If you were choosing a Twenty20 XI, whose name would you scribble first on the team sheet? Someone who averages in the early twenties and strikes at 180 per 100 balls? How about one of a rare species - a bowler who concedes less than six an over? This week's column looks at the best Twenty20 players - calculated by multiplying the average with the strike-rate for batsmen, and economy-rate with the strike-rate for bowlers. We have included both international and domestic matches in our calculations.
When Pakistan picked Misbah-ul-Haq in their Twenty20 squad, the decision was criticised by many. Mohammad Yousuf had been Pakistan's premier batsman and all Misbah had going for him was a prolific domestic Twenty20 season during which he scored 345 runs in ten innings. He has surpassed expectations with two thrilling fifties in the ICC World Twenty20 plus a forty in the final, and his average of 49.66 combined with a strike-rate of 130.70 makes him fifth in our table of most valuable batsmen.
Matthew Hayden hasn't played any domestic Twenty20s and only seven international matches, which is why he doesn't appear in the table below (our cut-off is ten innings). He has been phenomenal at the top in the ODI format in 2007 and has carried on in the same vein during the World Twenty20, averaging a whopping 88.33 with a strike-rate of 144.80 and four unbeaten half-centuries in the tournament.
Daniel Vettori and Stuart Clark are the hottest properties on the bowling circuit. Vettori had not played any Twenty20 internationals before the tournament, but ended with eleven wickets at an average of 11.63 and an incredible economy-rate of 5.33. And while Clark might never fill Glenn McGrath's boots completely, even McGrath might not have matched Clark's 12 wickets at 12.00 apiece and economy-rate of 6.00. The most miserly bowler in Twenty20 internationals, however, is Pakistan's Umar Gul, who has conceded only 5.28 an over in eight matches.
Dinuka Hettiarachchi, a Sri Lankan left-arm spinner who played a solitary Test against England in 2001, has the best combination of average and strike-rate among all Twenty20 bowlers, international and domestic. He has bowled 221 balls on the Sri Lankan circuit and conceded just 186 runs at an economy-rate of just over five an over. Chris Schofield also ranks highly on our table for he has impressed on the county circuit, though he has struggled to translate that form into success at the World Twenty20, taking just four wickets in as many games and conceding 7.16 an over.
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