SWESAW update #1

The Shane Watson of the England v South Africa Award (SWESAW) is a prestigious honour bestowed upon a player who maximises his or her 'performance to cost ratio'. Instituted to celebrate the startling performance of Shane Watson in the paradigm shifting IPL tournament, it trains the spotlight on performers who deliver more than what their price-tag demands of them. It gives us great privilege and pleasure to bring you this prestigious, ever changing name of an award in every series.

As you may not recall, the SWACAW for the not-so-memorable Asia Cup held in Bangladesh was won by the unforgettable Ajantha Mendis, who staved off stiff competition from Suresh Raina and Sanath Jayasuriya to bag the said honour. This post, we take a look at the front runners for the SWESAW in the ongoing England v South Africa series.

At the end of the first Test at Lords, Ian Bell was the clear leader in the SWESAW standngs. One and a half innings later and halfway into the second Test at Headingly, he retains the top spot. But only just.

The SWESAW leaderboard as at 20th July, 1 pm (IST): Ian Bell: 396/90000_FMs (0.0044) Mornie Morkel: 339/85000_FMs (0.0039) Ashwell Prince: 324/85000_FMs (0.0038) KP: 287/100000_FMs (0.0027) James Anderson: 258/95000_FMs (0.0028)

You might call that a pretty tight fit. Bell, on the strength of his mammoth 199 at Lord's, leads the rest by a bit and then some. But Prince is not yet done with his first innings heroics at Headingly. He's still batting and he's only about 40 runs away from taking over the top spot on the always exciting, always fascinating and always number-crazy SWESAW leaderboard. Keep an eye out for his 150.

If you ask me, the steely Prince is also my odds-on favourite to record the first double hundred of the series. I've no idea how he slipped under my acutely sensistive fantasy picking radar not once, but twice; both while finalising my team and when I was being needlessly profligate with my transfers.

PS: SWESAW calculations courtesy this set of player statistics.