Test statistics for 2018-2

Now for bowling:

Most wickets in 2018 (25 or more):

JJ Bumrah took 48 wickets in the calendar year of his debut, coming 3rd after Alderman (54 in 1981) and Ambrose (49 in 1988). The previous record for India was 40 by Doshi in 1979. A Dananjaya took 27 wickets in his debut calendar year.

The most fivers were 4 by Taijul and Miraz of Bangladesh and Holder of the West Indies. No one took more than one tenner.

Best innings bowling (including all instances of 6wi and above):

The best effort by Maharaj was in a losing cause.

Best match bowling (including all instances of 9wm and above):

Maharaj also figures here with a 12-wicket haul when his side lost. Yasir Shah’s 14-wicket haul was the best in the UAE. He and Imran Khan are the only Pakistani bowlers to have taken 14 wickets in a match.

Bowling averages (Minimum 2000 balls, all instances):

Bumrah has the best average and strike rate, while Anderson has the best economy.

Fielding:

Most dismissals (15 or more):

de Kock and Paine lead, although Dickwella has the most stumpings. Kusal Mendis has the most catches by a non-keeper.

Most innings dismissals (5 or more):

Newcomer Pant is the only one with 6 dismissals. SPD Smith has the most catches by a non-fielder, making him one of several to share this record in all Tests. Saha took 5 catches in each innings of a match.

Most match dismissals (6 or more):

Pant with 11 dismissals shared the world record with Russell and de Villiers. Earlier in the year Saha had an Indian record with 10 dismissals.

The most by a non-keeper was 7 by Rahul, in the only Test which India won on that series. Smith made 6 catches before being disgraced.

Dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.500):

de Kock and Paine at the top, leading the others by a large margin. Kusal Mendis has the best by a non-keeper.

All-round performance:

Overall (see criteria in table):

Not a good year for all-rounders, as Cummins is the only one to make the cut with these relatively modest standards.

Match (50 and 5wi):

More good performances, with Cummins’ last-gasp performance at the end. Holder also has two entries here.

 

Those who missed the bus at Lord’s (Revised in Aug 2018)

The honors board at Lord’s are well known-anyone who scores a century or takes a fiver or a tenner gets his name on them, even if it is a neutral Test not involving England. If you need to brush up, see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord%27s_honours_boards

and for Indian players featured there, full details are here:

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2016/07/24/indian-cricketers-on-the-lords-honours-boards/

However, note this extract from the Wikipedia article:

“A number of very distinguished players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Curtly Ambrose and Brian Lara are not named on the honours boards.”

It may be recalled that there was much heartbreak when Sachin failed to score a century in 2011, which was then generally understood to be his last Test there.

We now look at the aspect of prominent players failing to reach a board-worthy performance at Lord’s despite several opportunities. And there are some visitors who simply did not get to play enough at Lord’s.

Many English players whose career lasted about 5 years would have played 10+ Tests at Lord’s. Visiting players with long careers usually manage 4 Tests, unless they miss one Test or series. So we begin by identifying those who batted in at least 8 innings there. A further stipulation is that their batting position is 1 to 8, to eliminate tailenders without much batting ability.

So we have this for Most innings/matches at Lord’s without a century:

Atherton, Thorpe and Gatting played the most innings there without a century-particularly odd as Gatting played for Middlesex. Atherton did score 99 there and has the most fifties (7).

Visitors are led by Gavaskar and Tendulkar, followed by Azhar Ali,  Faulkner, AW Nourse, Ponting and R Taylor. Lara played in only 3 Tests and 6 innings. The highest averages here are by Dexter (51.62) and FS Jackson (47.71).

Apart from Atherton’s 99, there are 90s by TE Bailey, JM Parks and FS Jackson.

Most innings/matches at Lord’s without a fifty:

While most of the batsmen here scored at least one fifty, some did not. They include Ramprakash (HS 40 in 13 innings), bowling all-rounder Emburey, Brearley, wicketkeeper Downton, Tendulkar, Faulkner and Ponting. The lowest average here is 10.38 by Ramprakash who was a specialist batsman, unlike some of the others. Then comes all-rounder Pringle (16.11) and another famous batsman Ponting (16.87). Tendulkar at least got into the 20s.

Next, we take up bowlers who bowled at least 1000 balls (while bowling at no 1 to 5) and never took a five-for:

Hoggard has the most Tests (11) and innings (20) here with a best of 4-27. However Edmonds has the best bowling figures of 4-6 followed by Laker with 4-13, while Hoggard has the most wickets (37).

Titmus is the only one who did not even take a 3-for.

Lillee (17 wkts), Kumble and Gibbs are the only visitors here.

Ambrose and Warne did not bowl enough balls here.

The best bowling average here is Laker’s 24.43, followed by Wardle’s 26.78.

And one gets similar results if we look for those who made the same effort and never took a ten-for:

Here, Anderson has the most wickets (110) with a best of 9-43. He may, of course, play a few more Tests at Lord’s. He also has the most 5-fors (7). CM Old has 9-88. Oddly enough Anderson has more than twice the wickets of the next bowler Willis with 47. Bedi, Kapil and Kumble represent India. The best bowling average is by Willis with 18.76 followed by Illingworth with 19.85.

Sir Richard Hadlee has the most wickets by a visitor (26).