Tests between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has still not won a Test against Sri Lanka.

This is the record of all Tests between these teams:

Sri Lanka has won 13 and drawn 5 Tests against Zimbabwe. This includes winning the last 8 in a row.

Zimbabwe’s Test wins have been few and far between:

Only 2 of the 11 wins were away from home. Their one victory in Pakistan in 1998 may be the most significant, as it remains part of their only series victory against a major team.

Here are a few records which were set during this Test:

List of centuries in Sri Lanka-Zimbabwe Tests:

CR Ervine’s 160 is now the highest for Zimbabwe in Sri Lanka, surpassing the old record of 105* by Andy Flower in 1998. Sikandar Raza’s 127 also surpassed this record. The overall record for Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka remains 266 by Dave Houghton in 1994 in Bulawayo.

Best match bowling figures in Sri Lanka-Zimbabwe Tests:

AG Cremer’s 9-275 is the best match bowling for Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka, surpassing his own record of 7-227 at Harare in 2016. The previous best for Zimbabwe in Sri Lanka was 6-112 by Heath Streak in 1998.

No significant records were set in fielding or all-round performance.

 

 

 

Saved by the last wicket

The West Indies players Gabriel and Chase should have remembered that no less than 22 Tests ended as a draw when the last wicket pair held on:

In some cases there were only a handful of runs to make for victory. The India-WI match of 2011 ended up as a draw with scores level (not a tie because all wickets had not fallen). England in 1963 also came close to victory with 5 runs to get. But in most cases a heavy defeat was averted because the last wicket did not fall.

They included some draws which critically influenced the result of a series. Take the last entry

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/667899.html

where the No 10 and 11 batsmen Eranga and Nuwan Pradeep survived for a draw.

In the 2nd and final Test of that series, No 11 James Anderson got out with one ball left. Thus Sri Lanka won the Test and the series.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-sri-lanka-2014/engine/match/667901.html

There are quite a few other cases where these 10th-wicket stands were critical. Like the one between Dhoni and Sreesanth in 2007, where India went on to win the series 1-0.

Interestingly the first such Test drawn by the last wicket pair was by India in 1946, with the long-forgotten Sohoni and Hindlekar at the crease:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62663.html

The above list is for the 4th innings where 9 wickets were down and the match ended with a draw. There have also been numerous cases where matches were drawn when 9 wickets in the third innings were down when the side was facing a possible defeat if the last wicket fell.

This cannot be directly be pulled out of Statsguru as in the above table. But all such 10th wicket survivor stories in the 3rd innings can be found below:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;innings_number=3;orderby=start;result=4;size=200;type=team;view=innings;wicketsmax1=9;wicketsmin1=9;wicketsval1=wickets

Ignore the declarations. Also, in many cases there would not have been enough time for the opponents to make a large number of runs. Maybe we can count cases where the potential target was less than 50 runs.

The narrowest escape would be this one of England vs SA in 1998, where England’s total in two innings exactly equaled SA’s total of 552. SA would have needed just 1 run to win, but England’s last pair of Croft and Fraser spent enough time to ensure that SA would not be able to bat even one ball:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63806.html

England’s escape at Cardiff in 2009 is also there, when Australia needed 13 runs to win.

While we are on this topic, also see the list of one-wicket victories. There have been only 12 in all Test cricket:

 

Lowest scores in ODIs and related stuff

Zimbabwe’s 54 all out would have had cricket’s number-men looking for records of lowest scores in ODIs. This was not the lowest score in ODIs or even the lowest score by Zimbabwe in ODIs.

Tables are for data as on 28/02/2017

Here is a list of lowest ODI scores (below 60):

It can be seen that this is the lowest total against an Associate team.

Live link for ODI scores of 80 and below: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283987.html

Scorecard for the recent match, which came in a Duckworth-Lewis chase:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/1079250.html

The record for the lowest ODI score is 35, also set by Zimbabwe in 2004:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64890.html

Note that Sri Lanka’s innings of 9.2 overs and 39 minutes are probably records for a winning side in an ODI.

Indian fans would remember their team’s 54 as well, which was probably India’s most humiliating ODI defeat:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65900.html

Humiliating particularly because one player (Jayasuriya) scored over 3 times India’s total. It was the heaviest ODI defeat at that time, though it has since been surpassed several times. India has also inflicted similar defeats on Hong Kong and Bermuda. Afghanistan has also been on the receiving end (against Australia in 2015).

ODI victory margins of 225 runs and above:

Live link for all wins by 180 or more runs: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283902.html

Tests between South Africa and Sri Lanka-2

Continuing to Fielding:

Most dismissals (10 and above):

Boucher has more than twice the dismissals than his nearest rival De Kock. Boucher also has the most stumpings. Among non-keepers, Kallis and M. Jayawardene lead with 25 and 18 respectively. Sangakkara has 24 dismissals, 16 as keeper and 8 as non-keeper.

Innings fielding (4 or more dismissals):

Boucher predictably has the record. The forgotten Dassanayake has the most stumpings (3) while Kallis is the only non-keeper with 4 catches.

Match fielding (5 or more dismissals):

De Kock has the record here, while Kallis again has the most catches by non-keepers (6) followed by M. Jayawardene with 5.

Dismissal rates (minimum 20 innings, 0.400 average):

Boucher again leads, while Kallis leads among the non-keepers. Next is the “hybrid” Sangakkara.

All-round performances (overall)-see criteria in table:

This gives only Pollock and Kallis as good performers, with Jayasuriya a borderline case.

All-round match performances (Minimum fifty and 4wi):

No one has scored a fifty and taken a fiver in the same match. We get the above pair when we reduce the requirement to a 4-for.

Tests between South Africa and Sri Lanka-1

With the conclusion of this 3-0 sweep by South Africa against Sri Lanka, they followed mini sweeps of 2-0 in 1997-98 and in 2002-03. Sri Lanka had also had a mini 2-0 sweep in 2006.

Here is a summary of all Tests between these teams, where South Africa leads 14-5 with 6 draws. Sri Lanka has only won one Test against SA in SA.

Proceeding to individual performances, starting with Batting:

Most Runs (400 and more):

The long-standing partners  M. Jayawardene and Sangakkara have scored much more than the others. de Villiers, Amla, Mathews and Elgar lead among current players.

M. Jayawardene has the most centuries (6) followed by Cullinan (5)

For scores of 50-plus, Sangakkara leads with 10 followed by 8 by Cullinan and M. Jayawardene.

Highest Individual Scores (110 and above):

The highest scorers are predictable, while top-scorers for the recent series include Duminy, Amla, Elgar and SC Cook.

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

Relatively few players here, with the old firm of Jayawardene and Sangakkara leading.They are followed at some distance by Kallis and Pollock.

The top three strike rates are those of Jayasuriya (67.58), Muralitharan (!) (60.98) and Sangakkara (56.52).

Bowling: Most wickets (10 and above):

Muralitharan leads by a large margin, with more than twice the wickets than second-placed Pollock. Murali has the most 5wi (11) followed by 3 by Philander and Steyn. He also has 4 10wms, while no one else as more than one.

Best bowling in an innings: (6 wickets or more):

An oddity at the top, where M de Lange took the record haul on debut but played only one Test after that. Otherwise it is mostly Murali, with Rabada and Kumara from the current players.

Best bowling in an match: (all instances of 8 wickets or more):

Muraltharan dominates as before, though Rabada was the only one to get a tenner in this series.

Bowling averages (Minimum 2000 balls, all instances):

Muralitharan and Pollock top this table of averages. The best economy rates are 2.34 by Murali and 2.40 by Herath. The best strike rates are 51.6 by Pollock and 56.8 by Murali.

To be continued

 

Review of Sri Lanka-Australia Test series, 2016

Sri Lanka recorded its first 3-0 “whitewash” of Australia. They had already inflicted this on West Indies and Zimbabwe in 2001-02 and Bangladesh in 2007. Sri Lanka has never played a series of 4 or more Tests.

It was also pointed out that Australia were “whitewashed” in their previous tours in Asia since early 2013: 4-0 by India, 2-0 by Pakistan in UAE and now 3-0 by Sri Lanka.

For the 29 Tests between these countries, Australia lead Sri Lanka 17-4 with 8 draws. In Australia it is 11-0 with 2 draws. In Sri Lanka, Australia still lead 6-4 with 6 draws. Until this series Sri Lanka had only won one Test against Australia, which was in 1999-2000.

Sri Lanka has won Tests in all countries except Australia and India.

Coming to the specifics of SL-Aus Tests:Batting

Most runs (500 and more):

Mathews is the only current player here.

Highest innings (135 and more):

Kusal Mendis is the only current player here. He recorded the highest score for SL v Aus in SL, surpassing Gurusinha’s 137 in 1992. However the overall SL v Aus record is 192 by Sangakkara in 2007-08.

M Hussey is the only one with 5 centuries. No one else scored more than 3.

The most 50-plus scores are 8 by Clarke, Ponting and Sangakkara.

Now for batting averages (minimum 20 innings, all instances):

Strike rates are also available for all of these cases. Jayasuriya has the highest with 65.70, far ahead of others who are in the low 50s.

Now for bowling:

Most wickets (12 and above):

Herath with his 26-wicket haul in this series crossed Warne and Muralitharan to top this list. Starc, Lyon and Dilruwan Perera are also here.

Best innings bowling (6wi and above):

Herath (3 times), Starc and Dilruwan Perera make this list. Herath’s 7-64 is the best for SL v Aus, surpassing his earlier record of 7-157 in 2011. Starc’s 6-50 is the best for Aus v SL in SL.

Best match bowling (8wm and above):

Herath (13-145) and Starc (11-94) recorded the best for their teams. Again the records of Muralitharan and Warne have been toppled. Herath (again) and Dilruwan Perera appear lower down.

Bowling averages (minimum 2000 balls bowled, all instances):

Herath has the best average.

Vaas has the best economy rate, just ahead of Herath and Warne.

Herath has the best strike rate.

Now for fielding:

Most dismissals (10 and more):

The first few names are not surprising. The most stumpings are 6 by Kaluwitharana, most catches by keepers are 32 by Gilchrist and Healy, and the most by non-keepers is 20 by M Jayawardene followed by 16 by Ponting.

Nevill and Smith are the only current players here.

The best fielding in an innings is 5 by Gilchrist and Healy.

The best match fielding is 8 by Gilchrist and Healy (who else?) followed by non-keeper Hayden with 7. That was a share in the world Test record for some years until Rahane surpassed it with 8 last year.

Best dismissal rate (minimum 20 innings fielded, all instances):

Sangakkara heads this list, while Gilchrist and Healy did not play enough in these Tests to be counted. M Jayawardene has the best rate for non-keepers, followed by Warne.

All-round performance (overall):

Vaas is the only one to have pretensions of being an all-rounder. See the modest criteria to be met here.

All-round performances (match): Fifty-plus innings and 5wi in the match:

Only two instances here, including Dilruwan Perera whose contribution is more than that of Reiffel.