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Race for Ceat Cricketer of the Year title hots up

Anand Gaundalkar

The coveted Ceat International Cricketer of the Year award is now in its second season. The first year for purposes of calculation was May 1, 1995 to April 30, 1996, and the second edition began from May 1, 1996 and will last till May 3, 1997 when India plays its last one-dayer against the West Indies at Bridgetown.

It may be recalled here that the topper is determined to be the player who collects maximm points which are calculated by the following formula:

Batting:   50 runs.....1 point  Bowling:    2 wickets ....1
                                            point  

           Every 25 runs                    Every wkt          
           thereafter ....1                 thereafter....1    
           point                            point              

           Century.....3                    Five wkts in an    
           bonus points                     innings.... 3      
                                            bonus points       

           Double                           Ten wkts in a      
           century......6                   match....6 bonus   
           bonus points and                 points             
           so on                                                     

Fielding: Every catch.... 1 point Wicket-keeping: 2 dismissals... 1 point

Every dismissals thereafter...1 point

Fielding & wicket-keeping : Every 5 catches/Stumpings in an innings....3 bonus points.

Thus, with less than 20 days remaining, the race for the top spot has really hotted up in the true sense of the world. As on Saturday, April 12, 1997, the top five players in the ranking were: India's medium-fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad with 88 points, Pakistan's skipper and all-rounder Wasim Akram with just one point behind on 87, the Indian duo of leg-spinner Anil Kumble (82 points) and captain Sachin Tendulkar (75); and South Africa's leading fast bowler Allan Donald with 74 points.

In this context, it is interesting to enumerate how many matches each of the above-mentioned countries are going to play in the remainder of the season. India has still one Test match and four limited over games in the Carribbean; Pakistan has two Test-matches in Sri Lanka while South Africa has completed its engagements for the season. So, on the face of it, Donald is out of the competition and thus, the battle is between a Pakistani and the Indian trio.

Who'll surge ahead and claim the honour? In case of a tie, the three judges - Australia's Ian Chappell, the West Indies' Clive Lloyd and our own Sunil Gavaskar - will solve the deadlock. Interestingly the winner of the award in its inaugural year, Brian Charles Lara, had secured 74 points.

Following are complete details of points mustered by top five players in the current ranking:

Player         Batting   Bowling   Fielding  Total points   

Venkatesh      0         77        11        88             
Prasad(Ind)                                                                   

Wasim Akram    20        47        20        87 (All-round  
(Pak)                                            display)       

Anil Kumble    2         66        14        82             
(Ind)                                                                         

Sachin         54        0         21        75             
Tendulkar                                                                     
(Ind)                                                                         

Allan Donald   0         69        5         74             
(SA)