Review of Australia-West Indies Tests-Part 2

Hope that you have read Part 1.

Continuing with individual performances in

Fielding:

Most dismissals (40 and above):

Led by Dujon (86 dismisals) and Healy (78). Dujon’s tally included 2 as a fielder.

The most stumpings are 9 by GRA Langley, and the most catches as a fielder are 45 by ME Waugh.

Most dismissals in an innings (5 and more):

RD Jacobs is the only one with 7 catches in an innings, followed by AT Carey with 6 more recently. No fielder has taken more than 4 catches in an innings.

Most dismissals in a match (7 and more):

DA Murray, Jacobs and Carey have all taken 9 in a match. However, no fielder has taken more than 6 in a match.

Dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.700):

Led by Jacobs, with Gilchrist and Grout close behind. The best by a fielder is by RB Simpson, followed by ME Waugh.

All-round performances:

Career (see criteria in table):

Sobers, Worrell and Marshall have the best performances here.

Match (Minimum one 50+ and one 5wi):

A long list. Of special note are those with a century and 5wi: Atkinson and Miller.

And those with a 50 and 10wm: AK Davidson, and the non-regular bowlers Border and Bevan.

Davidson was the first to score over 100 runs and take 10 wickets in a match. Only 3 others (Botham, Imran and Shakib) have done this.

Test captains compared-all round performance

Records up to May 15, 2021 (after Zim-Pak series).

Overall records (see criteria below):

Imra, Sobers and Pollock lead here. Most would be called genuine all-rounders (during their tenure as captain) except for the last 3.

Kapil and L Amarnath represent India. Shakib and JO Holder are the current players, though they are not likely to captain in future.

Match performances (50 and 5wi):

This is in chronological order.

The only double century (219) here is by the long-forgotten DS Atkinson. That was in the context of a match-saving 7th-wicket partnership of 347 with CC Depeiaza.

There is another 150+ score by Sobers in 1966.

There are several others with a century and 5wi, led by Imran with a century and 11 wickets. Even Border has a fifty and 11 wickets with his occasional bowling. More recently Rashid Khan made a fifty and took 11 wickets for Afghanistan.

The “double” of a century and 5wi in the same Test.

This has been achieved 33 times, although some players have done it more than once. This will be apparent from this table:

From this we can identify the “multibaggers” as

IT Botham 5 times (1978, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984)

R Ashwin 3 times (2011, 2016, 2021)

JH Kallis 2 times (1999, 2002)

Mushtaq Mohammad 2 times (1973, 1977)

Shakib Al Hasan 2 times (2011, 2014)

GS Sobers 2 times (1962, 1966).

We can also see that Botham (1980), Imran (1983) and Shakib (2014) went a step further by scoring a century and taking 10 wickets in the match.

BR Taylor (1965) was the only one to score a century and take 5wi on his Test debut. This was his first first-class century.

Review of England-West Indies Tests-2020-II

Hope that you have seen part 1 ( https://abn397.wordpress.com/2020/07/30/review-of-england-west-indies-tests-2020-i/ )

We now look at Bowling figures.

Most wickets (60 or more):

The top two were contemporaries at a time when WI were declining from their peak. Broad is the only current player.

The most 5-fors were by Ambrose (8) and Gibbs (7), while several (including Broad) had two 10-fors.

Most wickets in an innings (8wi and above):

The only one from recent years was Chase’s 8-60 in 2019.

Most wickets in a Test (11wm and above):

Broad’s 10-67 is the best in recent years.

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

While Garner and Ambrose lead the averages, Valentine and Ramadhin have the best economy rates and Marshall and Holding the best strike rates. An equitable distribution of work.

Now for Fielding statistics:

Most dismissals (25 or more):

Buttler is the only current player here.

The most stumpings were by Ames (11), the most catches by a keeper by DL Murray (90) and the most by a non-keeper by Lara (45)  and Sobers (40).

Most dismissals in an innings (5 or more):

Most dismissals in a match (7 or more):

Best dismissal ratio (Minimum 20 innings and 0.750)

Only Root from recent times. The best by a non-keeper is 0.916 by Hammond and 0.863 by Constantine. Also see the figures for the “hybrids” Stewart and Walcott.

All-round performances (see criteria below):

Minimum 20 innings batted, 2000 balls, 3+ fifties, 3+ 4wi:

Sobers is far ahead of the others. Oddly enough Holding is in second place. Botham did not perform well against WI.

Match performances (Minimum one fifty and one 5wi):

Most of the famous names are here, with Stokes, Chase (2) and Broad in recent years.

The double of 100/5wi was reached by Sobers and Greig, while the double of 50/10 wm was reached by Boyce and Broad.

Review of England-West Indies Tests-2020-I

England won the series 2-1, leading to this points table for the WTC:

England gained 80 points and WI 40 points in this series.

The record for Tests between these countries:

England extended its lead for matches at home, although WI still lead overall.

We now look at Batting records:

Most runs-1200 and above:

The most centuries (10) are by Sobers, followed Richards and Headley  with 8.

The most scores above 50 are 23 by Richards and Sobers, followed by Chanderpaul with 21.

Note the absence of any current players in this list. The most recent is Cook.

Highest innings (200 or more):

Here the only score by a current player is at the bottom (202* by Holder). Note the 1-2 by Lara, both world records at the time.

Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, 40.00):

Hutton and Headley are far ahead of the others. Stokes and Cook are the only ones here from the past few years.

Highest strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls, 55.00):

While No 2 is predictable, No 1 is not. He had scored a century on debut against WI.

Blackwood and Stokes represent the current players.

Continued in https://abn397.wordpress.com/2020/07/31/review-of-england-west-indies-tests-2020-ii/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Highest Test scores without fours and sixes

The highest Test scores without any six:

This includes some of the record scores of the past, such as 375, 365*, 364.

The highest for India is 281 by VVS Laxman.

But it is clear that it is not difficult to score 300+ without hitting any sixes.

Now for the highest scores without any four:

The highest is 67 by EAB Rowan, who was a fairly prominent SA batsman of his time.

Next there is 59 by FM Engineer, normally a fast scorer. This was in the first innings of India’s victory at the Oval in 1971.

Others from India include 52 by CPS Chauhan, 42 by Kapil Dev and 40 by Tendulkar.

And finally, the highest scores without any fours or sixes:

The first three entries are the same as the “no-four” category. After Engineer, others from India include Chauhan (52) and Kapil (42). It is difficult to explain how Kapil restrained himself, as the West Indies bowling in that series was quite poor. Chauhan’s 52 was also in the same Test.

 

 

Warner’s triple century and others

First, a list of all Test scores of 300 and above;

David Warner’s 335* was the 31st instance of 300+ in a Test, and the first at Adelaide. Incidentally the previous highest was 299* by DG Bradman vs SA in 1931-32.

It is also the highest in any day-night Test, surpassing  Azhar Ali’s 302* at Dubai in 2016-17.

However, it is the second highest score by an Australian player and in Australia, where ML Hayden’s 380 is in first place.

Coming back to the list of 300+ scores above, 27 players have made 31 such scores.

Lara, Gayle, Sehwag and Bradman have 2 such scores each. Bradman and Sehwag came close to getting a third, getting up to 299* and 293 respectively.

It is instructive to see the list of 300+ scores in chronological order.

The first such score was by Andrew Sandham in 1929-30. He remains relatively unknown now:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/20058.html

Prior to this tour of the West Indies, he had played in 10 Tests without a century, He made 152 in the first Test, and rounded this up with 325 and 50 in what was to be his last Test. England made 849 and later set WI over 800 to win. As in the better-known timeless Test at Durban a decade later, the match was called off as England had to catch their ship home.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17590/scorecard/62579/west-indies-vs-england-4th-test-england-tour-of-west-indies-1929-30

This record of 325 only lasted for a little over 7 months, as Bradman made 334 at Leeds during the 1930 tour. (His only other triple (304) also came at Leeds in 1934).

Another of Sandham’s records was more durable; his 375 in the match was not surpassed until Greg Chappell made 380 (247* and 133) in 1973-74.

In England’s customary add-on series with New Zealand after the bodyline series of 1932-33, Hammond made 336*. The captain (RES Wyatt) appears to have declared once he crossed Bradman’s record of 334. Even so, there was not enough time to win the Test.

So the record was back with England. Bradman got up to 304 at Leeds in 1934.

At the Oval in 1938, Hutton made sure it remained with England with 364. England’s total of 903/7 dec was the record until the Sri Lankans made 952/6 in 1997.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17544/scorecard/62652/england-vs-australia-5th-test-australia-tour-of-england-1938

A famous picture from that Test:

That record of 364 lasted a little less than 20 years, when a relatively unknown all-rounder named Garfield Sobers marked his first Test century with 365*. There was, expectedly, a crowd disturbance when he passed the old mark. But the captain Gerry Alexander declared after this, correctly guessing that there was enough time to bowl out Pakistan twice.

A more detailed account of this innings can be seen here:

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/make-mine-a-double-no-a-triple/

This record stood for just over 36 years, when another West Indian batsman Brian Lara made 375 at St John’s in 1994. An account of this innings:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/21525184/brian-lara-375-world-record-nearly

The West Indies won the series 3-1 with this final Test drawn.

In the second half of the 1990s, there were two determined efforts, with Sri Lanka’s Jayasuriya making 340 in what is still a Test record total of 952/6, and the puzzling score of 334* by Australian captain Mark Taylor who declared at this point. The official story then was that he did not want to go past Bradman’s Australian record. Both these Tests ended in dull draws.

By late 2003, Matthew Hayden got a chance against Zimbabwe. Admittedly its bowling was somewhat better than what it was later, but he did not stop at crossing 375 and made 380 at Perth, still a record for Australia and in Australia. Steve Waugh declared as soon as Hayden was out at 735/6.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/15140/scorecard/64048/australia-vs-zimbabwe-1st-test-zimbabwe-tour-of-australia-2003-04

Hayden’s record lasted only for 6 months, when Lara reclaimed it again at St. John’s:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/15068/scorecard/64080/west-indies-vs-england-4th-test-england-tour-of-west-indies-2003-04

As in 1994, this score was not enough for West Indies to win the Test even though England had to follow on. However, England had won the first 3 Tests and thus won the series 3-0. Lara’s 400* was therefore relatively unimportant to the result.

Since then, the closest anyone got was 374 by M Jayawardene in 2006. Warner might well have come close to the record except that rain was forecast for the remainder of the Test. It is yet unclear whether the captain TD Paine attached any special significance to 335 which was Warner’s score when the captain declared. There was enough time to dismiss Pakistan twice with over a day to spare.

 

 

 

Review of India-West Indies Tests (2019)-2

Bowling:

Most wickets (25 or more):

Kapil has the highest tally here, while Ashwin and I Sharma have the highest among current players.

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

While Kapil has the best performance here, spare a thought for JM Noreiga who played only in 4 tests but still had the best innings performance for the West Indies in all Tests.

Ashwin (2016) and Bumrah in this series have the best figures among current players.

Best match bowling (All instances of 9wm or more):

Hirwani’s match figures are the best for India in all Test. UT Yadav (2018) and I Sharma (2019) have the best figures among current players.

Best bowling average (Minimum 2000 balls, all instances):

Hall and Walsh have the best bowling averages, while Ashwin and I Sharma have the best among current players. It can also be seen that GE Gomez and Gibbs have the best economy rates, and that Hall and Roberts have the best strike rate.

Fielding:

Most dismissals (15 or more):

Dujon has the most dismissals and catches, Dhoni the most stumpings and Richards the most catches by a non-keeper.

Most dismissals in an innings (4 and more):

WP Saha is the only one with 6 dismissals in an innings.  SD Hope made 5 dismissals in this series. DJG Sammy has the most catches by a non-keeper with 5 in 2013, which is a share in the world record. Also note KS More’s 5 stumpings which is a world record.

Most dismissals in a match (6 and more):

Dhoni has the most dismissals here (8) while More’s 6 stumpings is a world record. Both his records came in Hirwani’s record bowling performance. The most catches by a non-keeper are 6 by ED Solkar, in India’s first victory against WI in 1971.

Best dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.500):

Dhoni has the best rate here followed by Dujon. While CL Walcott played some of his Tests as a keeper, the best rate by a non-keeper is 0.800 by Azharuddin.

All-round performances:

Overall (see criteria in table):

Sobers has by far the best record here, followed by Ashwin who is again far ahead of Kapil. JO Holder and Chase have the best record among current players, while Mankad had a relatively poor record against WI.

Match performance (50 and 5wi):

This includes the century/5wi double by OG Smith, Umrigar, Sobers, Ashwin (twice) and Chase.

 

Review of India-West Indies Tests (2019)-1

After India won this away series 2-0, the series record was:

India won 22, West Indies won 30, 46 drawn in a total of 98 Tests.

In India: India won 13, WI 14, 20 drawn in a total of 47 Tests

In West Indies: India won 9, WI 16 and 26 drawn in a total of 51 Tests.

India got the full 120 points here. This is the WTC standing on September 3:

We can see that neither England nor Australia can catch up after their series concludes.

We now go on to individual records, starting with

Batting:

Most runs (750 or more):

Gavaskar has scored the most centuries (13) and the next is 8 by Richards and Sobers.

Gavaskar also has the most 50+ scores (20) followed by Lloyd with 19 and Dravid with 18.

Bravo and Kohli are the only current players here.

Highest innings (150 or more):

Both sides have not recorded a score above 150 since 2016 (200 by Kohli).

Best batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, 30.00):

Sobers is far above the others. Darren Bravo is the only current player here. He also became the second batsmen to warrant a concussion substitute in the second innings. Blackwood batted in this place, making this the first Test scorecard with 12 batsmen.

Best strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced, all instances):

As in many of the older series, full details of balls faced are not available for matches before the 2000s. But it seems clear that no one would have surpassed Sehwag. Kohli and Ashwin (!) have the highest among current players.

To be continued

Two fifties in a match in India-WI Tests

GH Vihari became the latest to make two scores of 50+ in a Test for India against the Wes Indies. Here is the full list of those who have achieved this:

This includes 3 matches of Gavaskar in the 1971 series, where he made his debut on 06/03/1971. He is the only debutant here.

In 1962, Umrigar added a fiver to his two fifty-plus scores.

Two cases of centuries in both innings by Gavaskar (1971 and 1978).

The corresponding performances for the West Indies against India:

Only 23 such performances, compared to 33 by India.

They include Weekes’s pair of centuries in 1948, as part of his five in  successive innings.

And Sobers added a fiver to his century and fifty in 1962.

Lloyd and Greenidge were making their debuts.

Only Weekes made centuries in both innings.

Review of New Zealand-West Indies Tests-2

Continued.

Fielding

Most dismissals (15 and above):

The only current player is Ross Taylor, who has the most catches by a non-keeper.

Innings dismissals (4 and more):

Only Dowrich from the current series. Fleming and the Crowe brothers each took 4 catches as non-keepers.

Match dismissals (6 and more):

None from the current series. Fleming has the most dismissals for a non-keeper.

Dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.400):

Ramdin heads the list, though many keepers did not play enough Tests. Hence this table is dominated by non-keepers.

All-round performances:

Overall (see criteria below):

The modest criteria are met by two of the all-time greats.

Match performance (50 and 5wi):

Interestingly, the relatively rare feat of a fifty and 10 wickets in a match has been recorded three times here.