Analyzing Test captaincies – 3

Now we look at the ranking of captains by simple criteria such as win-loss ratios and win percentage.

Win-loss ratios (raw):

All of those listed here have a win-loss ratio of infinity-since they never lost a Test. A few like Srikkanth and Majid Khan managed to draw all their Tests.

As this table is not very meaningful, we repeat this with a restriction of a minimum of 10 Tests:

These are limited to those with W/L ratios above 2.00

This list of 31 is headed by Warwick Armstrong with 8 wins, no losses and 2 draws. Others have lost at least one Test. The first few are generally considered to be among the best captains although they had relatively short careers. And not everyone would agree with Jardine’s tactics.

Current captains are Kohli (#16) and Williamson (#25). They should be around for a while.

Also note that these two are the only representatives of India and New Zealand respectively among the top 31 (who have W/L ratio above 2.00)

West Indies is headed by Richards and Lloyd (as you may expect). Pakistan is headed by Zaheer Abbas (whom you would not expect). Similarly SM Pollock is the top SA captain here (though there is also A Bacher with 4 wins in 4 Tests).

From the upper table, special mention should be made of DB Close (6 wins and 1 draw in 7 Tests).

We also look at

Percentage of wins (raw):

Somewhat meaningful, although those with short careers (A Bacher and Lord Hawke) have an advantage with 4 wins out of 4. The latter was a poor batsman but somehow managed to win 4 Tests and played in one other victory, thus seeing victory in all his 5 Tests.

Bacher did not do too well himself but had a good team and a demoralized Australian team to contend with.

As in the case of W/L ratios, we will get more useful results with a restriction of a minimum of 10 Tests:

This list of 28 is of those with a win percentage of a minimum of 50%.

This may fit in better with general perceptions, though Warwick Armstrong is still at the top with 80%. Here Steve Waugh is above Bradman unlike in the upper table. Others like Kohli and Williamson are ranked higher than in the upper table.

Kohli, Williamson, Paine, Root and du Plessis are the current captains although the last-named intends to step down. And SPD Smith may make a comeback.

It is interesting to see the most successful captains from their countries:

WW Armstrong (Aus)

WG Grace (Eng) ?!

V Kohli (Ind)

FMM Worrell (WI)

Waqar Younis (Pak) ?!

KS Williamson (NZ)

SM Pollock (SA)

Note that Waqar Younis has 10 wins, 7 losses and no draws. This is also a record, which we will see later.

CH Lloyd is not here as his win % is less than 50.

There are still more studies of captaincy coming up.

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.