What constantly surprises me about or list is the way that nothing can help you predict what is going to happen. Last week Rashid Khan was going to stretch his lead at the top of the overall table due to him playing underwhelming Associate nations, JP Duminy was hardly going to play for Islamabad and I thought I had all world cricket sorted. This week another spectacular performance for (of all people) Simon Harmer sees him soar to the top of our weekly table for the second time and, perhaps more shockingly, usurp the likes of Virat Kohli and the aforementioned Messrs Duminy and Khan to be a newcomer at the top of the overall list. Harmer has now scored the highest and, this week, the third highest weekly scores of the year which has seen him lurch up the table to his unlikely spot at the head of world cricket. Some will say that two strong performances in the Sunfoil Series does not make a top quality bowler but, lest we forget, Harmer is the leading wicket taker in that competition and was the leading wicket taker for Essex in the County Championship Division One last season so maybe more eyes need to be drawn to him going forward.
How wrong could I have got it last week? In my defence, how many people would have imagined Rashid Khan's Afghanistan being turned over against such cricketing powerhouses as Scotland and Hong Kong. Despite the team Under achievement, Khan's totals of 175 is enough for him to just about scrape into fifth place this week but that is his lowest placing in the last three weeks and he would have expected much more of himself. Maybe having a nineteen year old as captain was not the wisest decision by Afghanistan.
Khan's total of 175 for the week is the same as Joe Root's however, somehow, the English man's yield does not seem as disappointing. This may be due to fact it came in two games against New Zealand rather than three against low ranking teams or maybe because it saw him score a long over due century. Either way it helps the England captain break into the top ten and put him on the cusp of being the second Englishman in the thousand club. We have not focussed on Root very much this year but he has been quietly plugging away in a style reminiscent of Mitch Marsh. This week he moved into 6th position of England's all time ODI run scorers with Alec Stewart's 4677 being the next on the horizon. With his more comfortable form of cricket coming up and some practice games before then, we could see Root ensconce in the top five as we progress through March.
So another thing I got wrong was JP 'Bit Part' Duminy. I have been waiting for his inevitable slide down the overall table but it has still not come. This week was his highest scoring week in 2018, he played in all three Islambad games and top scored with 73* against Peshawar and he even silenced his critics who question his strike rate with all three of his strike rates over 80. He marginally overtakes Rashid Khan and now sits second overall after his compatriot Simon Harmer. With Khan now facing a spell without many games and with Islamabad looking the team to beat in the PSL, could the South African one-two continue?
Aaron Finch and Jos Buttler were among last week's top point scorers. For Victoria and England respectively they impressed with the bat enough to firmly secure their place in the top ten and found themselves in seventh and sixth place respectively. This week has been something of a wild swing for the two men. The English wicket-keeper-batsmen got 20 points from his two matches this week - 135 less than the week before - whilst the veteran Australian got a measly 14 - a swing of 211 points from the previous week. This has seen them drop two overall places a piece and now are 8th and 9th respectively. This may be a problem for Buttler who is now facing a spell without games where players such as Joe Root or Kane Williamson may overtake him. Finch has a run of Sheffield Shield games which can help him bounce back.
If we expected big things from the cohort of South African and Australian players in the league we have been disappointed. They have largely separated themselves into three packs; a duo right at the front comprising Mitchell Marsh (6th) and Nathan Lyon (7th), a mid table pack including the likes of Quinton De Kock, Steve Smith and AB De Villiers (14th, 15th and 16th) and then a group right down the bottom of Hashim Amla, Shaun Marsh and Dean Elgar (20th, 21st and 23rd). Whilst Marsh and and Elgar have not set the world alight this week, they registered scores above 50 which helped their overall score. On the other hand Hashim Amla has had another disappointing week scoring just 28 points - only 8 of which came from the bat. It has been three weeks since the veteran South African scored in triple figures for points - a feat he has only done 4 times in 2018. He needs to use the second Test against Australia as a springboard for what is starting to look like a disappointing series.
Week
Simon Harmer - 424
JP Duminy - 247
Nathan Lyon - 224
Mitchell Marsh- 182
Rashid Khan - 175
Joe Root - 175
Quinton de Kock- 173
Sunil Narine - 159
AB De Villiers- 141
David Warner - 119
Steve Smith- 114
Dean Elgar - 81
Kane Williamson - 79
George Bailey - 75
Shaun Marsh - 73
Hashim Amla - 28
Jos Buttler - 20
Aaron Finch - 14
Shakib Al Hasan - dnp
Ravi Ashwin- dnp
Jofra Archer - dnp
Ravi Jadeja - dnp
Virat Kohli - dnp
Jeetan Patel - dnp
Overall
Simon Harmer - 1593
JP Duminy - 1525
Rashid Khan - 1524
Sunil Narine- 1334
Virat Kohli- 1231
Mitchell Marsh - 1121
Nathan Lyon - 1058
Jos Buttler - 1026
Aaron Finch - 974
Joe Root - 947
Kane Williamson -906
Ravi Ashwin - 810
Shakib Al Hasan - 608
Quinton de Kock - 581
Steve Smith - 577
AB De Villiers- 564
David Warner - 554
Jofra Archer - 550
George Bailey - 514
Hashim Amla - 495
Shaun Marsh- 481
Dean Elgar- 475
Ravi Jadeja - 412
Jeetan Patel - 108
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