More on Chinaman bowlers in Tests

This article: http://www.cricketcountry.com/news/chinaman-bowlers-kuldeep-yadav-lakshan-sandakan-tabraiz-shamsi-and-others-in-international-cricket-2-588700

gives a comprehensive history of all those who have bowled in the Chinaman style (left-hand wrist-spinner) at some point in their Test careers. I am going a little further in studying the performances of those who exclusively bowled in this style (even if they were not regular bowlers). A number of famous names including the alleged inventor Ellis Achong, Johnny Wardle, Gary Sobers and Bernard Julien bowled in various other styles.

So here are the “exclusively Chinaman” bowlers and their careers in brief. This is in chronological order:

Even the change bowlers have taken fivers and tenners.

The best innings bowling in this category is 7-75 by Lindsay Kline:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62866.html

The best match bowling is 10-106 by Paul Adams:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64028.html

There is also Michael Bevan’s tenner along with 85*, which makes him among the relatively few to score a fifty and take 10-wickets in a match:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63732.html

A few years before that Allan Border also scored 75 and took 11 wickets with his little-used left-arm spin against the West Indies:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63499.html

The full list of those who scored 50 and took 10 wickets in a match:

Sir Richard Hadlee is the only one to do this more than once, while “Sir” Ravindra Jadeja also makes an appearance.

It is interesting to see that these occasional bowlers achieved a ten-wicket haul which well-known bowlers such as Willis, Brett Lee, Kallis, Thomson and Sobers were not able to manage during their long careers:

Over 200 wickets with no 10-for:

Coming back to the Chinamen bowlers, here are the best innings and match bowling figures on debut:

The trio of PADLR Sandakan, LO Fleetwood Smith and Kuldeep Yadav have the best performances in innings as well as match bowling. Here is Sandakan’s debut:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/995451.html

We now look forward to competition between Sandakan and Yadav for being the best current Chinamen bowlers.

Footnote: Michael Bevan, who seems to have had some Indian ancestry, was soon dropped from the Test team as his batting was not good enough. He then became one of the mainstays of Australia’s ODI middle-order.

 

 

Kuldeep Yadav’s debut-innings figures

Kuldeep Yadav, classified as a slow left-arm Chinaman bowler, took 4-68 in his first Test innings. Let us see where this performance stands.

If you are not clear as to what type of bowling this is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-arm_unorthodox_spin

More details of similar bowlers in Test history: http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/310734.html

There are a few others such as Roy Fredericks who rarely bowled-but he did take a few Test wickets including AD Gaekwad of India.

However, Statsguru’s database does not list Chinaman as a class of bowlers. We can only segregate left-arm spinners.

The following tables have data up to the evening of 25 March 2017.

Best innings bowling by Indian bowlers on debut:

Here Kuldeep Yadav is 15th on the list of those who took 4 or more wickets in an innings on debut. Hirwani’s twin 8-wicket hauls head the list. There does not seem to be any known Chinaman bowler here. In fact, there is only one other slow left-arm spinner here. Back to this later.

Now we look at

Best innings bowling by slow left-arm bowlers on debut:

Here Kuldeep Yadav is 22nd of the 29 who took at least 4 wickets in an innings.Note Abdur Rehman’s 4-105 in both innings which is the best case of the same bowling analysis in both innings on debut. And R Berry took 5wi and 4wi in the first of his two Tests; perhaps he was overshadowed by fellow debutants Ramadhin and Valentine.

LO Fleetwood-Smith and the current Sri Lankan player PADLR (Paddler?) Sandakan appear to be the only other bowlers classified as  Chinaman bowlers:

Finally we look at the best innings figures for Indian slow left-arm bowlers on debut:

And Dilip Doshi was an orthodox left-arm spinner. (He is also supposed to be the only Jain to have played Tests for India).

So it appears that Kuldeep Yadav’s innings bowling figures on debut may be among the best for those classified as Chinaman bowlers. Let us see how his match figures turn out.

 

 

Fielding fails in Tests

We have looked at those who failed to make a single fielding dismissal in their T20I and ODI careers. Today we conclude with Tests.

No fielding dismissals in Tests: 12 and more innings:

No fielding dismissals in Tests: 7 or more Tests:

The record for innings is shared by Fleetwood-Smith and the current Imran Khan with no dismissals in 18 innings, followed by Arshad Khan and Tony Lewis with 17. Imran had a few other statistical oddities tagged on, including not facing a ball for several Tests as well as seeing his side winning his first 5 Tests. Tony Lewis was appointed captain on his Test debut in 1972-73, the last such appointment by England.

For matches, Fleetwood-Smith again has the record of 10 Tests shared with Kuruvilla and Warnaweera. Also note the current player Steve O’Keefe creeping up the tables with 7 Tests and 12 innings without making a dismissal. Imran Khan is here too and near the top with 9 Tests.

However, until recently the record of most Tests and innings without a dismissal was held by Pakistan’s comeback kid Mohammad Amir who did not take a catch in his first 19 Tests and 37 innings. There was much celebration in his 20th Test and 38th innings when he caught Darren Bravo off Zulfiqar Babar at Sharjah in 2016-17. He also took 3-71 in that innings, though the West Indies went on to win their first Test against Pakistan on a neutral ground.

What about wicket-keepers who failed to make any dismissal? There are several who made their debut without a dismissal, but only one who had no dismissal in his career (which lasted for 1 Test):

Humayun Farhat at least did score 20+ in both innings. He is the brother of Imran Farhat.

Finally, is there anyone who never fielded in his Test career? Statsguru cannot find anyone:

You may be thinking of JCW MacBryan, who did not bat, bowl or take a catch in his one-Test career. But he did field for 66 overs. It would be interesting to know if he ever touched the ball. Anyway, he had a sufficiently distinguished first-class career including being one of the Wisden Five in 1925 besides an Olympic gold medal in hockey.