Babar Azam - The Best Cricketer of the Week

 

Weekly List

1. Babar Azam - 270 - Is hitting his straps at just the right time for the T20 World Cup. It is his third Cricketer of the Week award of 2022 and his tenth in the three years on our List - this puts him joint fifth all time with Marnus Labuschagne.

2. Kane Williamson - 236 - Kane Williamson does not do well in these Lists. He is scheduled to finish in the bottom three for the second year in a row and has never been in the Top Ten. This is only the third time he has ever been in a weekly Top 5 in the last 2 years.

3. Mohammad Rizwan - 213 - The Reliant Rizwan still keeps trundling along. Over the last 2 months he has been in the Top 5 highest scores for all but 3 weeks and with the T20 World Cup round the corner I see no reason why that should stop.

4. Marnus Labuschagne - 167 - It is fair to say it has not been a vintage year for Marnus after his Cricketer of the Year accolade in 2022. He can still crack out a big score in the longest form though, as was seen in his century stand in Queensland's mauling of Tasmania.

5. David Warner - 147 - A sniff of a big tournament and David Warner is back to his big scoring ways. He knows when to turn it on and is back in the Top 5 for the second week on the bounce.

Overall

1. Simon Harmer - 4778 - Harmer's lead is plummeting quicker than the pound. Once a mighty 1363, he now has a lead of just 483. Needs to decide if he's playing in South Africa before the lead is gone.

2. Mohammad Rizwan - 4295 - Once upon a time, Rizwan was looking over his shoulder with a cavernous gap ahead of him. Now he is 751 points clear of third spot and dares to dream he could claim the top spot by the end of the T20 World Cup.

3. Babar Azam - 3544 - Cricketer of the Week and up two places to his highest position since mid-April. Everything is coming up Millhouse for Babar. He's even sorting out his Strike Rate issue.

4, Moeen Ali - 3533 - Another underwhelming display from Moeen sees him lose the third-place spot he has held for 6 weeks.

5. Quinton De Kock - 3326 - Last week I said it was famine or feast for the South African wicket-keeper, and he had a lean harvest this time out. After scoring 305 points last week he has scored 31 this. Down a place to 5th.

Other Movers

Two players moved position this week despite not having huge scores. Travis Head got 122 for the week but overtook Steve Smith into 18th whilst KL Rahul got 12 runs more but went up 2 spots to 14th.

Ones to Watch

Two Aussies with very different agendas might be worth keeping an eye on. The domesticated Travis Head is only 8 points clear of Steve Smith who is about to start the carnival of big hitting that will be the T20 World Cup. Who will have the edge?

Top Three Averages

1. Simon Harmer = 207.74
2. Babar Azam 147.67 (Up from 142.35)
3. Ben Stokes = 146.74 (Down from 151.33)


Stokes experienced the now traditional Test-to-T20 transition average dip and also moves down to the third highest average points per week. Kane Williamson's average improved by 11.5 points but his 63.5 points per week is still the worst of everyone's.

Top Players By Format


Long Form - Simon Harmer = 4063
One Day - Babar Azam = 1002
Short Form - Moeen Ali = 3137

Highest Points by Discipline

*=New Name

Runs - Mohammad Rizwan - 2485
Batting Bonus - *Babar Azam = 510
Strike Rate - Moeen Ali = 750

Wickets - Simon Harmer = 2280
Wicket Bonus - Simon Harmer = 410
Economy - Simon Harmer = 1020

Fielding - Quinton De Kock = 680
Fielding Bonus - Rishabh Pant = 110

Weekly

Babar Azam 270
Kane Williamson 236
Mohammad Rizwan 213
Marnus Labuschagne 167
David Warner 147
KL Rahul 134
Travis Head 122
Moeen Ali 84
Ben Stokes 64
Pat Cummins 38
Quinton De Kock 31
Risabh Pant 28
Bhanuka Rajapaksa 27
Glenn Maxwell 8

Kyle Jamieson dnp
Jonny Bairstow dnp
Joe Root dnp
Simon Harmer dnp
Matt Critchley dnp
Hasan Ali dnp
Steve Smith dnp

Overall

1 Simon Harmer 4778
2 Mohammad Rizwan 4295
3 Babar Azam 3544
4 Moeen Ali 3533
5 Quinton De Kock 3326
6 Rishabh Pant 3226
7 Glenn Maxwell 2847
8 Ben Stokes 2788
9 Marnus Labuschagne 2701
10 Joe Root 2648
11 Jonny Bairstow 2593
12 Matt Critchley 2473
13 David Warner 2238
14 KL Rahul 2115
15 Pat Cummins 2076
16 Hasan Ali 2037
17 Kyle Jamieson 1547
18 Travis Head 1520
19 Steve Smith 1512
20 Bhanuka Rajapaksa 1083
21 Kane Williamson 1016