Review

Hayden and McGrath the pick of the pack

Australia did not win all their Super Eights matches without reason. Their batsmen are scoring runs and all their frontline bowlers have been successful

The Super Eights didn't provide as many fireworks as the group stage, mainly because all the top teams were playing each other, and on new pitches. Nevertheless, there were enough high points to keep the fans happy.

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Here is a look at how the teams fared in the Super Eights phase

Performance of Teams in Super Eights
Team Matches Won Batting Average RPO Bowling Average RPO
Australia 6 6 70.94 6.23 18.21 4.57
South Africa 6 4 37.26 5.11 25.02 4.45
New Zealand 6 4 34.35 4.80 26.55 4.52
Sri Lanka 6 4 31.12 5.01 24.74 4.41
England 6 3 26.96 4.60 29.56 5.16
West Indies 6 1 26.01 4.93 43.02 5.62
Bangladesh 6 1 18.00 4.00 37.51 4.59
Ireland 6 1 16.63 4.00 33.41 5.30

In the 24 games played, 9699 runs were scored at an average of 28.44 per wicket and at 4.82 runs per over. Teams chasing won more matches than the teams batting first. Australia chased four times and were successful in all of them.

Performance of Teams-Innings wise
Teams Matches Won Average RPO Highest Score Lowest Score
Batting first 24 10 27.23 4.83 356 77
Batting second 24 14 30.04 4.81 301 131

There were only six instances of teams scoring in excess of 300. Interestingly West Indies were involved in all but one of those scores.

Highest Team totals in Super Eights(at least 250 runs)
Team Total score RPO Result Opposition Ground
South Africa 356 for 4 7.12 Won West Indies St.George's
Australia 348 for 6 6.96 Won New Zealand St.George's
Australia 322 for 6 6.44 Won West Indies North Sound
Sri Lanka 303 for 5 6.06 Won West Indies Providence
England 301 for 9 6.04 Won West Indies Bridgetown
West Indies 300 all out 6.02 Lost England Bridgetown
West Indies 289 for 9 5.78 Lost South Africa St.George's
England 266 for 7 5.32 Won Ireland Providence
New Zealand 263 for 8 5.26 Won Ireland Providence 4.59
Bangladesh 251 for 8 5.02 Won South Africa Providence

Matthew Hayden continued from where he left off in the group stages and emerged as the top run-scorer in the Super Eights. All the four semi-finalists have two batsmen each among the top ten run-scorers.

Top 10 run getters in Super Eights
Batsmen Innings Runs Average Strike Rate 100's 50's
Matthew Hayden 5 390 97.50 107.73 2 0
Kevin Pietersen 6 323 53.83 85.00 2 1
Jacques Kallis 6 304 76.00 76.57 0 3
Scott Styris 5 284 94.66 77.17 1 2
Ramnaresh Sarwan 6 278 55.60 85.27 0 2
Mahela Jayawardene 6 276 55.20 82.14 0 3
Sanath Jayasuriya 6 266 53.20 100 1 1
Ricky Ponting 4 253 84.33 86.64 0 3
Stephen Fleming 6 219 43.80 82.23 1 1
Herschelle Gibbs 5 214 71.33 80.75 0 3

Australia did not win all their Super Eights matches without reason. Their batsmen are scoring runs and all their frontline bowlers have been successful. Glenn McGrath leads the wicket-takers list with 16 wickets.

Top 10 Wicket takers in Super Eights
Bowler Matches Wickets Average Economy
Glenn Mcgrath 6 16 12.43 4.84
Shaun Tait 6 14 17.92 5.77
Muttiah Muralitharan 5 13 14.76 4.36
Andrew Flintoff 6 12 20.50 4.73
Brad Hogg 6 11 16.81 3.86
Andre Nel 4 11 15.18 4.24
Nathan Bracken 5 10 12.40 3.38
Daniel Vettori 6 10 24.10 4.17
Shane Bond 5 9 12.88 2.78
Charl Langeveldt 4 9 19.44 5.14

ICC World Cup