Test batting averages across innings

There is often a significant difference in how batsmen perform in different innings. This is apparent when we look at those with the highest averages in Tests (for those who have batted in at least 20 innings).

Data is correct up to April 3, 2018. The ICC XI v Aus Test of 2005 is not counted.

First we look at the averages for Tests as a whole, for a minimum of 20 innings vatted across innings;

Highest batting averages in Tests (50 and above):

You do not need to be reminded about the man with 99.94. The next two are also well known in recent years. Some, like Kambli, are lucky to scrape through. Other contemporary players listed above include Kohli, Root, Younis Khan, de Villiers, Pujara and Williamson.

Most of those who are generally regarded as great batsmen are here-even though some like H Sutcliffe, GE Tyldesley and CA Davis never made a double century.

Now we look at the different innings. The 20-innings cutoff is applied in each case.

Highest batting averages in first innings of Tests (55 and above):

Brdman and Steve Smith are still in the top 3, but then there is considerable variation. Hassett and Azhar Ali averaged less than 50 in all innings but did much better in the first innings. Voges, Graeme Pollock and Headley did not play enough Tests. Barrington and Weekes seemed to have particularly relished batting in the first innings.

Contemporary players here include Steve Smith, Azhar Ali, Pujara, Ross Taylor, du Plessis, Root and a few others.

Moving on to the second innings.

Highest batting averages in second innings of Tests (55 and above):

Bradman is still at the top, followed relatively closely by Kohli. Other contemporary players include Steve Smith, Williamson, Root, de Villiers, Younis Khan and AN Cook. Tendulkar just scrapes through the 55-mark, some distance behind Gavaskar who did not do too well in the first innings.

Now to the third innings.

Highest batting averages in third innings of Tests (50 and above):

Bradman now drops out of the table altogether, with May and Kallis taking the two top spots. Here the differences between the top players are comparatively smaller. Contemporary players here are headed by Amla and Azhar Ali.

Finally the fourth innings, where survival skills are particularly important:

Highest batting averages in fourth innings of Tests (40 and above):

As we can see, it is as difficult to average 40 here as it is to average 50 overall. Boycott, Gavaskar and Hobbs are bunched together at the top. And some like Bradman did not need to do much in the fourth innings as they and their teams generally scored enough in the first and second innings. Some, such as Ranatunga, Misbah and Hutton did not even score centuries in the fourth innings and probably benefited by a number of not-out innings.

Contemporary players here include Younis Khan, AD Mathews, Misbah-ul-Haq, Warner, Ross Taylor and Mohammad Hafeez.

Comparison of centuries made in different innings will be taken up next.

 

 

 

 

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The ODIs of 2017

With the conclusion of ODIs on Dec 26, these were the ICC rankings for this date:

We see that South Africa leads with India just a point behind. As they are to play a 6-match ODI series in January 2018, the top position may well change hands.

We now survey ODI performances in 2017, starting with overall win-loss rations for all ODIs from starting between Jan 1 and Dec 31. All later tables are also in this time frame.

Win-Loss ratios:

This cannot be expected to tally exactly with the ICC rankings since the latter takes into account a longer time span. And this table cannot be taken too seriously as it has Hong Kong in 2nd position, as it mainly plays with the lower-ranked teams. Among the regulars, we have England followed by India, South Africa and Pakistan. And the West Indies is at the very bottom, with its fellow wooden – spooners Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea.

We now move on to individual performances, starting with batting.

Most runs (500 and above):

Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Tharanga scored the most runs. The two Indians also have the most centuries (6 apiece) and most 50+ scores (13 and 11 respectively).

Among those who batted for 20 innings and above, the highest averages are for Kohli (76.84) followed by Rohit Sharma.

Among those who faced at least 500 balls, the highest strike rates are by de Villiers (116.94) followed by KM Jadhav (!) and Ben Stokes.

Now for the highest innings (115 and above):

RG Sharma has the only double century (208*) while du Plessis and Guptill are some distance behind.

Now for bowling:

Most wickets (15 and above):

The table is led by rising stars Hasan Ali and Rashid Khan, with Bumrah and Plunkett a little behind. Hasan Ali is the only one with three fivers, while Rashid Khan and Plunkett each have four 4+s.

Best innings bowling (including all 5wis):

Rashid Khan and TA Boult were the only ones with 7-wicket hauls. An interesting feature here is A Dananjaya (SL) with a 6-wicket haul besides 18 wickets overall. A year ago, he was an interesting oddity as his ODI career of 1 match saw him neither batting, bowling nor fielding.

To save space, there is no table for bowling averages. Taking a minimum of 1000 balls bowled, we see:

JJ Bumrah has the best bowling average of 26.25, followed distantly by B Kumar.

B Kumar has the best economy rate of 5.05, followed closely by JJ Bumrah.

And JJ Bumrah has the best strike rate (30.6) followed by HH Pandya .

An Indian monopoly-as Indian players are practically the only ones who have bowled enough overs. JO Holder is the only other one to have crossed 1000 balls.

Now for fielding:

Most dismissals (10 and above):

Dhoni is far ahead of the second-placed Buttler. They do have the same number of catches though Dhoni has more stumpings. Several non-keepers have 12 catches.

Most innings dismissals (4 and above):

Latham is the only one with 5 dismissals. GJ Maxwell is the only non-keeper with 4 catches.

Dismissals per innings (minimum 20 innings):

Dhoni (1.392) is followed closely by SD Hope with 1.238.

Among non-keepers Kusal Mendis has the highest with 0.571.

All-round performance (overall, see criteria in table):

Ironically, only Rashid Khan has respectable figures here- as he can bat a bit to go along his excellent bowling average.

All-round match performance (minimum 40 runs and 4 wickets):

Dominated by players from the lesser-ranked teams, with Stirling and Mustafa having the best performances.

 

 

Review of India v Sri Lanka T20Is-Dec 2017

After India won this series 3-0, the T20I results between these teams stood as follows:

India lead 10-4. It is interesting that SL have never won a T20I against India at home, though they have won in India and in neutral venues.

Looking at individual performances, starting with batting:

Most runs (100 and above):

Dhoni is the only one to have played in all 14 matches between these teams. He captained in the first 10. Next is RG Sharma (13) and T Perera (11)

Kohli has scored the most runs despite missing this series and playing in only 4 matches. He is closely followed by RG Sharma. Sharma is the only one to score a century, while Kohli has the most (4) scores of 50+.

Highest innings scores (50 and above):

RG Sharma and Rahul both broke the record of 82 made by Kohli in the previous match in Sri Lanka in September. Kusal Perera came close to surpassing Sangakkara’s SL v Ind record of 78.

Highest averages (minimum 5 innings, avg 20.00)

Dhoni has the highest average, though Kohli and Rahul will likely overtake him once they have played 5 innings. RG Sharma’s average is surprisingly low. Oddly Gambhir has the highest strike rate of 151.11 followed by Sharma.

Now for bowling:

Most wickets (5 and above):

Ashwin leads though he did not play in the last two series. Chahal will soon catch up. He is the only one to take two four-fors.

Best innings bowling (3wi and above):

India has the first 5 places here, with Shanaka’s 3-16 being the best for SL.

Best bowling averages (minimum 5 innings, all instances):

Ashwin has by far the best average, followed by newcomer Pandya. Ashwin also has the best economy and strike rate.

Now for fielding:

Most dismissals (3 and above):

Dhoni has the most dismissals as well as stumpings. However non-keeper Pandya has the same number of catches as Dhoni.

Most innings dismissals (2 and above):

Dhoni is the only one to make 3 or more dismissals in an innings. Some non-keepers have taken 2 catches.

Best dismissal rate (Minimum 5 innings, 0.500 and above):

Dhoni again at the top, though non-keeper Pandya has the same rate. Chameera has the best for SL, ahead of keeper Dickwella.

Now for all-round performances:

Overall all-round performances (see criteria):

Only Raina (!) and Yuvraj have a respectable performance here.

All-round match performance (20 and 2 wickets):

Shanaka achieved this during this series, though Yuvraj’s performance is clearly the best.

Thus ended India’s international cricket engagements for 2017.

 

 

Review of India-Sri Lanka ODI series-Dec 2017

India won the series 2-1, thus ensuring that Sri Lanka had never won a bilateral ODI series in India. They had however beaten India twice on the way to their World Cup victory in 1996.

This summarizes all ODIs between these teams:

India enjoys a healthy 90-56 overall lead and a 36-12 lead for ODIs in India. It even leads 28-27 for ODIs in Sri Lanka.

We now look at individual performances:

Batting:

Most runs (750 runs and above):

Dhoni and Kohli have the most runs among current players. The most centuries are 8 by Tendulkar and Kohli and 7 by Jayasuriya. The most 50+ scores are 25 by Tendulkar and 24 by Sangakkara.

Highest innings (125 and above):

The only score from this series is Rohit Sharma’s 208*-but that is still not a record as he had scored 264 against the same team in 2014.

Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, 35.00 and above):

Dhoni and Kohli have the highest averages among current players, followed by Mathews.

Highest batting strike rates (Minimum 500 balls faced, 75.00 and above):

Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have the best strike rates among current players, though Sehwag has a somewhat higher figure.

Now for bowling:

Most wickets (25 and above):

NLTC Perera has the most wickets by a current player, followed by  Mathews. Ashwin did not play in the last two series against SL, and Malinga also missed this series. RR Singh is the only one to take two five-fors, and BAW Medis the only one to take 4 four-fors.

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

No instance from the current series.

Best bowling averages (minimum 1000 balls bowled, 30.00 and below):

Agarkar and Mendis have the best averages. Kapil and Harbhajan have the best economy rates, while Agarkar and I. Sharma have the best strike rates.

Now for fielding:

Most dismissals (20 and above):

Dhoni heads the list, while M Jayawardene has the most catches by a non-keeper. Note the dual roles of Sangakkara and Dravid.

Most dismissals in an innings (4 and above):

Dhoni heads this list as well. Kaif has the most catches by a non-keeper. This was a World Cup record from 2003, until two others equaled it in 2015.

Highest dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.450 and above):

Dhoni is the table topper once more, while Kohli has the highest rate by a non-keeper.

All-round performances:

Overall (see criteria in table):

Mathews scores the highest here, followed by IK Pathan at some distance. Others such as Kapil and Vaas did not play enough in this series.

Match performance (Minimum 40 runs and 4 wickets):

Ganguly’s performance is clearly the best.

 

 

Review of ODIs between India and New Zealand-Oct 2017

At the end of the recent ODI series in India, India maintained its record of winning all bilateral series against New Zealand at home. To sum up:

India won 4-0 in 1988-89

3-2 in 1995-96

3-2 in 1999-00

4-0 in 2010-11

3-2 in 2016-17

and 2-1 in 2017-18

While both this year’s and last year’s series were decided in the final match, this series was more closely contested.

This series finished with 101 ODIs being played between these teams.

India has a healthy 51-44 lead over New Zealand. Both teams have a major home advantage, but have won exactly the same number of matches (15-15) on neutral grounds.

Coming to individual performances:

Batting: 500 runs or more:

While Tendulkar is far ahead of everyone else, Kohli is rapidly moving up followed at some distance by Taylor. A few other current players are also seen in the table above.

The most centuries are 6 by Sehwag, with Astle, Kohli and Tendulkar on 5.

The most scores of 50+ are 13 by Tendulkar followed by 11 by Kohli and 10 by Astle.

Highest individual scores (110 or more):

RG Sharma made the highest score in this series.

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

While Sehwag leads with Dhoni some distance behind, we may note that several current players including Kohli, RG Sharma and Williamson have not completed 20 innings yet. Kohli will move to the top after he completes one more innings.

Batting strike rate (Minimum 500 balls, all instances):

Kohli does qualify here, and is after Sehwag and Kapil.

We now move to bowling.

20 or more wickets:

Srinath is far ahead of the others. Southee is the only current player here.

Srikkanth (!) is the only one with two fivers although he does not appear above. But see the next table:

Best innings bowling (including all instances of 5wi and above):

No major bowling feat in this series. Srikkanth’s two fivers can be seen here.

Best bowling averages (Minimum 1000 balls, all instances):

Srinath has the best average, while Hadlee has the best economy rate and Srinath again the best strike rate. Current players have not bowled enough.

Now for fielding.

12 or more dismissals:

Mongia has the most dismissals and the most stumpings, although McCullum has more catches as a keeper than Mongia. Fleming (18) and Taylor (16) have the most dismissals. Dhoni and Taylor are the current players here.

Best innings fielding (4 or more dismissals):

Four keepers (including McCullum twice) have taken 5 dismissals. 4 fielders have taken 4 catches apiece.

Best dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.400):

Mongia again, with Dhoni and Taylor among current players. Taylor also has the highest rate among non-keepers. Dravid has played as a fielder as well as a keeper.

All-round performance (see criteria in table):

Only the “bits-and-pieces” player CZ Harris appears here. The well-known all-rounders Kapil and Hadlee did not play enough.

All-round match performance (30 runs and 3 wickets):

Several more instances here, with the unlikely hero Srikkanth having the only instance of a fifty and fiver in the same match. Other good performances are by Cairns, Astle and YK Pathan, while the more established Hadlee and Cairns (jr) also appear here.

Footnote: After this series India and New Zealand play 3 T20Is in a series starting from Nov 1. This is an entirely different matter as New Zealand have won all 5 of these matches they have played against India-even when India won the inaugural World Championship in 2007.

 

 

 

 

Test batting performances of 2016

These tables cover all Test matches in the calendar year 2016.

This post concentrates on batting.

Most runs (500 and above):

As many as 7 with over 1000 runs (including 4 from England). Root just edged out Bairstow.

4 centuries each by V Kohli, S Smith and MM Ali.

The most scores of 50+ are 13 by JE Root and 11 by JM Bairstow. Three others have 9.

Highest innings scores (140 and above):

Headed by a newcomer KK Nair and a relative veteran in Azhar Ali. This was Nair’s maiden Test century. V Kohli had three scores of 200 and above. BA Stokes’s 258 was the highest by any No 6 batsman in Tests, surpassing KD Walters’s 250 in 1976-77.

Highest batting averages (Minimum 15 innings, 20.00 and above):

Also note the highest strike rates for a minimum of 15 innings: Warner (86.87), Sarfraz (70.33) and Stokes (66.76).

To be continued