Tendulkar poised to be Man of the Tournament

Sachin Tendulkar will claim an unassailable lead in the Man of the Tournament standings if he claims a fourth Man of the Match award in the semi-final against Kenya on Thursday.

With only three matches of the tournament remaining, the India batsman, who is also the leading runs scorer in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003, is four points clear of Sri Lanka duo Marvan Atapattu and Chaminda Vaas.

Tendulkar's 12 points have all been due to his prolific form with the bat. He has picked up three Man of the Match awards, and therefore nine points, for top-scoring with 81 against Zimbabwe, 152 against Namibia and 98 against Pakistan. He accumulated a further two points for top-scoring with 97 against Sri Lanka and one for his half century against Holland.

During the ICC CWC 2003, the India opener has already overtaken Javed Miandad to hold the highest aggregate of ICC CWC runs and has become one of two players along with Mark Waugh to have accumulated four ICC CWC centuries.

Aside from Atapattu and Vaas, the only other players that can catch Tendulkar are India captain Sourav Ganguly and Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya who have seven and six points respectively.

The leading Kenyan in the rankings is all-rounder Thomas Odoyo with five points. He shares ninth place in the standings with the top Australians Andy Bichel, Brett Lee and Ricky Ponting.

Lee, who has been placed second twice and third once, is the highest player in the standings not to have been named Man of the Match in the tournament to date.

The Man of the Tournament is based on the cumulative Man of the Match results awarded by the ICC Match Referee.

After every game the ICC Match Referee selects the top three players. As well as being presented with a gold watch worth R12000, the Man of the Match also receives three points towards the Man of the Tournament award.

The second best player on the day receives two points and the third best gets one point.

The Man of the Tournament will be presented by West Indies all-rounder Sir Garfield Sobers at the end of the final.

Man of the Tournament standings:

Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) 12

Marvan Atapattu (SL) 8
Chaminda Vaas (SL) 8

Sourav Ganguly (Ind) 7

Wasim Akram (Pak) 6
James Anderson (Eng) 6
John Davison (Can) 6
Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) 6

Andy Bichel (Aus) 5
Andy Blignaut (Zim) 5
Vasbert Drakes (WI) 5
Herschelle Gibbs (SA) 5
Lance Klusener (SA) 5
Brett Lee (Aus) 5
Thomas Odoyo (Ken) 5
Ricky Ponting (Aus) 5
Heath Streak (Zim) 5

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