Steve Smith - The Best Cricketer of the Week

 

Top 5 Cricketers of the Week

1. Steve Smith = 296 - Was probably the best player in Australia's shock test defeat to the West Indies and was then probably the best player in their victory in the 1st ODI. Shockingly, Smith has never won more than 2 Cricketer of the Weeks in a year so is half there already.

2. Ravindra Jadeja - 279 - Has been sat on 0 points since Week 1 but has given us a taste of his 2023 form this week with points scored with both bat and ball. Leaps from bottom of the pile to 13th. Will slide back down as he is sidelined for the second Test.

3. Babar Azam - 199 - Producing the goods out in Bangladesh. Two T20 games for Babar with scores of 62 and 37 to continue his ever presence in the Weekly Top 5.

4. Yashasvi Jaiswal - 135 - Indians wunderkind is here thanks to his score of 80 in the first innings of their thrilling Test defeat against England. More points on the horizon very soon for this young man.

5. Sam Curran - 132 - Two impactful innings of 20 & 22 for Sam has seen him just edge into the Top 5. He also moves onto the verge of the overall Top 5 with the closing games of the SA20 on the horizon.

Overall Top 5

1. Babar Azam - 759 - Has spent two weeks in second place but has taken advantage of inactivity above him to seize the top spot for the first time since 2021 where he spent the majority of the year in top spot before Labuschagne stole it from him at the very end.

2. Chamari Athapaththu - 629 - Spent the whole of January as the best Cricketer in the World but, as February roles in and she puts her feet up she has been caught lacking and moves into second spot.

3. Jos Buttler - 586 - A quieter week for Jos Buttler as he only managed a single score over 20, however he retains 3rd place. Buttler spent 10 weeks hanging around in bronze position before moving into the top spot in the later part of the year.

4. James Vince - 524 - Despite scoring a mere 59 this week, Vince holds on to fourth spot - mainly due to a lack of challenge from those below him.

5. Steve Smith - 411 - Smith has pulled off a leap that would have Jonathan Edwards salivating as he moves up from 17th position to 5th in one fell swoop. Not bad going for the newly crowned Australian opener.

Other Movers

Usman Khawaja is the only upwardly mobile player not to feature in any Top 5s. He moves up 3 places to 15th.

Top 3 Average Points per Active Week

1. Daryl Mitchell - 196
1. Jos Buttler - 195.33 (Down from 247.5)
3. Babar Azam - 189.75 (Up from 186.67)

Jos Buttler tumbles form his stratospheric heights to a more menial score of a smidge under 200. Steve Smith moves up 22 and a half points thanks to his colossal week; his average is now 137 a week.

Highest scorer by Format

* = New Name

Long Form = Travis Head = 259
One Day = *Steve Smith = 119
Short Form = *Babar Azam = 690

Highest scorer by Discipline

Runs - Babar Azam = 419
Batting Bonus -Babar Azam = 100
Strike Rate - Glenn Maxwell & *Babar Azam = 150

Wickets - Chamari Athapaththu - 180
Wicket Bonus - Chamari Athapaththu & Simon Harmer & *Ravindra Jadeja - 20
Economy - *Travis Head & *Ravindra Jadeja = 50

Fielding - Jos Buttler & *Steve Smith = 100
Fielding Bonus - Yashasvi Jaiswal & James Vince & Glenn Maxwell, Jos Buttler & Steve Smith = 10

Weekly Scores

Steve Smith 296
Ravindra Jadeja 279
Babar Azam 199
Yashasvi Jaiswal 135
Sam Curran 132
Usman Khawaja 125
Jos Buttler 91
James Vince 59
Mitchell Marsh 51
Marnus Labuschagne 48
Travis Head 44
Phil Salt 25
Shubman Gill 23
Simon Harmer 10
Aaron Hardie 10
Moeen Ali 0

Overall Scores

1 Babar Azam 759
2 Chamari Athapaththu 629
3 Jos Buttler 586
4 James Vince 524
5 Steve Smith 411
6 Sam Curran 404
7 Daryl Mitchell 392
8 Glenn Maxwell 385
9 Aaron Hardie 382
10 Yashasvi Jaiswal 375
11 Marnus Labuschagne 346
12 Travis Head 303
13 Ravindra Jadeja 279
14 Moeen Ali 263
15 Usman Khawaja 240
16 Phil Salt 239
17 Simon Harmer 180
18 Mitchell Marsh 180
19 Virat Kohli 147
20 Shubman Gill 132
21 Rachin Ravindra 46