Review of SA-WI Tests (2023)-Part 1

South Africa won the series 2-0, continuing their dominance over the West Indies.

These teams have played 32 Tests. SA leads 22-3 with 7 draws.

In SA, the hosts lead 14-1 with 2 draws.

IN WI, SA lead 8-2 with 5 draws.

However, WI had won the one-off Test which marked SA’s return to Tests in early 1992.

We look at individual records, starting with Batting:

Most runs (750 or more):

Kallis leads by a large margin, while the next two (Lara and S Chanderpaul) have almost the same total. No current player has crossed 750.

Highest innings (150 or more):

Gayle’s 317 is over a hundred more than the second-placed 213.

The only current player here is T Bavuma with 172.

The most centuries were 8 by Kallis, followed by 7 for GC Smith

The most 50+ scores were 20 by Kallis, followed by 13 for S Chanderpaul and Lara.

Highest batting average, minimum 20 innings and 35.00:

de Villiers leads by a large margin. No current player qualifies.

Highest strike rate (Minimum 1000 balls and 45.00):

Gayle is closely followed by GC Smith. No current player here.

To be continued.

Best bowling figures in defeats

Keshav Maharaj’s 9-129 and match figures of 12-283 (along with Theunis de Bruyn’s maiden century) were South Africa’s only saving grace in their loss in the second Test at Colombo (SSC). We now look at the best bowling figures by losing teams in Tests.

Best innings bowling in defeats (including all instances of 8wi and above):

Maharaj’s 9-129 is the fourth-best performance here in a list headed by Kapil Dev’s 9-69. It may be recalled that Noreiga’s 9-95 is the best for WI in all Tests, and that it came in India’s first Test win over the West Indies.

The previous best for South Africa was Hugh Tayfield’s 7-23 in 1950, which can also be seen above.

Valentine and Krejza were making their debuts. Krezja played only in one more Test. Valentine made his debut with Ramadhin, and the two ensured that England lost the remaining 3 Tests of the series.

Best match bowling in defeats (including all instances of 11wm and above):

Here Maharaj’s 12-283 is somewhat down the list which is headed by Srinath’s 13-132 in 1999. The previous best for South Africa was AE Hall’s 11-112 in 1923, which can also be seen above.

Krejza, Hall, Burke and Valentine were making their debuts. Only Valentine got an extended run.

ABD: career statistics highlights-2

We have already had a look at ABD’s Test figures. He did not do too well in T20Is. But he really came into his own in fast scoring in ODIs. His highest score there was 176. First we look at his career strike rate.

(In all the tables in this post, matches involving multi-national teams such as ICC XI, Africa XI and Asia XI have been disregarded.)

ODI career strike rate (minimum 20 innings):

Here ABD is relatively lower down, as many batsmen with less matches have scored faster. But his batting average of 54.17 is much higher than that of the likes of Maxwell and Russell.

A better comparison will be with those with longer careers:

ODI career strike rate (minimum 200 innings):

Here he is third, after Afridi and Sehwag. Here, too, his career batting average of 54.17 is considerably higher than that of those with higher strike rates. Kohli with a batting average of 58.10 has a somewhat lower strike rate.

We now go on to innings strike rates in ODIs. While ABD’s top score was 176, we start with the 200+ scores as a comparison.

Strike rates for scores above 200 in ODIs:

There have been only 7 instances of ODI double centuries so far, with 5 by Indian batsmen including 3 by RG Sharma. Gayle and Guptill made their scores in the 2015 World Cup. Sharma and Sehwag have the highest strike rates here.

Next we look at

Strike rates for scores above 150 in ODIs:

Here ABD has by far the highest strike rate in his 162*, which against the West Indies in the 2015 World Cup.

Next we have

Strike rates for scores above 100 in ODIs:

Here, ABD is the clear leader with his 149 against the West Indies, in the runup to the 2015 World Cup. His 162* mentioned above is also here, as are a few other centuries.

Next there is

Strike rates for scores above 50 in ODIs:

ABD still leads with the 149 mentioned above. For scores between 50 and 99, the best strike rates are by the NZ pair of Guptill and McCullum.

But it is an unique distinction that ABD has the best strike rates for 50+, 100+ and 150+ in ODIs.

Finally, we look at

Strike rates for scores above 25 in ODIs:

Here, the top two positions are held by two New Zealand players (including BB McCullum’s lesser known brother) with scores in the 30s. But ABD is still there at the third spot.

A little more wrapping up of high strike rates in ODIs will be done in another post.

 

 

 

 

 

Review of South Africa-Zimbabwe Tests

A summary of all Tests between these countries:

SA has won 8 out of 9 Tests, including all 4 played at home and 4 out of 5 played away. Zimbabwe’s best performance can thus be said to be the Test at Bulawayo starting on 14 Sep 2001 (just after 9/11!) which was drawn.

We quickly go through the main individual performances:

Most runs (200 and above):

Andy Flower’s performance in a weak team is particularly creditable. He and Kallis are the only ones with more than one century.

Highest innings scores (90 and above):

Andy Flower again, highlighting his lone battle with 142 and 199* in a losing cause.

Most wickets (8 and above):

The first three names are no surprise. Zimbabwe bowlers hardly figure here, particularly since their team sustained several innings defeats.

Best innings bowling (including all 5wi and above):

Donald’s performance in the first Test between these teams remains unsurpassed. And Bryan Strang’s performance in the same Test is still a record for Zimbabwe.

Best match bowling (6wm and above):

As above, Donald’s record stands since 1995. And no Zimbabwe bowler appears here (again, because of the numerous innings defeats).

Most dismissals (5 and above):

As one would expect. Interestingly four non-keepers share the record of 5 catches.

Best innings fielding (3 or more dismissals):

As expected, though Sibanda’s presence as the lone Zimbabwe player is strange.

Best match fielding (4 or more dismissals):

Note the absence of any Zimbabwe players here, and GC Smith’s record among non-keepers.

Overall all-round performance (see criteria below):

The best all-rounder on both sides, while Pollock and Streak did not play enough in these matches.

All-round match performance (50+ runs and 5+ wickets):

There is no instance of 50+5wi in these matches, so the criterion is reduced to 50 runs and 5 wickets in the match. Here again it is Kallis all the way with Pollock playing a minor role.

 

 

Four wickets for none

The bowling record of four wickets for no run in any international cricket match occurred recently:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-womens-world-cup-2017/engine/match/1085956.html

where SA’s captain Dane van Niekerk was instrumental in dismissing the West Indies team of 48 in an ODI in the Women’s World Cup.

There have been many cheap 4-wicket hauls in women’s ODIs:

Most of the names would be quite unfamiliar to male cricket followers. The previous record of 4 wickets for 1 run was held by an Indian bowler in an ODI against South Africa in the 2005 World Cup.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/67380.html

And few of us would have heard of the record holder Deepa Marathe .

We now look at the corresponding records for 4-wicket hauls in men’s ODIs:

The record was 4 for 3 by PV Simmons. It is interesting to note that the first few names (Simmons, Dilshan, Yuvraj and Sehwag) were all primarily batsmen whose bowling was secondary.

However, 4 for 0 has been recorded several times in first-class cricket. Bowlers who have achieved this include Lala Amarnath and, more recently, Axar Patel in 2015. More about this here:

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2015/08/28/axar-patels-feat-4-wickets-for-none-3/

This also gives details of the best 4-wicket analyses in Tests, headed by the unlikely AG Cremer of Zimbabwe.