“YJ” Bairstow became the latest to score a century in each innings against India. Bradman was the first to do this:
This the only “double” by Bradman.
Also note the 300 +100 by Gooch. Strauss is the only other one to score centuries in both innings for England against India.
Gooch also holds the record for the most runs in a Test.
Bradman and Gooch were both captaining their sides.
Those who scored a century in both innings for India:
Gavaskar did it thrice (twice against WI) and Dravid twice. Kohli, Rahane and RG Sharma are the most recent ones. Gavaskar (Dec 1978) and Kohli were captaining their sides.
When Hazare made his double against Bradman’s team, it was the first time he had crossed 50.
Gavaskar’s 344 remains the most runs in a match by an Indian batsman. VVS Laxman’s 340 (59 + 281) is next.
Australia won this series 4-0 and came within one wicket of making it 5-0. They had already achieved this against England in 1920-21, 2006-07 and 2013-14.
Last-wicket pairs thwarting defeat are more common than one would imagine. Here is a complete list of these instances in Tests:
This was only the second such instance in Aus-Eng Tests. The earlier one was at Manchester in 2005.
India also appears a number of times in this list, both as thwarter and thwartee.
Here is the summary of matches between Australia and England. Remember that there are some Tests which are not considered as Ashes contests.
Australia’s dominance at home is clear, and they almost lead England in England as well.
We now look at individual performances, starting with
Batting:
Most runs (2000 and more):
Many famous names here. Bradman has the most centuries (19) followed by Hobbs with 12.
Bradman also has the most 50+ scores (31) followed by Border with 29.
You will struggle to find current players here. They are SPD Smith with 3044 with Root just scraping in with 2016. Going a little further back there is Cook with 2493.
Highest innings (200 or more):
In recent years there are 244* by Cook (2017), 239 and 215 by Smith (2017 and 2015).
Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, 45.00 or more):
SPD Smith is No 4 (after Bradman, Sutcliffe and Barrington). No one else from the last few years, unless you count CJL Rogers who played a few Tests in 2013-2015.
Highest strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced, 50.00 or more):
Oddly enough, SCJ Broad has the 4th highest strike rate (after Gilchrist, Flintoff and Prior). And Warne is 5th. Warner, SPD Smith and Stokes are also here.
The ability to convert fifties into hundreds is useful in Tests, even more than converting centuries into double centuries. The “conversion rate” has not received much attention in statistical studies in the past.
If your career includes a score between 50 and 99 but no century, your conversion rate is 0%
If you have no score between 50 and 99 but one or more centuries, your conversion rate is 100%
Most Test batsmen will fall between these extremes (unless they never crossed 50).
Take Virat Kohli. He has 27 Test innings between 50 and 99. Oddly enough he also has 27 centuries.
So he has crossed 50 a total of 27+27 = 54 times, and has gone past 100 on 27 occasions. This is a conversion rate of (27/54)*100 = 50%.
One more example: Sachin Tendulkar has 68 innings between 50 and 99, besides 51 centuries.
So he crossed 50 a total of 68 + 51 = 119 times. His conversion rate is (51/119)*100 is 42.86%
Similarly, we can find Don Bradman’s conversion rate to be (29/(29+13)*100 = 69.05%
Let us now look at studies of all Test players up to Sep 30, 2021.
There are 56 players who have a 100% conversion rate, who have no score between 50-99 plus one or more centuries. The first few are:
RS Bopara is the only one with 3 centuries without any score between 50 and 99.
The next 5 have made 2 centuries, including Wasti who made both his centuries in the same Test.
And then there are 50 others who crossed 50 only once but went on to make a century, ranging from A Lyth to Yasir Shah. KK Nair has a triple century, while D Lloyd and B Kuruppu have doubles. There are a surprisingly high number of players who scored a century on debut and failed to cross 50 afterwards.
For a short time, Fawad Alam had made 4 centuries without a fifty. The record is by GA Headley of long ago, who made 6 centuries before making a fifty.
After crossing the 56 who have a 100% conversion rate with the help of one century, we get:
(This has a cutoff of 55%)
Fawad Alam leads with 5/6 or 83.33%, followed by JF Reid (of the 1980s) and Azhar Mahmood with 75%.
Current players here are Fawad Alam, Najmul Hussain Shanto, Abid Ali and SC Williams (Zimbabwe).
From India there is only S Dhawan and VG Kambli.
If you take those who have scored 10 or more centuries, only Bradman (69.05%) and Headley (66.67) have crossed 55%. The next few are Walcott (51.72), Azharuddin (51.16) and MJ Clarke (50.91)
Here is a complete list of those who scored 10 or more centuries at a conversion rate of 45% or more:
The only current players in this elite group are Kohli and SPD Smith (and M Hafeez from the recent past).
India is represented by Azharuddin, Kohli, Shastri (!) and Umrigar.
(Note that Hayden’s century and other scores in the ICC XI v Aus Test in 2005 have not been counted).
Let us look more closely at current players with 10+ centuries and conversion rates 35+
V Kohli 50.00
SPD Smith 46.55
DA Warner 44.44
Mominul Haque 44.00
D Elgar 43.33
KS Williamson 42.11
CA Pujara 36.73
LD Chandimal 35.48
TWM Latham 35.48
Azhar Ali 35.29
R Taylor 35.19
Note the absence of JE Root (31.51), BA Stokes (29.41), AM Rahane (33.33) and F du Plessis (32.26)
Certainly this last list has some surprises which contradict common perceptions about the heavy scorers of today.
In Part 2, we will look at the other end of the scale-those with the lowest conversion rates.
No Test matches for a while, so we can do some overall reviews.
Batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, 50.00):
Mr 99.94 is well known, but No 2 has already been forgotten. No 3 is fast closing in on No 2’s 61.87. The only other current player in the top 10 is No 6 with 60.80.
The highest for India is by VG Kambli (!) at 54.20. Something similar to the case of AC Voges.
From India, there are also Tendulkar, Dravid, Gavaskar and Kohli.
Among current players, there are SPD Smith, M Labuschagne, KS Williamson, V Kohli and JE Root (who just manages 50+).
In following posts we will look at batting averages across innings.
While everyone knows the No 1, the next few positions have some surprises. Nos 2 and 4 (besides No 20) had the advantage of playing relatively fewer Tests, as well as the current player No 6.
No 3 and 6 are also going to be around for some time. Perhaps they can move to No 2.
The first of a series comparing Test captains by their basic skills rather than captaincy.
Data up to May 15, 2021. The ICC XI Test of 2005 is not included.
Most runs (2500 and above):
After all, Graeme Smith has played the most Tests as captain.
Kohli is in 4th position, the best for Indian players as well as current players. Root and SPD Smith are some distance behind, and Gavaskar still further behind.
Most centuries (6 and above):
Graeme Smith again. Kohli is in second place here and will probably overtake him. SPD Smith is next among current players. Gavaskar with 11 is next among Indian players.
Fifty-plus scores (18 and above):
Here is Graeme Smith yet again. Kohli is in 8th position here, which is the highest both for Indian players and current players. Root and Gavaskar are some distance behind.
Highest individual scores (225 and above):
Led by Lara with his world record 400*. Kohli with 254* is the first among Indian players and current players. Williamson (251) and Karunaratne (244) are next among current players. Kohli’s 243 is the second highest for Indian captains.
Highest batting average (Min 20 innings, 50.00):
Bradman’s 101.51 is far ahead of the next, who is SPD Smith with 70.36. Williamson (62.81) and Kohli (58.60) are the next among current captains. Tendulkar and Gavaskar are further down.
Exact figures for balls faced are lacking for some who played before 2000. However, it should be clear that Kapil Dev would have the highest strike rate.
Shakib Al Hasan has the highest among current players, although he may not captain his side again. Even SPD Smith may come back.
Kohli can be said to have the highest strike rate among undisputed present captains.
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.
First we look at those who have made 5 or more scores of 200 or more:
We can see that Kohli is now equal with Hammond and M Jayawardene in making 7 scores of 200+. The previous record of 6 for India was shared by him, Sehwag and Tendulkar. Kohli is also the only current player above.
The only other player with more than one triple century is CH Gayle, whose 4 scores of 200+ include 2 triples.
A total of 374 scores of 200+ have been made in Tests. This includes one quadruple century, 29 triples and 344 doubles.
All those who have made 200+ for India are tabulated below:
We also look at scores of 200+ in ODIs:
There are only 8 such scores.
RG Sharma has made 3, with a top score of 264 which is the ODI record.
Others who have made 200+ scores in ODIs are Fakhar Zaman, CH Gayle, MJ Guptill, V Sehwag and SR Tendulkar.
And for T20Is:
The highest score is 172 by AJ Finch. There are 2 other scores above 150, by AJ Finch again and H Zazai.
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