T20Is in 2020-Part 1 (Teams)

Covid prevented cricket for much of the year, though some T20Is were played. Here we have a summary of all T20Is in the calendar year 2020.

A total of 36 teams played T20Is during 2020. But would a table like this have much meaning? Many of the teams listed here have cricketing standards much lower than the “regular” teams who have been playing Tests and ODIs over the decades. (And the vast majority of the players in these teams are those who grew up elsewhere, mainly from South Asia with a few from England and Australia).

The Playfair Cricket Annual recognizes the distortion which the “big bang” has caused, and have listed records “only for matches where at least one of the teams has played ODIs at some time.”

I am going a step further and am listing records only for matches between teams which have played ODIs.

There are 24 such teams after you remove the ICC World XI, Asia XI, Africa XI and the vanished East Africa. We then find that only 14 of them managed to play T20Is during this period.

We then repeat the above table for these 14 teams:

This seems to show that India is the best-performing team here, ahead of England and Pakistan.

Next I will take up individual performances in matches between these 14 teams in 2020.

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2021/01/09/t20is-in-2020-part-2-individuals/

Low scores in international cricket

Opening the gates of T20Is to virtually all countries who play a bit of cricket has had predictable results, particularly in women’s cricket:

These lists of lowest totals are correct on Dec 8, 2019:

Women’s T20Is:

Note the single-digit and near single-digit scores by Mali and the Maldives in the past few months. The men’s T20I teams have fared slightly better:

Men’s T20Is:

Note that these sub-50 scores include entries from major teams such as the West Indies.

Are things any better with ODIs and Tests, which still have considerable entry barriers? :

Women’s ODIs:

Well-established women’s teams have had their share of low scores.

There are even some sub-50 scores in men’s ODIs, mainly from minnow teams who were out of their depths in World Cup matches:

Men’s ODIs:

Take the cases of Canada (twice) and Namibia above in World Cup matches.

For comparison, we look at Test matches. There have been very limited Tests in women’s cricket:

Women’s Tests:

Mainly from the earlier days. Both England and Australia recorded their lowest scores in the same Test in 1958.

Men’s Tests:

While the majority of these low scores are from the times when South Africa were the whipping boys, there are some from the past few years (Ireland’s 38 in 2019, Bangladesh’s 43 in 2018). Not to forget Australia’s 47 in 2011, which needed Siddle and Lyon to reach this total from 21/9. It had a chance of lowering the mark of 26 set in 1955.

 

 

 

 

The Worst Defeats in T20Is-2

The Malian women’s T20I team has been making headlines all over the cricket world (not only in Bamako and famed Timbuktu) for their abject defeats.

Earlier we have looked at the worst defeats of men’s T20I teams.

The worst defeat in a limited overs match is measured by either 1) runs or 2) balls remaining when the target is reached.

One can also look at 3) lowest scores by runs 4) highest scores by runs conceded

And as a stretch: 5) least balls in an innings.

We now look at the records of women’s T20Is as on 28-06-2019:

Losses by runs (100 and above):

We see that the top three defeats were sustained by Mali, with China and Lesotho a little behind. We will see much more of Mali in the remaining part of this post.

Even some “respectable” teams such as South Africa, WI and Sri Lanka can be found here.

Losses by balls remaining (72 or more):

These are all the cases where a target was chased down in 8 overs or less. In two cases only 4 balls were enough.

As you may guess, the Mali team holds the top three positions. Mozambique and Fiji are next in line. The only “respectable” team here is Ireland.

Lowest scores (30 or less):

The three lowest scores are by Mali in the span of three days in June 2019. Note that they did improve to 30/9 in 20 overs. China is also here with its record of 14 set earlier in 2019. Even Bangladesh has a score of 30.

Least balls in an innings (72 or less):

Mali again, though they took less balls to score 14 than their 6. Mexico, China and Kuwait give them company.

And finally

Highest opposing totals (190 and above):

Note that almost all of these are in the first innings.

Mali yet again in 1st, 2nd and 4th place although South Africa is in 3rd and 5th place. Many other “respectable” teams have been at the receiving end, including India against England in 2018.

You can guess why those who follow statistics may be planning to visit Timbuktu. While this is supposes to be in an area affected by terrorism, you can at least get to Mali’s capital Bamako with a single stop at Paris or Addis Ababa. With luck, you can reach there within 18 hours from Delhi.

The fine art of minnow-bashing

The term “minnow-bashing” was often heard in World Cup cricket matches where the non-regular teams often came to grief against the major teams.

Now the women’s T20I teams of India and Pakistan have shown that they are better at minnow-bashing than their male counterparts. The occasions came in the course of  the ongoing Asia Cup which is a T20I tournament in Malaysia. As we will see, the Malaysian team have been very gracious hosts.

The 6 participating teams are India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia. As the last 2 are not regular teams, their matches are not counted in women’s T20I records.

India started the process by dismissing Malaysia for 27 and thus winning by 142 runs:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/1148042/scorecard/1148048/malaysia-women-vs-india-women-1st-match-womens-twenty20-asia-cup-2018/

Pakistan did almost as well, dismissing the hosts for 30 and winning by 147 runs.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/1148042/scorecard/1148058/malaysia-women-vs-pakistan-women-11th-match-womens-twenty20-asia-cup-2018/

Thailand has also done quite badly, without ever crossing 100. But they did beat Malaysia by 9 wickets:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/1148042/scorecard/1148055/malaysia-women-vs-thailand-women-8th-match-womens-twenty20-asia-cup-2018/

The league matches continue on June 9, which features Ind v Pak, SL v Th and BD vs Ma.

The final on June 10 will probably be between India and Pakistan.