Game Two (MI v RR): one 3 by Jayasuriya off Kamran Khan

Game Three (KXIP v DD): one 3 by Gambhir off Powar.

Leaderboard after Saturday's action:

1: Sanath Jayasuriya, Gautan Gambhir.
0: everyone else who has batted to date.

Sunday March 14:
Game Four (KKR v RCB): one 3 by Hodge off Kallis

Game Five (CSK v DC): one 3 by Kemp off Jaskaran Singh

Monday March 15:
Game Six (DD v RR): no threes.

Scorers of the most threes in the 2010 IPL to date:

1: Gautam Gambhir, Brad Hodge, Sanath Jayasuriya, Justin Kemp.

(sources: Cricinfo match commentary logs)

Game Seven (Arsenal v Liverpool - I mean, KXIP v RCB): A bumper crop in the Punjab innings! Threes by: Bopara off Steyn, Bisla off Steyn, I Pathan off Vinay Kumar.

Game Eight (KKR v CSK): one 3 by Kartik off Raina.

Still no batsman with two threes to his name in IPLIII, although Dale Steyn is the first bowler to concede two.

The leaderboard:

1: Manvinder Bisla, Ravi Bopara, Gautam Gambhir, Brad Hodge, Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali Karthik, Justin Kemp, Irfan Pathan.

(I am using the Cricinfo commentary logs as the primary source for this data.)

We have an outright leader after Game Nine (MI v DD, Wednesday March 17). Guess who?

"0.4 Nannes to Tendulkar, 3 runs, and he turns his wrists on it, to beat the off-side field, and drags it from outside off to wide of midwicket, gets three for it

7.5 Ladda to Tendulkar, 3 runs, the vertical sweep, from in front of leg stump, fine, very fine, Sehwag misfields and Tiwary pushes Tendulkar for three. Fifty up for him! The fastest for Mumbai Indians, in 23 balls"

(source: Cricinfo)

The leaderboard with just 51 matches remaining:

2: Sachin Tendulkar
1: Manvinder Bisla, Ravi Bopara, Gautam Gambhir, Brad Hodge, Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali Karthik, Justin Kemp, Irfan Pathan.

Two more threes conceded by Dale Steyn, in the same over no less! The batsman was Naman Ojha. They accounted for more than 6.5 per cent of the Rajasthan Royals innings. Steyn has now conceded four threes in this year's IPL.

Transcript from Cricinfo:

1.1 Steyn to Ojha, 3 runs, flicked and mis-fielded by Manish Pandey at square leg and the batsmen run through for three. Steyn topped 143 kph there.

1.6 Steyn to Ojha, 3 runs, drifts on to Ojha's pads and he clips it square, nicely off the back foot. It's cut off close to the ropes, but the batsmen run three."

Leaderboard:

2: Naman Ojha (RR), Sachin Tendulkar (MI)
1: Manvinder Bisla, Ravi Bopara, Gautam Gambhir, Brad Hodge, Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali Karthik, Justin Kemp, Irfan Pathan.

Funnily enough, no Mongoose-driven threes on Friday, but Ravi Bopara joins the leaders.

Game Eleven (CSK v DD): No threes.

Game Twelve (DC v KXIP): threes to RP Singh (off Sreesanth), and Bopara (off Pragyan Ojha).

"19.5 Sreesanth to Singh, 3 runs, fulltoss outside off, sliced over the in field by RP, it almost runs down to the cover boundary, but is saved well by Bopara. Barath tidies up.

6.4 Ojha to Bopara, 3 runs, very full on middle and leg, paddled away nicely by Bopara. They run hard for three as Jaskaran effects a good save and sends in a strong throw, but its not a direct hit. It could have been interesting if he hit the stumps."

- source: Cricinfo

Leaderboard:

2: Ravi Bopara (KXIP), Naman Ojha (RR), Sachin Tendulkar (MI)
1: Manvinder Bisla, Gautam Gambhir, Brad Hodge, Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali Karthik, Justin Kemp, Irfan Pathan, Rudra Pratap Singh.

Saturday March 20:
Game Thirteen (KKR-RR): no threes.
Game Fourteen (MI-RCB): one 3 by Pollard off Kumble

Sunday March 21:
Game Fifteen (DC-DD): one 3 by De Villiers off Pragyan Ojha
Game Sixteen (CSK-KXIP): no threes, either in the main game or in the superover.

Leaderboard:

2: Ravi Bopara (KXIP), Naman Ojha (RR), Sachin Tendulkar (MI)
1: Manvinder Bisla, AB De Villiers, Gautam Gambhir, Brad Hodge, Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali Karthik, Justin Kemp, Irfan Pathan, Kieron Pollard, Rudra Pratap Singh.

Monday March 22:
Game Seventeen (MI-KKR): one 3 by Gayle off Malinga

Tuesday March 23:
Game Eighteen (RCB-CSK): no threes.

Still waiting for someone to break free of the pack. Leaderboard:

2: Ravi Bopara (KXIP), Naman Ojha (RR), Sachin Tendulkar (MI)
1: Manvinder Bisla, AB De Villiers, Gautam Gambhir, Chris Gayle, Brad Hodge, Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali Karthik, Justin Kemp, Irfan Pathan, Kieron Pollard, Rudra Pratap Singh.

Two weeks gone, little more than a third of the matches played. It should be all over by now. Fans and other observers are getting weary already.

Catching up on the four matches played from Wednesday to Friday inclusive, and Ravi Bopara is our new outright leader.

Wednesday March 24:

Game Nineteen (KXIP-RR): one 3 to Voges off Irfan Pathan, and two in the same over by Bopara off Munaf Patel.

Thursday March 25:

Game Twenty (RCB-DD): threes by de Villiers and McDonald, both off Steyn, and by Pandey and Kallis, both off the same over from Nannes.

Game Twenty-One (MI_CSK): no threes.

Friday March 26:

Game Twenty-Two (RR-DC): one 3 by Symonds off Trivedi.

It's worth noting that Bangalore's Dale Steyn, the world's number-one ranked Test bowler, has given up six threes in this year's IPL, well ahead of anyone else. His series economy rate at present is 7.70rpo, which is higher than the overall average.

(Cricinfo's commentary logs are the sources for all data used in compiling this tally)

Leaderboard:
4: Ravi Bopara (KXIP).
2: AB De Villiers (DD), Naman Ojha (RR), Sachin Tendulkar (MI).
1: Manvinder Bisla, Gautam Gambhir, Chris Gayle, Brad Hodge, Sanath Jayasuriya, Jacques Kallis, Murali Karthik, Justin Kemp, Andrew McDonald, Manish Pandey, Irfan Pathan, Kieron Pollard, Rudra Pratap Singh, Andrew Symonds, Adam Voges.

Nine games over the week ending Good Friday, and Ravi Bopara moves further in front.

Saturday March 27:
Game 23 (KXIP-KKR): Bisla (off Gayle)
Game 24 (RR-CSK): nil.

Sunday March 28:
Game 25 (DC-MI): nil.

Monday March 29:
Game 26 (DD-KKR): Collingwood (off D Hussey),

Tuesday March 30:
Game 27 (MI-KXIP): Satish (off Srivastava)

Wednesday March 31:
Game 28 (CSK-RCB): nil
Game 29 (DD-RR): nil

Thursday April 1:
Game 30 (KKR-DC): nil

Friday April 2:
Game 31 (KXIP-RCB): Bopara (off Kallis)

Leaderboard just after the half-way mark:

5: Ravi Bopara (KXIP).
2: Manvinder Bisla (KXIP), AB De Villiers (DD), Naman Ojha (RR), Sachin Tendulkar (MI).
1: Paul Collingwood, Gautam Gambhir, Chris Gayle, Brad Hodge, Sanath Jayasuriya, Jacques Kallis, Murali Karthik, Justin Kemp, Andrew McDonald, Manish Pandey, Irfan Pathan, Kevin Pietersen, Kieron Pollard, Rajagopal Satish, Rudra Pratap Singh, Andrew Symonds, Adam Voges.

Brought the three-run tally up to date including the semi-finals, with just the third-place playoff and the final to go. Ravi Bopara (Kings XI) is still in first place ahead of Gautam Gambhir (Delhi), neither of whom obviously can further their totals. The challenge seems to be on for Murali Vijay (CSK). Unfortunately, I haven't been keeping stats on the number of threes scored at each ground, so I don't have any research on the form at the DY Patil Stadium to go by.

After fifty-eight matches, the tally is (by my non-automated reckoning):

5: Ravi Bopara (KXIP);
4: Gautam Gambhir (DD);
3: Naman Ojha (RR), Murali Vijay (CSK);
2: Manvinder Bisla, AB De Villiers, Kevin Pietersen, Sachin Tendulkar, Manoj Towary, Adam Voges;
1: Paul Collingwood, Paras Doghra, Chris Gayle, Herschelle Gibbs, Brad Hodge, Michael Hussey, Sanath Jayasuriya, Jacques Kallis, Murali Karthik, Justin Kemp, Michael Lumb, Angelo Mathews, Andrew McDonald, Ryan McLaren, Manish Pandey, Irfan Pathan, Kieron Pollard, Rajagopal Satish, Rudra Pratap Singh, T.Suman, Andrew Symonds.

It seems only fitting that the last-placed team in the 2010 Indian Premier League produced the batsman who scored the most all-run threes in the tournament. Following a manual process as unscientific as a Dilshan Scoop, a Danny Morrison commentary shift, or a Rudi Koertzen lbw decision, I hereby proclaim Ravi Bopara, of the Kings XI Punjab, as the winner of the non-existent Beige Cap for the scorer of the most NSR Half Measures in IPL 3.

The NSR (No Sponsor Required) Half Measure may be better known to you as the three. Yes that's right, that four that is stopped inside the boundary, or that single or two that is misfielded. Such a rare breed in a mutation of the sport whereby the outfield seems to have no other purpose than to measure out the airspace for the DLF Maximums (Maxima?) to fly overhead.

Bopara scored five threes out of the 49 struck (by my non-automated reckoning) in the sixty matches of the competition. His bowling victims were Dale Steyn, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel (twice in the same over), and Jacques Kallis.

With no threes in the third-place playoff, and one by Suresh Raina in the final, the complete standings for 2010 read as follows:

5: Ravi Bopara (KXIP);
4: Gautam Gambhir (DD);
3: Naman Ojha (RR), Murali Vijay (CSK);
2: Manvinder Bisla, AB De Villiers, Kevin Pietersen, Sachin Tendulkar, Manoj Towary, Adam Voges;
1: Paul Collingwood, Paras Doghra, Chris Gayle, Herschelle Gibbs, Brad Hodge, Michael Hussey, Sanath Jayasuriya, Jacques Kallis, Murali Karthik, Justin Kemp, Michael Lumb, Angelo Mathews, Andrew McDonald, Ryan McLaren, Manish Pandey, Irfan Pathan, Kieron Pollard, Suresh Raina, Rajagopal Satish, Rudra Pratap Singh, T.Suman, Andrew Symonds.

Will I repeat this nonsense for the WT20? Your feedback will be the clue!