Afghanistan-the first 5 Tests

Afghanistan has now played 6 Tests, neatly divided into 3 losses and 3 wins.

Here we compare the performances in the first 5 Tests for all teams (except Ireland who have played only 3 Tests).

(1 point for a win, 0.5 for a draw)

We see that Australia and England have the best performance in their first 5 Tests, followed by Afghanistan, New Zealand and Pakistan.

Australia is the only team to win their first Test, and Zimbabwe the only one to draw their first Test. Zimbabwe in fact drew their first 2 Tests.

Bangladesh and South Africa lost their first 5 Tests in a row.

We now look at individual performances by Afghan players in the 6 Tests played so far.

Most runs (100 and more):

Note the consistency of Asghar Afghan and Rahmat Shah who each made four 50+ scores.

Highest scores (75 and above):

While H Shahidi has the only double century here, others have been more consistent.

Bowling (5 or more wickets overall):

Rashid Khan has more than twice the next (Amir Hamza)

Innings bowling (4 or more wickets):

Note the dominance of Rashid Khan here. He and Amir Hamza are the only ones to have taken 4wi. Hamza’s 5-74 against WI was on debut.

Match bowling (5 or more wickets):

The top three places are by Rashid Khan, and the next two by Amir Hamza. He took 6-79 on debut.

Most dismissals (4 or more):

While wicketkeeper A Zazai has 10 dismissals, I Zadran has the most (6) by a non-keeper.

All-round overall:

Rashid Khan is the only one who can be called an all-rounder.

All-round match (fifty and 5wi):

Here, too, the only standout performer is Rashid Khan. He was captaining his side, and scored a fifty and took over 10 wickets. The only other Test captains who did this are Imran Khan (v Ind 1982-83) and AR Border (v WI 1988-89).

Afghanistan’s performance so far

Afghanistan has won 2 and lost 2 of its first 4 Tests. This makes it the best performer along with Australia and England:

(Here we have taken 1.0 for a win and 0.5 for a draw).

Now we look at individual performances:

Most runs (100 and above):

Rahmat Shah is the only one with a century. He and Asghar Afghan each have three fifties.

Highest innings (50 and above):

Ibrahim Zadran and Ihsanullah made fifties on debut.

Most wickets (5 and above):

Rashid Khan is the only one with a 10wm, and he also has the most 5wis (3).

Best innings bowling (3wi and above):

The two best figures are by Rashid Khan in the course of his 11-for. He also scored a fifty.

Amir Hamza took 5-74 on debut.

Best match bowling:

Apart for Rashid Khan’s dominance, there is Amir Hamza’s 6-wicket haul on debut.

Most dismissals (4 and above):

Note that Ibrahim Zadran and Ihsanullah have the most by non-keepers.

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

Once again Rashid Khan stands alone. In fact he has the rare double of a fifty and 10wm, which has happened only 29 times in all Tests.

 

 

Best performance in the first 4 Tests

Before the Afghanistan-WI Test got under way, there was some speculation about Afghanistan winning and thus winning 3 of their first 4 Tests. No other team had done this.

This did not happen, but is interesting to see how all Test teams performed in their first 4 Tests. Afghanistan did have a creditable start with LWWL (two wins), which matches the record of Australia and England.

Ireland is not listed here as they have only played 3 Tests.

Let us take 1 point for a win and 0.5 for a draw:

Afghanistan: LWWL: 2

Australia: WLWL: 2

Bangladesh: LLLL : 0

England: LWLW : 2

India: LLDL : 0.5

New Zealand : LDDD : 1.5

Pakistan: LWLD : 1.5

Sri Lanka : LLDL : 0.5

South Africa : LLLL: 0

West Indies : LLLD : 0.5

Zimbabwe : DDLL : 1

So the approximate ranking is:

Note that Afghanistan, Australia and England had the best start while Bangladesh and South Africa had the worst.

Australia and Zimbabwe are the only teams which did NOT lose their first Test.

Zimbabwe is the only team which did NOT see defeat in their first 2 Tests.

India and Sri Lanka have identical sequences, as do Bangladesh and South Africa.

Note this study of the first 25 Tests (and 25 ODIs):

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2015/07/16/performance-in-the-first-25-tests-and-odis/

 

 

 

Afghanistan and Ireland in Tests-2

More highlights from their short Test history:

Fielding:

Most dismissals (3 and above):

The most by a non-keeper is 4 by Stirling.

Most innings dismissals (3 and above):

Most match dismissals (3 and above):

Wilson has the most dismissals here, while the best by non-keepers are 3 by Strling and I. Zadran.

All-round performances:

Overall (see criteria):

These two players have made an encouraging start.

Match performance (50 and 5wi):

Only one instance here, but it is the relatively rare combination of a fifty and 10 wickets. This has been achieved 29 times in all Tests.

Rashid is only the third Test caption to achieve this:

He is in august company, though it may be a while before he becomes PM of his country.

 

Afghanistan and Ireland in Tests-1

Afghanistan and Ireland have each played 3 Tests, including one between themselves. Here is the record of these matches:

Afghanistan have made rapid progress, starting with a two-day defeat in their first Test followed by two wins, the latest against the higher-rated Bangladesh. Ireland have lost all three Tests, putting up a good fight in the first two but abjectly collapsing to 38 all out in the third. They did however dismiss England for 85 in that Test.

We now look at individual performances, starting with

Batting:

Most runs (100 and above):

Rahmat Shah, KJ O’Brien and Asghar Afghan (former Stanikzai) have the most runs. The only centuries are by Rahmat and O’Brien, the latter on debut. Rahmat and Asghar have 3 scores of 50+.

At the other end of the scale, Murtagh became the first No 11 batsman in any Test to score 25+ in each innings during Ireland’s second Test.

Highest innings (75 and above):

Bowling:

Most wickets (8 and above):

Rashid Khan has by far the best total here. He has 3 fivers and the only tenner here. Murtagh is the only other with a fiver.

Best innings bowling (4wi or more):

Note Rashid’s two fivers in the same match, while Murtagh’s 2018 figure is the best on debut from either side. Murtagh also became the first Irish player to appear on the Lord’s honours board.

Best match bowling (6wi and above):

Rashid Khan has the two best performances here.

To be continued

 

 

A tale of two hat-tricks

Here is a list of all hat-tricks in World Cup matches, as on June 22 2019:

Live link: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/1190325.html

The first as well as the most recent instances were by Indian bowlers.

The first one was by a bowler who is not always given the credit he deserved. He is unfortunately remembered more for a last-ball six by Javed Miandad in a crucial match.

It may not be remembered that he is still the only Indian bowler to take a 10-for in a Test in England. And that he is one of the few Indian tailenders who scored an ODI century when tried in the middle order.

See the overview:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/33949.html

And his World Cup hat-trick in 1987. No one else had taken a hat-trick in the World Cup until then in matches starting from 1975.

See the scorecard:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8039/scorecard/65114/india-vs-new-zealand-24th-match-reliance-world-cup-1987-88

That match on Oct 31, 1987 was critical, as it was India’s last match in the group and needed to defeat New Zealand by a large margin to ensure that they topped the group. If they came second, they would have to face Pakistan in the semi-final (which, by prior agreement, would have been held in Pakistan if the two teams were to meet).

New Zealand won the toss and batted first. They made steady and unspectacular progress until they reached 182/5. One of their key batsmen Ken Rutherford was batting along with pinch-hitter Martin Snedden. Chetan Sharma had not taken a wicket at that stage.

He then had Rutherford bowled, followed by bowling No 8 Ian Smith (a Test centurion) and No 9 batsman Ewan Chatfield (capable of stubborn batting). This would be one of the relatively rare all-bowled hat-tricks in international cricket.

From 182/8, they got up to 221/9 in 50 overs.

This is still the only World Cup hat-trick where all three dismissals were bowled.

The Indian team knew the required run rate. Sunil Gavaskar had not been much of a success as an ODI batsman, but seized the occasion to score his only ODI century, an unbeaten 103. Srikkanth (75) and Azharuddin (41*) also ensured that India met the required run rate. Gavaskar and Sharma shared the Man of the Match award.

So it was India vs England at Bombay, and Pakistan vs Australia at Lahore. We all know how THAT turned out. So there was an Ashes final rather than a South Asian final at Calcutta, where Border’s unheralded team won by a narrow margin.

Hat-tricks in World Cup matches remained scarce, with no instance in 1992 and 1996. The next instance was by Saqlain Mushtaq in a Super Six match against Zimbabwe in 1999.

Forward to 2019. Mohammad Shami had made a good beginning to his Test career (with a 9-wicket haul against an admittedly weak WI team) but was generally felt to have performed below expectations. He did score a fifty in a Test batting at no 11. Injuries and domestic issues played their role.

There was even some kind of fudging in his records as his birthplace was initially shown to be in Jonagar in Bengal. No such town can be found in the map. Later his birthplace was mysteriously changed to Amroha (near Moradabad in UP) which is generally considered to be correct.

From the table in the beginning, we see that hat-tricks in the World Cup had become more common since 1999, with Malinga going a step beyond with 4 in 4. That is the only such dismissal in ODIs (or Tests). Malinga also took two regular hat-tricks later.

As I write this on June 23, the result of the 2019 World Cup is unknown. The only thing we know definitely is that Afghanistan (0 points in 6 matches) cannot qualify.

Points table after matches on June 22, 2019:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8039/scorecard/1144510/afghanistan-vs-india-28th-match-icc-cricket-world-cup-2019

In this match India batted below par and finished with 224/8, primarily due to lower-order failures. Shami’s dismissal was typical as he scored 1 off 2 balls.

Some time later the unthinkable seemed likely as Afghanistan made good progress towards the modest target. Shami had earlier taken the first wicket of H Zazai. With an over left, Afg was 209/7 with Nabi and Ikram going strong.

The upsets by Bangladesh against WI and Sri Lanka against England were fresh in viewer’s minds.

16 in the last over was difficult but not impossible (as Dinesh Karthik would testify). With the 3rd ball, Shami had Nabi caught by Pandya for 52 (213/8). 12 to get off 3 balls with 2 wickets in hand.

Surely that was the end for Afghanistan’s hopes? Shami made sure of that by bowling No 10 (Aftab 49.4) and No 11 (Mujeeb, 49.5) and taking India’s second hat-trick in the World Cup, over 31 years after the first. He finished with 4-40.

Also see this: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/27035426/mohammed-shami-reveals-ms-dhoni-advice-world-cup-hat-trick-ball

However, it was JJ Bumrah (2-39) who was Man of the Match as his wickets were probably more critical.

 

High scores at No 11

On the opening day of the first Afghanistan – Ireland Test at the new Test venue Dehradun, Ireland’s last pair of GH Dockrell and TJ Murtagh took Ireland from 85/9 to 172. They contributed 39 (No 8) and 54* (No 11) respectively.

First we look at :

High Scores at No 11:

Only 19 such instances. Murtagh is 11th in this list.

He also figures in this list in Cricinfo’s records section:

When No 11 was top scorer of the innings:

There have been only 11 such instances, 6 of them after 2000.

Murtagh has the third highest score here, after Agar and Vogler.

The partnership which lasted from 85/9 to 172 is one of the few instances where a team’s score was doubled after the 9th wicket fell.

There are only 5 such instances, and 4 of them were after 2010. More about this later.

We also add a table of the Highest 10th-wicket partnerships (85 and above):

Dockrell and Murtagh just manage to enter here.

The highest partnership involving No 10 and 11 appears to be the 128 by Higgs (63) and Snow (59*) in 1966.

Previous encounters between Afghanistan and India

Afghanistan’s first Test gets under way at Bengaluru on Jun 14. We look at past encounters between the teams in limited overs cricket.

There is not much to write about. The teams have met only in one ODI and two T20Is and India have won all of them.

The ODI was in the course of the 2014 Asia Cup. India won by 8 wickets.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8532/scorecard/710307/afghanistan-vs-india-9th-match-asia-cup-2013-14/

The two T20Is were in the World T20I Championships in 2010 and 2012. India won by 7 wickets and by 23 runs.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8604/scorecard/412679/afghanistan-vs-india-3rd-match,-group-c-world-t20-2010/

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8604/scorecard/533274/afghanistan-vs-india-3rd-match,-group-a-world-t20-2012-13/

A sobering thought for Afghanistan: Among the other 11 Test teams, only Australia have won their first Test and only Zimbabwe drew their first Test. The other 9 all lost their maiden Test efforts.

The previous Test entrant Ireland had one previous Test player in Boyd Rankin. Afghanistan has none. But as in the case of Ireland, most of the team have long experience in ODIs and T20Is.

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