Clean sweeps or whitewashes in ODI series

When New Zealand won all 3 ODIs in the series against India, there was much checking of old records to see when this had last happened.

Fortunately, this is one performance which appears in the records section of Cricinfo so one does not have to resort to Statsguru.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283240.html

From this we see:

The last such “whitewash” against India was by 4-0 in 2006-07 by South Africa.

Before that, by West Indies (5-0) in 1988-89

(More than a generation ago).

However, India has also done the same to

Sri Lanka (5-0) IN Sri Lanka in 2017, Zimbabwe (3-0) in 2016 and 20, both times in Zimbabwe. And several others before that.

Not to forget the triple clean sweep in Tests, ODIs and T20Is in Sri Lanka in 2017.

Then one can coin new terms such as brownwashes and blackwashes (though the latter should be applicable only when the West Indies does this).

For Test matches, see this:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283942.html

 

Review of Australia-New Zealand Tests-1

The overall results at the end of this series:

As Australia won all 3 Tests, they gained 120 points for the World Test Championship. The points table as of 06 Jan 2020:

Australia won their second clean sweep in a 3-Test series against New Zealand. They had earlier done this in New Zealand in 1999-2000.

While New Zealand has lost most of their series against Australia, they did win both at home and away in 1985-86 thanks mainly to RJ Hadlee.

Now for individual performances in Batting:

Most runs (750 or more):

Warner, Taylor and Smith are the current players here.

The most centuries are 5 by Border and Warner.

The most 50+ scores are 11 by Border and Boon.

Highest innings (140 and above):

None of these high scores are from this series, although there are some from 2015 and 2016. Taylor and Warner made the top scores for these teams in the same Test in 2015.

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

Taylor and Southee represent the current players. Warner has not played enough in this series. JL Langer has a large lead over the next-placed Greg Chappell.

Highest batting strike rates (Min 1000 balls faced, 50.00):

Gilchrist leads by a large margin over Warner and Taylor.

To be continued:

 

More on ODI defeats of Sri Lanka

It is well known that India has followed the 3-0 Test clean sweep with a 5-0 ODI sweep against Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka last won a bilateral ODI series against India in 1997 with a 3-0 margin with one NR. The previous occasion was in 1993, when they won 2-1. They have not won a bilateral ODI series in India. The 1997 ODI victory was overshadowed by the world record Test total of 952/6 during that tour.

This was also their worst home defeat in a bilateral ODI series. The previous worst defeats were 2-0 in a 3-match series against Pakistan in 2005-06, and by the same margin also against Pakistan in 1985-86.

 

Clean sweeps in away Test series (Updated in Nov 2022)

Clean sweeps of Test series of 3,4 and 5 matches are not as rare as one may think. Here is Cricinfo’s listing:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283942.html

India has recorded clean sweeps at home earlier (and have faced 5-0 sweeps against England and the West Indies as well, but never at home). India had already won against England 3-0 in 1992-93, against Sri Lanka 3-0 (all by an innings) in 1993-94, against Australia 4-0 in 2012-2013, against New Zealand 3-0 in 2016-17, 3-0 against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka and now 3-0 against South Africa in 2019-2020.

That was not, however, the first time India have won 3 Tests in an away series. They defeated New Zealand 3-1 in 1967-68, achieving India’s first Test and series win outside India. This series is often forgotten, probably because of New Zealand’s low standing at that time and also because India had just endured a 3-0 loss in England followed by a 4-0 loss in Australia.

There were also mini-sweeps (2-0) by India in Bangladesh (2004-05 and 2009-10), in Zimbabwe (2005-06) and in the West Indies (2019). Similarly India lost 2-0 to South Africa at home in 1999-2000.

The 2016-17  series included wins by 304 runs followed by two innings wins (though the first Test was effectively an innings defeat as the total of Sri Lanka’s two innings was less than India’s first innings total). Again, this is not new as India had won all 3 Tests by an innings at home against the same opposition in 1993-94. Other examples of this kind include the West Indies losing all 3 Tests by an innings in their first series against England in 1928.

West Indies is the only team to win 4-0 or 5-0 away. They won 5-0 against England in England in 1984, and followed this with 5-0 at home in 1985-86 against the same opponents.

There was a tinge of black humor in reportage of these West Indies victories in the 1980s. Earlier the term “whitewash” was commonly used for a clean sweep, so it was but natural that a 5-0 victory by the West Indies would be called a “blackwash”, as in 1984 and 1985-86. By 1988 England had improved a bit and lost the 5-Test home series 4-0. This was dubbed a “dark grey wash”.

Then there was India’s “brownwash” of England in 1992-93.

3-0 sweeps away from home are not too common. An updated list as of Dec 2022:

Eng in NZ, 1962-63

Aus in NZ, 1999-2000

Aus in SL, 2003-04

Aus in SA, 2005-06

Ind in SL, 2017

Eng in SL, 2018-2019

Eng in Pak, 2021-2022

And in neutral venues:

Aus v Pak, 2002-03

Pak v Eng, 2011-12.

There have been many near-clean sweeps of 4-0 and 4-1 in 5-Test series. In the 6-Test series which were played between the 1970s and 1990s, we have two examples of 5-1 margins:

Aus v WI in Aus, 1975-76

Eng v Aus in Aus, 1978-79