Review of Australia-West Indies Tests-Part 1

Australia won the two-Test series 2-0. This was the first series between these teams since 2015-16 in Australia. The West Indies has not hosted Australia since 2015.

Here is a summary of all Tests between these teams:

Total: 118 Tests, 60 won by Aus, 32 won by WI, 1 tie, 25 draws

In Aus: 68 Tests, 39 won by Aus, 18 won by WI,1 tie, 10 draws

In WI: 50 Tests, 21 won by Aus, 14 won by WI, 15 draws.

Going to individual scores, starting with

Batting:

Most runs, minimum 1000:

Led by Lara by a large margin.Next is Viv Richards. The most by an Aus player is by Steve Waugh. Lara and Richards also have the most centuries (9 each). Lara also has the most 50+ scores (20) followed by Haynes and Border with 19.

No current player here, partly because these teams have not met much in the recent past.

Highest individual scores, minimum 175:

Led by Lara, with what was his first Test century.Second is 269* by the already forgotten AC Voges less than a decade ago. The 242 by KD Walters is significant as he was the first of several to score a double century and century in the same Test. M Labuschagne also achieved this, and his 204 also appears above.

Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings and 40.00):

Headed by the somewhat unexpected pair of Ian Chappell and Larry Gomes. Greg Chappell is just after Gomes. No current player here.

Highest strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced and 50.00):

Data on balls faced is not fully available. But it is reasonable to assume that Viv Richards would have the highest strike rate. Next is the less disputable SR of Steven Smith..

Now for

Bowling:

Most wickets (Minimum 50):

Headed by the long-serving CA Walsh (135), Ambrose (128) and McGrath (110). Again, no one from recent years.

The most fivers are 8 by Ambrose and McGrath. Only McGrath has taken two tenners.

Best innings bowling (including all 7wi and better):

Nothing from recent years. The most recent entry is by WI’s J Lawson in 2003 (not the Australian GF Lawson).

Best match bowling (Including all 10wm and better):

Headed by the colourful MG Hughes. Nothing after 2012, which does include current player Kemar Roach.

Best bowling averages (Minimum 2000 balls bowled, maximum 30.00):

Headed by McGrath and Garner. We also see that the best economy rates were by Gibbs and Walker, and that the best strike rates were by B Lee and J Thomson). N Lyon represents the current players.

To be continued.

Kings of the fourth-innings chase (Revised-Sep 2021)-Pt 2

Continued from: https://abn397.wordpress.com/2021/09/24/kings-of-the-fourth-innings-chase-revised-sep-2021-pt-1/

We now look at the bowlers who have been most successful in winning matches in the fourth innings.

Most wickets (35 and above):

Warne leads with 103, followed by late developer Herath and McGrath.

Herath has the most five-fors (11) followed by Muralitharan (7)

Current players are headed by Lyon (68 wickets), Broad and Ashwin.

The most wickets by Indian players are by Ashwin (65), Kumble (51) and Ishant Sharma (45).

Best innings bowling (including all 8wi and above):

The best here is 10-74 by Kumble. (Laker’s 10-wicket haul was in the third innings). Then there is 9-86 by Sarfraz Nawaz which included a spell of 7-1.

The best innings figures in recent times include 8-60 by RL Chase in 2019 and 8-63 by R Herath in 2016.

India is represented by Kumble and debutant Hirwani. (Another famous debutant Bob Massie had bowled in the third innings).

Finally we look at career figures for bowling in the fourth innings of wins:

Best bowling averages in wins in the 4th innings (Minimum 1500 balls bowled):

These are all the 25 bowlers who crossed the cutoff of 1500 balls bowled.

McGrath leads here with 14.24, followed by Herath, Ashwin and Kumble.

The best by current players are Ashwin (16.03), MM Ali, Starc , Ishant Sharma, Broad, Anderson and a few more with 1500+ balls bowled.

The best averages for India are by Ashwin, Kumble, Ishant Sharma, Jadeja and Harbhajan.

The best economy rates are by Illingworth (1.70) and Jadeja

The best strike rates are by Waqar Younis and MM Ali (32.9 with Waqar slightly ahead).

Pairs in Tests-Updated Nov 2019

Correct as on 20 Nov 2019

You would know a King Pair or Golden Pair-when a batsman is dismissed first ball in each innings.

A Queen Pair or Silver Pair is when it is second ball in each innings.

A Jack Pair or Bronze Pair for three balls.

We also look at pairs involving 4, 5 and 6 balls in each innings.

Note that for many Tests before 2000, balls in an innings were not always recorded.

Here is the updated list of King Pairs:

The 21 cases include a number of recognized batsmen (Richardson, Gilchrist, Javed Omar and Sehwag). Maybe even Agarkar, who made a Test century at Lord’s. Interestingly there is no King Pair at Lord’s.

Now for Queen Pairs:

22 cases here, including two by McGrath in successive Tests in 1998-99.

Dawson and Broad achieved this at Lord’s. The two of them and Mohammad Abbas deserve their own little board at Lord’s.

Recognized batsmen here include OG Smith, Mudassar, Samuels, de Villiers, Babar Azam and Markram. AL Mann and Broad have also made centuries.

While no captain has made a King Pair, Bedi and de Villiers are here.

Now for Jack Pairs:

Vettori, Griffith and Powell are the recognized batsmen here.

Finally we come to 4-, 5- and 6-ball pairs which are much rarer.

One may invent new terms such as Ruby pairs or Sapphire pairs here.

Here, even Ireland’s bowlers inflict these ducks on recognized batsmen.

Gibbs, DS Smith and Bairstow are the recognized batsmen here.

Records of “Ashes” ODIs-2

Continuing the studies of past ODIs involving England and Australia.

Bowling:

Most wickets (20 and above):

Brett Lee leads by a large margin over the runner-up McGrath. Rashid and Ali lead among current players.

Brett Lee is the only one to have taken more than one fiver. He also has taken the most (4) 4+ hauls.

Best innings bowling (including all 5wi):

Not much from recent times, the best being 5-35 by Tom Curran earlier in 2018. Bichel’s 7-34 came in a hard-fought World Cup match. Similarly for Gilmour’s 6-14 in the semi-final of the first World Cup. Both of them made useful contributions with the bat as well, 34* by Bichel and 28* by Gilmour (useful when the team is 39/6 chasing 94).

Best bowling averages (Minimum 1000 balls, all cases):

McGrath and Lee lead, with Rashid and Ali lead amongst the present players.

The best economy rate is 4.02 by Botham, and the best strike rate 29.8 by Rashid.

Fielding:

Most dismissals (15 and above):

Gilchrist leads but Buttler is quickly catching up. Buttler also has the most stumpings.

The most dismissals by non-keepers are 18 by Strauss and 17 by Clarke and Ponting.

Most dismissals in an innings (4 and above):

Gilchrist is the only one with 6 dismissals.

Dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.500):

Gilchrist and Buttler lead. Root has the best amongst non-keepers.

All-round performances:

Career (see criteria in table):

Surprisingly Collingwood comes up higher than Botham and Johnson, mainly because of his batting.

Match performance (Minimum 30 runs and 3 wickets):

The best performance here would be Bichel’s in the 2003 World Cup, probably followed by Maxwell’s in 2015.

 

 

More about the honors boards at Lord’s-3

Having seen the honors boards for neutral Tests and for England, we now look at the corresponding boards for visitors playing Tests at Lord’s.

First, the 105 centuries by visitors:

The highest score here is 259 by GC Smith for SA in 2003.

India’s DB Vengsarkar is the only visitor to score 3 centuries at Lord’s, while several others have scored 2.

Centuries in each innings were made by Headley (106 and 107 for WI, 1939).

Centuries on debut were made by Graham (107 for Aus, 1893) and Ganguly (131 for Ind, 1996). Ganguly’s 131 is the highest by anyone making his Test debut at Lord’s. Graham was the first visitor to score a century at Lord’s.

Now we look at the 85 five-fors by visitors:

The best innings bowling by a visitor is 8-38 by McGrath for Aus in 1997, which is just behind Botham’s 8-34.

CTB Turner, Hadlee and McGrath took 3 five-fors apiece, and several others took 2.

Five-fors by visitors in each innings:

Massie’s effort was on debut, and remains the best bowling for Australia in any Test. It was also the best match bowling by any debutant until India’s Hirwani inched ahead with 16-136 in 1987.

The following visitors took 5-fors on their Test debut at Lord’s:

Massie’s 8-53 is the best here. Nissar’s debut was in India’s first Test.

Visitors who took 10 wickets in a match at Lord’s:

Ramadhin’s effort came in WI’s first victory in England (and the calypso “Cricket, lovely Cricket”).

Massie has the best match bowling figures at Lord’s. And he is the only visitor to take a 10-for on debut at Lord’s.

Looking at all-round performances, the following visitors have scored centuries and taken five-fors at Lord’s (though they may not be in the same Test):

Mankad is the only visitor to score a century and take a five-for in the same Test at Lord’s (184 and 5-196 for Ind in 1952), while Miller did so in different Tests. Thus Botham and Mankad were the only ones to do this at Lord’s. Mankad’s efforts (which included another fifty) were not enough to prevent defeat for his side.

DJ Nash (56 and 11-169 for NZ in 1994) is the only visitor to score a fifty and take 10 wickets in a match at Lord’s. He and MM Ali are the only ones to do this at Lord’s.

This concludes our summary of batting and bowling performances which find their place on the various honors boards at Lord’s.

Now you may well ask “But wait! Where are Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Ponting and Lara? Or Lillee, Warne and Ambrose?”

Good questions, which deserve a separate post.