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)

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.

 

A small consolation for Steve Smith

During the third SA-Aus Test at Cape Town, SPD Smith perhaps became the first Test captain to be sacked in the middle of a match and told to hand over charge. However, he may draw small consolation from setting a minor fielding record.

These records are as of April 1, 2018. The ICC World XI v Aus Test is not counted.

Most catches in an innings by a captain (5 and above):

While wicketkeeper captains Latif and Dhoni have taken 6 catches in an innings, Smith equalled the non-keepers record for captains with 5 catches, along with VY Richardson, SP Fleming, GC Smith and DJG Sammy. There are a few non-captain fielders such as Yajurvindra Singh and AM Rahane who have also taken 5 catches in an innings.

We also look at match fielding performances by captains (6 dismissals and above):

While keeper Dhoni has the record of 9 dismissals (in his last Test), SP Fleming has the record of 7 for non-keeper captains. Smith has taken 6 catches in this Test and in one earlier match. In this case Rahane has the record for 8 catches by a non-keeper, though he was not captaining in that Test.

Finally, we look at overall fielding performances by captains (70 dismissals and above):

While Dhoni has the highest number of dismissals, he is followed by several non-keepers led by GC Smith and SP Fleming who have over a hundred catches. Steve Smith is fairly high up here, sandwiched between MA Taylor and Lara.

 

 

Review of New Zealand-West Indies Tests-2

Continued.

Fielding

Most dismissals (15 and above):

The only current player is Ross Taylor, who has the most catches by a non-keeper.

Innings dismissals (4 and more):

Only Dowrich from the current series. Fleming and the Crowe brothers each took 4 catches as non-keepers.

Match dismissals (6 and more):

None from the current series. Fleming has the most dismissals for a non-keeper.

Dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.400):

Ramdin heads the list, though many keepers did not play enough Tests. Hence this table is dominated by non-keepers.

All-round performances:

Overall (see criteria below):

The modest criteria are met by two of the all-time greats.

Match performance (50 and 5wi):

Interestingly, the relatively rare feat of a fifty and 10 wickets in a match has been recorded three times here.

Bowling fails in Test matches

Continuing the thread from here:

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2017/03/07/bowling-fails-in-odis/

Here we consider the bowlers who failed to take a wicket in their Test careers. They do include some specialist bowlers who lost their Test place quickly, but are more likely to be batsmen with limited bowling ability who sometimes bowled a few overs to give some rest to the regular bowlers. There are even some wicket-keepers who bowled a little.

We start with the most runs conceded without taking a wicket (90 runs and above):

We can see that there are some specialist bowlers with short careers as well as well-known batsmen (notably GA Headley, Habibul Bashar and K Srikkanth). Srikkanth was more successful in ODIs where he took two fivers. But it is the forgotten AH Monir of Bangladesh who heads this list.

Now for the most balls bowled without taking a wicket (150 balls and above):

JL Hopwood was close to the top in the first table and heads this table. He had the misfortune to bowl against a strong Australian lineup with Bradman and friends. Headley comes next followed by Monir. As above, there is a mix of specialist bowlers and part-timers.

Most innings bowled without taking a wicket (6 and above):

Srikkanth heads this list-perhaps he and Headley can be considered as the most determined of the part-timers. Many others like Bradman and Gavaskar bowled on rare occasions but did take at least one wicket. So did some keepers such as Boucher and Kirmani (not to forget AF Lyttleton’s 4-wicket haul). Some current players such as Kohli and Voges have so far been unsuccessful.

Most matches played without taking a wicket (75 and above):

Sangakkara and Stewart (who kept wicket in most of their Tests) head this list, though there are also non-keepers like Lara, Strauss, Inzamam and Vengsarkar near the top. And there are some who never bowled throughout their long Test careers. More about them later. For now, we look at

Most matches played by non-keepers without taking a wicket (75 and above):

Note Fleming and Strauss who played the most Tests without ever bowling. We look into this category further:

Most matches played without ever bowling (50 and above):

Many keepers in this list, so we look at the non-keepers.

Most matches played by non-keepers without ever bowling (50 and above):

SP Fleming heads this list, followed by Strauss and Misbah.

While wicketless players do not have a bowling average or a strike rate, they do have an economy rate. We close with

Best economy rate for those who never took a wicket (150 balls and above):

Oddly enough this is headed by Australian RJ Quiney who is not a regular bowler in domestic cricket. A few other part-timers (LS Darling and Roope to begin with) have better economy rates than the specialist bowlers. We have already met AH Monir who is the most expensive here. We may as well learn more about him:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/bangladesh/content/player/56235.html