Review of Eng-NZ Tests-Dec 2019-1

New Zealand won the 2-Test series 1-0. as they had in 2017-2018. This series was not part of the World Test Championship.

The overall summary of Tests between these countries:

New Zealand is slowly beginning to show better performances at home.

Looking at individual performances:

Batting

Most Runs (1000 and above):

MD Crowe has the most centuries (5) while several others have 4. The most scores of 50+ are 11 by JG Wright while several other have 10. R Taylor (1145) has the most runs among current players.

Highest innings (150 and above):

Root and Watling scored double centuries in this series.

Best batting average (Min 20 innings, all instances):

Cowdrey has the highest average here. Root and Taylor have the highest averages among current players. Williamson has not played enough against England.

Best strike rate (Min 1000 balls faced, 45.00):

McCullum leads by a large margin. Taylor, Root and Watling represent current players.

Bowling

Most wickets (25 and more):

Sir Richard leads by a large margin, although current player Broad is next. Southee, Boult and Wagner are also moving up.

Best innings bowling (includes all instances of 7wi):

No instances from the last few years.

Best match bowling (includes all instances of 10wm):

Note the duopoly at the top from Underwood and Lock who have the 5 best performances. Nothing from recent years.

Best bowling average (Min 2000 balls bowled, all instances):

Underwood and Willis have the best bowling averages, Underwood and Illingworth the best economy while Underwood and Anderson have the best strike rates. Boult and Wagner have the best averages among current players.

To be continued.

Review of NZ – SL Tests-1

This is the first Test series to be completed under the World Test Championship (although the Aus-Eng series started earlier and in in progress as this is written). As the 2-Test series was drawn 1-1, NZ and SL each got 60 points.

A total of 36 Tests have been played between these sides. New Zealand leads Sri Lanka 16-0 with 11 draws.

In New Zealand, the hosts lead 11-2 with 6 draws in a total of 19 Tests.

In Sri Lanka, however, New Zealand trails 5-7 with 5 draws in a total of 17 Tests.

Going to individual performances, starting with

Batting

Most runs (500 or more):

Williamson and Latham are rising swiftly up this table, although the current Sri Lankan players are some distance away.

Highest innings (110 or more):

The highest score in this series was Latham’s 154, although he had made two larger scores in the previous series in 2018.

Strangely enough, the highest scores between these teams for NZ (299 by Martin Crowe) and SL (267) were in the same Test in 1991.

Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, all instances):

Fleming and (surprisingly) Mathews lead this table. R Taylor is the only other current player here.

Highest strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced, all instances):

After Aravinda and Sangakkara, there are R Taylor, Williamson and several other current players.

To be continued.

 

Review of NZ-Eng Test series, 2017-18 (I)

New Zealand won the series 1-0 with one draw. Victories for New Zealand against England are quite rare; they have won at home only once before, in 1983-84 and now in 2017-18. In England, they have won only in 1986 and 1999. This was therefore their first series win against England since 1999, almost a generation ago.

Here is a summary of all Tests between these sides:

The highlight (or rather lowlight) of the series was England’s dismissal for 58 in the first innings of the series. It sent cricket followers searching for England’s lowest totals. It was more than their lowest total of 45 against Australia over a century ago, which they still won by 13 runs. But it is still quite far down, besides being the lowest-ever total in a pink-ball Test:

England’s lowest Test totals (75 and below):

It was indeed their lowest total against New Zealand, less than the 64 which marked New Zealand’s first Test victory against England in 1977-78 spearheaded by the up-and-coming Richard Hadlee while Geoff Boycott captained England for a short time.

We now look at individual performances.

Most runs (750 and above):

John Wright is the unlikely leader here, ahead of Martin Crowe. The latter does have the most centuries (5) while the former has the most scores of 50+ (11). 4 others have 10 scores of 50+

Cook and R Taylor are the only current players here.

Highest individual scores (150 and above):

We do have Walter Hammond’s 336* (then a world record surpassing Bradman’s 334) and 227, which gave him 563 runs in the series at 563.00 which no one is likely to overtake. There is also JH Edrich’s 52 4s in an innings which is still a record (Sehwag is next with 47 in his 254).

The last few series have been quite low-scoring as the only recent 150+ scores were by Cook in 2015 and H Rutherford in 2013.

Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings and average 35.00):

The top two names are somewhat unexpected. Once again, there are only Cook and Taylor among current players.

To be continued.