Most and least losses in Test matches

Hope you have read the previous post https://abn397.wordpress.com/2022/10/22/most-and-least-wins-in-test-matches/

Using the same methods, we now look at those who saw the most and least losses in Tests.

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 losses. That is given in the next table. Naturally, this depends on how many Tests the player got to play in.

Chanderpaul (77) and Lara (62) have the first two places, symbolising the decline of West Indies cricket which started in their times.

The best by a current player is JM Anderson in 3rd place with 61, followed by his partner SCJ Broad in 8th place with 50.

The best by an Indian player is 56 by SR Tendulkar  in 4th place.

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 losses in all of their Tests.

A total of 16 players saw losses in all their Tests (among those who played 5 or more Tests). They are listed below:

Not surprisingly, the first 6 places are from Bangladeshi players. The unlikely leader is Alok Kapali, an all-rounder who has other claims to fame such as being the first Bangladeshi (and first Hindu) to take a Test hat-trick. In second place is Mohammad Sharif, also from Bangladesh. He was a medium-pace bowler.

There is no contemporary player or Indian player here

Now we look at a list of 22 players who saw losses in 90% or more of their Tests.

However, there is still no contemporary player (unless you count SW Ambris who played his last Test in 2018). However, there are players from teams other than Bangladesh here, starting with J Middleton of South Africa (6 out of 6 losses).

And what about those who saw the least losses ?

A total of 69 players did not see any loss in their careers of 5 Tests or more.

Here we list those who played 7 or more Tests without seeing a loss:

This time it is headed by a relatively lesser-known Indian player Rajesh Chauhan. Like Eldine Baptiste and his comrades, he was fortunate to be in a lesser role (as 3rd spinner) in a fairly strong team. The next three (McCool, Loxton and Toshack) can best be described as fringe players in Australia’s invincibles of 1948. Ernie Toshack at least has the most economical 5-for (5 wickets for 2 runs) in all Tests. That was against India; he had 11-31 in the match.

The most recent player here is Aizaz Cheema of Pakistan, who played his last Test in 2012.

Next we will look at those who saw the most and least draws.

Analyzing Test captaincies – 6

Finally we look at captains with the most wins, most losses and most draws.

Most wins (14 and more):

Here, and in the rest of the post, we will see that the toppers will generally be those who captained in the most Tests. GC Smith with 53 wins had captained in the most Tests (108). RT Ponting is next with 47 wins.

Among current players, V Kohli has the most wins (33). That is also the most by an Indian captain.

Most losses (12 and more):

Unsurprisingly, it is also headed by GC Smith with 28 losses. Next is SP Fleming with 27.

Among current captains, JO Holder has the most losses (19). For India, MAK Pataudi leads with 19.

Most draws (12 and more):

For a change, this is headed by another captain AR Border with 39 draws (including 1 tie). Next is SM Gavaskar with 30. He was well known for his defensive captaincy. Like Border, he had a weak Test team most of the time. GC Smith is third with 27.

Among recent captains, AN Cook leads with 13 draws.