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.

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

World record defeat in first-class cricket

Mumbai beat Uttarakhand by 725 runs in the Ranji quarter-final which concluded today:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/ranji-trophy-2021-22-2022-1280196/mumbai-vs-uttarakhand-2nd-quarter-final-1313304/live-cricket-score

This is the highest margin of defeat by runs in all first-class matches, surpassing the 685 runs margin for NSW v Qld in 1929-30 at Sydney. The existing records can be seen here:

Note that the 675-run margin for England vs Aus in 1928-29 at Brisbane is next on the list.

It can be seen that the Mumbai team included only two (fringe) international players in Prithvi Shaw and Dhawal Kulkarni. The main scorers and wicket-takers are relatively unknown.

In fact, the cricket grounds at Alur are situated at a rather remote part of greater Bengaluru, near Chikkabanavara:

Best innings bowling against India

After India’s first innings in the 2nd Test against New Zealand, a number of records have to be rewritten. Here we look at the best innings bowling against India by all teams in Tests.

(This covers all instances of 7 or more wickets in an innings):

Bombay-born Ajaz Patel now has:

Best figures by any team against India. The previous record was 9-95 by JM Noreiga of WI, in what was India’s first Test victory against WI.

Best figures by NZ against India. The previous record was 7-23 by Sir Richard Hadlee at Wellington in 1976. In India, the previous record was 7-64 by Patel’s teammate TG Southee at Bengaluru in 2012.

Best figures by any team against India in India. The previous record was 8-50 by NM Lyon (Aus) at Bengaluru in 2017.

We now look at the best bowling figures by New Zealand against all teams in Tests.

Ajaz Patel’s 10-119 was the best by any NZ bowler, surpassing the 9-52 by Sir Richard Hadlee against Australia at Brisbane in 1985. This also makes Patel’s haul the best for NZ away from home.

The best figures for NZ at home remain with Sir Richard, with his 7-23 against India at Wellington in 1976.

After the Test is over, we will have a look at match bowling records.

For the moment, we note that the best match figures against India are 13-106 by IT Botham (also at Wankhede) in 1980. And the best match figures by New Zealand are 15-123 by Sir Richard Hadlee against Australia at Brisbane in 1985.

Indian-origin cricketers who played for New Zealand

It was interesting to see New Zealand saving a Test against India with the last-wicket pair being of Indian origin. While AY Patel was born in Bombay in 1988, R Ravindra was born in New Zealand in 1999. There are a few others with Indian-sounding names who were born in New Zealand.

Here we attempt to enumerate the members of 2 categories

1. Born in India (including pre-partition India):

FT Badcock (Abbottabad, 1897)-presumably British-7 Tests

AY Patel (Bombay, 1988)-10

N Puna (Surat, 1929)-3

JA Raval (Gujarat, 1988)-24

IS Sodhi (Ludhiana, 1992)-17

2. Indian-sounding name, not born in India:

DN Patel (Kenya, 1958)-37

JS Patel (New Zealand, 1980)-24

R Ravindra (New Zealand, 1999)-1

Those of Gujarati origin just outnumber the others. Badcock, Sodhi and Ravindra are the exceptions.

Among these players, it was Nairobi-born Dipak Patel who played the most Tests for New Zealand. He was a member of the 99 Club, and finished with 1200 runs and 75 wickets. Next are JA Raval and JS Patel who played 24 Tests each.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/dipak-patel-38118

Those who scored the most Test centuries

The Test season gets under way with Sri Lanka hosting the West Indies at Galle from Nov 21. There are also series between India/New Zealand and Bangladesh/Pakistan coming up, not to forget the Ashes starting in December.

Here we look at a summary of the centuries made by the highest century-makers, with a breakup across innings:

Note that this does not include the ICC XI vs Aus Test in 2005, which means that ML Hayden’s century in that Test is not counted.

As we will see, a closer look at the centuries in the different innings reveal some odd facts. From the sample above we can see that Steve Waugh and Steve Smith have the most centuries without ever making one in the fourth innings. And can you guess which current player has the distinction of making all his 6 centuries in the first innings? More to come in the next few days.

Review of WI-Pakistan Test series.

After this Test series was drawn 1-1:

A total of 54 Tests have been played between these countries. Pakistan lead 21-18 with 15 draws.

In the West Indies: Of 28 Tests, WI lead Pakistan 13-8 with 7 draws.

In Pakistan: Of 21 Tests, Pakistan lead 9-4 with 8 draws.

In neutral venues: Of 5 Tests, Pakistan lead 4-1 with 0 draws.

Babar Azam has captained Pakistan in 6 Tests, with 5 wins and 1 loss.

Most runs: 1214 by Mohammad Yousuf. From recent players, 951 by Azhar Ali.

Highest innings: 365* by Gary Sobers in 1957-58. In recent years 302* by Azhar Ali in 2016-2017

Highest batting average: 57.43 by Wasim Raja. From recent players, 50.05 by Azhar Ali.

Most wickets: 80 by Imran Khan. From recent players, 46 by Yasir Shah.

Best innings bowling: 8-29 by Colin Croft in 1976-77

In recent years 8-49 by D Bishoo in 2016-17

Best match bowling: 12-100 by Fazal Mahmood in 1958-59

In recent years 10-94 by SS Afridi in 2021.

Best bowling average: 19.56 by Colin Croft

Best economy rate: 2.05 by Lance Gibbs

Best strike rate: 39.6 by Waqar Younis

Most dismissals: 29 by Franz Alexander

Most by non-keeper: 23 by Vivian Richards and Younis Khan.

Highest dismissal rate 0.821 by Younis Khan.

(No regular keeper had played the cutoff of 20 innings fielded)

Match all-round performance: 121 & 56, 5-28 & 3-69 by Mushtaq Mohammad in 1976-77.

After the WTC Final

This is what the final table of the WTC looked like. Note that the recent WI-SA series was also part of the WTC. Clearly these teams were not anywhere near the top 2:

We also look at the ICC ranking tables on June 24:

Here NZ is just ahead of India. There are some differences in the lower rankings.

It may happen that Zimbabwe (or even Afghanistan) will take Bangladesh’s place in the next cycle.

A quick look at the main statistical highlights of the WTC Tests (Remember that they started in 2019):

Most runs (750 or more):

Strangely the first few positions are from those whose teams did not reach the final. Rahane and R Sharma are in 5th and 6th place.

Highest scores (150 or more):

Kohli and Williamson are in 3rd and 4th place.

Highest batting averages (Min 20 innings, 25.00):

Again, the best from India and NZ is in 6th place (Rahane), followed by MA Agarwal and Kohli. Pujara’s decline is clear.

Williamson is not here is he batted in less than 20 innings.

Most wickets (20 or more):

Ashwin has the most wickets, followed closely by Australia’s Cummins and England’s Broad. Southee and Jamieson have the most from NZ.

We can also see that Ashwin, Lyon and AR Patel each took 4 five-fors, and that Broad, Lyon, Jamieson, Embuldeniya and AR Patel each took a ten-for.

Best innings bowling (includes all 6wi or more):

Along with the lesser-known Embuldeniya, Ashwin also took a 7-for. There are startling figures of 5-7 by Bumrah, 5-8 by Hazlewood and Root (!) which were both against India.

Best match bowling (includes all 9wm or more):

AR Patel has the best figures here followed by Jamieson and the newcomer Jayawickrama. Ishant Sharma and Ashwin are also here.

Bowling average (Min 2000 balls, all instances):

Broad and Ashwin have the first two places here.

For economy rate, it is Hazlewood and Ashwin.

For strike rate, it is Broad and Southee.

Jamieson does not appear here as he has not bowled enough in the WTC matches.

Most dismissals (15 and above):

Watling bowed out in 4th place. Pant has the next highest. He also took the most stumpings (6). Root has the most catches by a fielder (34).

Most dismissals in an innings (5 or more):

de Kock is the only one with 6 catches, and Stokes and Thirimanne the only fielders with 5.

Most dismissals in a match (7 or more):

Paine and de Kock dominate here. No fielder has taken more than 6 catches.

Best dismissal rate (Min 20 innings, 0.65):

Paine and Watling lead. SPD Smith and Root have the most by fielders.

Overall all-round performance (see criteria in table):

Jadeja and Stokes (with Holder a distant third) did the best here. But there is no one from NZ.

Match all-round performances (fifty plus 5wi):

The best performances here are by Ashwin (100/5wi) and Broad (50/10wm).

Player of the series? Perhaps Williamson. He did not make the most runs, but how he made them was more important (notably in the final):

Captains in one Test-May 2021

There are as many as 45 Test captains who were captain in exactly one Test:

From this we come to

Captains who won their only Test:

Only 10 of the 40, the most recent being Mashrafe Mortaza. Even in his case, he was injured soon after the match started and Shakib Al Hasan was the effective captain. This was Bangladesh’s first Test win abroad, though it was against what was virtually a 3rd XI of the West Indies.

Shastri is the only such captain from India. Perhaps India’s performance in the late 80s may have been better if he had captained.

CA Smith was playing in his only Test. Later he was better known as a Hollywood actor.

Captains who lost their only Test:

Not surprisingly, the 19 members here are almost twice the number of those who won their only Test. The latest was Ben Stokes, who was substituting for Joe Root.

India has two prominent players in Borde and Pankaj Roy.

DB Carr played only in 2 Tests overall. This loss was India’s first win in any Test, which oddly enough coincided with the death of King George VI. The captain appointed for that series was the equally undistinguished ND Howard who played his only 4 Tests in that series.

AR Richards, JH Anderson and N Betancourt were playing in their only Tests.

Captains who drew their only Test:

The most recent was BA Murphy in 2001. From India there is HR Adhikari. Prominent players here include DL Murray, G Kirsten, RR Lindwall and TW Graveney.

Taberer was playing his only Test.

Test captains compared-fielding

We now look at the fielding figures for Test captains. This includes both keepers and non-keepers.

Most dismissals (35 and above):

Led by Dhoni (211) followed by non-keepers GC Smith (152) and Fleming (132) and current keeper Paine (101)

Fine-tuning:

A Flower and AJ Stewart had captained both as keepers and as non-keepers. Sangakkara and AB de Villiers never captained as a keeper.

Most catches by WK: 187 by Dhoni, almost double the next (97 by Paine).

Most stumpings: 24 by Dhoni, followed by Sherwell (16 from long ago)

Most catches by non-keeper: 152 by GC Smith, 132 by Fleming. The highest for India is 59 by Kohli

Most dismissals in an innings (5 and above):

Rashid Latif and Dhoni have the most dismissals (6).

Among non-keepers, the highest is 5 by VY Richardson, Fleming, GC Smith, Sammy and SPD Smith.

5 is still the world record for catches by a fielder in an innings. It is shared by several others. VY Richardson was the first to achieve this. He is better known as the (maternal) grandfather of the Chappells.

Most dismissals in a match (7 and above):

Here the record is 10 by Sarfaraz Ahmed, who had a relatively short spell as captain.

For non-keepers, it is 7 by Fleming. This was a share in the world record until AM Rahane took 8 catches.

And the most stumpings appear to be 3 by Dhoni in 2010.

Highest dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, and 0.65):

Here the results are a little surprising: Paine (2.244) followed by Sarfaraz (2.200) and Alexander. Dhoni is next.

Among fielders, the leader is SPD Smith(1.187) followed by DJG Sammy (1.075). Dravid (0.702) has the most for India.

You may also like to see this, which has the same dateline in May 2021.

Wicket-keepers who captained in Tests (Revised in May 2021)

They never saw draws in Tests

As many as 118 Test players played in 5 or more matches and never saw a draw. These are the top few:

This list is headed by a current player Aiden Markram:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/aiden-markram-600498

Next is the 19th-century player GA Lohmann (18), England’s leading pace bowler of that time.

Then there is the near-current player KK Jennings (17) who has some chance of playing again, along with Alok Kapali with his record 17 losses. Baptiste with his 10 wins is further down.

From India there is a current player HH Pandya (11).

Other current players include SO Hetmyer (16), Hasan Ali (13), KM Jarvis (13) and TA Blundell (10).

Of course, Markram will lose his status once he plays in a drawn Test, which means that the record will go back to the venerable George Lohmann.

South Africa last had a draw in March 2017. This was followed by 34 Tests with results. Thus a number of junior Test players from there have 5 or more Tests without a draw. This applies to most of the current team.

Century on debut and never again (May 2021)

Scoring a century on Test debut is not as difficult as one may think. As many as 108 players have scored 110 centuries on their Test debut, including LG Rowe and Yasir Hameed who scored centuries in both innings.

There are several who failed to score a century after their debut. The full list (up to 15/05/2021) is given below.

Players can drop off this list (as Fawad Alam did after over 11 years). Some current players (from PP Shaw downwards) can be reasonably expected to score another century sooner or later.

The most Tests played here are 25 by Yasir Hameed and 24 by L Amarnath. The latter was an useful bowler and a relatively better captain (by Indian standards of those days).

The most 50s scored after debut are 8 by Yasir Hameed and 7 by SK Raina. The latter was more successful in limited-overs matches, and was one of the first to score a century in a T20I.

Now we look at those who never crossed 50 after their debut.

Ganteaume played in only one innings. RE Redmond is not here as he scored a century and a fifty in his only Test.

The most Tests played among these players are 12 by van Zyl and 10 by DR Smith.

Fawad Alam (again!) got off this list after over 11 years.

There do not seem to be any current players here.