Review of Zimbabwe-West Indies Tests-Feb 2023

The recent Test series was won by the West Indies 1-0 with one draw.

A total of 12 Tests have been played between these teams. West Indies leas 8-0 with 4 draws.

In The West Indies, the home team leads 4-0. In Zimbabwe, the west Indies lead 4-0 with 4 draws.

We now look at individual records, starting with Batting:

Most runs (750 or more):

Brathwaite has the most runs (335) among current players.

Gayle and H Masakadza have the most centuries (2) R Sarwan has the most 50+ scores (3).

Highest innings (125 or more):

In this series, T Chanderpaul made the highest score (207*) in matches between these teams, surpassing Lara’s 191 in 2003. Brathwaite made 182. GS Ballance scored a century on debut for Zimbabwe after earlier scoring 4 centuries for England.

Now for Bowling:

Most wickets (12 or more):

Newcomer G Motie is in third place with 19 wickets.

S Shilligford has the most 5wis (3)

Best innings bowling (including all 5wi or more):

G Motie has the best and third-best innings figures.

Best match bowling (for West Indies against all teams, 11wm or better):

Motie’s 13-99 is the third best match bowling for the West Indies. It is also the best for a West Indian spinner, surpassing the 11-152 by Ramadhin in 1950.

Best match bowling (West Indies and Zimbabwe), 8wm or better:

G Motie’s 13-99 is the best for matches between these teams, surpassing S Shillingford’s 10-93 in 2013.

Most dismissals (8 or more):

RD Jacobs has the most dismissals (16). Current player J da Silva is in third place with 10.

Most innings dismissals (4 or more):

Current player CR Ervine has the most catches by a fielder (4)

Most match dismissals (4 or more):

Current keeper has the most match dismissals (6). K Powell has the most by a fielder (5).

All-round performance (50+ and 5+wi in a match):

Note B Mavuta’s performance in this series.

Highlights of the Nagpur Test (2023)

The first Test between India and Australia was concluded well before the close of the 3rd day. As you may guess, some records for low totals and highest defeats were set. There were also near-records in bowling figures on debut.

Let us first look at margins of defeat:

Worst innings defeats against India:

The result at Nagpur is not near the top. From the above list we see that the margin of an innings and 132 runs is the 3rd

worst by Australia vs India, after an innings and 219 (Kolkata, 1998), and 135 (Hyderabad, 2013).

Next we see the lowest team scores against India:

Australia’s 91 is not their lowest total against India. That was 83 at Melbourne in 1981 (which was the first time that any team was dismissed under 100 against India). But it is the lowest total for Australia in India, lowering the record of 93 at Mumbai in 2004.

There was some cheer for Australia in Todd Murphy’s 7-124 on debut. It is not quite a record for an Australian on debut against India:

Best innings bowling against India on Test debut:

It is the 5th highest haul, and the second highest by an Australian after JJ Krejza’s 8-215 in 2008. That Test was also at Nagpur and also ended in defeat (by 172 runs) for Australia. Krejza was, like Murphy, an off-spinner.

The two Chanderpauls

Shivnarine Chanderpaul made his Test debut in 1994. His son Tagenarine followed in late 2022.

Shivnarine became one of the leading Test batsmen for the West Indies for 20-odd years. So there was much anticipation when his son made his Test debut.

His scores in his first three Tests were 51 &45, 47 &17 and 207* & 15. That is 382 runs at 76.40

Compare this with Shivnarine’s first 3 Tests: 62, 19 & 50, 77 & 5 which is 213 runs at 42.60

Also, we note that Junior scored a double century in his 3rd Test about 60 days after his debut.

In contrast, Senior scored his first century in his 19th Test 3 years after his debut. The first of his two double centuries came in his 79th Test after 11 years. Another example of how the next generation did things in a hurry.

See: https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/shivnarine-chanderpaul-51469

and https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/tagenarine-chanderpaul-601968

Batting on all 5 days of a Test

This is one of the obscure records which cannot be found through Statsguru. It is however listed in the statistics section of Cricinfo. This is how it stands on the evening of Feb 7, the 4th day of the Zim-WI Test at Bulawayo:

Now KC Brathwaite and T Chanderpaul have batted on all 4 days so far, and will resume batting on the 5th morning. So they will also be added to this list. This will be the first occasion when two batsmen have batted together on all 5 days of a test.

India is well represented here by Jaisimha, Shastri and Pujara.

Other notes: Gary Ballance scored a century on debut for Zimbabwe. He had earlier scored 4 centuries for England. He joins Kepler Wessels in scoring centuries for two countries.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/gary-ballance-232438

Also see:https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283699.html

for a full list of those who played Tests for two countries.

Update: Brathwaite and Chanderpaul were duly added to the list above:

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283161.html

Review of India-New Zealand T20Is-January 2023

India continued its run of successes in white-ball cricket at home, winning the series 2-1 after losing the first match.

A total of 25 T20Is have been played between these teams.

India leads 12-10 with 3 ties.

In India, India leads 7-4

In NZ, India leads 5-4 with 3 ties

On neutral grounds, India trail 0-2. Both these losses came in World Cup matches.

Looking at individual performances, starting with Batting:

Most runs (250 or more):

Headed by RG Sharma with C Munro some distance behind Munro. S Gill and SA Yadav are the only other ones with centuries. RG Sharma has the most fifties (six).

Highest innings (75 or more):

S Gill now has the highest score in this series, overtaking Yadav’s 111* a short time ago. Munro’s 109* is the best for NZ.

Highest strike rates (minimum 250 balls faced):

This time Munro is ahead of RG Sharma.

Now for Bowling:

Most wickets (8 or more):

New Zealand bowlers dominate this list, starting with Sodhi (25) and Southee (20). The most for India is Bumrah’s 12.

Best innings bowling (including all 4wi or more):

DJ Hooda, not a frontline bowler, has the best innings figures followed by Santner and Pandya.

Most dismissals (8 or more):

Southee has the most dismissals (13). The most by a keeper is 9 by Dhoni.

Most innings dismissals: Several players have made 3 dismissals in an innings.

All-round match performance (20 runs and 2 wickets):

HH Pandya appears to have the best match performance, which came in India’s win in the final T20I.

Records by India and Shubman Gill

India won the T20I series against New Zealand 2-1, winning the decider in Ahmedabad by 168 runs. This is not a record for all T20Is, but it is a record for T20Is between full members.

The previous record for matches between full members was 143 runs, which has occurred twice: India vs Ireland in June 2018 and Pakistan vs West Indies in April 2018.

Looking at individual scores:

We see that Shubman Gill’s 126* is the highest T20I score for India. It surpasses V Kohli’s 122* vs Afghanistan in Sep 2022.