The captain’s rapid starts have helped South Africa set a more proactive tone, but the dearth of big innings – centuries – have hurt the team

Firdose Moonda08-Apr-2022Dean Elgar might have to learn about tact and toxic masculinity, looking at his comments about the spirit in which this series against Bangladesh is being played, but he needs no advice about taking responsibility at the top of the South Africa batting line-up.He scored his third successive half-century of the series, and fourth of 2022, to become the second-highest run-getter of the year so far, and South Africa’s leading batter since taking over the captaincy last year.Unlike many of his iconic, and defiant, knocks – think about the unbeaten 96 against India in Johannesburg – in this series, Elgar has batted in an uncharacteristically carefree fashion. His last two fifties (off 66 and 60 balls respectively) are the second- and third-fastest of his career, and have helped South Africa set a more proactive tone at the start of the match, something they have not always been able to do.Related

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It helped Elgar that Bangladesh’s new-ball bowlers often bowled too short, inviting the pull and the cut, and that he had the patient Sarel Erwee, who leaves the ball well, to hold fort at the other end. It also helped that this is Elgar’s favourite run-scoring ground, and on Friday, he became the leading run-getter at the venue, leapfrogging Jacques Kallis. But mostly, it helps that as his first home summer as captain comes to a close, Elgar is playing with the kind of authority demanded of him.There’s no doubt that Elgar is in charge, that this team is taking on his signature of toughness, and moulding itself in his image. “He is leading from the front,” Keegan Petersen, who shared in an 81-run second-wicket stand with Elgar and scored 64 of his own on the first day of the second Test, said. “He has been extremely consistent, with him having a young team to lead. He leads the way properly for us. He is a hard leader, and he expects us to be at our best all the time.”But, just as Elgar the batter, and Elgar the speaker, are not finished articles, neither is South Africa’s line-up. What they are missing is an individual batter who goes big. On Friday, their first-four pairings put on partnerships of fifty-plus for the first time in more than a decade, since the Centurion Test against India in 2010, but no one was able to score a century. In fact, South Africa’s dearth of home hundreds stretches for more than a year.

“I feel sometimes fifties and outs get the game into the balance most of the time, whereas hundreds would take us ahead”Keegan Petersen

Collectively, they have not scored a century since Elgar’s 127 against Sri Lanka in January 2021, five Tests ago. In the interim, they have managed four centuries away – Aiden Markram in Pakistan, Quinton de Kock in West Indies and Erwee and Kyle Verreynne in New Zealand – but the closest they have come to three figures on their turf is Elgar against India.The conclusion many have come to is that because of the difficulty of batting conditions in South Africa, hundreds are not the yardstick, but opposition batters have put paid to that theory. Since South Africa’s last home hundred, there have been four centuries scored by opposition batters, all of them from the subcontinent: Dimuth Karunaratne, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Mahmudul Hasan Joy.The result is that South Africa, at home, are not posting the kind of totals that they want to and often squander an advantage. On the first day of the second Test, they went from 184 for 2 to 271 for 5 and though three wickets for 87 is hardly what anyone would define as a collapse, it could be the difference between a score of 350 or so and one of 420-plus, and South Africa know it. “The few wickets we lost towards the back end levelled it out a little bit. It would have been nice to be three-down,” Petersen said, while also emphasising how the absence of centuries allows the opposition back into the game. “Hundreds would put us in better positions. I feel sometimes fifties and outs get the game into the balance most of the time, whereas hundreds would take us ahead.”And the proof is in the numbers. In 17 home Tests since the 2019-20 summer, South Africa have managed a total of over 400 only once, against a severely weakened Sri Lanka attack. It’s a statistic they would want to improve as they hope to challenge for a playoff spot in the World Test Championship.

From being unable to score 200 in three Ashes ODIs, they went toe-to-toe in a chase of 311 against Australia in the World Cup

Valkerie Baynes05-Mar-2022England took a big step towards addressing their Ashes shortcomings with a batting display that threatened to steal the show from Australia in their opening World Cup clash in Hamilton on Saturday.Nat Sciver’s frustration was palpable in her post-match press conference after she had scored an unbeaten century at better than a run-a-ball and kept England in the contest right to the last over, when they needed 16 runs to overhaul a target of 311 and upset the tournament favourites.

Jess Jonassen was entrusted with bowling the final over after she had been used sparingly, conceding 16 runs off her only two overs for the match to that point, including a six over long-off to Heather Knight and four thundered to long-on by Tammy Beaumont, the England pair putting on a 92-run stand for the second wicket.Jonassen’s 13th ball was a leg bye, while her return catch to dismiss Katherine Brunt on the next delivery was one of the best you’ll see and had the bowler herself looking completely bemused after her left hand shot out above her head, seemingly of its own accord, and grasped the ball just as instinctively. Jonassen conceded just two singles off her next three deliveries before she had Sophie Ecclestone caught off the last ball to seal victory by 12 runs.Related

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Given that Australia had bowled England out for well below 200 as they swept the ODI leg of their recent Ashes series 3-0, and that England’s middle order had struggled to gel for some time, the fact that they strung together two more fifty-plus partnerships – Sciver with Sophia Dunkley and again with Brunt – showed their commitment to move on from the loss. Beaumont scored 74 and Knight 40, while the fact that Dunkley and Brunt also contributed valuable runs added further proof that their demoralising 12-4 series defeat in Australia was behind them.Sciver had scored 108 as England defeated Bangladesh by 109 runs in a warm-up match before the tournament, but for England to take the match to the Australians was another thing entirely.”From the Ashes we’ve wanted to make a shift as batters, a shift in our mindset really, and bringing that intent a bit more which, we had done during the warm-up game,” Sciver said. “So to bring it out against Australia was really important and everyone did their job today in terms of that.”I felt like we were [winning], we were going to get it. The first ball [of the last over], I wasn’t really sure as to what lengths she [Jonassen] was going to bowl, obviously keep it tight to me, but I felt like if I got that one away, it would have happened a bit easier. Katherine had also come in and played spin really well so, I mean, that catch to get Katherine out was pretty special. That goes through her hand and goes for four, it might be different.”England had opted to play seven batters and rely on an experienced attack of four seamers and one spinner but, despite winning the toss and sending Australia in on a pitch that proved difficult to score on for the first quarter of the match, they struggled to make inroads as centurion Rachael Haynes, Meg Lanning (86) and Beth Mooney (27* off 19) showed their class.It then fell to England’s batters to put into action the plans they had discussed during an intense post-Ashes review which included, among other things, scoring 250 or more.”Us all agreeing amongst ourselves and committing to that was really important,” Sciver said. “It feels frustrating, but also really encouraging. From where we were at the end of the Ashes, I think we were in a pretty low spot, but to be able to turn that around in a couple of weeks is really important.”To be able to take that into the rest of the tournament – I think we’ve already seen a lot of high-scoring games – so it’s important for us to do.”While England failed to get across the line against Australia, their next opponents, West Indies, upset host New Zealand in another thriller at Mount Maunganui on Friday. Hayley Matthews and Sophie Devine both scored centuries on opposite sides of the result, which was secured in the final over by Deandra Dottin’s two wickets and hand in a run out as West Indies won by three runs. England will play West Indies in Dunedin on Tuesday.

New captain promises hard graft in bid to restore England’s Test standards

David Hopps03-May-20221:13

Stokes: Broad, Anderson definitely part of best XI

England cricket captains traditionally take the job with a burst of energy and optimism before the demands of the job eventually wear them down. It gets to nearly everybody in the end. Ben Stokes is different. He is trying to do it the other way around.Stokes has already experienced the ups and the downs. He knows what it is like to be beset by mental health issues because of the constant demands of a cricketer’s life. He has been charged with affray, and found not guilty, in a high-profile court case. He has known the pressures and adulation routinely afforded to a world-class allrounder who is expected to deliver whenever the nation demands.He has won World Cups and famously lost one – the World T20 final when England’s victory disappeared in a cavalcade of sixes from Carlos Brathwaite in his final over.”There’s been plenty of other experiences as well that I could have felt chew me up, swallow me up and that’s me done,” he said. “I never let that happen. I guess I’m too stubborn to let anything get too on top of me.”The Ben Stokes captaincy will not tread the normal path of innocence to experience. At 30, he is already battle-hardened, a role model who has been both praised and pilloried. Life cannot throw much more at him. The central question is whether it has already thrown far too much or whether his appointment will become the culmination of a career that, at times, has already bordered on the herculean.There was no desire for a glorious captaincy unveiling in the Long Room at Lord’s, a reminder of past masters on every wall. With 79 Tests and 476 professional appearances, he has no need for reflected glories. Instead, the nation’s cricket media made the trek to his manor at Chester-le-Street, “enter by Tower 2”, English professional cricket’s most northerly outpost, where he held court before an afternoon net for Durham. Many will follow him again for his return to competitive action at Worcester on Thursday.His one concession to the captaincy is to slip down the order a notch and return to No. 6 so he can give full emphasis to bat and ball. His captaincy follows the principle of giving a job to a busy man.His priority will be to gather people around him who he can trust. “If most of your ideas aren’t really aligned, I don’t see how things can get better if three people are thinking completely different things,” he said. He is a salty old pro who clearly does not want the sort of blue-sky thinking characterised by Ed Smith’s time as national selector.Ben Stokes in action during the recent tour of the Caribbean•Randy Brooks/AFP via Getty ImagesHe has struck up a good relationship with Rob Key, as MD of England men’s cricket, and wants a coach who takes weight off him and who sees things from a player’s perspective. Joe Root, who came through five years in the job without too much damage, has told him to surround himself with people he trusts.”This is something Joe has told me: make sure you have the people around you to take as much of the pressure off you as possible. Me and Rob have had very good chats so far. We are very aligned on quite a lot of things which is very good initially. I feel what we need as players is a director of cricket who is there for the players.”After so long as Root’s vice-captain, Stokes also regards a role many dismiss as outmoded as vitally important – he memorably pleaded with Tom Harrison, the ECB’s CEO, for his reinstatement to the role in the wake of the Bristol episode. That could enhance Jos Buttler’s chances of a return to England’s Test side as Stokes’ No.2, a player who he leant on heavily when he stood in for Root in the only match he has ever captained, the first Test against West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in 2020.”I’ve got great senior players around me in the team already; it would be stupid and naive of me not to include them in decisions out on the field especially,” he said. “It’s something I thought I managed very well in my Test match against West Indies. I asked Jos a lot about me personally. He’s played a lot of Test cricket. When you’re thinking about doing something yourself, you’re maybe not thinking about it as someone else would and Jos said to me a couple of times, ‘You need to come on here’.”Stokes displayed little sense of excitement as he fielded his first media duties at Chester-le-Street. There was resolve, for sure, as there must be, but none of the livewire ambition that characterised Root’s initial captaincy phase. Root gave off so much energy he should have been plugged into the National Grid. Stokes was assured, but relatively subdued. He is at his best in the heat of battle, a player most admired after a day of toil when his body is spent and his kit is stained by dirt and sweat.”I’ve been through a lot of Goods and I’ve been through a lot of Bads and I feel like I can relate to both sides of what this sporting life can throw at you,” he said.”Why take it?” was one of the first questions he was asked. A sense of duty perhaps. A dogged determination to stare down England’s record of one Test win in 17. The sense was that his reasoning does not go much deeper than that. He is not one to reflect or deliberate for too long.”It’s never been a goal of mine to be a captain of England,” he said. “It’s pretty simple for me. I was vice-captain and, if anything ever happens to the captain, the vice-captain takes over.”Many will fear for him, in part because of his four-month break from the game, brought on by a mix of exhaustion, the loss of his father and a serious finger injury, but especially so by those old enough to recall the troubled captaincies of two other great England allrounders, Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff. Botham won none of his 12 Tests as skipper; Flintoff won two of 11. While Flintoff’s personal performances remained consistent, Botham’s form collapsed. Both were instinctive cricketers, not particularly well served by the demands of captaincy. The hope will be that Stokes’ capabilities, especially at this stage of his career, will prove to be broader.Ben Stokes is unveiled as England’s new Test captain•Getty ImagesBotham was much younger when he accepted the job. At 24, he was England’s youngest captain since Ivo Bligh almost a century earlier. He was supremely confident he could do the job, but he was not about to curb a boisterous lifestyle, and struggled with the politics and relationship issues that forever raise their heads. But his captaincy involved back-to-back series against a brilliant West Indies side and a Centenary Test against Australia; the death of Kenny Barrington, England’s team manager, tragically robbed him of one of his most trusted confidants and he regarded Lord’s as a nest of vipers.Botham duly resigned before he was sacked, but forever rejected the notion that the burden of the captaincy had been too much and described his subsequent return to form under Mike Brearley as “a coincidence”. As president of Durham, he will have ample opportunity to present Stokes with a more defiant interpretation of his captaincy than history often allows.Flintoff was appointed even though his coach, Duncan Fletcher, harboured doubts from the outset about his tactical nous, man-management skills and self-discipline. He later revealed that he suffered from depression during the 2006-07 Ashes defeat and admitted to heavy drinking bouts, some of which affected his performance in practice sessions. He was older, at 28, but also struggled to find influential allies.Stokes is unlikely to spend too much time analysing the lessons of history. That’s a relief. “I’ve had to deal with comparisons to Andrew Flintoff and Sir Ian Botham since I was 18 or 19. And I’ve always said I’m not trying to be either of them, just Ben Stokes.”Related

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He still has regular meetings to discuss his mental health and he feels that, far from being a vulnerability that could be exposed in the job, it gives him an empathy that could be lacking in a younger leader. Senior players fearing burn-out during a non-stop international schedule or young players struggling to make the transition to international cricket could find an understanding leader (he fully expects to keep playing all formats) and, in that empathy, he very much fits the spirit of the age.”A lot of on-the-field and off-field stuff I’ve been through is a positive for me now, having been given the responsibility of being the captain, because I feel like I can relate to anything going forward. If any of the players might be struggling with something I have been that person in the dressing-room. The hardest thing to do in the first place is to talk to somebody.”With England bottom of the World Test Championship, for Stokes the only way is up. There have been many worse England sides, their recent appalling record appearing to be as much a lack of focus and togetherness between players and administrators as a lack of ability. In a host of interviews, he repeated his desire for players to be totally committed to the common good. It is a shame he didn’t broaden it out to include everybody else. But self-interest will have no place in his England side.”I think a great starting point for me is I want everybody to be selfless in the decisions they make and that every decision they make is with the intention of to win the game for England. It’s always been my main goal playing for England – thinking about what I need to do to win this game when I have the responsibility on my shoulders – whatever stage of the game it is.”That’s always been my main priority – personal performances, individual performances have never been at the top of my priority list. It’s always been the end result of the game which is winning. So I’d love to have 10 people with the same mentality as me.”That would be a ride worth taking.

While Mandhana has expanded her repertoire of strokes, Rodrigues has come out of a career slump with heightened self-awareness and clarity

Shashank Kishore06-Aug-2022When Smriti Mandhana started playing cricket as an 11-year-old, she wanted to bat like Matthew Hayden. However, she quickly remodelled herself around Kumar Sangakkara and Sourav Ganguly once coaches told her that timing, and not brute force, was her forte.The same coaches would have watched Mandhana’s daredevilry at India’s CWG 2022 semi-final against England with delight.Related

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Take for example that six off Issy Wong in the third over. A pull in front of square to a short ball whose length she picked up in a jiffy. Even though the boundaries at Edgbaston had been brought in considerably, the shot would have gone for six at most grounds.It was another example of the transformation Mandhana’s has undergone. She has tried to consciously work on her power-hitting, ever since becoming a regular in the WBBL. A debut season for Brisbane Heat in 2016-17, in which she managed all of 89 runs in 10 innings, proved to be an eye-opener.On surfaces with bounce, Mandhana realised she needed to find new ways of scoring, and not just trust her on-the-up drives. She began working hard on her pull. Her height would allow her to get on top of the bounce most times; it was just a matter of having control over the stroke without losing her balance. Today, Mandhana has one of the best pull shots in women’s cricket.And as with most good players, she has expanded her game in multiple directions. She has frequently brought out the conventional sweep, and on Saturday, perhaps for the first time in a big game, you saw her playing the scoop and the delicate paddle.Smriti Mandhana has turned herself into one of the best pullers in the women’s game•Getty ImagesYou may ask why a player of her calibre needs to try and get inventive behind the stumps when she has all the shots in front of it. Well, according to her captain Harmanpreet Kaur, this was Mandhana’s way of pushing boundaries and trying to “think out of the box” for the team’s benefit.Mandhana’s 23-ball half-century against England spoke of her intention to dominate from the get-go. Her assertiveness in the very first over, against Katherine Brunt, laid down a marker. England may have expected Shafali Verma to take the attack to them. Instead, Mandhana decided this was her stage to set on fire with some breathtaking shots – none played in anger.This meant Shafali quickly slipped into a support role, flipping the script of several of her earlier partnerships with Mandhana.It isn’t just Mandhana who has grown significantly as a batter over recent months. India’s innings against England also showcased the evolution of Jemimah Rodrigues, who gave the innings its finishing touches.Rodrigues’ career has hit a number of speed bumps since she broke through as a prodigiously talented 18-year-old. When she was in form, there were no vacancies in the middle order. And when she went through a prolonged run of poor scores, she admitted to being lost.When the pandemic set in and threw cricket calendar off the rails, Rodrigues was a constant presence on the internet with her smash hit YouTube show along with Mandhana. The pair interviewed several sports personalities and added their own touch of humour and colour to long lockdown hours.It was during one such conversation with Rohit Sharma that Rodrigues happened to touch upon the topic of consistency. Rohit spoke of his struggle to deal with expectations in the first 5-6 years of his career, and how he overcame that by building a “shield” around himself, and on relying on family and friends to distract him from the game.A defining feature of Jemimah Rodrigues’ unbeaten 31-ball 44 was her inside-out hitting through the covers•Associated PressRodrigues has since spoken about how this chat with Rohit – and other conversations with others including Rishah Pant – helped her deal with her own struggles.The current version of Rodrigues is defined by her awareness and clarity of thought, which she has shown right through the past week at the Commonwealth Games. In a must-win game against Barbados, she anchored India’s innings with an unbeaten half-century. Against England, with the stakes even higher, she produced a masterclass in strike rotation to make an unbeaten 31-ball 44. At frequent points during her innings, she stepped to the leg side to hit inside-out and access the cover region, both off spin and medium-pace.Rodrigues knows she isn’t a power-hitter, but she is aware of the damage she can inflict by relying on her old-school virtues of timing and hand-eye coordination, which she attributes to her fondness for hockey.India may have been dreaming of at least 180 when they were 64 without loss after the powerplay, but those hopes quickly hit a roadblock. Rodrigues was in the middle at a stage where the innings needed calm. She provided that, and when it was time to tee off, she did so while trusting in her own methods. It proved to be the difference between India finishing with 145 and making 164.The contributions of Mandhana and Rodrigues, good friends and team-mates at West Zone long before they played for India, have provided a glimpse into a potential shift in India’s overall T20 game, away from conservatism and towards a more forward-looking approach.This approach has taken them into the gold-medal match; if Mandhana and Rodrigues can deliver in that game on Sunday, they may just usher in a new chapter in Indian women’s cricket.

The unsaid competitiveness between these two Mumbai players was such that if one scored 200, the other wanted to score 300

Nikhil Sharma19-Jun-2022The tales of competitiveness in Mumbai’s school cricket are well known. Stories of players scoring 200, 300 and even 500 have set high standards in the school circuit, and are often heard about in the corridors of Mumbai’s schools. The same players who score big there go on to play for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, but at school level they have a unique sense of competitiveness between them.The case of Sarfaraz Khan and Armaan Jaffer is one such example. Once competitive team-mates at school, they are now scoring runs in heaps together for the Mumbai Ranji team.Sarfaraz and Jaffer – one year apart in age – met for the first time in 2008 when they were at Rizvi Springfield High School, and the unsaid competitiveness between them was such that if one scored 200, the other wanted to score 300; and if one crossed 300, the other wanted to smash 400.Related

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The pressure to do so also came down from their fathers who coached their sons. So it was no surprise that in the 2009 Harris Shield tournament, Sarfaraz had smashed 439 off 421 balls to break Sachin Tendulkar’s 45-year-old record, and the very next year in the Under-14 Giles Shield, Jaffer scored a mammoth 498.”I met Armaan for the first time in 2008; he was already at Rizvi School, and I joined a year later,” Sarfaraz tells ESPNcricinfo after Mumbai’s semi-final win over Uttar Pradesh in Bengaluru. “That’s when we started playing together. He used to bat wearing keeping pads because batting pads were too big for him. He used to knock the whole day in the nets. Even when the match was on, he used to continue knocking on the side.”Even though neither will admit the competitiveness that existed between them at the time, they used to spend the whole day on the pitch out of fear of their fathers, because if Sarfaraz had scored less than Jaffer, he had had it.”There was no competitiveness as such, but it was about who was going to score more,” Sarfaraz said. “Armaan’s father did not hit him but Prithvi [Shaw]’s father and mine were hard task masters, so we were always under pressure to score.”Now Sarfaraz and Jaffer are so close that they call each other “slow local” and “fast local”, after the famous local trains that run in Mumbai. Their bond is also such that they try to take adjacent hotel rooms when they go for matches.”Armaan is the same as he was before – he plays slow,” Sarfaraz said. “That’s why we used to call him ‘slow local’ because that’s how he used to bat then and that’s how he bats now. The others used to get out but once Armaan would go out to bat at No. 3, he would bat the whole day. In Under-14, he scored 101 and 105 not outs at the end of the day.”

“It feels like we’re still playing school cricket. We don’t think or talk about pressure, bowlers, Ranji Trophy, and such things.”Sarfaraz on batting with Jaffer

The soft-spoken Jaffer said, “There was no such pressure to score from my family. And no competition either that he will score more or me. Sarfaraz used to score quickly then and that’s how he bats even today. So he’s called the ‘fast local’. We both have bonded a lot since our school days and we know each other very well.”After all these years, Sarfaraz and Jaffer also understand each other’s game very well now.”Against Odisha we lost two wickets in two balls, but Armaan played a crucial knock of 125. When I go out to bat with him, it’s a different level of comfort because it feels like we’re still playing school cricket,” Sarfaraz says.”We don’t think or talk about pressure, bowlers, Ranji Trophy, and such things. We never get negative either. We just discuss with each other how to plan against what kind of bowler and so on. We don’t even think or talk about getting out.”When asked what changes had he seen over the years in Jaffer’s batting, Sarfaraz said, “The only change I’ve seen is that now he hits sixes (laughs), and he has also started scoring quickly now. He has just come back to Ranji Trophy, and it’s only his seventh game in the tournament. He was injured earlier so now he is looking to cement his place by scoring runs. Once he scores 100 [or] 200, then he can also hit big sixes. If he plays his natural game, he can hit sixes.”When Jaffer was asked the same question about Sarfaraz, he said, “Whatever the team’s situation, Sarfaraz always keeps the atmosphere light. He says such things that people end up laughing. And he’s always been like this since school days. The atmosphere is always great when he’s in the dressing room.”

Josh Little and Anrich Nortje take the bowling honours, but it was a tournament to forget for Kagiso Rabada

S Rajesh07-Nov-2022In a World Cup Super 12s competition that has been tough on batters, only two have scored 150-plus runs at 150-plus strike rates – Glenn Phillips and Suryakumar Yadav. It’s not surprising, then, that they are also the most impactful batters of this stage of the tournament, according to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats. Phillips leads the way with a rating of 74.80 impact points per innings, and Suryakumar follows with a score of 71.63.ESPNcricinfo LtdSuryakumar has the higher strike rate in the tournament so far, 194 to 164, but Phillips is marginally ahead on impact rating because Smart Stats takes into account not just the runs scored and strike rate, but also context in terms of match situation and support from other batters. Phillips’ best – a stunning, matchwinning 104 off 64 balls against Sri Lanka – is also the tournament’s best so far, in terms of highest impact points for an innings. That knock fetched him 182.6 impact points, which is 48 points more than the next-best (Rilee Rossouw’s 109 against Bangladesh).

How is Total Impact calculated?

Total Impact for a player in a match is a numerical value that is the sum of his Batting and Bowling Impacts. These Impacts are calculated based on the context of a batting/bowling performance.

The context is based on an algorithm that quantifies the pressure on the batter/bowler at every ball of an innings. The factors that go into calculating the pressure index include runs required, overs left, quality of batters at the crease and those to follow, quality of bowlers and number of overs left for each bowler, and pitch/conditions and how easy/tough it is for batters/bowlers.

That’s because Phillips’ innings came when New Zealand had slumped to 15 for 3 after four overs, and the next-best score in a total of 167 was Daryl Mitchell’s 22. The other batters collectively struggled to 53 from 56 balls, while Phillips singlehandedly took New Zealand to a total that they defended with some ease. The fact that Sri Lanka managed only 102 showed that none of the other batters got to grips with the conditions. (In fact, the next four highest scorers in the match collectively couldn’t match Phillips’ score.)Suryakumar’s best was his 68 off 40 against South Africa, which got him 128.6 impact points. Like Phillips’ century, this was a one-man act, as Suryakumar scored 68 out of a total of 133, with the next-highest team score being 15. His 61 off 25 against Zimbabwe fetched 92 points.The top run-scorer in the tournament, Virat Kohli, is in third place in the batting impact list, with a score of 52.1 rating points per innings. His standout performance was the sensational unbeaten 82 off 53 against Pakistan, which fetched him 116.1 points, the fourth-best among all innings in the Super 12.Rilee Rossouw and Colin Ackermann round off the top five. Rossouw’s 109 against Bangladesh remains the highest score of the tournament and is the only other century apart from Phillips’ knock. In terms of impact points it fetched 134.4 – a relatively lower value than Phillips’ century as Rossouw’s knock came in a team total of 205. Ackermann is the fifth-highest run-getter of the Super 12s, and his unbeaten 41 off 26 (63.5 impact points) had a huge role to play in Netherlands’ stunning upset win against South Africa.