Finer points about Test captaincy-Part 2

Next, we look at those who played the most Tests without ever captaining their side:

Headed by England’s long-running JM Anderson with 160 Tests. (Actually, it has gone up to 162 in December 2022).

Next is his English teammate SCJ Broad with 146. Then there is the late SK Warne, whose record of 144 stood for several years.

Other prominent players here include Laxman (134), Muralitharan (132) and Mark Waugh (128).

While Anderson and Broad are expected to play a few more Tests, there are other active players such as NM Lyon (110), CA Pujara (96) and DA Warner (96) who will also add to their tally. However, there are no players from Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Zimbabwe here.

Next, we come to those who played the most Tests captaining their side in all of them:

This may sound impossible to the average cricket follower of today. But we have:

Most of them, starting with PW Sherwell and GC Grant, are from the early days of their country’s Test history. The one glaring exception is LK Germon, who captained New Zealand in all his 12 Tests in 1995-97. Apparently no other player of the team at that time was felt capable.

Many others got their captaincy not exactly on merit, often due to the bias in favour of amateurs and nobility in earlier times (e.g. Lord Harris, Calthorpe, Bligh and the prince Vizianagram). Or racial preferences where only players from certain races were thought fit to be captains (notably in the West Indies, and until recently in South Africa).

Review of Pakistan-England Tests (Dec 2022)-Part 2

Hope you have read Part 1.

Now we look at individual performances in

Bowling:

Most wickets (35 and above):

Qadir and Anderson share the record with 82 wickets. Anderson had played in part of this series. His long-term partner Broad is next with 67.

Best innings bowling (including7wi or more):

Led by Qadir and Botham, the latter taking 8-34 at Lord’s. The best in this series was 7-114 by Abrar Ahmed who was making his debut.

Best match bowling (including 10wm or more):

Led by Underwood and Qadir who each took 13 wickets. In this series Abrar Ahmed took 11-234 on debut

Bowling averages (Minimum 2000 balls, all instances):

The best bowling averages are by Anderson followed by Broad. The best economy rates are by Iqbal Qasim and DA Allen. The best strike rates are by Waqar Younis and Anderson.

Now for

Fielding:

Most dismissals (20 and above):

Headed by Wasim Bari, followed by Kamran Akmal and Knott. Bari and Sarfraz Ahmed have the most stumpings with 4. Root has the most catches by a fielder with 25.

Best innings fielding (5 or more dismissals):

Sarfraz Ahmed took 5 dismissals on 2 occasions, while GO Jones did so twice. No fielder took more than 4 catches.

Best match fielding (7 dismissals or more):

Wasim Bari and Kamran Akmal took 8 dismissals in a match. No fielder took more than 6.

Dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings and 0.600):

Led by Knott and RW Taylor, followed by Wasim Bari. Root has the best rate for fielders.

All-round performances:

Overall (see criteria in table):

Broad and Botham have the best performances.

Match performances

50+ and 5wi in the match

Of these, the best would be Botham’s century and 8wi, and Qadir’s 61 and 10wm. Honourable mention to Imran Khan’s 100 runs and 8wm in 1982.

Most and least wins in Test matches

These are for all Tests up to 30 Sep 2022 (except the ICC XI v Aus Test in 2005).

A total of 1888 players have played in 5 or more Tests.

It is easy enough to see who have seen the most wins. That is given in the next table. Naturally, this depends on how many Tests the player got to play in.

The first 4 are from the great Australian teams of the mid-1990s to the 2000s, headed by RT Ponting with 107. Next is SK Warne with 91.

The best by a current player is JM Anderson in 6th place with 78, followed by his partner SCJ Broad in 8th/11th place with 72.

The best by an Indian player is also 72 by SR Tendulkar (sharing the 8th/11th position with Broad, Gilchrist and Mark Waugh).

But it is more interesting to see those who did the best on a percentage basis, as we will see below.

These are those who have seen wins in all of their Tests.

It is a short list with only 4 names. The first name may not be familiar to many cricket followers of today.

Eldine Baptiste, who played in a strong West Indies team of the 1980s, saw wins in all 10 of his Tests. There are three others with 100% records in 5 Tests, and they are not particularly well-known.

GJ Bailey was more successful in limited-over matches than in Tests, and had captained Australia in 29 ODIs. His only Tests were in the Ashes whitewash of 2013-2014.

KA Archer is the elder brother of the better-known RG Archer.

Lord Hawke was a rather undistinguished batsman but got Test opportunities mainly because only amateurs could captain England in those days.

Now we look at a longer list of 38 players who saw wins in at least 75% of their Tests:

Note current players such as AR Patel and J Yadav who have 5 wins and 1 draw, giving a win percentage of 83.33 %. The only other Indian player with 5/6 is KK Nair.

And what about those who saw the least wins ?

A total of 165 players did not see any win in their careers of 5 Tests or more.

Here we list those who played 12 or more Tests without seeing a win:

The first name of B Sutcliffe of New Zealand is rather unexpected, as he was probably NZ’s best batsman for most of his 42-Test career. NZ did win a few Tests during his career, although he missed those matches. After him there is BC Strang of Zimbabwe who played in 26 Tests.

No current player here. The most Tests by an Indian player are 18 by BK Kunderan followed by 12 by PG Joshi.

Next we will take up the cases of most and least losses, followed by the cases of most and least draws.

Review of Tests between England and South Africa-Sep 2022-Part 2

Hope you have read Part 1

Continuing with individual performances in

Bowling:

Most wickets (50 and above):

Anderson leads with 103, followed by SM Pollock with 91 and Broad with 89.

From the olden days, we have Barnes with 83 and Tayfield with 95.

Barnes has the most fivers (12) followed by Donald with 9.

Barnes also has the most tenners (6) followed by Blythe with 2. No one else has more than 1.

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

Best match bowling (including all 10wm and above):

The first few places are by SF Barnes and others from the earlier days. Rabada’s 13-144 is the best from recent times.

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

Barnes and Blythe have the best bowling averages.

Verity and Goddard have the best economy rates.

Barnes and Rabada have the best strike rates.

Coming to Fielding:

Most dismissals (Minimum 25):

Boucher has the most dismissals and catches, although Evans has the most stumpings. B Mitchell and Kallis have the most catches by fielders.

Most innings dismissals (5 or more):

Stokes has the most catches (5) as a fielder.

Most match dismissals (7 or more):

Best dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.65):

Boucher and Bairstow have the highest dismissal rates. Stokes has the highest dismissal rate among fielders.

All-round performance (overall):

See criteria in table:

Hammond and Kallis have the best differences here.

All-round performance (match):

Minimum 50 and 5wi:

Note the instances of century + 5wi (Sinclair and Faulkner): and 50/10wm (MM Ali, Jul 2017).

Notes on the 2nd Test between England and South Africa, 2022

The two-Test series is now poised 1-1, with both matches finishing within 3 days with innings defeats.

Manchester continued to be an unlucky venue for SA as England leads 5-1 with 4 draws. SA won only in 1955.

The third Test is scheduled for Sep 8-12 at the Oval. Here England leads 7-1 with 7 draws. SA won only in 2012.

AK Markram played his 33rd Test, none of which were drawn. He has seen 20 wins and 13 losses.

Anderson became the first to play 100 Tests at home. Next is Tendulkar with 94.

Tendulkar has played the most Tests (200), followed by Anderson with 174. That is, naturally, a record for England.

Also see: https://abn397.wordpress.com/2022/08/25/most-tests-home-away-and-neutral/

Anderson also became the first to take 100 wickets in Tests between England and SA, Here are the top few:

SM Pollock, Donald and Barnes are next. Broad has 82, but is unlikely to cross his partner’s total.

Most Tests: home, away and neutral

At the start of the 2nd Test between England and South Africa at Manchester, it was mentioned that JM Anderson was the first to play 100 Tests at home.

This is true. Let us also look who has played the most Tests overall, away and neutral.

These figures include all those playing in the Manchester Test of 2022, and do not include the ICC XI v Aus Test of 2005.

Most Tests (125 or more):

Tendulkar (200) is followed by Anderson (174) and SR Waugh (168). The next from India is Dravid (163).

Also: Anderson (174), Broad (158), Warne (144) and VVS Laxman (134) have played the most Tests without ever captaining their sides.

Most Tests at home (60 or more):

Anderson leads with 100, followed closely by Tendulkar (94), Broad and Ponting (91 each). the next from India is again Dravid (70).

Most Tests away (other than neutral venues), 60 or more.

Tendulkar leads with 106, followed by Dravid with 93. Next is Chanderpaul with 81. Ponting, Anderson and Broad are further down.

And finally,

Most Tests at neutral venues (7 or more):

As you may guess, Pakistani players dominate this list starting with Asad Shafiq (30), Azhar Ali (29) and Younis Khan (28).

The highest by a non-Pakistani player is 8 by R Herath, followed by several others with 7. These include some NZ players who played in the WTC final against India in England in 2021.

Review of England vs India ODIs-Jul 2022 (Part 1)

India won this series 2-1, after winning the T20I series 3-0.

This summarises all ODIs played between these teams:

India lead England 57-44 in ODIs, although England lead 23-18 for ODIs played in England.

We now look at individual performances.

Batting:

Most runs (600 or more):

The most runs are 1546 by Dhoni and 1523 by Yuvraj, and the highest is 1163 by Bell.

Kohli (1340) has the most by current players.

The most centuries are 4 by Yuvraj, followed by 3 by Kohli and Root.

The most 50+ scores are 12 by Kohli, Raina and Tendulkar. The most for England is 9 by Pietersen.

Highest innings scores (115 and more):

The highest by a current player is 137* by RG Sharma, while the highest in this series is 125* by RR Pant. The highest for England is 158 by Strauss in the 2011 World Cup.

Batting averages (Minimum 20 innings and 30.00):

Led by Azharuddin by a large margin. Pietersen has the highest average for England, and Jadeja (!) the highest among current players.

Strike rates (Minimum 500 balls faced and 75.00):

The current pair of Bairstow and Stokes have the highest strike rates, followed by Sehwag and Yuvraj for India.

Now for

Bowling:

Most wickets (20 or more):

The highest are by Anderson and Jadeja. The latter has the highest for India and current players.

The most 5wis are 2 by Harbhajan, and the most 4wis are 2 by several players.

Best innings performances (including all 5wi):

The best performance here is Bumrah’s 6-19 which is the best for Ind vs Eng, surpassing Nehra’s 6-23 (in SA) and K Yadav’s 6-25 in England.

Similarly R Topley’s 6-24 is the best for Eng v Ind, surpassing RS Irani’s 5-26 in 2002

It is also the best for England in all ODIs, surpassing Collingwood’s 6-31 against BD in 2005.

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

Srinath and current player Jadeja have the best averages. Flintoff has the best for England

The best economy rates are by Kapil and Harbhajan.

The best strike rates are by Jadeja and Srinath.

To be continued.

Review of England-India Tests, 2021-2022 (Pt 1)

The series was drawn 2-2 with 1 draw. India however retained the Pataudi trophy by virtue of their win in India in early 2021.

This is only the second drawn series for India in England, the first being 1-1 in 2002. They had won only in 1971, 1986 and 2007.

The jinx at Birmingham continued, as India have lost 7 and drawn 1 at this venue.

The overall summary:

Note England’s strong home advantage, although India is coming up.

Proceeding to individual performances, starting with

Batting:

Most runs (800 and more):

JE Root has come within a whisker of overtaking Tendulkar’s total of 2535, and has overtaken Gavaskar. Kohli and Pujara are next among current players.

Root has the most centuries (9) followed by Cook, Dravid and Tendulkar with 7.

Gavaskar and Tendulkar have the most 50+ scores (20), followed by Root with 19.

Highest innings scores (180 and more):

The highest score in recent years was 218 by Root in early 2021.

Spare a thought for KK Nair who made India’s highest against England but played only 6 Tests overall. This was his only Test score more than 50.

Highest batting averages (Min 20 innings, 35.00):

Root is in second place, after Barrington. Kohli and Pujara are next among current players.

Highest strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced, 45.00):

Pant has the best strike rate among current players, after Kapil and Sehwag. Buttler and Ashwin are a little below, followed by Bairstow. Many of the higher strike rates are from recent years.

Next we take up

Bowling:

Most wickets (40 and more):

Anderson leads by a large margin over Chandrashekhar. Ashwin and Broad are next among current players.

Chandra has the most 5-fors (8) followed by 6 by Anderson, Ashwin and Botham.

Bedser is the only one with 2 10-fors, which came in his first 2 Tests.

Best innings bowling (includes all 7wi and above):

Nothing much from recent years. The 3 best performances were 50 or more years ago.

Best match bowling (includes all 10wm and above):

While there a few from recent years, such as Ashwin’s 12-for in 2016, we can also note AR (Axar) Patel’s 11-for in 2021 which is the best in any pink-ball Test. Note Bedser’s twin 11-wicket hauls at the start of his career. And JK Lever’s 50 and 10-for on debut.

Best bowling average (Minimum 2000 balls bowled, maximum 35.00):

The bowling averages are headed by Illingworth and JK Lever,

The best economy rates are by Illingworth and Nadkarni

The best strike rates are by JK Lever and Willis.

To be continued.

Australia-England series review-2

Hope you have seen the first part:

Australia-England series review-1

Continuing with individual performances in

Bowling:

Most wickets (90 or more):

Headed by Warne and Lillee. Current players are headed by Broad (131), Anderson (112) and Lyon (101).

Best innings bowling (including all 8wi or more):

Headed by Laker. SCJ Broad is in 4th place with 8-15 in 2015. No one else from recent times, unless you count McGrath’s 8-38 in 1997.

Best match bowling (including all 12wm or more):

Laker heads this table as well, with Massie’s freak debut in second place. From recent years the best is 12-246 by Warne in 2005.

Best bowling averages (Minimum 2000 balls, 25.00 or less):

Here we do have some current players such as PJ Cummins (20.75) and Hazlewood (24.45).

Lohmann has the best bowling average (13.01), Attewell the best economy rate (1.31) and Ferris the best strike rate (42.2)

Now we look at

Fielding:

Most dismissals (40 or more):

Headed by RW Marsh (148), though there are several current players such as Paine, SPD Smith and Bairstow. The specialist stumper Oldfield has 31 stumpings besides 59 catches. Among fielders, the highest is 61 by GS Chappell. Current players include SPD Smith (46).

Most dismissals in an innings (5 or more):

Several keepers have taken 6 in an innings. No fielder has more than 4. Oldfield has 4 stumpings.

In this series, Carey and Billings each took 5 catches on debut.

Most dismissals in a match (7 or more):

Several keepers have taken 9 in a match. Also note GS Chappell’s 7 as a fielder. He was the first Test player to achieve this, although several others have equaled this (and India’s Rahane has taken 8).

In this series AT Carey took 8 dismissals on debut. All 8 were catches, which is a record in all Tests. Others have taken 8 on debut but included one or more stumpings.

See https://abn397.wordpress.com/2021/12/11/alex-careys-records-in-the-brisbane-test/

Best dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.75):

Headed by Gilchrist and Haddin, with Bairstow, Buttler and SPD Smith from current players. LC Braund has the best (0.973) among pure fielders.

All-round performances:

Career figures (see criteria in table):

KR Miller leads by a large margin. Stokes represents the current players.

Match performances (50 and 5wi):

A long list. The best would be those with 100/5wi (JM Gregory, Botham) and with 50/10wm (W Bates, Trumble and Woolley).

A century of not-out innings

While England’s chances of winning the current Ashes series look increasingly bleak, one of their players achieved a landmark in becoming the first to make 100 not-out innings in Tests. Who else but the Burnley Lara?

https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/james-anderson-8608

Here we see the list of those players who have made the most not-out innings in Tests:

(This does not include the Aus vs ICC XI Test of 2005, which makes a minor difference to the figures for some players such as Muraltharan and Kallis.)

Anderson is followed by CA Walsh (61) and several others in the 50s. The best for India is 47 by I Sharma

While Anderson has usually batted at No 11, he has an 81 and over 1200 runs. The first 6 in this list are tailenders, while the first regular batsman is S Chanderpaul followed by SR Waugh and AR Border with other tailenders intervening.

This is a true test of longevity for Anderson. And Lancashire players were known for their tenacity.

Analyzing Test captaincies-1

With the summer season of 2020 out of the way, we review Test captaincies up to Aug 31, 2020:

Most Tests

Headed by Tendulkar with 200. Anderson (156) and Broad (143) are unlikely to come near, although they may challenge Cook for the England record of 161.

Most Tests as captain:

GC Smith leads with 108. Kohli (55) will probably overtake Dhoni (60) but is unlikely to come near GC Smith. Root (44) is probably the only other captain who will move up a bit-but may not pass Cook’s England record of 59.

Most Tests not as captain:

Tendulkar again, with Anderson and Broad some distance behind.

The next logical question is to find who has played the

Most Tests without ever being captain:

The record was held by Warne for a long time. He has now been overtaken by Anderson with Broad just behind him. Other potential candidates like Ishant Sharma and Lyon are unlikely to come near. VVS Laxman has the India record of 134.

And finally

Those who were captains in all their Tests:

Many of them were from the glorious days of amateurs ruling the roost, although that does not apply to the first few names here. Germon and Porterfield are the only ones from recent times.

Also note the 5 who captained their sides in their only Tests. CA Smith was the only to have won their Test, and ultimately settled in Hollywood.

Also note the father-son duo of FT Mann and FG Mann.

Vizianagram or Vizzy joins his amateur English friends here.

Test captaincy updates-1

It is easy enough to get updated tables like this:

(All these tables are updated to May 15, 2021):

Most Tests (120 and above)

Current players with the most Tests are Anderson (160) and Broad (146).

Another table which is easy to create:

Most Tests as Captain (40 and above):

Kohli is the only current player here. He has captained in 60 Tests and has equalled Dhoni (60). He overtook Ganguly (49), Gavaskar and Azharuddin (47) not long ago. Root is on 50.

But this one needs a little more work with Excel:

Most Tests NOT as Captain (90 and above):

Tendulkar and Kallis lead. The most by current players are 161 by Anderson and 146 by his team-mate Broad.

Now what about those who played the most Tests without ever captaining their sides (90 and above)?

Led by Anderson and Broad, who recently surpassed the long-standing record of Warne.

VVS Laxman (134) has the highest for India which will probably stand for a long time..

Other current players are Ishant Sharma (101) and NM Lyon (100).

Finally, those who played all their Tests as captains (all cases):

Most of them are from the olden days, except LK Germon (12). Perhaps there was an acute shortage of captaincy talent in New Zealand in the mid-90s. And there is Porterfield who captained Ireland in the only 3 Tests which they have played.

Note the 5 at the bottom who played only one Test, in which they were captain.

There are a fair number of the glorious amateurs and their counterparts like Vizianagaram.