Lowest scores in ODIs and related stuff

Zimbabwe’s 54 all out would have had cricket’s number-men looking for records of lowest scores in ODIs. This was not the lowest score in ODIs or even the lowest score by Zimbabwe in ODIs.

Tables are for data as on 28/02/2017

Here is a list of lowest ODI scores (below 60):

It can be seen that this is the lowest total against an Associate team.

Live link for ODI scores of 80 and below: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283987.html

Scorecard for the recent match, which came in a Duckworth-Lewis chase:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/1079250.html

The record for the lowest ODI score is 35, also set by Zimbabwe in 2004:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64890.html

Note that Sri Lanka’s innings of 9.2 overs and 39 minutes are probably records for a winning side in an ODI.

Indian fans would remember their team’s 54 as well, which was probably India’s most humiliating ODI defeat:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65900.html

Humiliating particularly because one player (Jayasuriya) scored over 3 times India’s total. It was the heaviest ODI defeat at that time, though it has since been surpassed several times. India has also inflicted similar defeats on Hong Kong and Bermuda. Afghanistan has also been on the receiving end (against Australia in 2015).

ODI victory margins of 225 runs and above:

Live link for all wins by 180 or more runs: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283902.html

Steve O’Keefe’s records

Here are some of the unusual statistical achievements of Steve O’Keefe . He and Lall Singh may be the only Test players born in Malaysia. He does not seem to be related to Kerry O’Keeffe  who played 24 Tests in the 1970s. Anyway their names are spelt differently.

This was Steve’s 5th Test, and his best innings analysis up to this Test was 3-53.

He now has the best match figures for Australia vs India:

The previous best was Alan Davidson’s 12-124 in 1959-60; unfortunately for Australia that was also Jasu Patel’s match.

His innings bowling is, however, not very near the top performances in Aus-Ind matches:

The unfortunate JJ Krejza continues to hold the record of 8-215 which came on his debut. He only played one Test after that.

Finally, one curiosity is that his 6-35 in each innings is the best performance where the two innings are identical. The previous “record” was held by India’s BS Chandrashekhar with two 6-52s against Australia in 1977-78. This topic is covered in more depth here (in this post from 2016):

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/same-bowling-figures-in-both-innings/

 

Bowling fails in T20I matches

After looking at batting fails in three formats of the game, we turn our attention to bowling fails. We start with T20I matches. There are many bowlers who have failed to take wickets in their careers.The data is correct as on 10-02-2017

First we look at the most runs conceded without taking a wicket in their career.

AR Nurse of WI has a good lead over his better-known compatriot N Deonarine.

India has one representative in P Awana here.

Next we look at the most balls bowled without taking a wicket:

AR Nurse and Deonarine again head the list. P Awana and several others join from the above list.

We now look at the most innings bowled without taking a wicket:

Deonarine and Nurse have both bowled in 4 innings without taking a wicket. GC Smith also appears here.

Finally, we look at the most matches played without taking a wicket:

The leaders here are mainly wicketkeepers who hardly bowled, though there are others like Ross Taylor and Eoin Morgan who were non-keepers who never bowled. Umar Akmal holds the record for the most matches without taking a wicket, and the most matches without bowling.

We finally look at another list of the most matches played by non-keepers without taking a wicket:

Here we have some well-known batsmen starting with Ross Taylor and Eoin Morgan. Taylor holds the record for the most matches without taking a wicket, and the most matches without bowling. Umar Akmal played 62 of his 82 matches as a non-keeper.

In all the above tables you can see the economy rate of these unfortunate bowlers. Among those who bowled 30 or more balls, the jovial and weighty Dwayne Leverock has the best economy rate of 5.40.

 

A yuge collection of PJs

It is alleged that President Trump has invented words like “bigly” and “yuge”. This is not really true. More about “bigly” here:

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2017/01/28/when-trump-meets-bolmondoley/

Now “yuge” is not his invention either. It is more of an accent variation which many were not familiar with:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/71417/why-do-some-people-say-yuge-instead-huge

And finally a yuge collection of supposedly famous quotes from US presidents. This goes all the way back to George Washington, including the more obscure Presidents such as James K. Polk and Rutherford B. Hayes.

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/presquotes1.html

There are long lists devoted to some individuals such as Vice-President Dan Quayle:

http://www.jokes2go.com/lists/list77.html

And Dubya:

http://www.jokes4us.com/celebrityjokes/georgebushjokes/onelinersjokes.html

Batting fails in Test matches

We have already looked at those who failed to score a run in their T20I and ODI careers. Now we turn to Tests.

Data correct as of 5 Feb 2017. The match involving the ICC XI is not counted.

Most matches without scoring a run (2 or more):

3 players did not score a run in 3 Tests-though CF Root did not get a chance to bat in any of his 3 matches. 7 others did not score a run in 2 Tests, of whom CM Willoughby did not get a chance to bat.

Most innings without scoring a run (2 or more):

Only AW Mold played 3 innings without scoring a run, while many others played 2 innings.

It would be nice to identify those who went through their Test careers without facing a ball. But scorecards usually did not always note the number of balls. Cricinfo’s database is supposedly complete from the 2000s onwards.

If you ask Statsguru who played in the most Tests without facing a ball, the answer will be the Pakistani keeper Imtiaz Ahmed, who played 41 Tests and scored over 2000 runs. But scorecards in the database do not have the number of balls for any of his innings. Anyway, we see what we can do with data after 2000.

Most matches played (after 1 Jan 2000) for no balls faced

In these cases they never got to bat.

So we now look at

Most innings played (after 1 Jan 2000) for no balls faced:

This means that everyone who played at least one innings since 2000 has faced at least one ball. There were temporary aberrations such as the career of Imran Khan junior who did not face a ball in his first 4 Tests (in which he batted in only one innings), though he has subsequently batted and even scored some runs. See his batting career.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/316363.html?class=1;template=results;type=batting;view=innings

Finally we look at those who

Never batted in an innings in their Test career:

Only 19 such cases, headed by the long-forgotten CF Root, and followed by the more recent CM Willoughby who did not go to bat in their careers of 3 and 2 Tests respectively. We may as well learn more about them:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/19471.html

Fred Root, who took 8 wickets in his 3 Tests again Australia in 1926, was not that bad a batsman as he averaged almost 15 in first-class cricket.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/47903.html

Charl Willoughby took only 1 wicket in his 2 Tests in 2003. His FC batting average was just over 6.

Then there are numerous others who did not bat in their only Tests. There is, of course, the famous JCW MacBryan who (uniquely in Tests) did not bat, bowl or take a catch in his only Test (in which his opponents batted for 66 overs and his team did not bat): http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62542.html

He had a reasonable first-class career:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/16858.html

He was prominent enough in domestic cricket to be one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year in 1925. He also won an Olympic gold medal, being part of Britain’s hockey team in 1920.

Another interesting case is that of V.Rajindernath who did not bat (but took 4 stumpings) in his only Test.

Batting fails in ODI cricket

After covering batting fails in T20I cricket, we proceed to ODI cricket.

Data is up to 3 Feb 2017. Matches involving the ICC XI, Asia XI and Africa XI are not counted.

We start with those who never scored a run in ODI cricket.

Most matches (4 and more):

Jaspreet Bumrah, the T20I leader, leads here again followed by D. Mohammed and JD Unadkat. Unadkat is one of several who never got an opportunity to bat.

Next we take up those who played in the most innings without scoring a run.

Most innings (2 and more):

Here we have 3 cases of players who got to bat in 3 innings and did not score from the balls they faced. Radford and Kabir had brief Test careers. Bumrah faced the least balls here (1) and was dismissed by that ball.

We now look closer at those who never got to face a ball in ODIs.

Most matches (3 and more):

Unadkat has played in the most matches (7) without ever going to bat. He is followed by a more recent Indian player BB Sran with 6. This list included Lance Gibbs and two lesser-known Test players who played one innings but did not face a ball.

Finally we look at those who played the most innings without facing a ball:

The record is one innings, achieved by these:

Of these, AGR Loudon was run out as a non-striker and was dismissed without facing a ball. And Aminul Islam (jnr) scored one run off zero balls. Presumably he scored off a no ball, though it is difficult to check this as the commentary of 1999 is not available.

Batting fails in T20I matches

You may think that this is about England losing 8 wickets for 8 runs in the third match. That has been covered enough elsewhere. Here we note some remarkable figures about players who have played the most matches and innings without scoring a single run, and others who have gone a step better and did not get to face a single ball while batting. These figures are as on 2 Feb 2017.

The unlikely hero here is India’s new-found death bowler Jasprit Bumrah, apparently a Sikh who was born and brought up in Ahmedabad. We know about his bowling. Now see the records he has set while batting.

Most matches played without scoring a run (5 or more):

Bumrah stands at the peak with 24 T20Is played without scoring a single run, twice that of his nearest competitors Santokie and Sodhi. He did bat in 4 innings, faced 2 balls and was dismissed once. As you can see, there are others who have played up to 9 matches without being called on the bat. The Australian Test player Stuart Clark played 9 matches without going in to bat.Then come Fareed Ahmed and the better known Josh Hazlewood in 7 matches. The latest hero YS Chahal has not had to bat in his 6 matches.

Now we look at

Most innings played without scoring a run (2 or more):

Bumrah leads here as well, but interestingly a prominent Test batsman MS Sinclair also appears here. The end of his career seemed to coincide with the increase in the frequency of T20Is which began in 2005.Ruchira Perera also played a few Tests as an all-rounder. Note that he played 2 innings without facing a ball.

Next, we look at those who never got to face a ball in T20Is.

Most matches played without facing a ball (5 or more):

Santokie and Sodhi head this list. Next comes A. Mishra who did get dismissed without facing a ball, with the dreaded diamond duck which usually strikes non-strikers who are run out. Then we note that Stuart Clark heads the list of those who never went out to bat.

The first four in this list have Indian connections-even Stuart Clark, whose parents were Anglo-Indians.

Finally, we look at the most innings played without facing a ball. It is a short list.

Most innings played without facing a ball (1 or more):

The aforementioned Ruchira Perera heads this list, playing two innings without facing a ball. Note that AA Noffke, like Amit Misra, also got a diamond duck.

ODIs and Test matches deserve separate posts.