I have had to delve into some more obscure cricketing territories this week to locate the best performances from our top Cricketers. With only England and New Zealand completing games from the top teams, we have had to rely on some unusual games and domestic tournaments for our big hitters. First to Perth, where our top scoring cricketer of the week, Aaron Finch, seemed to forget he wasn't playing limited overs cricket and scored with the pace of a speeding bullet. The Victorian Superman got his unbeaten 151 in a mere 122 balls in the win against Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield. In a week where he said he has aspirations of returning to the national team, he has done himself no harm and finds himself on the brink of being the seventh player in our league to break the thousand point barrier.
Yes, his week has been modest in comparison to recent weeks but over in Zimbabwe, Rashid Khan has done enough to secure himself second spot for the week and, more importantly, overtake three other players to take pride of place in the overall top point scorers. This comes in the same week where it was announced he will become the youngest cricketer to captain a national side when his team take part in the World Cup Qualifiers. These Qualifiers see Khan face up against teams such as Scotland and Hong Kong so, with Kohli not playing and Duminy appearing sporadically for Islamabad United, we may see the Afghanistan spinner pull away from the pack.
Here we can return to more high profile cricketing venues and compare the performances of Jos Buttler and Kane Williamson. Buttler finds himself sixth in our overall table and has been quietly plugging away with fairly regular weekly scores in the three figures. This week it has been his strike rate that has caught the eye; he has scored 36 off 30 and 29 off 31 against New Zealand. Whilst we all know Buttler is capable of big hitting, it has not been hugely prevalent in his game of late. He is putting this right now. Could he, like Finch, see a return to Test cricket?
Williamson is another player who is settling scores. Last week I said he needed some big performances to push his way into the top ten. I also said that he was having a torrid February. New Zealand seem to have solved this problem and took decisive action, dropping him for the February 28th game only for him to return on March 3rd a new man. His 112* may not have won the game for his team but saw him squeak above Ravi Ashwin into tenth place. The next player in his sights is Nathan Lyon, who is doing well against South Africa, so he needs to ensure his March form continues in the two ODIs coming up this week.
As one Cricketer's luck changes positively, we see two Cricketers whose luck appears to be on a reverse trajectory. Ravi Jadeja, who at one point looked capable of doing a Sunil Narine and spurting up the table, has been underwhelming for a number of weeks now. Despite Saurashtra reaching the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the bowler has not been trusted with the ball since February 11th and his batting performances have been underwhelming. He appears rooted near the bottom of the table and, when the Australians and South Africans cash in their points for the First Test, will be second bottom only to (all together now) Jeetan Patel.
He was once jostling for position with our new overall leader Rashid Khan but young English bowler Jofra Archer has now been ruled out of the PSL with a side strain. With perennial injury plagued players like Tymal Mills looming large in our mind we hope that Archer will not be one of these players who burns out. One thing that we can be sure of is that he is going to remain on his overall total of 550 and drop down the table.
Week
Aaron Finch - 225
Rashid Khan - 183
Jos Buttler - 155
Kane Williamson - 152
Sunil Narine - 139
JP Duminy - 88
George Bailey - 44
Joe Root - 39
Ravi Jadeja - 15
Shakib Al Hasan - dnp
Hashim Amla - dnp
Jofra Archer - dnp
Ravi Ashwin - dnp
Quinton de Kock - dnp
AB De Villiers- dnp
Dean Elgar - dnp
Simon Harmer - dnp
Virat Kohli - dnp
Nathan Lyon - dnp
Mitchell Marsh - dnp
Shaun Marsh - dnp
Jeetan Patel - dnp
Steve Smith - dnp
David Warner - dnp
Overall
Rashid Khan - 1349
JP Duminy - 1278
Virat Kohli- 1231
Sunil Narine- 1175
Simon Harmer - 1169
Jos Buttler - 1006
Aaron Finch - 960
Mitchell Marsh - 939
Nathan Lyon - 834
Kane Williamson -827
Ravi Ashwin - 810
Joe Root - 772
Shakib Al Hasan - 608
Jofra Archer - 550
Hashim Amla - 467
Steve Smith - 463
George Bailey - 439
David Warner - 435
AB De Villiers- 423
Quinton de Kock - 408
Ravi Jadeja - 412
Shaun Marsh- 408
Dean Elgar- 394
Jeetan Patel - 108
Yes, his week has been modest in comparison to recent weeks but over in Zimbabwe, Rashid Khan has done enough to secure himself second spot for the week and, more importantly, overtake three other players to take pride of place in the overall top point scorers. This comes in the same week where it was announced he will become the youngest cricketer to captain a national side when his team take part in the World Cup Qualifiers. These Qualifiers see Khan face up against teams such as Scotland and Hong Kong so, with Kohli not playing and Duminy appearing sporadically for Islamabad United, we may see the Afghanistan spinner pull away from the pack.
Here we can return to more high profile cricketing venues and compare the performances of Jos Buttler and Kane Williamson. Buttler finds himself sixth in our overall table and has been quietly plugging away with fairly regular weekly scores in the three figures. This week it has been his strike rate that has caught the eye; he has scored 36 off 30 and 29 off 31 against New Zealand. Whilst we all know Buttler is capable of big hitting, it has not been hugely prevalent in his game of late. He is putting this right now. Could he, like Finch, see a return to Test cricket?
Williamson is another player who is settling scores. Last week I said he needed some big performances to push his way into the top ten. I also said that he was having a torrid February. New Zealand seem to have solved this problem and took decisive action, dropping him for the February 28th game only for him to return on March 3rd a new man. His 112* may not have won the game for his team but saw him squeak above Ravi Ashwin into tenth place. The next player in his sights is Nathan Lyon, who is doing well against South Africa, so he needs to ensure his March form continues in the two ODIs coming up this week.
As one Cricketer's luck changes positively, we see two Cricketers whose luck appears to be on a reverse trajectory. Ravi Jadeja, who at one point looked capable of doing a Sunil Narine and spurting up the table, has been underwhelming for a number of weeks now. Despite Saurashtra reaching the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the bowler has not been trusted with the ball since February 11th and his batting performances have been underwhelming. He appears rooted near the bottom of the table and, when the Australians and South Africans cash in their points for the First Test, will be second bottom only to (all together now) Jeetan Patel.
He was once jostling for position with our new overall leader Rashid Khan but young English bowler Jofra Archer has now been ruled out of the PSL with a side strain. With perennial injury plagued players like Tymal Mills looming large in our mind we hope that Archer will not be one of these players who burns out. One thing that we can be sure of is that he is going to remain on his overall total of 550 and drop down the table.
Week
Aaron Finch - 225
Rashid Khan - 183
Jos Buttler - 155
Kane Williamson - 152
Sunil Narine - 139
JP Duminy - 88
George Bailey - 44
Joe Root - 39
Ravi Jadeja - 15
Shakib Al Hasan - dnp
Hashim Amla - dnp
Jofra Archer - dnp
Ravi Ashwin - dnp
Quinton de Kock - dnp
AB De Villiers- dnp
Dean Elgar - dnp
Simon Harmer - dnp
Virat Kohli - dnp
Nathan Lyon - dnp
Mitchell Marsh - dnp
Shaun Marsh - dnp
Jeetan Patel - dnp
Steve Smith - dnp
David Warner - dnp
Overall
Rashid Khan - 1349
JP Duminy - 1278
Virat Kohli- 1231
Sunil Narine- 1175
Simon Harmer - 1169
Jos Buttler - 1006
Aaron Finch - 960
Mitchell Marsh - 939
Nathan Lyon - 834
Kane Williamson -827
Ravi Ashwin - 810
Joe Root - 772
Shakib Al Hasan - 608
Jofra Archer - 550
Hashim Amla - 467
Steve Smith - 463
George Bailey - 439
David Warner - 435
AB De Villiers- 423
Quinton de Kock - 408
Ravi Jadeja - 412
Shaun Marsh- 408
Dean Elgar- 394
Jeetan Patel - 108
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