Tests in 2022-Batting records

Continuing our study of Test performances in the year gone by.

Most runs-500 or more:

Babar Azam leads with 1184, while Root, Khawaja and Bairstow also crossed 1000. For India, only RR Pant appears here with 680.

Also note:

Most 100s: 6 by Bairstow, 5 by Root

Most 50+s: 11 by Babar Azam, 9 by Usman Khawaja

Most 4s: 132 by Z Crawley, 128 by Bairstow

Most 6s: 26 by Stokes, 21 by Pant

Highest innings (150 or more):

A good year for double centuries, led by Latham’s 252 at the beginning of the year.Williamson and Warner scored doubles in their last Tests of the year. Only one from India, Jadeja’s 175*.

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

Only 7 instances here which meet the cutoff of 20 innings. Khawaja’s average of 67.50 is much higher than the second-placed Root with 45.75.

Best strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced, 40.00 and above):

Headed by Bairstow, Stokes and Root, who may be called the main proponents of Bazball.

No one from India here.

However, JJ Bumrah made the Test record for the most runs in an over (35 off England’s SCJ Broad) at Birmingham. The previous record was 28.

Review of Pakistan-England T20I matches-Oct 2022

England won the current series series 4-3. This was the first 7-match T20I series between full members, although there has also been one between Malawi and Mozambique earlier this year. These were the first T20Is played by England in Pakistan.

A summary of all T20Is between England and Pakistan:

England leads overall, as well as at home, away and at neutral venues.

Individual performances:

Batting:

Most runs (200 and above):

Led by the opening pair of Babar Azam (560) and M Rizwan (522).

Highest innings (70 and above):

The only two centuries are by Babar Azam and LS Livingstone.

The most 50+ scores are 6 by M Rizwan and 5 by Babar Azam.

PD Salt’s 88* is the best for England in Pakistan.

There is not enough data for meaningful calculation of averages.

Best strike rates (Minimum 250 balls faced, all instances):

Headed by Babar Azam and EJG Morgan.

Bowling:

Most wickets (8 and above):

AU Rashid and GP Swann have 17 wickets each, while Haris Rauf (14) has the best for Pakistan.

There are two instances of 4wi, by Saeed Ajmal (4-21) and AU Rashid (4-35).

Innings bowling (3wi and above):

MA Wood’s 3-20 is the best for England in Pakistan.

Wahab Riaz’s 3-18 is the best for Pakistan in England.

Fielding:

Most dismissals (6 and above):

Morgan has the most catches by a fielder (12). Buttler has the most dismissals by a keeper (7 including 5 stumpings).

Most innings dismissals (3 and above):

No England player has made 3 dismissals in a match in Pakistan.

This list includes a number of keepers and fielders.

Buttler is the only one with 2 stumpings in an innings.

All-round performance:

Minimum 20 runs and 2 wickets in a match:

The best performances here would be by MM Ali (36 and 2-32) and Shahid Afridi (24 and 3-15).

Winning a chase with no wickets down

Pakistan scored 203 for no loss against England in the 2nd T20I at Karachi on 22 Sep. Actually, the T20I record is 213/0 by Gibraltar v Bulgaria earlier this year, though Pakistan’s 203 is the best for matches between full members. The batsman were M Rizwan (88*) and Babar Azam (110*).

Here we see all instances of a winning chase of 100 or more runs for no loss in T20Is:

The best by India is 103/0 against Zimbabwe in 2016 (KL Rahul 47*, Mandeep Singh 52*).

Now we look at the corresponding figures for ODIs:

All instances of a winning chase of 150 or more runs for no loss in ODIs:

South Africa holds the record with 282/0 against Bangladesh in 2017 (de Kock 168*, Amla 110*).

India’s record is 201/0 against New Zealand in 2009 (Gambhir 63*, Sehwag 125*).

Finally, we look at 10-wicket victories in Tests with 75 or more in the 4th innings:

The record is 173/0 by Australia against England in 2017 (Bancroft 82*, Warner 87*).

The first 4 partnerships are all by Australia.

The best for India is 78/0 against Pakistan in 1980 (Gavaskar 29*, Chauhan 46*).

T20I performances of 2021 – Pt 2

Hope you have read Part 1.

We continue our study of the T20I performances in the calendar year 2021, counting only the matches between teams which had Test or ODI status in the past.

Bowling figures:

Most wickets (15 or more):

Newcomer Hasaranga de Silva and T Shamsi have the most wickets (36), followed by Mustafizur (28). No one from India has taken 15 or more wickets.

There are 5 instances of 5wi and 8 instances of 4+wi.

Best innings bowling (includes all instances of 5wi and more):

The lesser-known JN Frylinck has the best figures. Next is AC Agar, who is better known for his 98 at No 11 on Test debut.

Also note the startling figures of 4 for 2 by AU Rashid.

No one from India is in this list.

Bowling averages (minimum 500 balls bowled):

Only one bowler reaches this cutoff. Hasaranga has bowled a few overs less but has a better average of 11.63 (see the first table above).

Fielding figures:

Most dismissals (10 or more):

The most dismissals are 24 by M Rizwan and 21 by MS Wade. The most catches by a fielder is 17 by Babar Azam. However, the most stumpings are 5 by JS Buttler. Rizwan’s 24 dismissals include 22 as keeper and 2 as fielder.

The most catches by an Indian player are 11 by SA Yadav.

Most dismissals in an innings (4 or more):

From the lesser teams. Erasmus’s 4 catches were as a fielder.

Best dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.500)

Led by MS Wade, while Fakhar Zaman has the best by a fielder.

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

2 of the 4 performances are by Shakib Al Hasan, although MR Marsh’s performance is the best followed by Shakib’s against PNG. MR Marsh was also Man of the Match in the T20I Cup final with 77*

T20I performances of 2021 – Pt 1

A review of team and individual performances in T20Is in the calendar year 2021.

As discussed here, for any meaningful comparison, we should not consider all T20Is but only those of a reasonable standard (i.e. those who have or had Test or ODI status in the past). These are:

1. Afghanistan
2. Australia
3. Bangladesh
4. Bermuda
5. Canada
6. England
7. Hong Kong (HK)
8. India
9. Ireland
10. Kenya
11. Namibia
12. Nepal
13. Netherlands
14. New Zealand (NZ)
15. Oman
16. Pakistan
17. Papua New Guinea (PNG)
18. Scotland
19. South Africa (SA)
20. Sri Lanka (SL)
21. United Arab Emirates (UAE)
22. United States of America (USA)
23. West Indies (WI)
24. Zimbabwe

We first look at the performance of teams:

Among the teams which have played at least 10 matches, Pakistan has the best W/L ratio followed by South Africa and England. Zimbabwe brings up the tail with Ireland just above it.

Now for individual performances, starting with Batting

Most runs (300 and above):

Note that Mohammad Rizwan has by far the most runs, with his team-mate Babar Azam in second place. No one has scored more than one century. Rizwan has the most 50+ scores (13), followed by Azam (10).

The most runs by an Indian player are 424 by RG Sharma, in the middle of the table above.

Highest innings (80 and above):

Led by Babar Azam (122). The best for India is 80* by V Kohli.

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

Inevitably headed by Rizwan, whose average is almost double that of the runner-up Azam. Nobody from India has played enough.

Highest strike rate (Minimum 250 balls faced, all instances):

Here WI’s E Lewis leads, followed by RG Sharma. No one else from India. The Pakistani pair of Rizwan and Azam are in the middle.

To be continued.

Review of WI-Pakistan Test series.

After this Test series was drawn 1-1:

A total of 54 Tests have been played between these countries. Pakistan lead 21-18 with 15 draws.

In the West Indies: Of 28 Tests, WI lead Pakistan 13-8 with 7 draws.

In Pakistan: Of 21 Tests, Pakistan lead 9-4 with 8 draws.

In neutral venues: Of 5 Tests, Pakistan lead 4-1 with 0 draws.

Babar Azam has captained Pakistan in 6 Tests, with 5 wins and 1 loss.

Most runs: 1214 by Mohammad Yousuf. From recent players, 951 by Azhar Ali.

Highest innings: 365* by Gary Sobers in 1957-58. In recent years 302* by Azhar Ali in 2016-2017

Highest batting average: 57.43 by Wasim Raja. From recent players, 50.05 by Azhar Ali.

Most wickets: 80 by Imran Khan. From recent players, 46 by Yasir Shah.

Best innings bowling: 8-29 by Colin Croft in 1976-77

In recent years 8-49 by D Bishoo in 2016-17

Best match bowling: 12-100 by Fazal Mahmood in 1958-59

In recent years 10-94 by SS Afridi in 2021.

Best bowling average: 19.56 by Colin Croft

Best economy rate: 2.05 by Lance Gibbs

Best strike rate: 39.6 by Waqar Younis

Most dismissals: 29 by Franz Alexander

Most by non-keeper: 23 by Vivian Richards and Younis Khan.

Highest dismissal rate 0.821 by Younis Khan.

(No regular keeper had played the cutoff of 20 innings fielded)

Match all-round performance: 121 & 56, 5-28 & 3-69 by Mushtaq Mohammad in 1976-77.

Test captains with only wins, only losses and only draws

Those who won all the Tests in which they captained:

The record is 4, shared by A Bacher, current player Babar Azam and Lord Hawke of long ago. Three more have two, and the rest were lucky in their only opportunity (e.g. Ravi Shastri and Mashrafe Mortaza). In the latter case Shakib Al Hasan captained for most of the match.

For players who saw victory in all their Tests, the record is 10 by Eldine Baptiste.

Those who lost all the Tests in which they captained:

This is incomplete, but does include all those who captained in 2 or more Tests.

It is perhaps not surprising that the first two positions are by earlier captains of Bangladesh. The 3rd place goes to an Indian captain, who is currently the oldest living Indian Test player. There is also WTS Porterfield who has captained Ireland in all their three Tests. From recent times there is Mohammad Rizwan.

Some well-known players are here, such as AJ Lamb, AR Morris and RS Madugalle.

Players who lost all their Tests are led by Alok Kapali (17).

Those who drew all the Tests in which they captained:

The record is held by the unlikely K Srikkanth. He and Majid Khan were known to be aggressive batsmen.

There are a number of well-known players here including DL Murray, G Kirsten, GA Headley, IDS Smith, RR Lindwall and TW Graveney. India’s HR Adhikari gets credit here as he drew the Test after 3 successive heavy losses. He was the 4th Indian captain in that 5-Test series.

Players who drew all their Tests are CV Gadkari and Shafiq Ahmed (6 each).

Test captains with the best win-loss ratios

Here we have the raw data for all Test captains. Naturally the W/L ration is undefined for those with no losses:

Here we have everyone who captained in 2 or more Tests without a loss.

This list is headed by WW Armstrong of a century ago with 10 Tests including 8 wins and 2 draws, followed by DB Close (7 Tests, 6 wins and a draw).

Those with an all-win record are A Bacher, today’s Babar Azam and Lord Hawke who all captained in 4 Tests.

Also note AM Rahane with 5 Tests, 4 wins and a draw.

However, this list would be more meaningful if it was restricted to those who captained in 10 or more Tests.

Here we get:

As mentioned earlier, WW Armstrong is the only one here with no losses. Next come Jardine, Bradman and Steve Waugh. Waugh has the highest ratio for those who captained in 25 or more Tests.

From India, V Kohli is the only one.

Elgar’s unusual record

South Africa’s 3-day rout of West Indies included an obscure record for captain Dean Elgar.

He is one of the few captains who won a Test without scoring a run, taking a wicket or a fielding dismissal. Here is the complete list of captains who achieved this:

Note that Babar Azam did the same earlier this year.

There are some famous names here (including Bradman in his last Test in 1948).

No Indian captain here, although Clive Lloyd did this against India in 1976. That was the Test famous for the bouncer barrage and India being 97 all out with 5 batsmen unable to bat due to various injuries.

Meanwhile, here is the short list of Indian players whose side won a Test without any contribution by them:

Ishant Sharma achieved this earlier in the year. There is also Pujara with one of his rare ducks.

Also note 3 separate players in the test against NZ at Chennai in 1955-56, which is remembered for the long-standing opening record of 413 by Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy.

TAIL PIECE: If you have any connection with Maharashtra, you can create memes about the Elgar Parishad.

Records of Zimbabwe-Pakistan Test series-May 2021

Another one-sided series which was a common feature of the last few months.

Here is a full record of Tests between these teams:

Zimbabwe has only won 3 of these Tests. But they have been significant, as the first win in 1994-95 was Zimbabwe’s first win (though they lost the series 2-1). The second in 1998-99 ensured Zimbabwe’s first series win abroad. And the third in 2013 was one of their rare drawn series against a major team.

Highlights of this series: Babar Azam won all 4 of his first 4 Tests as captain.

Abid Ali’s 215* is the highest for Pak v Zim in Zim, surpassing Younis Khan’s 200* in 2013. The Pak v Zim record is still Wasim Akram’s 257* in 1996 at Sheikhupura.

He also became the first to make a score of 215* in a Test. Several others have been dismissed on 215, most recently MA Agarwal and M Labuschagne.

Nauman Ali (97 and 5-86) came close to becoming the first to make a century +5wi for Pakistan against Zimbabwe. PA Strang had already done this for Zim v Pak in 1996. That was the same match in which Wasim Akram scored 257*.

Fawad Alam now has the most centuries (4) without a score between 50 and 99. The previous “record” was 3 centuries by Ravi Bopara. However, it should be mentioned that ED Weekes made 5 centuries before making his first fifty (that too in 5 successive innings), and GA Headley went a step ahead with 6 centuries before stooping to a fifty.

Review of Pakistan-South Africa Test series-1

After this series was won 2-0 by Pakistan, this is the summary of the 28 Tests played between these teams:

This is only the second time Pakistan has won a Test series against South Africa. The previous occasion was in 2003-04, where the captains were Md Yousuf (win) and Inzamam (draw) vs Graeme Smith.

And Pakistan lost 3-0 when they last toured SA in 2018-19. Sarfraraz Ahmed was then the captain.

Babar Azam’s Test captaincy started with two wins.

The overall record:

Next we look at individual records.

Most runs (500 and above):

Azhar Ali is the only current player here.

The most centuries are 6 by Kallis and 4 each by de Villiers, Smith and Younis Khan. And the most 50+ scores are 14 by Kallis and 12 by Amla.

Highest individual scores (125 and above):

de Villiers has the best performance here. No one from the current series.

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

As in the earlier table, de Villiers leads by a distance. Azhar Ali is the only current player.

Highest strike rate (Minimum 1000 balls faced, all instances):

Similarly, led by de Villiers with Azhar Ali the only current player.

To be continued.

The ODIs of 2019-1

Here is the summary of all the ODIs of 2019:

Win-Loss ratios for all teams:

This isn’t very useful as the Netherlands and Namibia come out on top.

The ICC rankings on Dec 31 are more meaningful:

Here we have the four semi-finalists of the World Cup at the top.

Next we move to the individual performances, starting with

Batting:

Most runs (600 or more):

RG Sharma, V Kohli and SD Hope lead by a big margin.

Sharma has the most centuries (7) followed by Kohli (5).

The most scores of 50+ were by Sharma (13) followed by Kohli and Hope with 12 apiece.

Highest innings scores (120 or more):

Led by the relatively lesser-known JD Campbell. There are several other scores above 150.

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

Hope, Babar Azam and Kohli are close together at the top.

Highest strike rates (Min 500 balls faced, 90.00):

Here we have some other names at the top such as JJ Roy, who is considerably ahead of EJG Morgan. While Kohli is here, others who scored the most (RG Sharma and SD Hope) did not score fast enough. There is one player (N Zadran) from Afghanistan.

To be continued: