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

Bowling fails in ODIs

This continues the theme of the earlier post:

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2017/02/13/bowling-fails-in-t20i-matches/

Here we look at poor performances in ODI matches. Data is correct as on 4th March 2017.

Matches involving the ICC, Asia and Africa teams are not considered.

Most runs conceded without taking a wicket (100 runs and above):

The list includes a number of players who have played a few Tests, including the “leader” MAR Samarasekara who played 4 Tests and took a few wickets in them but was singularly unfortunate in this format. KV Sharma and VRV Singh represent India here, though they did slightly better in Tests.

Most balls bowled without taking a wicket (90  balls and above):

Samarasekara again heads this list, and many of those on the first list are here as well. A couple of bowlers from East Africa’s World Cup team of 1975 are here, including DJ Pringle, father of England player Derek Pringle.

Most innings bowled without taking a wicket (4 and above):

Samarasekara yet again! We may as well learn more about him:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/India/content/player/50421.html

A few prominent batsmen who bowled a bit can be found here, such as David Boon, Salman Butt and VVS Laxman. They were probably called upon to bowl a few overs in a few ODIs.

Most matches without taking a wicket (150 and above):

As one may expect, the higher positions are mainly occupied by wicket-keepers (Sangakkara, Boucher and Gilchrist) who rarely bowled, although there are also some non-keepers who rarely bowled. From the above list we can see Atapattu, Gibbs and Rhodes near the top. It is worthwhile to draw up this list again for non-keepers:

Most matches without taking a wicket (100 and above) for non-keepers:

Quite a number of prominent batsmen here. A special mention for Gibbs, Tharanga and Morgan who never bowled a single ball in their long ODI careers.

And finally, we look at the best economy rates of these bowlers.

Best economy rates for those who never took a wicket and bowled 90 or more balls:

This is headed by JM Patel (the same initials as those of Jasu Patel!) of Canada and includes largely unknown players, some of whom played a few Tests. The names of Samarasekara, KV Sharma and Abul Hasan should be familiar by now.

A similar analysis of Test bowlers will follow soon.