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World Twenty20 Betting: Top performers of the Caribbean

Twenty20 World Cup RSS / / 20 April 2010 /

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Jacques Kallis appears on both batting and bowling lists

Jacques Kallis appears on both batting and bowling lists

"There are some handy pointers to which players and teams will be successful thanks to the quirky nature of the Caribbean pitches"

The World Twenty20 in the West Indies follows the Indian Premier League so Ed Hawkins has been delving into his spreadsheets to reveal the players who could make the difference between delight and disaster


As thrilling at times as the Indian Premier League has been, and hopefully excitement levels should soar as we reach the semi-finals, it has rather gone on a bit hasn't it? Once it is all over, there are five days between the start of the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean.

Talk about overkill. It is a bit like being brought a surprise course at a gastronomic tour de force and being told you've only got 20 minutes to finish. Eat it all up. Bloated or not, the World Twenty20 is a tournament we should all be looking forward to.

It is neatly scheduled at just over two weeks and has a format allowing bettors to work out who will face who in the two Super Eight stages. There are also some handy pointers to which players and teams will be successful thanks to the quirky nature of the Caribbean pitches.

One could be forgiven for thinking that the quick-quick-slow reputation of surfaces in West Indies can make it hard for punters to decide which batsmen and bowlers are going to shine. Whereas in India we know that strokemakers and seamers can often struggle and in England sloppy technique or a spinner is a recipe for misery, an all-round game appears to be key on the varying surfaces.

The lists of the top 10 batsmen and bowlers in West Indies in 50-over cricket reveals that South Africa, who are [6.00], Sri Lanka [8.00] and New Zealand [14.00] have the personnel for success. The list does not include West Indians or players who are not slated to appear in the tournament.

South Africa look particularly well equipped. They have three players in the top 10 of batsmen. Jacques Kallis has scored more runs that any other player in 50-over matches in the Caribbean regardless of the parameters set in the paragraph above. Kallis, who has set the IPL alight in his opening slot for Bangalore, has scored 969 runs at an average of 731. At [5.00] he is second favourite for top runscorer.

Herschelle Gibbs is the second highest runscorer of players who will appear in the competition. It means South Africa have the potential to field the most reliable front three. If Kallis is paired with Graeme Smith, who is No 7 on the list, at the top of the order then South Africa could take some stopping.

Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara (No 11) suggest Sri Lanka could go one step further than World Cup runners-up four years ago. Jayawardene and Jayasuriya have had differing fortunes in the IPL, good and bad respectively, but with Sangakkara the highest-ranked wicketkeeper (effectively two players for the price one) they should probably be shorter than India, who are [5.60].

India have only one player in the top 10 of both lists, batting and bowling. Poor Yuvraj Singh is lonely indeed at No 9 on the batting lists. Australia also have only one representative on the batting lists. Had we included West Indians in our study ( we didn't because the figures would have been skewed in terms of runs scored) Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shiv Chanderpaul would have squeezed into the top ten in terms of averages.

Muttiah Muralitharan, with 29 wickets, is the most successful bowler. Lasith Malinga, who has slung Mumbai to the top of the IPL tree, is tied fourth. Surprisingly, it is New Zealand who dominate. Daniel Vettori, Scott Styris and Shane Bond have 49 wickets between them. Although the tournament is likely to be won by the team which can hit the ball furthest and most often, the Kiwis have more than a squeak of keeping the big guns quiet.

Top 10 batsmen in Caribbean: 963 runs J Kallis, 731 H Gibbs, 737 M Clarke, 661 M Jayawardene, 659 S Styris, 606 S Jayasuriya, 580 G Smith, 424 K Pietersen, 498 Yuvraj Singh, 485 P Collingwood.

Top 10 bowlers in Caribbean: 29 wickets M Muralitharan, 25 C Langeveldt, 21 J Anderson, 18 B Lee, L Malinga, 17 J Kallis, D Vettori, 16 S Styris, S Bond, 15 S Afridi.

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