Every now and then I dream a weird or obscure statistic that I would like to determine, then generally post the results to the Usenet newsgroup rec.sport.cricket. Here's a list of what I've posted since 1996 (these were retrieved with the aid of Deja News. You should find lots of interesting little snippets you might not otherwise see in my Records or Summaries sections.
Below is a table of the best individual scores by a Test batsman at each age. Note: "23rd" (for example) means that the record-holder is in the 23rd year of his life - that is, he is 22 years old. This table is up to date to the recent India-Aust Test in Delhi. Thus, this table is *already* out of date :-( Wasim Akram now holds the record for best innings by a player in his 31st year. Statistics courtesy of HowzStat! Age Score Name NAT OPP Venue Date ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16th 14 Mushtaq Mohammad Pak WI Lahore (LG) 26 Mar 1959 17th 88 SR Tendulkar Ind NZ Napier 09 Feb 1990 18th 119* SR Tendulkar Ind Eng Manchester 09 Aug 1990 19th 148* SR Tendulkar Ind Aus Sydney 02 Jan 1992 20th 206 Javed Miandad Pak NZ Karachi 30 Oct 1976 21st 223 GA Headley WI Eng Kingston 03 Apr 1930 22nd 365* GStA Sobers WI Pak Kingston 26 Feb 1958 23rd 364 L Hutton Eng Aus The Oval 20 Aug 1938 24th 337 Hanif Mohammad Pak WI Bridgetown 17 Jan 1958 25th 375 BC Lara WI Eng St.John's 16 Apr 1994 26th 307 RM Cowper Aus Eng Melbourne 11 Feb 1966 27th 246* G Boycott Eng Ind Leeds 08 Jun 1967 28th 285* PBH May Eng WI Birmingham 30 May 1957 29th 311 RB Simpson Aus Eng Manchester 23 Jul 1964 30th 336* WR Hammond Eng NZ Auckland 31 Mar 1933 31st 262* DL Amiss Eng WI Kingston 16 Feb 1974 32nd 271 Javed Miandad Pak NZ Auckland 24 Feb 1989 33rd 230* B Sutcliffe NZ Ind Delhi 16 Dec 1955 34th 266 WH Ponsford Aus Eng The Oval 18 Aug 1934 35th 236* SM Gavaskar Ind WI Madras 24 Dec 1983 36th 258 SM Nurse WI NZ Christchurch 13 Mar 1969 37th 278 DCS Compton Eng Pak Nottingham 01 Jul 1954 38th 333 GA Gooch Eng Ind Lord's 26 Jul 1990 39th 234 DG Bradman Aus Eng Sydney 13 Dec 1946 40th 325 A Sandham Eng WI Kingston 03 Apr 1930 41st 210 GA Gooch Eng NZ Nottingham 02 Jun 1994 42nd 211 JB Hobbs Eng RSA Lord's 28 Jun 1924 43rd 236 EAB Rowan RSA Eng Leeds 26 Jul 1951 44th 193* W Bardsley Aus Eng Lord's 26 Jun 1926 45th 80 FE Woolley Eng NZ Lord's 27 Jun 1931 46th 159 JB Hobbs Eng WI The Oval 11 Aug 1928 47th 142 JB Hobbs Eng Aus Melbourne 08 Mar 1929 48th 78 JB Hobbs Eng Aus Nottingham 13 Jun 1930 49th 28 W Rhodes Eng Aus The Oval 14 Aug 1926 50th 12 H Ironmonger Aus RSA Melbourne 31 Dec 1931 51st 85 G Gunn Eng WI Kingston 03 Apr 1930 53rd 14* W Rhodes Eng WI Bridgetown 11 Jan 1930
Following up a posting from a couple of weeks ago, when I looked at the best innings for each age group, I have done the same for bowlers. Note - If the age group is '33rd' for example, then the bowler's age is 32 - he is in the 33rd year of his life. Source - HowzStat! (http://www.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/howzstat) Age Figures Name NAT OPP Venue Date -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17th 6/67 Nasim-ul-Ghani Pak WI Port-of-Spain 26 Mar 1958 18th 4/35 Nasim-ul-Ghani Pak WI Karachi 20 Feb 1959 19th 8/72 S Venkataraghavan Ind NZ Delhi 19 Mar 1965 20th 8/61 ND Hirwani Ind WI Madras 11 Jan 1988 21st 8/141 CJ McDermott Aus Eng Manchester 1 Aug 1985 22nd 8/35 GA Lohmann Eng Aus Melbourne 25 Feb 1887 23rd 8/34 IT Botham Eng Pak Lord's 15 Jun 1978 24th 8/29 CEH Croft WI Pak Port-of-Spain 4 Mar 1977 25th 9/83 Kapil Dev Ind WI Ahmedabad 12 Nov 1983 26th 8/84 RAL Massie Aus Eng Lord's 22 Jun 1972 27th 8/143 MHN Walker Aus Eng Melbourne 8 Feb 1975 28th 8/87 MG Hughes Aus WI Perth 2 Dec 1988 29th 9/113 HJ Tayfield RSA Eng Johannesburg 15 Feb 1957 30th 9/102 SP Gupte Ind WI Kanpur 12 Dec 1958 31st 9/28 GA Lohmann Eng RSA Joh'burg (OW) 2 Mar 1896 32nd 9/57 DE Malcolm Eng RSA The Oval 18 Aug 1994 33rd 9/56 Abdul Qadir Pak Eng Lahore 25 Nov 1987 34th 7/46 AR Border Aus WI Sydney 26 Jan 1989 35th 10/53 JC Laker Eng Aus Manchester 26 Jul 1956 36th 9/121 AA Mailey Aus Eng Melbourne 11 Feb 1921 37th 7/28 H Trumble Aus Eng Melbourne 5 Mar 1904 38th 8/126 JC White Eng Aus Adelaide 1 Feb 1929 39th 7/87 CV Grimmett Aus WI Adelaide 12 Dec 1930 40th 8/31 F Laver Aus Eng Manchester 26 Jul 1909 41st 9/103 SF Barnes Eng RSA Joh'burg (OW) 26 Dec 1913 42nd 7/115 AP Freeman Eng RSA Leeds 13 Jul 1929 43rd 7/76 FE Woolley Eng NZ Wellington 24 Jan 1930 44th 3/83 CV Grimmett Aus RSA Durban 14 Dec 1935 45th 7/40 CV Grimmett Aus RSA Joh'burg (OW) 15 Feb 1936 46th 5/86 AJ Traicos Zim Ind Harare 18 Oct 1992 47th 6/94 DD Blackie Aus Eng Melbourne 29 Dec 1928 48th 2/82 Miran Bux Pak Ind Lahore (LG) 29 Jan 1955 49th 7/23 H Ironmonger Aus WI Melbourne 13 Feb 1931 50th 6/18 H Ironmonger Aus RSA Melbourne 12 Feb 1932 51st 4/26 H Ironmonger Aus Eng Melbourne 30 Dec 1932 53rd 3/110 W Rhodes Eng WI Bridgetown 11 Jan 1930 Some real luminaries in this list. Unfortunately, no New Zealander could make the grade! Their best chance at glory was Sir Richard Hadlee's 9/52 against the hapless Australians in 1985/86. Unfortunately, he was aged 34 at the time, so was pushed out by Jim Laker's 10/53. The table below attempts to crudely measure when a bowler reaches his prime. It would probably be more fruitful to split the table up into fast and slow bowlers, as different maturation rates would be expected. As it is, a bowler's career can reasonably be expected to last into the 30's, though the table suggests a "belle epoque" at the age of 27, which is when their is the highest frequency of bowling too. Note - Only bowling figures from Jan. 1965 onward are used. I think this is the approximate time that covered pitches came into use. Age Runs Wickets Average ---------------------------------- 18th 1029 15 68.60 19th 5603 218 25.70 20th 9438 233 40.51 21st 18012 575 31.33 22nd 25148 765 32.87 23rd 35554 1100 32.32 24th 42511 1321 32.18 25th 59316 1835 32.32 26th 59600 1939 30.74 27th 60744 1854 32.76 28th 66724 2263 29.48 29th 59135 1802 32.82 30th 52860 1760 30.03 31st 47724 1545 30.89 32nd 39262 1190 32.99 33rd 34233 1117 30.65 34th 24700 753 32.80 35th 24030 751 32.00 36th 14154 426 33.23 37th 7598 214 35.50 38th 6508 172 37.84 39th 5531 152 36.39 40th 3086 89 34.67 41st 2447 59 41.47 42nd 2859 65 43.98 43rd 893 16 55.81 46th 562 14 40.14
With the efforts of Klusener and Mohammad Zahid, I thought this
table might be a timely one.
NB - Dates given refer to the opening day of the Test.
Rank----------Name---------------------Nat-Opp--Venue-----------Date-------
1 8/43 AE Trott Aus Eng Adelaide 11 Jan 1895
2 8/53 RAL Massie Aus Eng Lord's 22 Jun 1972
3 8/61 ND Hirwani Ind WI Madras 11 Jan 1988
4 8/64 L Klusener RSA Ind Calcutta 27 Nov 1996 ****
5 8/75 ND Hirwani Ind WI Madras 11 Jan 1988
6 8/84 RAL Massie Aus Eng Lord's 22 Jun 1972
7 8/104 AL Valentine WI Eng Manchester 8 Jun 1950
8 7/43 DG Cork Eng WI Lord's 22 Jun 1995
9 7/46 JK Lever Eng Ind Delhi 17 Dec 1976
10 7/49 AV Bedser Eng Ind Lord's 22 Jun 1946
11 7/55 T Kendall Aus Eng Melbourne 15 Mar 1877
12 7/56 J Langridge Eng WI Manchester 22 Jul 1933
13 7/63 AE Hall RSA Eng Cape Town 1 Jan 1923
14 7/66 Mohammad Zahid Pak NZ Rawalpindi 28 Nov 1996 ****
15 7/95 WH Ashley RSA Eng Cape Town 25 Mar 1889
16 7/99 Mohammad Nazir Pak NZ Karachi 24 Oct 1969
17 7/103 JC Laker Eng WI Bridgetown 21 Jan 1948
18 6/15 CTB Turner Aus Eng Sydney 28 Jan 1887
19 6/37 CV Grimmett Aus Eng Sydney 27 Feb 1925
20 6/38 PM Pollock RSA NZ Durban 8 Dec 1961
21 6/43 GH Simpson-Hayward Eng RSA Joh'burg (OW) 1 Jan 1910
6/43 CN McCarthy RSA Eng Durban 16 Dec 1948
23 6/49 MA Noble Aus Eng Melbourne 1 Jan 1898
24 6/50 F Martin Eng Aus The Oval 11 Aug 1890
25 6/52 F Martin Eng Aus The Oval 11 Aug 1890
Australia's effort in the 2nd Test just concluded represented a
pretty good comeback, after looking down and out at the end
of Day 2. However, as these tables show, they are by no means
the only team to 'do a Lazarus'.
The greatest comeback of modern times was by the Aussies
in Colombo in 1992/93, although not even they can boast of
rising from the dead with only ten players ... and a captain ;-)
Table 1: Victory after first innings run deficit.
Def Team Opp. Venue Date
-------------------------------------------------------
291 Aus-256 SL -547 Colombo (SSC) 17 Aug 1992
261 Eng-325 Aus-586 Sydney 14 Dec 1894
236 Aus- 75 RSA-311 Durban 20 Jan 1950
227 Eng-174 Aus-401 Leeds 16 Jul 1981
182 Ind-237 Aus-419 Melbourne 7 Feb 1981
177 Aus-190 Eng-367 Manchester 27 Jul 1961
171 Eng-133 RSA-304 Lord's 23 Jun 1955
163 Aus-144 Eng-307 Sydney 29 Jan 1892
160 Aus-198 RSA-358 Melbourne 31 Dec 1931
158 Aus-348 RSA-506 Melbourne 31 Dec 1910
144 Aus-137 Eng-281 Sydney 21 Feb 1908
144 NZ -200 Pak-344 Christchurch 24 Feb 1994
142 Eng-152 Aus-294 Sydney 6 Jan 1979
141 Eng-183 Aus-324 The Oval 11 Aug 1902
133 Aus-441 Pak-574 Melbourne 29 Dec 1972
131 Ind-228 WI -359 Port-of-Spain 7 Apr 1976
126 RSA-199 Aus-325 Johannesburg 23 Dec 1966
123 RSA-169 Aus-292 Sydney 2 Jan 1994
122 Eng-404 WI -526 Port-of-Spain 14 Mar 1968
118 Eng-228 NZ -346 Christchurch 14 Feb 1997
117 Eng-133 RSA-250 Cape Town 31 Dec 1927
115 Pak-102 NZ -217 Faisalabad 26 Oct 1990
110 SL -223 Pak-333 Faisalabad 15 Sep 1995
106 Eng-145 RSA-251 Joh'burg (OW) 14 Feb 1899
102 RSA-208 Eng-310 Joh'burg (OW) 1 Jan 1910
101 Aus-108 RSA-209 Port Elizabeth 14 Mar 1997 ***
Table 2: Victory after lowest percentage of opponent's first
innings score.
Def. Team Opp. Venue Date
-------------------------------------------------------
24.1 Aus- 75 RSA-311 Durban 20 Jan 1950
37.8 Eng- 45 Aus-119 Sydney 28 Jan 1887
43.3 Eng-174 Aus-401 Leeds 16 Jul 1981
43.7 Eng-133 RSA-304 Lord's 23 Jun 1955
46.8 Aus-256 SL -547 Colombo (SSC) 17 Aug 1992
46.9 Aus-144 Eng-307 Sydney 29 Jan 1892
47.0 Pak-102 NZ -217 Faisalabad 26 Oct 1990
48.7 Aus-137 Eng-281 Sydney 21 Feb 1908
49.4 RSA- 91 Eng-184 Joh'burg (OW) 2 Jan 1906
51.6 Aus-108 RSA-209 Port Elizabeth 14 Mar 1997 ***
51.7 Aus-190 Eng-367 Manchester 27 Jul 1961
51.7 Eng-152 Aus-294 Sydney 6 Jan 1979
51.9 Eng- 92 RSA-177 Cape Town 1 Apr 1899
53.2 Eng-133 RSA-250 Cape Town 31 Dec 1927
55.3 Aus-198 RSA-358 Melbourne 31 Dec 1931
55.4 Eng-325 Aus-586 Sydney 14 Dec 1894
56.4 Eng-183 Aus-324 The Oval 11 Aug 1902
56.5 Ind-237 Aus-419 Melbourne 7 Feb 1981
57.7 Eng-145 RSA-251 Joh'burg (OW) 14 Feb 1899
57.8 RSA-169 Aus-292 Sydney 2 Jan 1994
58.1 NZ -200 Pak-344 Christchurch 24 Feb 1994
Cheers ... ChrisG
It seems like Taylor's career-threatening run of bad form has been going on forever, and as the table below shows, he only needs 6 more innings to enter the record books as the recognised batsman who has gone the longest period without reaching at least 50. I constructed this table by only using innings from batsmen who batted at position 7 or higher - although I then went through and manually deleted any entries where batsman dropped to 8 or 9 and got a decent score. Thus a couple of players like Ray Illingworth and Kapil Dev were eliminated. The asterisk denotes unbroken sequences - either they are still going or the player retired. As you can see, most of the players on the list are either wicket-keepers (hence their poor batting form is not of primary concern), or came from countries with modest batting depth during their playing days, so they played further up the order than their talent would normally justify. The '+' signs denote batsmen I would therefore say have benefited from the selectors' indulgence. Inn Player Nat ------------------------------- 26 RC Russell ENG 25 TG Evans ENG 25* WK Lees NZ 25 RS Mahanama SL + 24 AJ Lamb ENG + 24* LSM Miller NZ 24 MJ Greatbatch NZ + 23* MB Poore NZ 23* BW Yuile NZ 23 PJL Dujon WI 23 R Benaud AUS + 22 SE Gregory AUS + 22 WR Hammond ENG + 22* LA Stricker RSA 22* W Mathias PAK 22 KJ Funston RSA 21 G Giffen AUS 21 SN McGregor NZ 21 Alim-ud-Din PAK 21* WA Shalders RSA 21* RG Barlow ENG 20 J Dyson AUS + 20* MA Taylor AUS + PS - I've just finished a major improvement to HowzStat; all players summaries are now in a spiffy HTML table format, instead of the previous, sometimes awkward-to-read (depending on the colour scheme) pre-formatted tables. Check it out; I'm sure you'll like it.
MUSHTAQ AHMED
===========================================================================
BORN: June 28, 1970 (Current Age: 27 years 146 days)
TEST DEBUT: Pakistan v Australia at Adelaide - January 19, 1990
LAST TEST: Pakistan v West Indies at Peshawar - November 17, 1997
Right Hand Batsman, Right Arm Leg-Spin
United Bank, Multan, Somerset
=============================================================================
Mat B M R W 5i 10m Avg StkR. Econ Best
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Australia 6 1857 48 940 28 2 0 33.57 66.3 3.04 5/95
England 8 2242 89 922 32 2 0 28.81 70.1 2.47 6/78
New Zealand 5 1359 50 619 34 3 2 18.20 40.0 2.73 7/56
South Africa 3 845 37 387 14 0 0 27.64 60.4 2.75 4/58
Sri Lanka 4 994 25 536 16 0 0 33.50 62.1 3.24 3/34
West Indies 4 602 24 272 14 2 1 19.42 43.0 2.71 5/35
Zimbabwe 2 366 19 126 3 0 0 42.00 122.0 2.07 2/24
Last 10 Matches 10 3273 124 1493 63 5 2 23.69 52.0 2.74 6/78
Home 13 3087 113 1416 57 4 2 24.84 54.2 2.75 6/84
Away 19 5178 179 2386 84 5 1 28.40 61.6 2.76 7/56
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL 32 8265 292 3802 141 9 3 26.96 58.6 2.76 7/56
BEST BOWLING: 7/56
Pakistan v New Zealand at Christchurch - December 8, 1995
Mushtaq's average bag per Test is starting to look suspiciously like that
of a certain blond-haired leg-spinner, and his recent form has been
spectacular - over 6 wickets per Test!
If you want to track the progress of Mushtaq or any of your favorite
players throughout this busy season, then check out HowzStat!
Test and limited over stat. summaries, match-by-match analyses,
captaincy tables, series analyses, maps locating the major cricket
venues and a soon-to-debut analysis of all cricket grounds - HowzStat
has something to offer everybody from the casual supporter to the
hard-core stats head ( like me :-) )
Just point your browser to either of these URLs:
www.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/howzstat
sport.iafrica.com/cricket/howzstat.htm
After Aravinda de Silva's amazing run of form, I thought posting
a summary of his Test career stats and recent results would be
timely, and maybe a little provocative given the not-too-long-
ago debate about how talented and effective he really was.
And yes, I did go on record in March as saying
that his career would now decline due to his inability to
score heavily against strong opposition. Let's just stick to
the figures for a moment ...
M I NO R Avg 50 100 HS Ct St
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Australia 9 15 0 611 40.73 4 1 167 2 0
England 4 8 0 187 23.37 1 0 80 5 0
India 16 29 2 1145 42.40 2 5 148 3 0
New Zealand 9 15 0 660 44.00 3 2 267 6 0
Pakistan 15 27 3 1134 47.25 0 7 168 8 0
South Africa 3 5 0 235 47.00 2 0 82 2 0
West Indies 3 6 1 228 45.60 2 0 78 0 0
Zimbabwe 5 7 1 163 27.16 0 0 41* 1 0
Last 10 Matches 10 18 3 1152 76.80 1 7 168 4 0
Home 27 45 5 2189 54.72 9 8 168 12 0
Away 37 67 2 2174 33.44 5 7 267 15 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL 64 112 7 4363 41.55 14 15 267 27 0
As Captain: 5 8 0 182 22.75 0 0 42 3 0
And here's his record from the past 10 Tests:
Runs Pos
18 Sep 1996 Colombo (SSC) 16 4 Caught & Bowled
2nd Test Zimbabwe
7 Mar 1997 Dunedin 3 4 Caught
1st Test New Zealand 0 4 LBW
14 Mar 1997 Hamilton 1 4 Caught Behind
2nd Test New Zealand 5 5 LBW
19 Apr 1997 Colombo (RPS) 23 4 Stumped
1st Test Pakistan 168 3 Caught
26 Apr 1997 Colombo (SSC) 138 4 NOT OUT
2nd Test Pakistan 103 4 NOT OUT
13 Jun 1997 St John's 0 4 Caught
1st Test West Indies 47 4 Caught Behind
20 Jun 1997 Kingstown 35 4 Caught
2nd Test West Indies 78 4 Bowled
2 Aug 1997 Colombo (RPS) 126 4 Caught
1st Test India
9 Aug 1997 Colombo (SSC) 146 4 Caught Behind
2nd Test India 120 4 Caught
19 Nov 1997 Mohali 33 4 Bowled
1st Test India 110 4 NOT OUT
Hmmm ...
5 centuries from his past 6 innings - and his 'last 10 Tests' average
is likely to rise even further, as the averaging window leaves behind
his run of outs leading up to the series against Pakistan. Of
course there's still a big gap between his Home and Away averages.
I'm staying out of this latest round of the "genius vs flat track
bully" debate - instead I'll settle for helping fill the
combatants' gloves with lead shot :-) You can find plenty of
ammunition at:
www.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/howzstat/
sport.iafrica.com/cricket/howzstat.htm
Steve Fleming today supplied the 297th instance of a "pair" in Test cricket - i.e. dismissed for 0 in both innings. However he was only the 12th captain to suffer this humiliation, as the list below shows. J Darling Aus v Eng Sheffield 1902 LJ Tancred SAf v Eng The Oval 1912 VS Hazare Ind v Eng Kanpur 1951-52 HB Cave NZ v WI Dunedin 1955-56 FMM Worrell WI v Aus Melbourne 1960-61 R Benaud Aus v Eng Headingly 1961 Imtiaz Ahmed Pak v Eng Dhaka 1961-62 BS Bedi Ind v Eng Delhi 1976-77 IT Botham Eng v Aus Lord's 1981 AR Border Aus v WI Perth 1992-93 MA Taylor Aus v Pak Karachi 1994-95 SP Fleming NZ v Aus Hobart 1997-98 Of the 11 completed matches corresponding to this table (I won't offer a prediction for the outcome of the match in Hobart), the record for the captains is: Won 1, Lost 8, Drawn 2. The only victor (so far) was the Honorable Joe Darling in 1902. Evidently history is not on the side of the honorable Stephen Fleming ...
Conventional wisdom states that the most successful
limited-over batsmen are those who score quickly,
as opposed to simply sticking around to make
a high score. Of course, those who can do both are
highly prized.
The list below shows strike rates (runs scored
per 100 deliveries faced) for all matches played
during the last 12 months.
Note that the records
for Anwar, Chudasama, Evans, Otieno, Whittall,
Kaluwitharana and Mahanama are not quite complete
because I was unable to locate complete scorecard
data for a few of their matches. However only
1 or 2 matches are affected in each case, so the
integrity of this table is still preserved, IMO.
Rank Name Nat. I R S/R
1 ST Jayasuriya SL 23 1154 113.69
2 Shahid Afridi Pak 34 790 104.35
3 Azhar Mahmood Pak 6 130 97.74
4 SM Pollock RSA 16 389 97.00
5 JN Rhodes RSA 20 522 92.88
6 AJ Hollioake Eng 3 123 91.79
7 L Klusener RSA 14 418 91.66
8 Saeed Anwar Pak 19 706 91.09
9 PL Symcox RSA 8 102 91.07
10 D Chudasama Ken 6 159 90.34
11 DL Houghton Zim 12 220 89.06
12 RR Singh Ind 28 685 87.93
13 AC Gilchrist Aus 9 246 87.54
14 MJ di Venuto Aus 7 228 86.69
15 PA de Silva SL 25 1126 86.54
16 WJ Cronje RSA 20 779 85.88
17 Wasim Akram Pak 17 187 85.77
18 CL Hooper WI 15 497 85.39
19 HDPK Dharmasena SL 12 238 85.00
20 CN Evans Zim 14 237 84.34
21 SR Tendulkar Ind 32 942 83.80
22 SKL de Silva SL 6 161 83.41
23 K Otieno Ken 6 246 82.55
24 NV Knight Eng 9 164 81.59
25 GJ Whittall Zim 22 467 80.37
26 A Ranatunga SL 23 768 80.16
27 ME Waugh Aus 14 729 79.75
28 JR Murray WI 10 320 78.62
29 NJ Astle NZ 16 686 77.68
30 Moin Khan Pak 31 607 77.52
31 BC Lara WI 15 700 77.09
32 SR Waugh Aus 18 528 76.85
33 Ijaz Ahmed Pak 31 1144 76.77
34 RS Kaluwitharana SL 14 103 76.29
35 AD Jadeja Ind 28 867 75.85
36 HH Gibbs RSA 7 153 75.74
37 AJ Stewart Eng 11 410 75.64
38 RS Mahanama SL 22 581 75.25
39 GP Thorpe Eng 9 331 75.05
40 Salim Malik Pak 18 536 74.34
This table will be kept updated on HowzStat after
each limited-over match is played, along with
many other tables detailing superlative achievements
in Test and limited-over cricket.
Check it out on: http://www.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/howzstat/
http://sport.iafrica.com/cricket/howzstat.htm
The concept of a Test cricket championship has been in
vogue in the rarified confines of the ICC and various
newpapers, but it doesn't seem to have gotten much of
an airing in RSC. I'm not sure this is due to apathy
(or even my dodgy newsfeed), since posters still seem to
delight in pushing the claims of their favorite teams
for Tests supremacy.
Anyway, I've glanced over some of the proposed ranking
and championship systems and found them lacking, so
I've decided to stick my neck on the block and reveal
my own proposal for a Championship of Test cricket.
The way it works is like so:
- Over a 5 year period, every Test nation plays each
other at home and away, in series of at least 2 Tests.
- The last Test of these series is a Championship match,
and the result of this match counts towards a ranking.
- Away victories earn 3 points, home victories 2 points,
draws 1 point, losses 0 points.
- At the end of a 5 year cycle, the top two play off
for world champion, with home and away legs of 3 Tests
each. As in soccer, ties are broken on an
"away victories" rule.
- During the next cycle, points won by a team in any
series replace those that were accrued from the same
series in the previous cycle. Thus, you get the
best of both worlds - a climactic finals match and
the continued interest of being able to determine
the best team at any point.
A few notes:
- I have made each series to comprise at least 2 Tests
in order to protect the weaker Test nations from
being snubbed by stronger teams. Every team
will play a minimum of about 6 Tests per year,
while workload for the stronger nations will not
appreciably increase.
- I think it's necessary to make only 1 Test go
into deciding a Championship ranking, since all
Tests will carry equal value. Deciding by series
results is problematic, due to varying lengths.
This was one of the main drawbacks of the Wisden
ranking system, IMO.
- The more established teams will still
be able to maintain their traditional full-length
tours. There is also the benefit of the various
national boards maintaining a degree of autonomy
in their scheduling.
- Normal tour matches can also
go on - warm-up matches, one-day internationals ...
This was one of the drawbacks of a scheme which
proposed that one entire year be devoted to playing
a round-robin of Tests. Furthermore, this system
can easily accommodate the advent of new Test
nations like Bangladesh and Kenya. Also, the problem
of having a 9-team test round-robin carnival in
country over several months is also avoided. I
think such a system would be a horrendously
expensive logistical nightmare, and spectator
interest would only be limited to the home team
(which would receive a massive advantage)
- Occasionally there could be 3 series between two
teams within a 5 year period. No problem there -
the respective boards can decide which 2 series
will feature Championship Tests in them.
- By making the final Test a Championship Test, already
decided rubbers can have fresh interest injected into
them.
- In order to insure against pitch doctoring, boards
would be required to nominate 2 or 3 venues at which
all Championship matches will be played - an ICC
inspector would oversee preparation to ensure that
the pitch's characteristics are not greatly different
than usual.
Anyway, that's my $0.02 - I'd be interested to see what
other people have to say ... maybe there's a better idea
out there.
While Shane Warne was claiming his 300th wicket, I
couldn't help but think that he does bowl an awful lot -
bowling nearly 50 overs per Test is a lot of hard work.
So, I decided to fire up the computer and see which
bowlers through history have carried the greatest
share of their team's bowling burden. Here's a list of
the top 20 below (qualification 10 Tests). The ranking
is based on the amount of deliveries sent down by the
bowler, expressed as a percentage of all deliveries
sent down by his team in all his matches.
T B B %
Team
-----------------------
CTB Turner AUS 17 5179 13830 37.45
HJ Tayfield RSA 37 13568 41673 32.56
WJ O'Reilly AUS 27 10024 32263 31.07
CV Grimmett AUS 37 14513 46941 30.92
SF Barnes ENG 27 7873 25554 30.81
Fazal Mahmood PAK 34 9834 32078 30.66
Saqlain Mushtaq PAK 13 4017 13145 30.56
MHN Walker AUS 34 10094 33881 29.79
T Richardson ENG 14 4498 15301 29.40
AMB Rowan RSA 15 5193 17702 29.34
M Muralitharan SL 34 9738 33213 29.32
FR Foster ENG 11 2447 8379 29.20
AV Bedser ENG 51 15918 54575 29.17
MH Mankad IND 44 14686 51490 28.52
BS Bedi IND 67 21364 74905 28.52
DR O'Sullivan NZ 11 2744 9646 28.45
FR Spofforth AUS 18 4185 14743 28.39
JT Partridge RSA 11 3684 13036 28.26
Mushtaq Ahmed PAK 34 8529 30427 28.03
H Ironmonger AUS 14 4695 16780 27.98
Notes:
1 - Players representing 2 countries weren't analysed.
2 - Best for qualified player for Zimbabwe was PA Strang,
on 24.27%. AG Huckle had 26.64%, but has only played
2 Tests.
Best for West Indies was AL Valentine (ranked 42nd)
with 26.38%. He was the only West Indian to score
higher than 25%
3 - Shane Warne was just outside this table, ranked 21st on
27.84%. In terms of comparable amounts of Tests played
though, Warne is really only behind Alec Bedser and
Bishen Bedi, so perhaps he really is one of the
hardest-worked bowlers in Test history ...
4 - Other players to score above 25% : Abdul Qadir 25.00,
BS Chandrasekhar 25.12, GAR Lock 25.32, RJ Hadlee 25.98,
EAS Prasanna 26.79, DK Lillee 26.91, AR Kumble 27.59
Hello again:
Here's a table showing the batsman who achieved the most
consecutive Test innings without being dismissed for 0.
Interesting to see how several batsmen that could be
considered "mercurial" e.g. Gower, de Silva and Mark
Waugh, figure quite highly on the list.
DI Gower ENG 119 26 Aug 1982 - 26 Dec 1990
AR Border AUS 89 26 Nov 1982 - 24 Dec 1988
PA de Silva SL 75 23 Aug 1984 - 20 Oct 1994
CH Lloyd WI 74 3 Jun 1976 - 9 Nov 1984
KF Barrington ENG 73 29 Dec 1962 - 28 Mar 1968
GM Turner NZ 72 27 Feb 1969 - retired
HW Taylor RSA 72 27 May 1912 - 12 Feb 1932
KD Walters AUS 68 12 Dec 1969 - 1 Jan 1977
G Boycott ENG 67 21 Aug 1969 - 6 Jan 1979
WR Hammond ENG 67 17 Aug 1929 - 4 Dec 1936
HA Gomes WI 66 31 Mar 1978 - 29 Mar 1985
ME Waugh AUS 63 23 Jan 1993 - 26 Dec 1996
APE Knott ENG 62 20 Jun 1974 - retired
GR Marsh AUS 62 18 Sep 1986 - 25 Jan 1991
AJ Stewart ENG 60 17 Mar 1994 - ?
GA Gooch ENG 60 21 Jun 1990 - 16 Jun 1994
RB Richardson WI 60 11 Dec 1987 - 25 Jul 1991
GA Hick ENG 59 19 Feb 1993 - ?
AJ Lamb ENG 58 2 Jan 1983 - 21 Aug 1986
MA Taylor AUS 58 23 Mar 1991 - 28 Sep 1994
Best for other countries:
IND - ED Solkar 47 15 Oct 1969 - retired
PR Umrigar 47 16 Oct 1952 - 18 Jun 1959
PAK - Majid Khan 53 6 Jan 1973 - 24 Mar 1979
ZIM - DL Houghton 36 18 Oct 1992 - ?