Stats Analysis

The best team display in World Cup 2015

An analysis of performances in the World Cup after the final

James Faulkner's three top-order wickets in the final landed him in seventh place  •  Getty Images

James Faulkner's three top-order wickets in the final landed him in seventh place  •  Getty Images

This analysis will be done at suitable points during the World Cup 2015 so that the readers can see the way the Performance tables evolve. As more matches get played the top performance mosaic changes and readers can identify with what happened in the past few days. The qualifying bar for inclusion moves higher as more matches get played.

Australia was crowned worthy world champions after an overwhelming display at the MCG. Any increase in New Zealand's winning chances, on winning the toss, was wiped out, and more, when McCullum was dismissed in the first over. After that it was an uphill battle and New Zealand was always was struggling. The final winning margin reflected the difference between the sides, on the day. The 16-player Australian team, Hughes included, was invincible. A single blip happened quite early and did not matter.

Top Batting performances in WC 2015: in 48 matches played so far
SNo Rating Pts Year ODI# MatchIdx# Batsman For VsRuns Balls
1 83320153643111MJ Guptill New Zealand Win237*163
2 57920153616100AB de Villiers South Africa Win162* 66
3 57320153612100CH Gayle West Indies Zim215 147
4 46920153641111RG Sharma India Bng137 126
5 46120153615100TM Dilshan Sri Lanka Bng161*146
6 45920153610100S Dhawan India Saf137 146
7 45420153636100BRM Taylor Zimbabwe Ind138 110
8 44820153645125SPD Smith Australia Ind105 93
9 44820153646150GD Elliott New Zealand Aus 83 82
10 44720153623100DA Warner Australia Afg178 133

Grant Elliott's single-handed holding up effort for New Zealand in the final finished in the top-10. The importance of the match was enough to get him into the top-10 table. His effort was bracketed with Smith's wonderful hundred in the semi-final.

Top Bowling performances in WC 2015: in 48 matches played so far
SNo Rating Pts Year ODI# MatchIdx# Bowler For VsAnalysis
1 67920153617100MA Starc Australia Nzl 9.0 - 0 - 28 - 6
2 59820153607100TG Southee New Zealand Eng 9.0 - 0 - 33 - 7
3 49420153617100TA Boult New Zealand Aus10.0 - 3 - 27 - 5
4 44420153600100MR Marsh Australia Eng 9.0 - 0 - 33 - 5
5 43020153602100Sohail Khan Pakistan Ind10.0 - 0 - 55 - 5
6 36120153643111TA Boult New Zealand Win10.0 - 3 - 44 - 4
7 36120153646150JP Faulkner Australia Nzl 9.0 - 1 - 36 - 3
8 35820153646150MG Johnson Australia Nzl 9.0 - 0 - 30 - 3
9 35520153616100Imran Tahir South Africa Win10.0 - 2 - 45 - 5
10 34820153640111Imran Tahir South Africa Slk 8.2 - 0 - 26 - 4

There was no four-wicket haul in the final. However, James Faulkner's three timely wickets secured 361 rating points and came in at the seventh position. It is very relevant that all three batsmen he dismissed were top-order batsmen. So the Man-of the-Match award looks very fitting.

Top Player performances in WC 2015: in 48 matches played so far
SNo Rating Pts Year ODI# MatchIdx# Player For Vs Runs Balls Analysis
1 70020153612100CH Gayle West Indies Zim215 147 6.0-0-35-2
2 57920153615100TM Dilshan Sri Lanka Bng161*146 8.0-0-35-2
3 49620153600100MR Marsh Australia Eng 23 20 9.0-0-33-5
4 44720153620100Wahab Riaz Pakistan Zim 54* 46 9.4-1-45-4
5 43420153611100MM Ali England Sco128 10710.0-0-47-2
6 40320153627100SC Williams Zimbabwe Ire 96 83 9.0-0-72-3
7 36220153634100Shakib Al Hasan Bangladesh Nzl 23 18 8.5-1-55-4
8 35620153644125CJ Anderson New Zealand Saf 58 57 6.0-0-72-3
9 35320153608100AD Russell West Indies Pak 42* 13 8.0-2-33-3
10 34420153638100Amjad Javed U.A.E. Win 56 99 8.0-0-29-2

Elliott did not bowl and Faulkner did not get on to bat. So there was no player performance worthy of inclusion.

Top Team performances in WC 2015: in 48 matches played so far
SNo Rating Pts Year ODI# MatchIdx# Team Own score Vs Other score
1 77520153646150Australia 186 for 3 in 33.1Nzl183 for 10 in 45.0
2 75020153640111South Africa 134 for 1 in 18.0Slk133 for 10 in 37.2
3 72120153616100South Africa 408 for 5 in 50.0Win151 for 10 in 33.1
4 71420153607100New Zealand 125 for 2 in 12.2Eng123 for 10 in 33.2
5 69020153610100India 307 for 7 in 50.0Saf177 for 10 in 40.2
6 68720153623100Australia 417 for 6 in 50.0Afg142 for 10 in 37.3
7 67820153621100South Africa 411 for 4 in 50.0Ire210 for 10 in 45.0
8 66920153631100India 260 for 2 in 36.5Ire259 for 10 in 49.0
9 66820153645125Australia 328 for 7 in 50.0Ind233 for 10 in 46.5
10 66820153635100England 101 for 1 in 18.1Afg111 for 7 in 36.2

Seven wickets still in hand. More than one third of the balls resource still in hand. By these World Cup standards, the final Australian score could have been in excess of 350. The fact that they dismissed New Zealand well within the stipulated overs also helped. The net result is that this overwhelming win was the best team performance in the World Cup. This performance secured 775 rating points.

In the final report, I will re-visit the entire World Cup scene and update the across-world-cups table with this World Cup performances.

A brief introduction into the methodology of Performance Analysis.

The Batting Performance Ratings analysis takes into account the Runs scored, Balls faced, Next highest score (if this is the highest score), % of Team score, Innings status at entry, Bowling quality, Pitch information, Team strengths, Target score in front, Match location, Result and Match importance. These parameters are given appropriate weights. The calculations are done in such a way that Rating points of 1000 would be allotted to a mind-blowing and match-winning score of 200 in 150 balls in a WC final.

The Bowling Performance Ratings analysis takes into account the Wickets captured, Quality of batsmen dismissed, Scores at which batsmen were dismissed, Bowling accuracy, Batting quality, Pitch information, Team strengths, Target being defended, Match location, Result and Match importance. The calculations are done in such a way that Rating points of 1000 would be allotted to a magnificent and match-winning analysis of 10-2-15-6 in a WC final.

The Player Performance Ratings analysis takes into account the Batting Rating points, Bowling Rating points and the Fielding Rating points, which is a combination of catches and stumpings. There are minimum criteria for batting and bowling stints to ensure that these are genuinely all-round performances.

The Team Performance Ratings analysis takes into account the Result, Margin of win, Resources utilized, Team strengths, Match location and Match importance. The calculations are done in such a way that Rating points of 1000 would be allotted to an overwhelming win by 150 runs or 8 wickets in a WC final.

Anantha Narayanan has written for ESPNcricinfo and CastrolCricket and worked with a number of companies on their cricket performance ratings-related systems