)
3 SE Bond 64
2 BB McCullum 59
1 BC Lara 57

Total Contribution
GB Hogg 371
SB Styris 357
ML Hayden 305
GC Smith 272
GD McGrath 260

Fielding Contribution
BB McCullum 159
AB de Villiers 153
D Ramdin 146
AC Gilchrist 137
L Vincent 126

Sri Lanka v South Africa

Charl Kenneth Langeveldt took the first 5 wicket hall of the World Cup which would have given his team an easy victory if it wasn't for Malinga's remarkable 4 wickets in 4 balls which nearly turned the match on its head. Malinga's otherwise expensive bowling got him the joint official man of the match award, but he just missed out on the top 5 here. De Villiers' catch meant he reclaimed top fielder position, whilst Smith and Kallis both moved into the top 3 batsmen so far scoring 59 and 86 in the match respectively.

Scorecard

5 CK Langeveldt 84 (Joint OMOM)
4 JH Kallis 61
3 KC Sangakkara 44
2 HH Gibbs 40
1 GC Smith 30

Top batting contribution
ML Hayden 245
GC Smith 203
JH Kallis 199
Imran Nazir 161
LPC Silva 148

Top fielding contribution
AB de Villiers 153
D Ramdin 146
AC Gilchrist 137
L Vincent 126
KC Sangakkara 110

Australia v West Indies

A brilliant 158 from Matthew Lawrence Hayden opened the Hyper 8 stage in style. Hayden took over as top batsman of the tournament, and moved into the top 3 points scorers overall with his teammates McGrath and Hogg. Amusingly Hussey took over as the worst batsman of the tournament as he took his run tally to 20 in 4 completed innings. For West Indies Ramdin took over the fielding standings with his 2 catches.

Scorecard

Top 5
5 ML Hayden 147 (OMOM)
4 GD McGrath 92
3 D Ramdin 66
2 GB Hogg 57
1 BC Lara 42

Points scorers so far
GB Hogg 12
GD McGrath 11
ML Hayden 10
SO Tikolo 9
PD Collingwood 9

Worst batsman of the tournmaent
AN Kervezee -94 Netherlands
A Bagai -99 Canada
GM Hamilton -103 Scotland
DCC Borden -107 Bermuda
MEK Hussey -129 Australia

Fielding contribution
D Ramdin 146 West Indies
AB de Villiers 140 South Africa
AC Gilchrist 137 Australia
L Vincent 126 New Zealand
MS Dhoni 101 India

Group stage top scorers

At the end of the group stage here's a look at the top performers so far:

MVP - Hogg leading with two 3rd places and a 2nd place as he has made a major contribution to each Australian victory so far. The only player on the list going home now is Steve Tikolo.
GB Hogg 10 Australia
SO Tikolo 9 Kenya
PD Collingwood 9 England
SL Malinga 8 Sri Lanka
GC Smith 8 South Africa
AB de Villiers 8 South Africa
MJ Clarke 7 Australia
Mashrafe Mortaza 7 Bangladesh
KC Sangakkara 7 Sri Lanka
GD McGrath 7 Australia
DL Vettori 7 New Zealand
DB Powell 7 West Indies

Overall Contribution - Hogg further ahead in this one from Styris in second thanks to his big performance against England.
GB Hogg 314 Australia
SB Styris 244 New Zealand
GC Smith 242 South Africa
SO Tikolo 218 Kenya
AB de Villiers 212 South Africa
AJ Hall 207 South Africa
MJ Clarke 193 Australia
Imran Nazir 173 Pakistan
LPC Silva 172 Sri Lanka
SL Malinga 168 Sri Lanka

Overall Negative Contribution - Leverock well ahead in this thanks to very expensive bowling and two single figure scores, notwithstanding his catch of the tournament. Jamie Dalrymple appears to be stuck in the bottom 10, finding himself out of favour in team selection at the moment.
LN Onyango -118 Kenya
DCC Borden -118 Bermuda
IH Romaine -127 Bermuda
JWM Dalrymple -127 England
DR Brown -133 Scotland
DJ Reekers -144 Netherlands
U Bhatti -150 Canada
JJ Tucker -169 Bermuda
H Osinde -179 Canada
RDM Leverock -232 Bermuda

Top batsman - Silva has snuck in under the radar a bit to lead this with half centuries in all 3 matches, 2 of them unbeaten. Imran Nazir's astonishing innings was the sole highlight of Pakistan's tournament.
LPC Silva 172 Sri Lanka
Imran Nazir 161 Pakistan
GC Smith 154 South Africa
RT Ponting 142 Australia
MJ Clarke 134 Australia
JH Kallis 128 South Africa
SB Styris 124 New Zealand
BJ Hodge 122 Australia
V Sehwag 109 India
SO Tikolo 109 Kenya

Worst Batsman - Another Bermudan triumph with Borden's 21 runs off 74 balls just getting him bottom spot. Hamilton's 11 off 44 balls (top score 4) also well worth a mention, as is Hussey's 11 off 13 especially as he still has the opportunity to make this category his own!
U Bhatti -83 Canada
IH Romaine -85 Bermuda
AM Samad -89 Canada
CJ Chibhabha -89 Zimbabwe
OL Pitcher -92 Bermuda
AN Kervezee -94 Netherlands
MEK Hussey -96 Australia
A Bagai -99 Canada
GM Hamilton -103 Scotland
DCC Borden -107 Bermuda

Best Bowler - Hogg's 8 wickets give him a good lead, but there are some quality bowlers lining up behind to challenge. Australia and Sri Lanka with 3 bowlers each in the top 10.
GB Hogg 247 Australia
AJ Hall 184 South Africa
SL Malinga 154 Sri Lanka
GD McGrath 150 Australia
M Muralitharan 133 Sri Lanka
NW Bracken 132 Australia
SE Bond 127 New Zealand
DB Powell 119 West Indies
MF Maharoof 110 Sri Lanka
JEC Franklin 109 New Zealand

Worst Bowler - Another win for big Dwayne I'm afraid, with figures of 2-182 from just 23.3 overs. Dougie Brown grabbed second going at over 8 an over (1-126 from 15)
PW Borren -81 Netherlands
LOB Cann -82 Bermuda
AC Cummins -84 Canada
PJC Hoffmann -86 Scotland
DJ Reekers -92 Netherlands
H Osinde -104 Canada
RN ten Doeschate -112 Netherlands
JJ Tucker -139 Bermuda
DR Brown -141 Scotland
RDM Leverock -169 Bermuda

Top Fielder - The wicket keepers are left chasing 2 top fielders as DeVilliers with 2 run outs and 2 catches leads Vincent's 3 run outs. Only (positive) top 10 appearance for an England player sees Nixon just get 10th.
AB de Villiers 140 South Africa
L Vincent 126 New Zealand
AC Gilchrist 118 Australia
D Ramdin 110 West Indies
MS Dhoni 101 India
BB McCullum 100 New Zealand
BRM Taylor 84 Zimbabwe
Kamran Akmal 80 Pakistan
MA Ouma 80 Kenya
PA Nixon 76 England

Bermuda v Bangladesh

Bangladesh eliminated Bermuda and India with a slightly nervy win in this match. Saqibul Hasan's unbeaten 26 helped see them home after his 2-12 contributed to the bowling effort. For Bermuda Mukkuddem took all 3 wickets to fall (3-19) which left him as Bermuda's sole positive contributor in the tournament. Meanwhile Bermuda had 5 of the bottom 10 overall including Leverock who was rock bottom at the end of the group stage.

Scorecard

5 Saqibul Hasan 46
4 Mashrafe Mortaza 35
3 S Mukuddem 34
2 Mohammad Ashraful 32 (OMOM)
1 Abdur Razzak 27

Bermuda tournament contributions

S Mukuddem 9
DA Minors -11
DL Hemp -26
CJ Smith -29
SD Outerbridge -55
MO Jones -73
OL Pitcher -80
KAD Hurdle -93
LOB Cann -108
DCC Borden -118
IH Romaine -127
JJ Tucker -169
RDM Leverock -232

Kenya v England

England knocked Kenya out to progress to the Cracking Eight stage with a solid victory. Collingwood's all round performance with an unbeaten 18, 2-33 and a catch gained him top spot. Tikolo and Collingwood moved up to joint second in the overall points table, just 1 behing Hogg. Tikolo finishes up as easily Kenya's top player of the World Cup with their top two scores and 4 wickets.

Scorecard

5 PD Collingwood 78
4 SO Tikolo 67
3 JM Anderson 59
2 KP Pietersen 56
1 EC Joyce 53 (OMOM)

Top World Cup points scorers
GB Hogg 10
SO Tikolo 9
PD Collingwood 9
SL Malinga 8
GC Smith 8
AB de Villiers 8

Kenya World Cup Contributions
SO Tikolo 218
T Mishra 32
TM Odoyo 29
MA Ouma 25
RV Bhudia 18
CO Obuya 3
HA Varaiya 2
RD Shah -30
AO Suji -38
N Odhiambo -53
JK Kamande -61
PJ Ongondo -68
DO Obuya -68
LN Onyango -118

Australia v South Africa

Australia put a marker down for the rest of the competition with a good win over their nearest rivals in a high scoring match. Matthew Lawrence Hayden got them off to a great start with 101 off just 68 balls and South Africa never quite caught up. Hogg's 3 wickets in his 3rd impressive performance took him to the top of the points table and the total contribution table which now has 5 of the participants in this match in the top 7.

Scorecard

5 ML Hayden 106 (OMOM)
4 GB Hogg 90
3 AB de Villiers 86
2 MJ Clarke 80
1 NW Bracken 78

Total contribution so far
GB Hogg 314
SB Styris 244
GC Smith 242
SO Tikolo 218
AB de Villiers 212
AJ Hall 207
MJ Clarke 193