Wayne Parnell - The Best Cricketer of the Week

Between the end of the series between England and Pakistan, the World Cup warm-up and the final of the Royal London One Day Cup, it is easy to forget that there was a round of County Championship matches this week. A round that was dominated by Worcestershire's Wayne Parnell who quietly blasted his way to the top of the weekly table with a domineering performance against fellow Division 2 promotion chasers, Lancashire. This is Parnell's second Cricketer of the Week accolade for May, his first coming for two fivefers in two games in the One Day Cup - this time round he showed his capabilities as a true allrounder with 108 of his 268 points coming from the bat. These two performances alone have seen him surreptitiously rise up from the bottom positions in the table. He started May in the bottom 5 with 531 points - four weeks and nearly 1000 points later he is now comfortably middle of the table in 14th place - one position above Kane Williamson and one below Duanne Olivier. There's not many County Championship games which Jimmy Anderson plays in where he ends up as second fiddle in the bowling department but Parnell managed to pull that off this week. Worcestershire are in action again next week and another huge score for Parnell could be on the cards yet again. 

Besides the County Championship, there is the small matter of a World Cup that starts next week. So who is going into this tournament in good form and who is going to have to turn the tide? Let's start with those who are brimming with confidence. A player who has done consistently well this year is Joe Root. A stalwart of these posts over the last 18 months - his overall yield was disappointing throughout 2018 and he never really forced himself onto the top 5. This has not been the case in 2019 where he has been in the overall top five on and off throughout the year. He finished the series against Pakistan with a big(ish) score of 84 - his highest total since his century against the West Indies in February. Hopefully the Englishman can take this form into the World Cup - however it is a notable feature of Root's game that he tends to perform very well approaching big series but then melts away under the pressure. Could the World Cup be another example of this? Perhaps it is an omen that Root finishes this week with the overall score of 1966 - another famous World Cup winning year. Fellow Englishman Jos Buttler is the inverse Joe Root. A force to be reckoned with in 2018 and hardly ever out of the overall top ten - Buttler has only just entered the top ten this year thanks to his performances against Pakistan and Australia. Whilst 34 and 52 are not huge scores for Buttler, his overall performance including strike rate and his skill with the gloves sees him finish second for the week and start the World Cup with him hitting his stride at just the right time. Rashid Khan is the last player who is going into the tournament well. After a comparatively disappointing year, his outings in the warm up games against Ireland and Pakistan has seen Rashid performing like the player of old. His 4 wickets across his three games coupled with a decent economy has seen him regain second spot for the year off Jonny Bairstow. Rashid loves to play tournaments with a quick turnaround between games - something the World Cup delivers in spades - so I would expect his form to continue in this way. 

All of the cricketing world are expecting India to perform well in this World Cup. Despite their warm-up loss to New Zealand yesterday they are still the bookies second favourites for the trophy and a team packed with stars will always do well. The problem is that some of their biggest stars are not in the form that they would like. The most prevalent example of this is Kuldeep Yadav. The year started with Kuldeep riding high for India in their series against Australia. He was featuring in both their Test team as well as their ODI side and looked like a good young prospect. Since then form has not been on his side. After an insipid IPL tournament in which he was dropped by Kolkata, he returned from four weeks away from the game to score just 19 points this week and continue his spell without major wickets. Over his last ten games in all formats he has just four wickets. He has slipped down to 17th place and is looking like he may struggle to regain his place in the India team so I can only see his trajectory being downwards. Another Indian player who is not in great form is the IPL winning captain Rohit Sharma. It may seem counterintuitive to say that a player whose side most recently won the premier domestic T20 tournament in the world might be questioning his form but The Hitman's aim has been pretty out of focus for a while now. Over his last ten innings in all formats he has scored under 20 runs on five occasions and in single figures three times. This dire run of form sees him outside our overall top ten and with less points than Shakib Al Hasan - a player who has featured in ten fewer gameweeks than he has. Virat Kohli is in a similar position. A disappointing IPL for him has seen the free-flowing batsman look anything but free-flowing. His stats are similar to Rohit's - over his last ten innings in all formats five have been below 20 however he does have a century against Kolkata to boost his average over that time. Up until last week, Kohli was in our overall top five and currently sits seventh and I would expect him to have a decent performance - however if South Africa and Australia get him out cheaply the most confident man in world cricket might just start having a bit of a crisis. 

Week

Wayne Parnell - 268
Jos Buttler - 226
Rashid Khan - 211
Morne Morkel - 181
Joe Root - 134
Jack Leach - 129
Kane Williamson- 87
Jonny Bairstow - 84
Jeetan Patel - 84
Glenn Maxwell - 78
Ben Stokes - 61
Shai Hope - 31 
Kuldeep Yadav - 29
Virat Kohli - 28
Rohit Sharma - 12
Callum Ferguson - 8

Mohammad Abbas - dnp 
Shakib Al Hasan - dnp 
Joe Burns- dnp 
Shubman Gill - dnp 
Simon Harmer - dnp 
Shreyas Iyer- dnp 
Duanne Olivier - dnp 
Abdur Razzak - dnp 


Overall 

Glenn Maxwell - 3232
Rashid Khan - 2109
Jonny Bairstow - 2034
Joe Root- 1966
Jeetan Patel - 1907
Shreyas Iyer - 1887
Virat Kohli- 1817
Jos Buttler - 1807
Simon Harmer - 1763
Ben Stokes - 1732
Shakib Al Hasan - 1704
Rohit Sharma - 1631
Duanne Olivier - 1618
Wayne Parnell - 1465
Kane Williamson - 1411
Shai Hope - 1166
Kuldeep Yadav - 1051
Morne Morkel - 933
Callum Ferguson - 910
Abdur Razzak- 898
Shubman Gill - 846
Mohammad Abbas - 764
Jack Leach - 714
Joe Burns - 709

Simon Harmer - The Best Cricketer of the Week

He has had to wait some time to be our Cricketer of the Week for the second time in 2019 but Simon Harmer is back in the top spot once again thanks to an eight wicket haul for Essex against Nottinghamshire. Harmer has not been as dominant this year as he was last. In gameweek 20 of 2018 he was Cricketer of the Week just as he is in gameweek 20 of 2019 - the difference is that this was his fourth such accolade whilst this is just his second of 2018. By this point he was also the best Cricketer in our overall list with 2927 points and a 300 point lead over Rashid Khan. This week's haul of 303 points puts him in 8th with a year total of 1763 - over 1000 less than this point last year. A lot of this can be put down to the fact that the structure of the County Championship season has changed this year and the Royal London One Day Cup moved earlier in the year to facilitate the World Cup however it cannot be argued that the South African spinner has been less effective this year than last. We now have a fairly lengthily spell of County Championship games wherein Harmer can find his form and pick up some big points but there is a growing chasm at the top of the table that he will need to make up to be statistically the best player in the world as he was in 2018. 

When any World Cup looms large on the horizon the home team get extra scrutiny. This is especially the case when that home team is England. A team that have regularly been playing the best ODI cricket in the world for the last three years. This scrutiny is holding up quite well as a number of English players have been performing well throughout the year whilst another group of Englishmen have upped their game this week. Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root have both been flying high this year. Bairstow was not in our list last year and his inclusion this year has seen him play a pivotal role for Hyderabad in the IPL and transition very naturally into an explosive ODI opener. This has seen him a regular feature in the overall top 5 - and this consistency has seen him overtake some inactive players to take second spot. Joe Root has rejoined the top five at the expense of his longtime rival, Virat Kohli. His performances have also been consistent in the ODI game however his inability to produce big scores holds him back from finishing in the weekly top 5. Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes have had disappointing years overall. At the start of the week they were 14th and 10th respectively and a long way off the pack. Ben Stokes was not part of our list last year for judicial reasons but Buttler was 7th with 2064 points compared to the 1381 points he had as of last week. Some comparatively strong performances this week against Pakistan have seen them boost their positions and finish with their highest scores in many weeks however they have a long way to go to move up the overall rankings. However there is a World Cup just round the corner. 

I spend so long focussing on the top of the table that it easy to forget that there is also an Englishman at the bottom of the table. Jack Leach had his best week of 2019 this week thanks to six wickets for Somerset against Surrey to gain 226 points - 62% of his total points from the other 19 weeks of the year. This is harsh to the Taunton-born spinner. He was an unused squad member for England's tour of the West Indies and was never due to be a part of Somerset's One Day Cup jaunts and has therefore only been active for 5 gameweeks out of 20. So there he sits - despite the joint fifth highest score of the Week - at the bottom of the table with a huge gulf between him and second bottom placed Joe Burns who has returned to action after his own spell of inactivity with a score of 10 for Lancashire against Northamptonshire. Leach is very likely to be part of the squad for the Ashes - a series where his spin may be called for more than it was in the West Indies - however the question is how far will he be behind the pack by then? 

Week

Simon Harmer - 303
Shai Hope - 281
Jonny Bairstow- 279
Jeetan Patel - 277
Jack Leach 226
Joe Root - 226
Duanne Olivier - 221
Jos Buttler - 200
Mohammad Abbas - 191
Ben Stokes - 188
Shakib Al Hasan - 179 
Morne Morkel - 98
Rohit Sharma - 15
Joe Burns - 10 

Callum Ferguson - dnp
Shubman Gill - dnp 
Shreyas Iyer - dnp 
Rashid Khan - dnp 
Virat Kohli - dnp 
Glenn Maxwell - dnp 
Wayne Parnell - dnp 
Abdur Razzak - dnp 
Kane Williamson - dnp 
Kuldeep Yadav- dnp 

Overall 

Glenn Maxwell - 3808
Jonny Bairstow - 1950
Rashid Khan - 1898
Shreyas Iyer - 1887
Joe Root- 1832
Jeetan Patel - 1823
Virat Kohli- 1789
Simon Harmer - 1763
Shakib Al Hasan - 1704
Ben Stokes - 1671
Rohit Sharma - 1619
Duanne Olivier - 1618
Jos Buttler - 1581
Kane Williamson - 1324
Wayne Parnell - 1197
Shai Hope - 1135
Kuldeep Yadav - 1022
Callum Ferguson - 902
Abdur Razzak- 898
Shubman Gill - 846
Mohammad Abbas - 764
Morne Morkel - 752
Joe Burns - 709
Jack Leach - 583

Shai Hope - The Best Cricketer of the Week

The second chapter of the 2019 cricket season is coming to a close. Chapter one was focussed on the BBL, domestic cricket in the sub continent and international matches. Chapter two's main talking points were the IPL and the start of the English cricket season. Shai Hope did not feature in any of these tournaments so subsequently saw himself slide down the rankings. When he laid down his bat at the end of West Indies' series against England, he had 465 and was in the lower middle half of the table. His eight inactive weeks then saw him end last week with only Jack Leach separating him from the bottom of the table. Even when he was playing regularly, his form was not electric with an average of 18.29 over his 7 ODI and T20 games against England. This week has seen him turn things round with two stellar performances against Ireland and Bangladesh in which he scored a cumulative 279 runs in three days. This has seen him leapfrog four players in the overall league, including last week's wunderkind Shubman Gill. He is the only player in the bottom third of our players to be featuring in the World Cup so this sharp uptick in points may continue over the coming months - especially if West Indies over perform. 

Hope's lunge up the table is indicative of a trend that we have seen this week of Cricketers lower down the table making the big points whilst the top five keep ticking over. The top five have stayed the top five for the last three weeks with some minor adjustments in order. This being said, Glenn Maxwell has now stretched his lead at the top of the table to a phenomenal 1910 meaning that two of our second place player - Rashid Khan - would still not make up one Glenn Maxwell. Australian dominance aside the larger totals this week have come from players making the leap from the foot of the table. Last week's Cricketer of the Week, Wayne Parnell continues to push up the table with another solid score of 181 that now sees him just behind Kane Williamson in the middle of the table. Parnell's fellow Worcestershire player, Callum Ferguson also made a big leap thanks to his first century since the last week in January. His 204 points in a week is his second highest weekly yield in 2019 and has seen him overtake Joe Burns, Shubman Gill and Abdur Razzak to move into 17th place. 

In amongst these surging players sees a group of Cricketers trying to get themselves out of the peloton and in to challenging for the top five. Most notable from these over the last few weeks has been Jeetan Patel. He finishes in seventh place this week and has now spent the last five weeks finishing in eight place or higher - including being the best Cricketer of the Week a fortnight ago. In these five weeks, Patel has moved from 15th place to 8th and is now a solidly competitive top ten performer, a mere handful of points between players that have been in the overall top five such as Rohit Sharma and Joe Root. Another player who is looking to mount their comeback in this year's competition is Shakib Al Hasan. A barnstorming BPL followed by a forgettable IPL saw the Bangladesh captain riding high and then plummet as low as 13th last week. A return to international duty has seen Shakib back in his element and recording his highest score since January. He has overtaken the like of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and dark horse Simon Harmer to plop himself back into the top ten before he begins his World Cup campaign. Whilst the top five are fairly fixed at this moment in time, there is a vast array of players mounting a charge from behind and the weight of points will soon put pressure on those front runners......except for maybe Glenn Maxwell. 

Week

Shai Hope - 389
Shakib Al Hasan 305
Glenn Maxwell - 232
Callum Ferguson - 204
Wayne Parnell - 181
Simon Harmer - 153
Jeetan Patel - 118 
Rohit Sharma - 99
Rashid Khan - 70
Kane Williamson - 48
Mohammad Abbas - 44
Shreyas Iyer- 31
Shubman Gill - 9

Jonny Bairstow- dnp 
Joe Burns - dnp 
Jos Buttler - dnp 
Virat Kohli - dnp 
Jack Leach- dnp 
Morne Morkel - dnp 
Duanne Olivier - dnp 
Abdur Razzak- dnp 
Joe Root - dnp 
Ben Stokes - dnp 
Kuldeep Yadav - dnp 

Overall 

Glenn Maxwell - 3808
Rashid Khan - 1898
Shreyas Iyer - 1887
Virat Kohli- 1789
Jonny Bairstow - 1671
Joe Root- 1606
Rohit Sharma - 1604
Jeetan Patel - 1546
Shakib Al Hasan - 1525
Ben Stokes - 1483
Simon Harmer - 1460
Duanne Olivier - 1397
Jos Buttler - 1381
Kane Williamson - 1324
Wayne Parnell - 1197
Kuldeep Yadav - 1022
Callum Ferguson - 902
Abdur Razzak- 898
Shai Hope - 854
Shubman Gill - 846
Joe Burns - 699
Morne Morkel - 654
Mohammad Abbas - 573
Jack Leach - 359

Wayne Parnell - The Best Cricketer of the Week

The beauty of sport is that out of nowhere a player who has done nothing special for months can turn on a dime and defy expectation with a stellar run of form. A couple of players did that this week but the most impressive of this bunch was Wayne Parnell. The South African Kolpak player has been one of the most inactive players on our list in 2019 after being a no show in eleven of eighteen gameweeks. When he has played he has been remarkably ineffectual. He turned out once for the Sylhet in the BPL and once again for Islamabad in the PSL before featuring more regularly for Worcestershire in the Royal London One Day Cup. His early season form in this competition hardly set the world alight and he started this week in fifth bottom place with 531 points after a mere 8 wickets from his first 6 games. Fast forward a week and the Port Elizabeth man has got a further 12 wickets from his last three games including two fivefers and a 76 with the bat against Warwickshire. This has seen Parnell register a whopping 485 points this week and almost double his overall tally for the year to 1016. He jumps five places to 16th in the table and is just six points behind early season golden boy Kuldeep Yadav. Parnell's performances have helped propel Worcestershire into the next stage of the One Day Cup so more performances like this could very well be on the cards. 

It wasn't only Wayne Parnell that showed his true class this week as two players that have had an ineffectual IPL season turned their own personal tides with some strong performances. Most notable was Shubman Gill who, after a string of very poor scores that I highlighted last week, came out with match altering performance of 76 and 65 against Mumbai and Punjab - both with pretty impressive strike rates. This will boost his abysmal average for the season which stood at 14.22 last week and is now at a slightly more respectable looking 35.87. It is notable that when he opens for Kolkata he performs markedly better than further down the order. He now has three half centuries from his last four outings in this position. This being said it has been a forgettable IPL for the young Indian and he is the lowest scoring IPL player on our list by some distance - 185 points behind teammate Kuldeep Yadav. The second player to show his true class was Kane Williamson. Ultimately one of the most gifted players in world cricket he has been hampered by poor form and has been muscled out of his own team due to the foreign player rule. Before yesterday's game against Bangalore Williamson's IPL average was 8.29 - this from a player whose T20 average is 29.76. His 70 will put a brighter shine on things but to have only scored 160 across the four games he has played this week will be a disappointment. 

At the start of April when Duanne Olivier made his debut for Yorkshire against Nottinghamshire his seven wickets had fans of the White Rose salivating at the damage the Kolpak signing would inflict for their club. Since then the scintillating wicket taking that South African fans were so angry at losing out on has failed to emerge. This week Olivier played four times for Yorkshire - one more game than his fellow countryman Wayne Parnell - from this packed schedule he managed to score just 53 points and claim a solitary wicket. In fact in his one County Championship match and the five One Day Cup games he has played since debut he has claimed just four wickets. Olivier currently sits tenth in the overall table - a fairly respectable position - but a majority of his points are still made up from his outings for South Africa. Before his first game for Yorkshire he had 793 points and has gained only 604 in the month that he has been in England. In comparison to bowlers that have featured in a similar number of games in that time; Wayne Parnell has scored 868 and Jeetan Patel 803. Both of whom came with much less fanfare. 

Week

Wayne Parnell - 485 
Shubman Gill - 241
Glenn Maxwell - 186
Shreyas Iyer - 181
Rashid Khan - 169
Jeetan Patel - 160
Kane Williamson - 160 
Morne Morkel - 152
Virat Kohli - 79
Mohammad Abbas - 58
Rohit Sharma - 56
Duanne Olivier - 53
Simon Harmer - 36
Shakib Al Hasan - 29
Callum Ferguson - 27
Joe Root- 17

Jonny Bairstow - dnp 
Joe Burns- dnp 
Jos Buttler - dnp 
Shai Hope - dnp 
Jack Leach- dnp 
Abdur Razzak- dnp 
Ben Stokes - dnp 
Kuldeep Yadav- dnp 


Overall 

Glenn Maxwell - 2922
Shreyas Iyer - 1856
Rashid Khan - 1828
Virat Kohli- 1789
Jonny Bairstow - 1671
Joe Root- 1606
Rohit Sharma - 1505
Ben Stokes - 1483
Jeetan Patel - 1428
Duanne Olivier - 1397
Jos Buttler - 1381
Simon Harmer - 1307
Kane Williamson - 1276
Shakib Al Hasan - 1220
Kuldeep Yadav - 1022
Wayne Parnell - 1016
Abdur Razzak- 898
Shubman Gill - 837
Joe Burns - 699
Callum Ferguson - 698
Morne Morkel - 654
Mohammad Abbas - 529
Shai Hope - 465
Jack Leach - 359