Mitch Santner has shown his versatility by jumping a host of his contemporaries to hold the lead in the race to have the biggest impact in the field at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.
While the New Zealand all-rounder only has four catches in six matches at the World Cup, his impact in the field is much greater than that with the experienced Kiwi having also made a mark in a variety of other fielding categories.
The 31-year-old has been adjudged to have saved a total of nine runs in the field, while he also sits high in categories for pressure ratings, good throws and attempted run outs.
It means Santner holds a narrow lead in the race for overall fielding impact through six games for each side at the World Cup, with South Africa’s David Miller and Australia’s David Warner his closest challengers.
Virat Kohli had led the way after three matches for each side at the tournament, but the India batter has dropped to sixth on the current list with teammate Ravindra Jadeja jumping in front of him into fifth. It means there are two players from India inside the top 10 for fielding ratings, with Australia the only other side to have a pair of their stars – Warner (third) and Glenn Maxwell (eighth) – among the top 10.
But it is South Africa that leads the way in the team fielding ratings, with the Proteas having claimed a total of 44 catches – seven more than any other team – while also amassing the highest amount of runs saved in the field at 44.
Netherlands are in second place in the team fielding ratings on the back of having the second-fewest amount of dropped catches with six, while reigning champions England are third having dropped the least amount of catches with four.
Source: ICC Cricket
