After 30 matches most of the players have had an opportunity to demonstrate  their form against both the  strong and weaker teams. It is a good time to review the performance of different players and the teams. While the Ranking table itself provides the details of individual players it is intersting to observe the total NRP s(Naavi Rating Points) earned by a team. As the Table I below indicates India is 
 
 

The composition of the top three players for each team indicates that allrounders have topped most of the teams. Gough, Allot, Fleming and Muralitharan are the bowlers who have  topped  their respective countries. Jacobs is the only wicket keeper who has topped a team.

Spin bowlers have generally not done well since the best amongst them viz: Muralitharan was not amongst the top 10 players of the tournament at this stage. He was in the 16 th position and has retired from the contest. The surviving spinners Warne was in 32 nd and Kumble was in 42 nd positions.

I am glad to note that Stump Vision has also decided to follow the player of the tournament through their system of evaluation. They have today announced the top ten players of the tournament at the end of the group matches. A Comparative evaluation of the ratings are given below for the information of the visitors. Ceat has also been announcing their rankings through TV. With this I think the "Tournament Specific " Rating as distinct from "Continuous Rating" has come in to existence. There are bound to be some differences in the different methodologies. It is for the observers to judge which system appears to provide the best indication of a player's performance according to their understanding of the game.

Four players who come in top 10 of Naavi rating do not find a place in SV rating. They are Hamilton(4th), Jacobs(5 th), Moin Khan (8 th),Odoyo (10 th).

On the other hand the four players who have entered the top 10 of SV rating and not in Naavi rating are Walsh(7th), Gough (8th), Donald (9th), Kallis (10th). The other 6 players are common in both ratings. 

The top two rankings match in both systems.

Two of the players missing from SV rating are wicket keepers.

Rahul Dravid is the only batsmen in top 10 under both systems. He comes on top in the Ceat Rankings. Most others are alrounders. 

Another surprise omission in SV ranking is Hamilton who has gained 4 th position in Naavi ranking.

SV ranking has more of the bowlers in the top 10.

This much anticipated duel between two teams desperate for wins went in favour of Australia which had a better allround strength .The strategic failure of  the Indian think tank comprising of Azaruddin, Gaekwad, Simpson, Brijesh Patel, assisted by Sachin and  influenced by the BCCI stalwarts Rajsingh Dungarpur and Dalmia, offerred the match on a platter to Australia. The stars of the day as far as the rating was concerned was Robin Singh of India who collected 143 NRP s(Naavi rating Points) and moved in to the top 10 (rank 4). Ajay Jadeja with a collection of 134 points also moved into the top 10. On the Australian  side it was Steve waugh who collected the maximum(85) points followed by Mark Waugh(71) and Mc Grath(68).Gilchrist collected 59 points with 4 catches and a half runout. 

Amongst the many Wicket keepers on show Jacobs still maintains the sixth position. Gilchrist with one additional match is now in the 23 rd position. Nayan Mongia is in the lowly 66 th position. Considering that the Indian management sacrificed Robin Singh in one match to let Mongia keep wickets instead of Dravid, lot more should be expected from Mongia. Dravid can also reflect that in spite of his tremendous batting, if he has to be the best player of the world cup, he needs to gather more points in fielding. This should be possible if he starts keeping the wickets. 

Today   was the day when two giants who are favourites to meet in the Final clashed with each other. It was a low scoring day in which the resilient South African side prevailed over the ebullient Pakistan side.  The highest points for the day was earned by  Moin Khan who collected 112 points . Klusener was not far behind with 100 points. With this performance Klusener further consolidated his position at the top racing to 485 points a clear 111 points ahead of his nearest rival Saurv Ganguly of India. Three points below him is  Wasim Akram in the 3 rd position followed by Moin Khan. WIth this performance Moin khan displaced Jacobs as the  best amongst the wicket keepers. It is interesting to note that apart from Klusener no other South African is presently in the top 10. There are 4 Indians, and two Pakistanis. Allot and Streak have an oportunity to sneak in to the top 10 after their match scheduled for tomorrow which will be the last in the Super Six Round 1. 

Theis last match of the first round of Super Six went into the second day due to rain and had to be abandoned. Zimbabwe ensured its semi final berth with the solitary point while New zealand perhaps lost its chance. In the limited scope available Murray Goodwin of Zimbabwe scored the highest points of 50 for the day. Allot of New Zealand however collected 43 points and moved into the top 10 displacing Jadeja.

This was a big day at the world cup when two Asian giants India and Pakistan clashed.India desperate to win prevailed over the slighty less desperate Pakistanis. Venkatesh Prasad at last struck form to be the leading points earner for the day with 100 NRPs. Azaruddin was close behind with 92 points. Dravid, Tendulkar, Wasim Akram and Syeed Anwar were amont others who had some success. Ganguly missed the match and enabled Wasim Akram and Moin Khan to climb to the second and third spots respectively in the global rankings.The next three positions were occupied by Indians, Ganguly, Robin Singh and Dravid. Hamilton of Scotland  and Ridley Jacobs of West Indies continued to be in the top 10 despite a two match disadvantage. 

Australia continued its march towards a semi final berth by beating Zimbabwe in a high scoring match today.Put into bat again Australia thanked Campbell for the decision as they raced to a score of 303 helped by a century from Mark Waugh and a good score from Steve Waugh. The star of the day was however Neil Jhonson who not only scored a grand unbeaten 132 in reply but also chipped in with two wickets. This performance gave him a massive 231 points which is the highest gained by any player in the 35 matches tht have gone by. This took him to the top of he table even ahead of Lance Klusener. In order to maintain his lead Klusener needs to bridge a gap of 57 points in their last match of round two of Super Six matches. 

On the last day of the second round of matches in the Super Six stage the interesting point to observe was whether Klusener would regain the top spot which he had been taken over by Neil Jhonson. While South Africa won the match and gained their Semifinal berth,Klusener failed with the  bat and was dismissed for the first time in the tournament. He came back strongly with two wickets but still ended up with 513 points to Jhonson's 541. Kallis was however the top scorer (Point wise)with 99 points which took him to the 10 th position in the Global ranking. Geoff Allot of New Zealand also made his entry to the top 10 to occupy the 8th position.  He and Dravid are the only non all rounders who have made it into the top 10 along with the wicket keeper Moin Khan.

Super Six Day 7: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe: 

As the last round of the super six got underway, Pakistan confirmed their berth  in the Semi final by beating Zimbabwe comprehensively. Zimbabwe had no special reason to worry since their one rain assisted point during their match against New Zealand was sufficient to take them in to the semis. Thus without winning a single match in the Super Six they moved into the next round while India will not even if they win two of the matches in the same round. Perhaps if the Super Six wins carried 3 points instead of two it would have been fairer. Similarly whether a rain washed out match should give 1 point each or no points at all can also be debated for future tournaments. In the meantime in the race for the "Man of the Worldcup99",  Jhonson took a firm grip at the top gathering a handsome 83 points from his batting and catching efforts. This has given him a tally of  624 points as against his nearest rival Klusener who is at 513 points with one more match in the round to go. On the pakistan side Akram had a bad match and lost two points from his previous aggregate but maintained his third position in the global rankings. Heath Streak of Zimbabwe had a decent day to move into the 8 th ranking pushing Kallis out of the top 10 table at this stage. Gavin Hamilton's presence in the top 10 table continued till this match and is likely to be lost tomorrow or day after. In the final rankings after the World Cup he may not find a place in the top 10 table. But his gallant effort would not have gone un-noticed by cricket lovers all round the world. Surely we expect to see him in the near future  perhaps in the England squad.

New Zealand  once again showed today that a collective effort with the right focus can prevail over a bunch of talented cricketers with less focus and determination which India represented. A moderate score of 251 batting first gave NZ a good chance which they seized with a professional approach. It was Adam Parore who scored the highest NRP s for the day with a double quick 26 in 14 balls and a couple of catches. Twose , Horne and Cairns contributed with their might to take NZ through to the semifinals. On the Indian side, Jadeja, Dravid and Mohanty showed a little fighting qualities but were unable to ensure a win for India before going home. On the ranking table  not much of change took place except for a minor readjustment of  rankings.  Ganguly remained the best Indian player of the tournament followed by Dravid and Robin Singh. At this stage they occupy the 5 th 6 th and 7 th positions in the global rankings. As the overall Indian team's performance indicates, the poor form of Azaruddin, Sachin and Kumble weighed down the Indian performance. Part of Kumble's failure was due to his being used as a cover for the lack of the 5 th bowler rather than as a strike bowler. If Chopra could play instead of an out of form Azaruddin the balance of the team would have been far better. Mohanty did a good job in the opportunities he got. This reflects his strong character even though I still hold an opinion that the Indian selectors should have chosen D.Ganesh for this tournament ahead of Mohanty. Mongia was a disappointment both with the bat and behind the wickets and it is unfortunate that no substitute appears to be in sight in the Indian scene. 

Super Six Day 9: South Africa Vs Australia:

This  was the day of reckoning for Australia. They had towin to enter semis or get eliminated. Even though it didnot mean much to South Africa, a win would have made their entry to Finals easier since they could  expect to play Zimbabwe for the Swmi finals. As it turned out it was a great day for Australia. They successfully chased a huge 271 runs against the strong South African attack weakened only by the absence of Kallis. The hero of the day was undoubtedy Steve Waugh who scored 120 runs in 110 balls to take Australia to a win. In the process he gathered 170 NRP s and  jumped to the 5 th position in the Global ranking.This pushed Hamilton out of the top 10 table at the end of the Super Six matches. Jhonson remained on top since Klusener was not able to clear the gap with him. With the elimination of Zimbabwe however, it seems that Klusener would emerge the leader since his nearest rival  Akram  is far behind in points now.

Pakistan left its stamp of authority on the tournament today with an emphatic win over the hard working New Zealand who had put up a stiff target of 241. Sayeed Anwar with his century collected 110 points andwas the hero of the day. Chris Cairns was the next best performance for the day with 85 points while Wasti collected 84 points. This took Chris Cairns to the sixth position overall while Anwar moved to the 15 th position. Allot remained at the 10 th position while Heath Strek slid out of the top 10 table.Roger Twose ended up in hte 12 th position. Anwar has a good chance of breaking into the top 10 if he does well in the Finals. The big match tomorrow however between Austraia and South Africa will be upsetting the rankings significantly at the top since several contenders are there to re write the rankings both in the top 10 and in the top 25.

Semi Final Day 2: Australia Vs South Africa:

Two players dominated the day which ended up as one of the most interesting days of this and perhaps of all the worldcups so far.. Shaun Pollock for South Africa did extremely well to gather 150 NRPs while Shane Warne was not far behind with 136 points. Both of them did  well with the bats too. At the end of the day Australia edged past to the finals on a technical factor even though the match had been tied.It was the most disheratening day for the valiant South Africans who are yet to win the world cup. Lance Klusener again played a wonderful innings and fittingly regained the top spot as the "Hero of the World Cup 99". It is unlikely that any body would overtake him in the only match remaining. Jaques Kallis also moved into the top 10 nudging down Geoff Allot. Even now three Indians are still in the top 10 and we have to wait and see if they remain there after the Finals.

The grand world cup 99 came to an end today with Australia scoring an easy 8 wicket victory over Pakistan. The highest points for the day was won by Gilchrist while Shane Warne was not far behind. But the Hero of the world cup deservedly was Lance Klusener. On the last day Shane Warne entered the top 10 displacing Robin Singh. Jhonson remained at the second place followed by Wasim Akram. Steve Waugh and Shane  Warne occupied the 4 th and 6 th positions while Moin Khan occupied the 5th place.Ganguly and Dravid occupied the 9th and 10 th positions  while the 7 th and 8 th were occupied by Kallis and Chris Cairns. On the whole the rating system worked out very well and I hope the netizens who followed the race on a match to match basis enjoyed the transparent way of calculation of the ratings.

I thank all those who have sent  words of encouragement, queries and suggestions.Yes I intend continuing the rating even after the world cup as it appears to be giving satisfactory results.Please continue posting your remarks.
naavi

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(If you spot any calculation errors please keep me informed)