Does the World Care for No. 1 Only 'All the Time' ??

  

The World remembers achievers and only those who are at the top – often we hear a much repeated Question – do you know or remember the man who was the second to land at Moon or the one who went to moon but did not land ?

They intend pointing out that Neil Armstrong is immensely popular for the ‘one small step for a man; giant leap for mankind’ comment.  Apollo 11 was the spaceflight which landed the first humans – Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr on Earth’s natural satellite ‘Moon’ on 20th  July 1969.  There was also the third man – Michael Collins – he had been to space twice – first in Gemini 10  in 1966 and later accompanying Armstrong & Aldrin in Apollo 11 as the command module pilot.  He orbited the moon while the other two landed to their eternal fame !  He remains one amongst the 24 humans to have flown to Moon.  

You are most unlikely to have heard of or recognize Lionel Cann or Rizwan Cheema – both are cricketers !!

Recently when Shahid Afridi completed 7000 runs in One Day cricket, Cricinfo had a list of players who have the fastest strike rate  - there are only 11 in the list with strike rate above 100 – and some are unknown names (the qualification is 500 runs minimum though) .   Afridi has 113.9 and the explosive Virender Sehwag has 104.7 strike rate – remarkable. 

Some  important aspects that go against  players from low-rung teams, is that they have to struggle all the time; play against stronger opponents and may not have many matches at their peak.    The topper of the list Lionel Cann is from Bermuda – an allrounder and a specialist fielder. He no longer plays having quit the game after Bermuda failed to qualify for the 2011 World Cup. He played 26 matches scored 590 with strike rate of 117.06.    The next in the list Rizwan Ahmed Cheema was born in Pakistan; played for Canada and was feared by opponents for his big hitting and six thrashing capability. 

Now if you ever thought how Sachin reaches the pinnacle of glory – he has a strike rate of 86.23  after making more than 80% of the runs made by all those in the list put together.  He after making 18426 runs @ strike rate of 86.23 – has a phenomenal  average of 44.83 

Player	Nation	Mat	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	SR
LOB Cann	Bermuda	26	25	590	52	26.81	117.1
Rizhwan Cheema	Canada	31	30	707	94	24.37	115
Shahid Afridi	Pakisthan	342	317	7040	124	23.62	113.9
Yusuf Pathan	India	57	41	810	123*	27	113.6
AM Blignaut	Zimbabwe	54	41	626	63*	18.96	106.3
BL Cairns	New Zealand	78	65	987	60	16.72	104.9
V Sehwag	India	245	239	8090	219	35.17	104.7
JM Davison	Canada	32	32	799	111	26.63	104.2
Darren Sammy	West Indies	75	58	880	84	21.46	103.7
KA Pollard	West Indies	56	51	1288	119	26.28	101.6
JA Morkel	South Africa	58	43	782	97	23.69	100.3
Sachin Tendulkar	India	463	452	18426	200	44.83	86.23

With regards – S. Sampathkumar