Wahab Riaz enters the top allrounders' list, at No. 4

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.

An unexpected blanking out of the England team by Sri Lanka was followed by Pakistan's hard-fought win over Zimbabwe. These matches cleared the situation for the lower half teams as to what they had to do to qualify. It seems that only Ireland has real chances of qualifying, despite the big defeat against South Africa. Bangladesh might have some chances, only because of the single point earned from the washout.

Top Batting performances in WC 2015: in 23 matches played so far

SNo	Rating Pts	Year	ODI#	Batsman	For	Vs	Runs	Balls
1	579	2015	3616	AB de Villiers	South Africa	Win	162*	66
2	572	2015	3612	CH Gayle	West Indies	Zim	215	147
3	460	2015	3615	TM Dilshan	Sri Lanka	Bng	161*	146
4	460	2015	3610	S Dhawan	India	Saf	137	146
5	396	2015	3601	DA Miller	South Africa	Zim	138*	92
6	389	2015	3613	Shaiman Anwar	U.A.E.	Ire	106	83
7	386	2015	3600	JWA Taylor	England	Aus	98*	90
8	382	2015	3621	HM Amla	South Africa	Ire	159	128
9	370	2015	3600	AJ Finch	Australia	Eng	135	128
10	363	2015	3607	BB McCullum	New Zealand	Eng	77	25

Despite three centuries in the England-Sri Lanka match, there was no significant change to the Batting performance table. All these hundreds were rated just below the 351 points earned by Samiullah Shenwari. A match aggregate of 620 for 7 certainly indicates an out-and-out batting pitch. Just as I thought that Shenwari's fifty would stay on, Hashim Amla's huge and quick hundred got enough rating pts, 382 to be exact, to push this out. By now it will be clear that fifties have to be very special to qualify.

Top Bowling performances in WC 2015: in 23 matches played so far

SNo	Rating Pts	Year	ODI#	Bowler	For	Vs	Analysis
1	671	2015	3617	MA Starc	Australia	Nzl	9.0 - 0 - 28 - 6
2	603	2015	3607	TG Southee	New Zealand	Eng	9.0 - 0 - 33 - 7
3	484	2015	3617	TA Boult	New Zealand	Aus	10.0 - 3 - 27 - 5
4	444	2015	3600	MR Marsh	Australia	Eng	9.0 - 0 - 33 - 5
5	429	2015	3602	Sohail Khan	Pakistan	Ind	10.0 - 0 - 55 - 5
6	358	2015	3616	Imran Tahir	South Africa	Win	10.0 - 2 - 45 - 5
7	352	2015	3620	Mohammad Irfan	Pakistan	Zim	10.0 - 2 - 30 - 4
8	320	2015	3608	JE Taylor	West Indies	Pak	7.0 - 1 - 15 - 3
9	319	2015	3621	KJ Abbott	South Africa	Ire	8.0 - 0 - 21 - 4
10	307	2015	3600	ST Finn	England	Aus	10.0 - 0 - 71 - 5

Mohammed Irfan's excellent spell which included three top-order wickets got him into the top-ten bowling performances. His spell was worth 352 rating pts. Wahab Riaz could not make the bowling cut since most of his wickets were late order ones. Kyle Abbott's powerful spell of 4 for 21 against Ireland is also in a top-ten position, with 319 rating pts.

Top Player performances in WC 2015: in 23 matches played so far

SNo	Rating Pts	Year	ODI#	Player	For	Vs	Runs	Balls	Analysis
1	700	2015	3612	CH Gayle	West Indies	Zim	215	147	6.0-0-35-2
2	579	2015	3615	TM Dilshan	Sri Lanka	Bng	161*	146	8.0-0-35-2
3	496	2015	3600	MR Marsh	Australia	Eng	23	20	9.0-0-33-5
4	447	2015	3620	Wahab Riaz	Pakistan	Zim	54*	46	9.4-1-45-4
5	434	2015	3611	MM Ali	England	Sco	128	107	10.0-0-47-2
6	353	2015	3608	AD Russell	West Indies	Pak	42*	13	8.0-2-33-3
7	317	2015	3614	RD Berrington	Scotland	Afg	25	46	10.0-0-40-4
8	298	2015	3606	SC Williams	Zimbabwe	Uae	76*	65	8.0-0-43-2
9	297	2015	3613	Amjad Javed	U.A.E.	Ire	42	35	10.0-0-60-3
10	281	2015	3599	CJ Anderson	New Zealand	Slk	75	46	3.1-0-18-2

However, Wahab Riaz's fifty and four wickets did very well in the all-rounder stakes. This dual performance secured 447 rating pts and was placed fourth, behind the three early leaders, Chris Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Mitchell Marsh.

Top Team performances in WC 2015: in 23 matches played so far

SNo	Rating Pts	Year	ODI#	Team	Own score	Vs	Other score
1	721	2015	3616	South Africa	408 for 5 in 50.0	Win	151 for 10 in 33.1
2	714	2015	3607	New Zealand	125 for 2 in 12.2	Eng	123 for 10 in 33.2
3	691	2015	3610	India	307 for 7 in 50.0	Saf	177 for 10 in 40.2
4	678	2015	3621	South Africa	411 for 4 in 50.0	Ire	210 for 10 in 45.0
5	665	2015	3618	India	104 for 1 in 18.5	Uae	102 for 10 in 31.3
6	665	2015	3608	West Indies	310 for 6 in 50.0	Pak	160 for 10 in 39.0
7	645	2015	3619	Sri Lanka	312 for 1 in 47.2	Eng	309 for 6 in 50.0
8	640	2015	3605	Bangladesh	267 for 10 in 50.0	Afg	162 for 10 in 42.5
9	626	2015	3611	England	303 for 8 in 50.0	Sco	184 for 10 in 42.2
10	625	2015	3615	Sri Lanka	332 for 1 in 50.0	Bng	240 for 10 in 47.0

Sri Lanka's nine-wicket win fetched them 645 rating pts and got them in at the sixth position. The difference between this match and New Zealand's dismantling of England was that Sri Lanka's bowling was rated below par: after all they conceded 309 runs. All departments of New Zealand were treated above par. The comprehensive South African win over Ireland did enough to get into the fourth place with 678 rating pts. However the Irish recovery from 48 for 5 meant that the margin was reduced considerably.

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.