New Zealand’s first ICC trophy

Those with short memories may think that the WTC is the first win by NZ in a major ICC tournament. It is not. And NZ had beaten India in that final as well.

The Champion’s Trophy started off as the ICC Knockout Championship in 1998 and 2000.

In 2000, all matches were played at Nairobi. In the semi-finals, India won against SA and NZ won against Pakistan.

In the final, India put up 264/6 (with captain Ganguly making 117). The Indian team probably thought they had this trophy in hand when NZ was 132/5 in the 24th over.

However, Chris Cairns and Chris Harris had other ideas.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/icc-knockout-2000-01-61073/india-vs-new-zealand-final-66179/full-scorecard

The jinx in India-Pakistan matches (updated in June 2019)

It is often said that India dominates Pakistan in ICC tournaments. Hence the “Mauka Mauka” ads which aired at the beginning of the 2015 and 2019 World Cups.

Let us see take a closer look at the history of these encounters. First, the World Cup:

Note the two matches at Manchester separated by 20 years. In 1999 the mini-war in Kargil was in progress.

India and Pakistan never met in the World Cups of 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1987. They were somehow always drawn in different groups so they could have met only in the semi-finals or finals.

It was not until 1992 that they met in the World Cup. In that tournament (as in 2019) all teams played each other in the round-robin knockout stage.

They met in the quarter-finals in 1996, Super Six in 1999, and a pool match in 2003. India won all these matches so the feeling of a jinx over Pakistan kept growing.

In 2007, both India and Pakistan were jinxed and failed to proceed beyond the pool stage, being displaced by Bangladesh and Ireland respectively.

In 2011, India won in the semi-final, repeated this in a pool match in 2015 and again in a round-robin match in 2019.

This makes it 7 out of 7.

If you want to see the scorecards, open this link and click on the blue square on the extreme right.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=2;filter=advanced;opposition=7;orderby=start;team=6;template=results;trophy=12;type=team;view=results

Now we go to the T20 World Championship. We will come back to the Champions Trophy at the end.

The teams met twice in the inaugural championship in 2007. Though the match in the pool stage was a tie, India got the winner’s points as they won in the bowl-out which was then the method used to determine the winner of a tied match.

Then India won against Pakistan in the final. The teams did not meet in 2009 and 2010. India won the next three encounters in 2012, 2014 and 2016. All of these were in the group stages and not the semi-final or final. Thus India leads 5-0 (including the tie) in the World T20 Championship.

You can see the scorecards from this link:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=3;filter=advanced;opposition=7;orderby=start;team=6;template=results;trophy=89;type=team;view=results

For details of the bowl-out in the first match in 2007, see the commentary section rather than the scorecard.

But the story in the Champions Trophy is somewhat different:

India and Pakistan did not meet in 1998, 2000 or 2002 (when India shared the trophy with Sri Lanka). Pakistan won the first encounter in 2004 in the group stage. They did not meet in 2006. Pakistan won in 2009, also in the group stage. India finally won in 2013, in a group match on their way to the trophy.

In 2017, India won the group match but lost in the final.

So the jinx on Pakistan in ICC tournaments does not apply to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, where they lead India 3-2.

See the scorecards here:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=2;filter=advanced;opposition=7;orderby=start;team=6;template=results;trophy=44;type=team;view=results

 

 

Quick statistical summary of the 2017 Champions Trophy

Here we focus on individual performances rather than the end result.

Most runs (100 and above):

No one scored more than one century. Several made 3 scores of 50-plus.

Dhawan, RG Sharma and Tamim scored the most runs.

Though there is not much sense in calculating averages and strike rates with a lesser number of matches, we can see that Kohli averaged 129.00. Next is Stokes with 92.00

The highest strike rate here is by HH Pandya with 194.44, with Fakhar Zaman, Dhawan and Morgan just crossing 100.

Highest individual scores (75 and above):

Consistent performances by RG Sharma, Dhawan and Kohli except in the final. Other consistent performances by Tamim, Fakhar Zaman and Williamson among others.

Bowling-5 or more wickets:

Hasan Ali clearly leads, while Hazlewood took most of his wickets in one innings. In this limited sample, Hasan Ali has the best average and best economy while Hazlewood has the best strike rate.Plunkett is the only one with two 4-wicket hauls.

Best innings bowling-3wi and above:

Note that startling consistency of Hasan Ali who took exactly 3 wickets in an innings in 4 matches.

Best fielding (3 or more dismissals):

Sarfraz has the most dismissals and catches, Buttler the most stumpings, while Babar Azam, Jadeja and Maxwell have the most catches by non-keepers.

Best innings fielding (2 or more):

Sarfraz and non-keeper Maxwell have the most dismissals.

All-round performance (see criteria below):

No one has reached these modest requirements.

All-round match performance (Minimum 20 runs and 2 wickets):

Nothing outstanding, although M. Amir’s performance may have been the most valuable.

 

Best performances in “No Result” ODIs

Anyone who was following the Australia-New Zealand ODI on Jun 2 would have been frustrated with the rain delays-particularly when the rain ended play at an intriguing stage. However, you would have witnessed a couple of new records for No-Result ODIs.

Williamson’s 100 was, however, not a record. It is one of 17 centuries made in these ODIs.

Here you can see all scores of 90+ in No-Result ODIs:

The highest is 140 by Jayasuriya back in 1994. A number of current players as well as Indian players have also scored centuries in these matches. For scores in the 90s, we have Maxwell as well as PA Patel. Also note Vengsarkar’s 94* on 31 Oct 1984. If you see the date you should remember what event caused the match to be abandoned.

However, there was a new record in bowling in no-result ODIs.

5wi in No Result ODIs:

Hazlewood’s 6-52 (including the last 3 wickets in one over) are the best bowling in a no-result ODI. The previous record was 5-22 by MN Hart in a tri-series in India in 1994. This was only the 4th instance of a five-wicket haul in these ODIs.

There was also a fielding record.

3 dismissals in an innings in No Result ODIs:

GJ Maxwell became the first non-keeper to take 4 catches in an innings of a no-result ODI. The earlier record was 3 by several players. The record for dismissals by a keeper is 5, shared by Parore and Jones.

So we see that even a rain-ruined game can see new records being made.

Afterthought: there was also one record equalled for all ODIs:

4 catches by non-keepers in all ODIs:

The record for all ODIs is 5 catches by Jonty Rhodes. It has been achieved several times in Tests.

Until yesterday, Younis Khan was the only one to take 4 catches twice. Now he has been joined by GJ Maxwell, as shown above.

 

 

 

The jinx in India-Pakistan matches

Note: This was written before the start of the 2017 Champions Trophy.

It is often said that India dominates Pakistan in ICC tournaments. Hence the “Mauka Mauka” ads which aired at the beginning of the 2015 World Cup.

Let us see take a closer look at the history of these encounters. First, the World Cup:

India and Pakistan never met in the World Cups of 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1987. They were somehow always drawn in different groups so they could have met only in the semi-finals or finals. It was not until 1992 that they met in the World Cup. In that tournament all teams played each other in the knockout stage.

They met in the quarter-finals in 1996, Super Six in 1999, and a pool match in 2003. India won all these matches so the feeling of a jinx over Pakistan kept growing.

In 2007, both India and Pakistan were jinxed and failed to proceed beyond the pool stage, being displaced by Bangladesh and Ireland respectively.

In 2011, India won in the semi-final and repeated this in a pool match in 2015. So India have won all 6 encounters.

If you want to see the scorecards, open this link and click on the blue square on the extreme right.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=2;filter=advanced;opposition=7;orderby=start;team=6;template=results;trophy=12;type=team;view=results

Now we go to the T20 World Championship. We will come back to the Champions Trophy at the end.

The teams met twice in the inaugural championship in 2007. Though the match in the pool stage was a tie, India got the winner’s points as they won in the bowl-out which was then the method used to determine the winner of a tied match.

Then India won against Pakistan in the final. The teams did not meet in 2009 and 2010. India won the next three encounters in 2012, 2014 and 2016. All of these were in the group stages and not the semi-final or final. Thus India leads 5-0 (including the tie) in the World T20 Championship.

You can see the scorecards from this link:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=3;filter=advanced;opposition=7;orderby=start;team=6;template=results;trophy=89;type=team;view=results

For details of the bowl-out in the first match in 2007, see the commentary section rather than the scorecard.

But the story in the Champions Trophy is somewhat different:

India and Pakistan did not meet in 1998, 2000 or 2002 (when India shared the trophy with Sri Lanka). Pakistan won the first encounter in 2004 in the group stage. They did not meet in 2006. Pakistan won in 2009, also in the group stage. India finally won in 2013, in a group match on their way to the trophy.

So the jinx on Pakistan in ICC tournaments does not apply to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, where they lead India 2-1. Let us see what happens when they meet on June 4. India currently has a higher ranking than Pakistan, but that has no bearing in high-tension encounters like these.

See the scorecards here:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=2;filter=advanced;opposition=7;orderby=start;team=6;template=results;trophy=44;type=team;view=results

 

 

History of the Champions Trophy since 1998

A look at the past editions of the ICC Champions trophy, giving a quick summary of the results:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICC_Champions_Trophy

Apart from the World Cup, this is the only tournament in which all Test countries have had the opportunity to take part-though in 2017 only the top 8 are playing, with the West Indies and Zimbabwe failing to qualify. Similarly in 2009 and 2013 Bangladesh and Zimbabwe did not qualify for the top 8. In 2006 all 10 countries competed, while the “main” tournament followed immediately after the “qualifying” tournament involving the bottom 4: West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. As things turned out West Indies and Sri Lanka qualified and the former ultimately became the runners-up.

There has been only one other multinational 50/60-over tournament (other than the Champions Trophy and World Cup) where all Test countries participated. This was the Benson & Hedges World Championship in Australia in 1984-85:

http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1984-85/OD_TOURNEYS/WCC/

All 7 Test-playing countries at that time took part. These included Sri Lanka but not the exiled South Africa. You might say this was an unofficial World Cup.

Note that the only ICC tournaments won by South Africa (1998) and New Zealand (2000) can be found in the records of the Champion’s Trophy).

Footnote: If anyone wants to play around on Statsguru, they can select “ICC Champions Trophy (ICC Knockout)” in the Tournament heading, to get the aggregates for all these matches from 1998 onwards. I will be doing this in more detail over the next few days.

For the moment, the most matches played are 22 by M. Jayawardene and Sangakkara. The most runs scored is 791 by Gayle, and the most wickets 28 by the lesser-known KD Mills of New Zealand. The most dismissals are 33 by Sangakkara.

The best individual scores are 145* by NJ Astle and 145 by Andy Flower.

The best innings bowling is 6-14 by MF Mahroof of Sri Lanka. No one else has taken more than 5 wickets in an innings.