A.B. De Villiers - The Best Cricketer of the Week

Sceptics of AB De Villiers' batting prowess seem to abound on Twitter. Having a quick peruse of Twitter throws up people who are sceptical about the Earth being round or climate change. All three of these theories annoy me equally. These sceptics take their knives out whenever they have the opportunity. At the back end of last week, De Villiers got out for 1 against Mumbai and the keyboard warriors laid in to him. Where are they now after two complete performances from the veteran South African? With 158 runs from two games at a strike rate of 230.76 and 226.66 I think it may be a long while before we see any criticism raise it's head again. He currently sits second place in the overall IPL run scorers with 280 across his 6 games - only 3 runs behind Ambati Rayudu. De Villiers' ability has come to the fore at just the time Bangalore need him. Over the same two games, Virat Kohli has gone off the boil somewhat. After his table- topping 300 points last week, he got a mere 68 this week. The two Bangalore men's varying fortunes coupled with Kane Williamson's 213 brings the threeway tussle of IPL batsmen very much back in focus. Kohli still has the edge but has cut his 230 point lead down to a mere 10. Kane Williamson sits just the other side of the dormant Joe Root, 51 points behind De Villiers. 

With six weeks at the top of the table and an overall lead of 166 under his belt, Rashid Khan must be feeling mighty confident. This confidence was needed this week after his poor performance in Week 16 - and the Afghanistan spinner came out fighting. 7 wickets from three games saw him back in true form and able to place himself 4th in this week's top point scorers. His stand out performance of the week were figures of 4-1-11-2 against Mumbai - picking up a rare 5 points for an IPL maiden. His 228 points is the most he has gained in 5 weeks and he will be looking to consolidate this over the next few weeks of the IPL. I am genuinely beginning to wonder if Rashid Khan topping our overall table is something that might continue for the rest of 2018. 

The success of Punjab in this year's IPL has come as a surprise to many - and the captaincy of Ravi Ashwin has played a huge part in this. Despite this, his yield of points has been exceptionally low. Scoring a mere 70 points from 3 games is not going to see the Indian spinner rocket up the table any time soon. This is further highlighted by the fact that only 20 of these points have come from wickets taken. For a long period of time Ashwin was rooted firmly in the top ten of the overall league but is off the pace now and finds himself 14th. In contrast to this, the returning Jofra Archer will be very pleased with his week, despite similar points to Ashwin. At the end of January the much fancied Archer was just outside the top ten, however a long spell out of the game with injury saw him drop to second bottom of the overall table. His return from injury and debut for Rajasthan this week saw him dominate the game against Mumbai with three wickets in his final over. He has got a long way to go but a successful IPL could see him end up mid table by the end of the tournament. 

With 1053 points, it looks like Aaron Finch is having a good year but in the first couple of months he was in the top five. His form since the end of February has been absolutely atrocious and has seen him drop down the table with some alacrity. Since his 151* for Victoria against Perth on 24th February, Finch has batted in 9 innings in both the Sheffield Shield and in the IPL. From these 9 innings he has scored just 53 runs at an average of 5.89. His high score in this time is a mere 14* for Punjab against Hyderabad. This week he also suffered the ignominy of being one of a handful of players who represented his team in a match but picked up zero points. He and Ravi Jadeja are by far the two players whose 2018 form have disappointed. The fact that he has put his name in the frame for a potential Australian captaincy is ridiculous to the point of laughable. 

Week 

AB De Villiers - 288
Jeetan Patel - 255
Simon Harmer - 249
Rashid Khan - 228
Kane Williamson - 213
Shakib Al Hasan - 164
Shaun Marsh - 151
Quinton de Kock - 121
Jofra Archer- 98
Hashim Amla - 96
Sunil Narine- 87
Ravi Ashwin - 70
Virat Kohli - 68
Dean Elgar - 64
Ravi Jadeja - 53
Aaron Finch - 30 
Jos Buttler - 26
George Bailey - dnp 
JP Duminy- dnp 
Nathan Lyon - dnp 
Mitchell Marsh - dnp 
Joe Root- dnp 
Steve Smith - dnp 
David Warner - dnp 

Overall

Rashid Khan - 2426
Simon Harmer - 2260
Sunil Narine- 1934
Nathan Lyon - 1789
Jeetan Patel - 1709
JP Duminy - 1671
Virat Kohli- 1640
AB De Villiers- 1630
Joe Root - 1615
Kane Williamson -1579
Mitchell Marsh - 1425
Jos Buttler - 1316
Quinton de Kock - 1196
Ravi Ashwin - 1135
Shakib Al Hasan - 1099
Aaron Finch - 1053
Dean Elgar- 996
Hashim Amla - 901
David Warner - 752
Shaun Marsh- 716
Steve Smith - 706
Jofra Archer - 648
George Bailey - 631
Ravi Jadeja - 549

Virat Kohli - The Best Cricketer of the Week

Life is treating Virat Kohli well. He began the year as a new husband, stormed to the top of the overall rankings before going on to have a couple of months rest and relaxation. Last week he sat at the bottom of the top ten of the overall rankings alongside AB De Villiers and Kane Williamson and I speculated that the three would be evenly paced throughout the IPL. Kohli has treated that statement with disdain and delivered two performances over 50 and picked up a further 70 points for his strike rate in that time. Inarguably the highlight of his week (other than being Cricketer of the Week and being named in TIME magazine's 100 most influential people) was his rare feat of carrying the bat in a T20 innings with his 92 in the loss to Mumbai. His performances have seen him shoot up to seventh in the table, leapfrogging Mitchell Marsh and Jeetan Patel. He has also put a cushion between him and De Villiers and Williamson. Neither batsmen had poor weeks scoring, as they both did, points in the triple figures but they stay in the passenger seat compared to Kohli. 

It has been a topsy turvy IPL for high flying Sunil Narine. Last week his table topping 182 points came predominantly from the bat. This week his score of 215 has been with his more favoured implement - the ball. The self exiled West Indian got six wickets in his six games and coupled it with a low economy that sees him second in the weekly table as well as move into third place on the overall table. He also crossed an IPL landmark in the game against Delhi when he became the first international spinner to take over one hundred wickets. The dream for the player would be to combine wicket taking with explosive batting rather than it being a 'one or the other' situation. If he were to achieve this Simon Harmer or even Rashid Khan might start to feel uncomfortable. 

The week has also thrown up some surprise reversals in fortunes. Rashid Khan and Jeetan Patel have been performing out of their skins when they have played in 2018 but this week put the handbrake on this with startling suddenness. Jeetan Patel's weekly score of 40 for his opening wicketless performance for Warwickshire is the lowest he has got in a week he has played in since Week 2. Rashid Khan's week was not much better. The Afghanistan spinner got just a single wicket over his two games for Hyderabad and, to add insult to injury, got absolutely turned over by Chris Gayle in the process. His yield of 20 points is the lowest for him since Week 2. The damage for Rashid at the top of the table has been limited - he has benefited by Simon Harmer's game for Essex against Yorkshire being a wash out and has a 350 point cushion on third place Narine - however Kohli has pushed Patel down a place to ninth.

It is always laudable for a player to be performing consistently. Two players who may feel slightly underwhelmed by their consistency this week are Jos Buttler and Hashim Amla. In Rajasthan, Buttler has racked up an impressive 174 points however scores of 22, 23 and 24, whilst numerically pleasing, did not do much to aid his team. What was impressive for the English wicket keeper is the strike rate he achieved these totals in - most notably his 14 ball 23 against Bangalore. More consistently yet more disappointingly, Hashim Amla's debut for Hampshire compromised two scores of 36 with a strike rate differential separated by a mere 1.42. This represents a poor run of form for the South African veteran. Before the game against Worcestershire he had scored 350 in his last ten games at an average of 25. Many fancy Amla as a key part of Hampshire's title challenge this year and whilst no one is hugely disappointed with his scores in this opening game, it will be important for Craig White to get some bigger totals from him. 

Club cricket can directly have an effect on your chance to play for your country and, at this rate, Ravi Jadeja might have a real problem getting back into national colours. I mentioned last week that Jadeja will be looking for faith from his coach Stephen Fleming and this is something that has not happened. In the last two games for Chennai the spinner has bowled just one over - a continuation of his poor form that started at Saurashtra. Jadeja sits at the bottom of our table and, Warner and Smith aside, will remain there on this current form. 

Week

Virat Kohli - 300
Sunil Narine- 215
Kane Williamson- 194
Shakib Al Hasan - 181
Quinton de Kock - 180
Jos Buttler - 179
Ravi Ashwin - 157
AB De Villiers- 148
Hashim Amla - 82
Ravi Jadeja - 41
Jeetan Patel - 40
Aaron Finch - 24
Rashid Khan - 20
Jofra Archer- dnp 
George Bailey - dnp
JP Duminy - dnp 
Dean Elgar- dnp 
Simon Harmer - dnp 
Nathan Lyon - dnp 
Mitchell Marsh - dnp 
Shaun Marsh - dnp 
Joe Root - dnp 
Steve Smith - dnp 
David Warner - dnp 

Overall

Rashid Khan - 2198
Simon Harmer - 2011
Sunil Narine- 1847
Nathan Lyon - 1789
JP Duminy - 1671
Joe Root - 1615
Virat Kohli- 1572
Mitchell Marsh - 1425
Jeetan Patel - 1454
Kane Williamson -1366
AB De Villiers- 1342
Jos Buttler - 1290
Quinton de Kock - 1075
Ravi Ashwin - 1065
Aaron Finch - 1023
Shakib Al Hasan - 935
Dean Elgar- 932
Hashim Amla - 805
David Warner - 752
Steve Smith - 706
George Bailey - 631
Shaun Marsh- 565
Jofra Archer - 550
Ravi Jadeja - 496

Sunil Narine - The Best Cricketer of the Week

I feel that at this time of year cricket does not know what it wants. The razzmatazz or the traditional? The superstars or the future stars? The bright colours and the flashing lights or the white, the red and the tranquility. This week it is the IPL stars that win out due to the fact that the County Championship season will (theoretically) start today. It will be an interesting battle in itself to see whether those participating in the four day games in England will get the better of their lower scoring but higher paid compatriots over in India. It is Sunil Narine who has taken to the competition like a duck to a County ground with some electric performances for Kolkata. Narine seems to have something of an affinity with the IPL whereby he manages to imbue himself with batting capabilities that he seems otherwise incapable of in other competitions. This week saw him open the batting for his franchise twice; once he crapped out and the other time he scored a 19 ball half century at a strike rate of 263.15. This highlights the affinity that the West Indian has for this competition. This was his second fifty in the IPL whereas his highest score in the less glitzy PSL stands at a mere 17. For a player who cemented themselves in the top ten with prolific wicket taking for Trinidad and Tobago, it seems unusual to credit him for high impact batting but if he were to perform as he did against Bangalore rather than Chennai he will soon be leapfrogging the non-IPL playing JP Duminy and Nathan Lyon and challenging for a top three place. 

There is a naturally distilled pressure cooker-style quality that these short T20 competitions lend to proceedings. The fact that you are never more than a few days away from your next game allows you to build up form or to continue poor spells with the ball or the bat. It also breeds a natural competition between players. During January's BBL competition my eye was continually drawn to the tussle between Rashid Khan and Jofra Archer who were jostling for position at the bottom of the top ten for the whole month - from there their two paths have dramatically diverted with one at the top of the overall rankings and the other second bottom. This time out I can see three top batsmen all wedged together who could be involved in a three way dog fight over the course of the competition. Hyderabad's Kane Williamson (on 1172 points) joins Bangalore's Virat Kohli (1272) and AB De Villiers (1194) in ninth to eleventh positions with exactly 100 points between them. As it stands it is Kohli who has overall dominance over the other two, however he only got 41 this week from his one game - this is slightly less than the per game average of Williamson who averages 46 points across his two games and is dwarfed by de Villiers' who got 94 points in his one game against Kolkata. At the moment it is the two Bangalore team mates who are  butting heads at the foot of the top ten but Williamson will soon find himself in the mix. 

If rest leads to good performances there are a group of four players that are due to hit the ground running in this tournament. Jos Buttler, Ravi Ashwin and Shakib Al Hasan have all not played a game since the middle of March whilst Ravi Jadeja has not played since the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the end of February. So who of these very well rested four has been using their time effectively? The best performing of these four is Hyderabad's Shakib who got 92 across his two games. Shakib thrives in T20 competitions and loves playing games hot on the heels of one another - something that the IPL more than caters for. The player was riding high in January before his injury and subsequent tumble down the overall table. Potentially his return to fitness will see him crawl back up. Jos Buttler was not too far off Shakib's pace either with a Narine-like double with one poor showing against Hyderabad yielding just 6 runs but then got 29 off 18 balls in the truncated game against Delhi. Buttler's spell away from the game has seen him settle just outside the top ten and he would be eager to put himself along side Kane Williamson and contribute to the batting battle discussed above. Two players whose form is slightly more worrying are the two Indian bowlers. Ravi Ashwin has only played one game in the IPL but yielded just one wicket from it. It is unfair to judge the Punjab captain on one performance but he will be looking to change a run of poor form that dates back to the start of February. It is coming up to two months since Ashwin last got anything more than two wickets in a match, something he will be desperate to redress. Another player who is in a slump is Ravi Jadeja. It seems like 2018 might be a fairly moribund year for the spinner. Despite Saurashtra's journey to the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, it was an ignominious ending for Jadeja who was eventually not given a chance with the ball whatsoever. Before his most recent game for Chennai this week, his last wicket in any game for any team was all the way back in Delhi for India against Sri Lanka on the 2nd December last year. He will hope for a little more faith from his coach Stephen Fleming than he was shown by Saurashtra otherwise he will start to fear for his position in the Indian team. 

Week 

Sunil Narine - 182

Rashid Khan - 100

AB De Villiers- 94

Shakib Al Hasan - 92

Kane Williamson - 92

Jos Buttler - 85

Ravi Jadeja - 43

Virat Kohli - 41

Ravi Ashwin- 30

Quinton de Kock- 14

Jofra Archer - dnp 

Hashim Amla - dnp 

George Bailey - dnp 

JP Duminy - dnp 

Dean Elgar- dnp 

Aaron Finch- dnp 

Simon Harmer - dnp 

Nathan Lyon - dnp 

Mitchell Marsh - dnp 

Shaun Marsh - dnp 

Jeetan Patel - dnp 

Joe Root - dnp 

Steve Smith - dnp 

David Warner - dnp 

Overall

Rashid Khan - 2178
Simon Harmer - 2011
Nathan Lyon - 1789
JP Duminy - 1671

Sunil Narine- 1632
Joe Root - 1615
Mitchell Marsh - 1425
Jeetan Patel - 1414
Virat Kohli- 1272
AB De Villiers- 1194
Kane Williamson -1172
Jos Buttler - 1111
Aaron Finch - 999
Dean Elgar- 932

Ravi Ashwin - 908
Quinton de Kock - 895
Shakib Al Hasan - 754
David Warner - 752
Hashim Amla - 723
Steve Smith - 706
George Bailey - 631
Shaun Marsh- 565
Jofra Archer - 550
Ravi Jadeja - 455

Jeetan Patel - The Best Cricketer of the Week

This week sees the end of the first quarter of the season completed - and a dramatic one it has been. With the Summer Tests and domestic tournaments over on the other side of the equator at an end and the IPL about to start, it seems a good point to take stock, not only of where the players are but also where they will be heading in the coming weeks. 

In an age where many cricketing cynics say that the County Championship is dying, it is perhaps pleasing to see so many of our top players about to start their season in that illustrious competition. Two players that will hope to hit the ground running are Jeetan Patel, this week's cricketer of the week, and Simon Harmer. I feel that over the last few weeks I have been bracketing these two bowlers together to their detriment. They are both outstanding bowlers in their own right who have been toiling away for Wellington and Warriors respectively. Patel is defying Old Father Time and becoming Mr Five-fer this year. His five wicket haul against Auckland was his fifth in as many matches and, as mentioned last week, has seen him rocket up the table. The New Zealander is now set to travel the twelve thousand miles from Wellington to Birmingham where he will represent Warwickshire. The veteran bowler will fancy his chances at extending his haul of wickets against some Division Two batting line ups and helping his team back up into Division 1. Harmer, keen to extend his run of good form, has taken advantage of the fact that the Sunfoil Series wrapped up a week ago to already make the journey over to England and is currently representing Essex in their warm up game against Cambridge MCCU. The challenge for Harmer is to keep up the sparkling form that has seen him top the wicket taking league in the last two tournaments he has played in. Such a gargantuan effort would be more of a challenge of focus and stamina than it would be talent but it seems Harmer does not lack in any of those disciplines. He finishes the first leg of 2018 in second place overall being one of only two players to break the 2000 point mark. 

Had Joe Root got his way he would have been getting on the plane in New Zealand and hopping over to India to represent one of the franchises in the IPL. Instead the England captain is heading back to Yorkshire to represent his home County. Going against those In the ECB as well as his better instincts that have told him to remain wary of the cash cow in previous years, he put his hand up for the tournament and remained unpicked. Whilst this may have aggrieved him short term, the batsman finds himself short of runs - despite the fact he finished third in our weekly rundown of players and fifth overall. For the last two weeks Root has got more points from fielding and bowling than he has from batting. In fact his entire tour of Australia and New Zealand sees him with an average of 40 and a high score of 82. Root is off the pace with his batting and this is something that the IPL would probably have exacerbated rather than cured. A return to an arena that he fells more comfortable in and with more parochial batting conditions may help him return to form with the bat and keep his top ten position. 

In the IPL this year it is expected that overall table topping Rashid Khan will slot back into the Sunrisers Hyderabad team and be a pivotal member of their campaign. He has been rested since mid March and the miracle escape job Afghanistan pulled off in the World Cup Qualifiers. Despite his team's early season stutters, Khan was able to regularly pick up wickets in the 50 over games. In his return to his more favoured T20 format, the nineteen year old is likely to go from strength to strength. His position at the top of our overall table seems relatively comfortable for the time being. 

The last four players are expected to pick up more points in the coming weeks but the only player that features in both our weekly and our overall rankings is not in action in the IPL or the County Championship. Nathan Lyon's performances have been one of the only silver linings from a very dark cloud of a series for Australia. He has chipped in with regular wickets, got hatloads of maidens with low economies and also contributed with the bat in one innings. All this being said, Lyon might appreciate a rest, coming, as he has, off the back of an Ashes summer, straight to the BBL and straight over to South Africa. He currently sits in third place but with those representing IPL franchises or County Championship teams below him, he could find himself sliding down the rankings. 

One thing that is very clear from the players who have stood out in this first chapter of 2018 is that spin is king. With Patel, Harmer, Lyon, Khan and (at a push) Root all in the mix, it is clear that spin is the way to go. 

Week

Jeetan Patel - 313
Nathan Lyon - 277
Joe Root- 186 
Dean Elgar - 150
AB De Villiers - 105
Quinton de Kock- 93
Mitchell Marsh - 79
Hashim Amla - 53
Shaun Marsh - 33
Kane Williamson - 22
Shakib Al Hassan - dnp 
Ravi Ashwin- dnp 
Jofra Archer - dnp 
George Bailey - dnp 
Jos Buttler - dnp 
JP Duminy- dnp 
Aaron Finch - dnp 
Rashid Khan - dnp 
Simon Harmer - dnp 
Ravi Jadeja- dnp 
Virat Kohli - dnp 
Sunil Narine- dnp 
Steve Smith - dnp 
David Warner - dnp 

Overall

Rashid Khan - 2078
Simon Harmer - 2011
Nathan Lyon - 1789
JP Duminy - 1671
Joe Root - 1615
Sunil Narine- 1450
Mitchell Marsh - 1425
Jeetan Patel - 1414
Virat Kohli- 1231
AB De Villiers- 1100
Kane Williamson -1080
Jos Buttler - 1026
Aaron Finch - 999
Dean Elgar- 932
Quinton de Kock - 881
Ravi Ashwin - 878
David Warner - 752
Hashim Amla - 723
Steve Smith - 706
Shakib Al Hasan - 662
George Bailey - 631
Shaun Marsh- 565
Jofra Archer - 550
Ravi Jadeja - 412