Review of South Africa-India T20I matches-Sep 2019

The just-concluded bilateral series in India ended with an 1-1 draw with one washout.

Here is the complete story of these matches between the countries. India played its first-ever T20I in 2006. Their next matches were in the World T20 Championship (not World Cup!)

It may well be a record in any sport (not just cricket) where a national team won a major tournament having played only one match in that format earlier.

Since 2007 the teams have also met in one-off matches and in the World Championships.

There are only 17 matches, of which 2 were washed out.

And the results can be summarized here:

India enjoys a healthy 9-6 lead over SA in this format.

The only bilateral series of more than one match were

2015 in India: SA won 2-0

2018 in SA: India won 2-0

2019 in India: Drawn 1-1.

The match in Mohali was the first time India had won a T20I at home against SA.

We now look at individual performances. The sample size is too small to make averages meaningful.

Batting:

Most runs (100 and above):

RG Sharma and Raina are the only ones with centuries. RG Sharma and Duminy have the most 50+ scores at 3.

Highest innings scores (60 and above):

Note de Kock’s 79* in this series. It is the highest for SA in all T20Is against India, surpassing the 78 by CA Ingram in Jo’Burg in 2012. The previous highest for SA in India was 68* by Duminy in 2015.

Bowling:

Most wickets (5 and above):

HH Pandya is the only one from the current series. The only 5wi was by B Kumar in 2018.

Best innings bowling (all instances of 3wi and above):

Rabada’s 3-39 is the best from this series.

Fielding:

Most dismissals (4 and above):

The most by a pure keeper is 5 by Dhoni, while Raina and RG Sharma have 9 as fielders.

Also note de Villiers with 8 dismissals as keeper and non-keeper.

Most innings dismissals (3 and above):

Strangely Dhoni does not appear here.

KD Karthik took 1 catch as a fielder as well as 2 stumpings in the same match.

All-round performance in a match (20 runs and 2wi):

Only one, and it is not Kallis as you may think.

 

More on Misbah-ul-Haq and the 99ers.

A follow up of the earlier posts:

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2017/04/25/unbeaten-scores-of-99199-and-299/

and

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2017/04/26/more-on-test-nineties/

Some more points of interest:

Those who scored 99 and 0 in the same Test:

No one has done this on debut. But Misbah is the only captain to achieve this rare feat.

99 and hundred in the same Test: This has occurred only twice:

G Boycott 99 and 112, E v WI, 1973-74

RT Ponting 101 and 99, A v SA, 2008-09

Boycott never made centuries in each innings of a Test. Ponting did so thrice, a Test record he shares with SM Gavaskar and DA Warner. Unlike the others, he did so thrice in a single season (2005-06), once against WI and twice against SA.

There have been a total of 90 scores of 99 in a Test, including 6 not outs. The list can be seen here, in chronological order:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;opposition=1;opposition=2;opposition=25;opposition=3;opposition=4;opposition=5;opposition=6;opposition=7;opposition=8;opposition=9;orderby=player;qualmax2=99;qualmin2=99;qualval2=batted_score;size=200;team=1;team=2;team=25;team=3;team=4;team=5;team=6;team=7;team=8;team=9;template=results;type=batting;view=innings

Misbah is the only one to make THREE 99s in Tests, which included one not out.

From this list, you can see that 9 others have made two 99s. Of these, Boycott is the only one to get a not out.

Full list of captains who made 99:

Misbah did so thrice. No other captain has more than one 99. There are some like Atherton, Ganguly and Salim Malik who had one 99 as captain and another 99 while not captain.

The full list of unbeaten 99s:

No one has done this on debut, though three (Chipperfield, RJ Christiani and Asim Kamal) scored 99 on debut. This 99 remained Asim Kamal’s highest Test score.

Pollock and Misbah are the only captains to score an unbeaten 99.

Of these 6 scores of 99*, only one (Tudor) occurred when a batsman was left on 99 while his team was chasing a target. In all other cases the team was bowled out.

Finally, here is a list of all unbeaten 90s in Tests which ended when the team won in the 4th innings:

Next to Tudor’s 99, there are 98s by Hutton, Greg Chappell, Atherton and Ganguly.

Boycott’s 99* came when his team was bowled out in the 4th innings and lost. He had carried his bat through the innings.

In the 4th innings of drawn matches, the highest unbeaten 90 is 95* by McCosker, at Leeds in 1975. There was no play on the final day due to deliberate sabotage of the pitch for reasons unconnected with cricket. See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Davis_(robber)

 

 

 

Karun Nair’s Test records

You will remember the fuss about Karun Nair when he scored his triple century in his third Test at Chennai. We now look at his oddly skewed Test career after he has completed 6 Tests. This should be apparent from this sequence of scores:

He has a respectable average of 62.33. But he scored 303 of his 374 runs in one innings (81.0 %) and never made another score above 50. To be precise, his next highest score is only 26.

It is hoped that he will play at least a few more Tests and score more centuries. Until then, he holds a couple of records in all Tests. This does NOT include the highest maiden century, as Gary Sobers (365*) and Bob Simpson (311) are ahead.

Highest score by someone who scored only one century ( 150 and above):

KK Nair heads this list, ahead of England’s RE Foster who held the record for about 113 years. His 287 (on debut) was the world Test record until early 1930 when Andy Sandham made 325 (in his last Test), though Bradman crossed it with 334 later the same year.

Foster, Kuruppu, Fawad Alam, K Ibadulla, C Bannerman and A Jackson  were making their Test debuts. Gillespie made his only century in his last Test while batting as nightwatchman. There are several other current players here led by MT Renshaw with 184.

Another quirky record is the highest Test score made by someone who never made a fifty (i.e. a score between 50 and 99). This gets a bit messy due to Statsguru’s limitations, but we get these figures:

Highest score by those who scored one century and no fifty (110 and above):

Highest score by those who scored two centuries and no fifties (all cases):

And finally:

Highest score by those who scored three centuries and no fifties (all cases):

No one has scored more than three centuries without a fifty. For a short time KL Rahul shared the record with Bopara. But Rahul scored his first fifty soon after he scored his third century.

As we can see, KK Nair is the only one to score a triple century but no fifty. David Lloyd and Brendon Kuruppu are the only ones to score a double century but no fifty. And Ravi Bopara’s Test career may be over, but he also holds a record which may not be broken for a long time.

KK Nair is also the only current player with one or more centuries and no fifties.

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

New Zealand-South Africa Tests review-II

T

Having covered the general history and batting aspects in Part I, we now turn our attention to bowling, fielding and all-round performances.

Bowling-most wickets (20 and more):

Steyn and CS Martin lead. Kallis and Vettori do not seem to have done too well here.

The most 5wis are by Steyn (6), Martin and Ntini (4 each).

The most 10wis are 2 by Steyn.

Best innings bowling (All cases of 6wi and above):

The two best performances are from the distant past, though KA Maharaj has done well in this series.

Best match bowling (all cases of 9wm and above):

CS Martin’s 11-wicket haul was instrumental in NZ’s only home victory against SA. Philander has the best figures in recent years.

Best bowling averages (Minimum 2000 balls, complete list):

Steyn expectedly heads the averages. But Vettori seems to have had a bad time here.

The best economy rates are 1.43 by Tayfield and 2.03 by JR Reid.

The best strike rates are 33.0 by Steyn (who else?) and 49.6 by Martin.

Fielding-most dismissals (10 and more):

The old-timer John Waite leads, although Boucher has more catches (but less stumpings) than Waite. de Villiers has 9 dismissals as keeper and 13 catches as a fielder. The most catches by pure fielders are 18 by GC Smith and 16 by Kallis. De Kock is moving up rapidly.

Best innings fielding figures (5 dismissals and above):

Best match fielding figures (6 and above):

The most catches by a fielder are 5 by WR Endean.

Best dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.500):

Waite is far ahead, while GC Smith has the highest for pure fielders. De Kock has not played enough yet, and is likely to be the leader in due course.

All-round performance (see the criteria):

Surprisingly, neither Kallis nor S. Pollock meet these relaxed criteria so we are only left with Reid and Vettori. And Vettori’s bowling average is truly disastrous.

All-round match performance (50 and 5wi):

Oddly enough, the better-known all-rounders  such as Kallis and S.Pollock do not appear here. In case you were wondering, Sir Richard Hadlee’s career neatly fitted into South Africa’s years of absence.

 

New Zealand-South Africa Tests review-I

Tests between NZ and SA are not normally followed much in India-and particularly the just-concluded series which coincided with an intense India-Australia series. In case you missed it, SA won 1-0 with 2 draws. NZ would almost certainly have won the 3rd Test if rain had not washed out the last day.

As you will see from the table below, New Zealand finds it particularly to defeat South Africa at home- they have won precisely one Test there in Tests since 1932-33. They have done slightly better in South Africa, winning 3 Tests.

That one Test win was in March 2004, which resulted in a 1-1 drawn series. In South Africa, the 1961-62 series was drawn 2-2 with one draw. In 1994-95, New Zealand won the first Test of the series in South Africa but went on to lose the series 2-1.

We now proceed to Batting-most runs (500 and more):

The most centuries are 6 by Kallis followed by 4 by Amla. Kallis and Amla also have the most 50+ scores (12 and 11 respectively).

Highest individual scores (125 and above):

In this series, KS Williamson made the highest score for NZ v SA in NZ, surpassing the 170 by SB Styris in 2004. (That was in the one Test which NZ won at home against SA). However the highest by NZ against SA is still SP Fleming’s 262 in 2006.

Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, complete list):

Interesting that the highest average is that of DJ McGlew of the 1950s and 60s. The next two, Kallis and Amla, are predictable. Spare a thought for CS Martin at the bottom of this table.

To be continued..

 

All-round fails in ODIs

Note: Data as on 25th March 2017:

Having covered batting, bowling and fielding fails in the three formats of cricket, we finally turn our attention to all-round fails in ODIs. (T20Is have already been covered.) For all-round performance we take the cases of (batting + bowling) as well as (batting + bowling + fielding).

No runs and no wickets in ODIs (2 or more matches):

There are, in fact, as many as 58 players who did not score a run or take a wicket in their ODI career. Here we have listed only the 13 who played 2 or more matches.

These include a few Test players such as T Bosch, RG Hart and KV Sharma.

No runs, no wickets and no dismissals in ODIs (complete list):

A few more Test players here, of whom the best known among current players may be PHT (Tharindu) Kaushal and Zafar Ansari. The most well-known may be the Australian pace bowler of the 60s Alan Connolly who played one ODI at the end of his career which included 29 Tests. We have already met Anwar Hussain Monir as one of the most unsuccessful Test bowlers. M Watkinson had scored 80+ in a Test against the West Indies.

Note something odd about the career of A Dananjaya? We will soon return to him.

No batting and bowling in ODIs (complete list):

Note the newcomer Zafar Ansari (3 Tests) and the forgotten Roger Tolchard (4 Tests against India in 1976-77; he was Alan Knott’s reserve but was considered a good enough batsman to displace a specialist batsman in Tests). Apart from our now familiar A Dananjaya, all of them did get to field (but not to bat or bowl).

No batting, bowling and fielding in ODIs (complete list):

We need to know more about him and his ODI career.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/574178.html

He has a nice smile.

He has played 5 T20Is and even a side 50-over match against Bangladesh a few days ago, so he may yet play more ODIs.

This explains what happened in his one ODI so far:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/582191.html

In this rain-affected match, his team did bat and got to 123/8. He was the No 10 or 11 batsman and never got to bat. And he could not bowl or field as rain prevented New Zealand’s innings from starting. Let us hope he plays at least one more ODI so that he loses this record.

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

All-round fails in T20Is

Note: Data as on 25th March 2017:

Having covered batting, bowling and fielding fails in the three formats of cricket, we finally turn our attention to all-round fails in T20Is. For all-round performance we take the cases of (batting + bowling) as well as (batting + bowling + fielding).

No runs or wickets in T20Is (2 or more matches):

Mostly lesser-known players here except for MS Sinclair, who was a prominent Test batsman who was at the end of his career when he turned to T20Is. Other Test players include current SL player Nuwan Pradeep and earlier player Ruchira Perera whose bowling action was generally under a cloud. The popular heavyweight Dwayne Leverock is also here.

As you can see, several of the players listed above took catches and stumpings. We now look at those who did not manage any fielding dismissals besides runs and wickets.

No runs or wickets or dismissals in T20Is (2 or more matches):

A shorter list, but still including a handful of Test players. At least they did get to field. Note that the Irish player GJ McCarter has the record to himself. Later we will see some who never got a chance to field in their T20I careers.

No batting or bowling in T20Is (complete list):

Several wicketkeepers here, including Ambrose, de Saram and Vilas who played several Tests for England, Sri Lanka and South Africa respectively. Note the special cases of Mol and Schoonheim, which are covered below:

No batting, bowling or fielding in T20Is (complete list):

These two players were scheduled to play in a T20I which was completely rained off. But the toss had taken place, and under ICC guidelines the match is included in player records. Not all statisticians will agree with this guideline, which has covered a few more matches (including one between India and Scotland at the first T20I world championship in 2007).

While Mol did play a few ODIs, Schoonheim did not represent his country on any other occasion.

Involved in all ten dismissals in an innings

If you are reading this, you would be aware that bowlers have taken all ten wickets in an innings on two occasions-Jim Laker in 1956 and Anil Kumble in 1999.

You may have imagined that there must have been some other instances where someone took wickets and catches when added together totaled ten. This thought may have occurred to many in the Ind vs Eng Test at Chennai, when “Sir” Ravindra Jadeja took 7 wickets and 3 catches in the 3rd innings: http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-england-2016-17/engine/match/1034817.html

However, this was not so. Look at the scorecard of this innings carefully:

Jadeja took 7 wickets, missing out on Bairstow, Dawson and Rashid. He did catch Bairstow and Rashid but was NOT involved in the dismissal of Dawson. His third catch was the caught-and-bowled dismissal of Jennings. So he had a hand in 9 of the 10 dismissals.

To identify all these cases, we look at the instances of

10 wickets (no doubt)

9 wickets plus 1 or more catches

8 wickets plus 2 or more catches

7 wickets plus 3 or more catches (e.g. Sir Ravindra)

There are no instances of 6 wickets and 4 or more catches.

These cases are summarized below:

By the process used in Jadeja’s example we identify only FOUR such cases: Laker, Kumble, Hadlee and Tayfield where the bowler had a hand in all ten wickets. The match scorecards can be seen here:

Laker: http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62814.html

Kumble: http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63829.html

Hadlee: http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/engine/match/63415.html

Tayfield:http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62823.html

The cases of Laker and Kumble need no explanation.

In Hadlee’s case, he caught Lawson off VR Brown’s bowling to add to his 9 wickets.

In Tayfield’s case, he caught Insole off Goddard’s bowling to add to his 9 wickets.  His second catch was of Cowdrey (caught and bowled).

And this list does include a genuine knight in Sir Richard Hadlee, unlike the unrecognized knight from Saurashtra.

 

 

 

The first 100 Tests

With the conclusion of Bangladesh’s Test at the PSS ground at Colombo, all Test-playing countries have completed 100 Tests. It is interesting to see how the teams have fared during the first 100 Tests.

You might think that Australia did the best in its first 100 Tests? Wrong. And which team recorded the least wins in its first 100 Tests? Bangladesh? Wrong again.

There are various ways in which we can look at team performance. First we start with the raw data, in which the abandoned Tests with no play are not counted.

First we see this table with teams arranged in order of wins in their first 100 Tests:

England is a little ahead of Australia here. And Bangladesh won more Tests than New Zealand did. Zimbabwe is just ahead of India, which is in 8th place.

Then they can be arranged in order of Win/Loss Ratio:

England is still on top, while the West Indies is just ahead of Australia. Beyond Australia, there are wide gaps though it is interesting to see Zimbabwe ahead of New Zealand and Bangladesh. Older cricket literature (prior to the 1960s) is often quite dismissive of New Zealand’s Test teams. India is in 7th place here.

For Percentage Score, we consider a win earning one point and a draw earning half a point.

Hence Australia with 42 wins, 40 losses and 18 draws has a score (or percentage score for 100 Tests) of 42 + 0.5 * 18= 42 + 9 = 51.0

So here is the table in order of Percentage Score:

We consider Australia ahead of the West Indies as they had more wins (42 against 35).

After Australia and the West Indies there is a fairly wide spread, with Zimbabwe and Bangladesh at the bottom. India is in 6th place.

Looking back at the different tables we can see that South Africa, New Zealand and India did not win many Tests in their early years but were somewhat more successful in drawing matches when compared to Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. And Australian performances were not consistent until part of the 20th century had elapsed. On the whole, Pakistan and Sri Lanka picked up faster than India. In fact Pakistan has the most draws among the teams, followed by India.

 

 

 

A landmark win for Bangladesh

Bangladesh has now completed 100 Tests. They marked the 100th Test with their 9th Test victory. Here are the 9 Test victories in chronological order:

This can be summarized as:

Won 1-0 at home vs Zimbabwe in 2004-05

Won 2-0 away vs West Indies in 2009

Drew 1-1 away vs Zimbabwe in 2013

Won 3-0 at home vs Zimbabwe in 2014-15

Drew 1-1 at home vs England in 2016-17

Drew 1-1 away vs Sri Lanka in 2016-17

Today’s win was their first Test victory against Sri Lanka (and in Sri Lanka).

At this point we can review the performances of Bangladeshi players in these 9 Test victories.

Runs: 100 and above:

Tamim, Shakib and Mushfiqur played in 8 of the 9 wins. They only missed the one in 2004-05. Tamim scored 4 centuries and 2 fifties in these matches, as you can see in the table below.

Highest innings (90 and above):

Bowling (5 or more wickets):

Shakib far ahead of the others with Taijul as a surprise second, with newcomer Miraz rapidly moving up.

Best innings bowling (5wi and above):

The one-Test heroes Taijul and Enamul head the list. Otherwise there is mainly Shakib, but do not forget Mahmudullah’s fiver on debut as well as the emergence of MH Miraz.

Best match bowling (7 or more wickets):

Headed by Miraj and Shakib. Shakib scored a century in the same match.

Most fielding dismissals (5 and above):

Headed by Mushfiqur who kept in all but the 2005 match. Khaled Mashud was the keeper then. Mahmudullah and Mominul have the most catches as non-keepers.

Innings fielding dismissals (3 or more):

Mainly Mushfiqur, though Soumya Sarkar has the most (4) catches by a non-keeper.

Match fielding dismissals (4 or more):

As above, headed by Mushfiqur for keepers and Soumya for non-keepers.

All-round performance (minimum 250 runs and 5 wickets):

Shakib followed by Mahmudullah (who was dropped for the current match).

All-round performance in match (fifty and five-for):

Includes M. Rafique, the only all-rounder in the early Tests and two efforts by Shakib. This includes the century and ten wickets at Khulna, which puts him on the same level as Botham and Imran.

You can also see this piece written at the time of the victory over England a few months ago:

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2016/10/31/bangladeshs-greatest-test-win/