Test bowling performances of 2016

This applies to all Tests during the calendar year 2016.

Most wickets taken (20 and above):

tests2016-wkts

Ashwin is far ahead of the runner-up Herath. Ashwin also has the most fivers (8) followed by Herath (5). Ashwin yet again has the most tenners (3) followed by Herath and Yasir Shah with 2 apiece.

Best bowling (innings): All instances of 6 or more wickets.

tests2016-bowlinngs

Bishoo has the best innings figures for the year but his side lost that Test. Interestingly, RA Jadeja has the best innings figures for India.

Best bowling (match): All instances of 8 or more wickets

tests2016-bowlmatch

Ashwin’s and Herath’s names keep recurring here.

Bowling averages: (Minimum 1500 balls):

tests2016-bowl-avg

Herath tops this list followed by the less heralded Wagner and then Starc.

Jadeja has the  best economy rate of 2.27, followed by Anderson (2.46) and Herath (2.61)

The best strike rate is by Rabada (36.6) followed by Starc (39.0) and Herath (43.4)

Though Ashwin took the most wickets, he did not score very well on these parameters.

To be continued.

 

 

Summary statistics of T20 2016 World Championship

 

For 2016 alone:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=3;filter=advanced;orderby=matches;size=200;spanmin1=24+Feb+2016;spanval1=span;template=results;trophy=89;type=allround

For all matches in this World Championship since 2007:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=3;filter=advanced;orderby=matches;size=200;template=results;trophy=89;type=allround

Those who are familiar with Statsguru should be able to extract various parameters such as total runs, batting averages, strike rates etc. from the output of these links.

Most wickets in Tests in first calendar year (updated in 2018)

In the last post https://abn397.wordpress.com/2016/01/02/most-runs-in-tests-in-first-calendar-year/ we saw that only three Test players have scored over 1000 runs in the calendar year of their debut (which is not the same as the first 365 days after debut).

Here we do the same study for the landmark of 50 wickets. Only one Test player has achieved this in the calendar year of his debut, and he is reasonably well-known but not considered one of the top bowlers of his country. Below we have a list of all those who took 40+ wickets in the calendar year of their debut.

To achieve this is primarily a matter of luck, as it is useful to make your debut in the earlier part of the year. However, some of them started off in the English season or as late as September when their country had a large number of Tests in the latter part of the year (such as India in 1979).

TM Alderman (Aus)      54    1981

CEL Ambrose (WI)        49    1988

JJ Bumrah (Ind)             48    2018

ST Finn (Eng)                 46    2010

R Tattersall (Eng)          44    1951

JV Saunders (Aus)         42     1902

DG Cork (Eng)                42    1995

SR Clark (Aus)                42    2006

DR Doshi (Ind)               40    1979

MS Panesar (Eng)          40   2006

As you may guess, this table is derived from getting a list of wicket-takers in a calendar year from Statsguru and then checking the date of their Test debuts. It is just possible that I may have missed someone.

Note that both Clark and Panesar achieved this in 2006. In the same year AN Cook became the second to make over 1000 runs in his first calendar year.

Best bowling figures on debut

After seeing the travails of Adil Rashid, Jason Krezja and others we turn to something more positive-the best bowling figures on debut. We have already seen that a poor debut does not always stand in the way of a long and successful career (Bradman with his 18 and 1  and Hutton with 0 and 1 would be prime examples).

These figures are up to the end of the recent Tests at Abu Dhabi and Galle.

Best innings bowling on debut:

Best innings bowling on debut

First on the list is Australia’s Albert Trott, who added 38* and 72* to his 8-wicket haul. He also scored 85* in the next Test. However, he played only 3 Tests for Australia, 2 more for England and died in tragic circumstances (an euphemism for depression leading to suicide).

Another Australian Bob Massie made an unexpected 16-wicket haul at Lord’s but could not do much afterwards, though his tailend batting did help to win one Test against Pakistan. He did not take a 5-for after his debut and ended with 6 Tests.

India’s Narendra Hirwani was somewhat more fortunate than Massie, but never could repeat anything close to his devastation of a fairly strong West Indies team. He even went on to become a national selector.

Lance Klusener’s debut was somewhat similar to that of Rashid as he took 0-75 followed by 8-64. However, for most of his career he was considered more of a batting all-rounder. He was the man of the tournament in the 1999 World Cup.

TK Kendall took 7/55 in the very first Test. Note the 4-ball overs.

Then we have our old friends Krezja and Valentine whose bowling could not prevent defeats for their teams. Some other famous names like Bedser, Laker and Sammy of more recent vintage are there. South Africa’s WH Ashley played in only one Test; he is the only one to take a five-for in his only innings.

We now look at match bowling figures on debut:

Best match bowling on debut

Hirwani heads this list, though his analysis is just one run ahead of Massie’s. The record of 12-102 by Fred “Nutty” Martin was the best by a debutant from 1890 to 1972, though his career ended after 2 Tests. Well-known names such as Grimmett, Bedser, Valentine, Peter Pollock, Alderman and Laker are well represented here, besides current players like M Shami and R Ashwin.

One curiosity is CS Marriott, who is the only one to take a 10-for in his only Test. JK Lever is the only one to add a fifty to his 10 wickets on debut. And HHH Johnson is the only Test player to have three repeating initials in his name; coincidentally he played in only 3 Tests.

R Berry made his debut along with Ramadhin and Valentine. Though he was instrumental in winning that Test, the other two ensured that the West Indies won the next three Tests.

In general, it appears that performance on debut has relatively little to do with long-term performance both for batsmen and bowlers. I suppose that a rigorous statistical analysis with t-tests and the like would prove this more conclusively.

Cricket odds and ends-2

As the Lord’s Test proceeds to its logical conclusion, here are some more odds and ends from bowling in Test cricket. These figures do not include the current Test in progress or the Australia vs ICC XI Test of 2005.

Most wickets taken by a player who did not take 10 wickets in a match:

325   RGD Willis (BB 9-92)

308   B Lee (BB 9-171)

291  JH Kallis (BB 9-92)

Now we move to wickets taken in an innings.

Most wickets taken by a player who did not take 9 wickets in an innings:

702   SK Warne (8-71)

560   GD McGrath (8-24)

519   CA Walsh (7-37)

Most wickets taken by a player who did not take 8 wickets in an innings:

519   CA Walsh (7-37)

421   SM Pollock (7-87)

414   Wasim Akram (7-119)

Most wickets taken by a player who did not take 7 wickets in an innings:

308   B Lee (5-30)

291   JH Kallis (6-54)

259   J Garner (6-56)

Most wickets taken by a player who did not take 6 wickets in an innings:

308   B Lee (5-30)

219   A Flintoff (5-58)

151   RJ Shastri (5-75)

Most wickets taken by a player who did not take 5 wickets in an innings:

87    M Hendrick (4-28)

78    Mashraf Mortaza (4-60)

75    BM McMillan (4-65)

Most wickets taken by a player who did not take 4 wickets in an innings:

51    NJ Astle (3-27)

47    BL D’Oliveira (3-46)

46    SR Tendulkar (3-10)

Now the reverse cases:

Least wickets taken by a player who took 10 wickets in a match:

11    SF Burke

11    CS Marriott (only 1 Test)

13    HHH Johnson

13    JJ Krejza

Least wickets taken by a player who took 9 wickets in an innings:

17    JM Noreiga

29    JM Patel

99     AA Mailey

Least wickets taken by a player who took 8 wickets in an innings:

13    JJ Krejza

25    BJT Bosanquet

26    AE Trott (both for Aus and Eng)

Least wickets taken by a player who took 7 wickets in an innings:

9    M de Lange

9    T Emmett

13    KJ Abbott

Least wickets taken by a player who took 6 wickets in an innings:

7    PJ Cummins (only 1 Test)

8    GM Parker

9    WH Cooper

Least wickets taken by a player who took 5 wickets in an innings:

5 in 5 instances