Review of West Indies-Bangladesh Tests (June 2022)

West Indies won this series 2-0.

Here is a summary of all Tests between these teams:

Note the exact symmetry: WI leads BD 7-2 with one draw both at home and away. In 2009 Bangladesh won because of the absence of many WI players. These were the first two Tests won by Bangladesh away from home. They also won 2-0 under normal circumstances in 2018.

Looking at individual performances, starting with

Batting:

Most runs (350 and more):

Brathwaite, Tamim and Shakib are bunched together at the top.

Chanderpaul has the most centuries (4), while Shakib has the most 50+ scores (10, but with no centuries). Bratwaite has 8 including 3 centuries.

Highest innings scores (120 and more):

Sarwan and Samuels are far ahead of the others. Mayers scored 210* on debut in a 4th-innings chase which his team won. The highest for Bangladesh is 136 by Mahmudullah.

Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, all instances):

Led by Brathwaite, but Shakib is close behind.

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

Headed by Shakib by a large margin over second-placed Tamim. DM Bravo has the best for WI.

Now for Bowling:

Most wickets (12 and more):

Led by Shakib, Roach and Miraz.

Roach has the most 5-fors (4) while only Miraz and Holder have taken a 10-for.

Best innings bowling (includes 6wi and more):

Miraz is the only one on either side to take a 7-for. Lawson’s 6-3 is the best for WI, and the best 6-for in any Test.

Best match bowling (includes 8wm and more):

Headed by Miraz and Holder. Lawson appears at the bottom of this list.

Bowling averages (Minimum 2000 balls, all instances):

Shakib is the only one who has bowled enough.

Now for Fielding:

Most dismissals (8 and more):

Headed by Mushfiqur and Ramdin. The most by a fielder is 13 by DJG Sammy.

J Da Silva has the most dismissals (16) among current players.

Most innings dismissals (4 and more):

While several WI players have taken 5 in an innings, Khaled Mashud is the only one from BD to take 4. DM Bravo is the only fielder with 5 catches.

Most match dismissals (5 and more):

Led by three WI players with 7 in a match. The best for BD is 5 by Nurul Hasan twice. DM Bravo has the most by a fielder (6).

Best dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, all cases):

Headed by Mushfiqur, while Brathwaite has the best by a fielder. Apart from Mushfiqur, no keeper has fielded for 20 innings.

All-round performance:

Overall (see criteria in table):

Shakib is the only one to have batted and bowled enough.

Match (50+ and 5wi):

Only three instances, all by Shakib. His best performance was in 2009, where he narrowly missed a century and 5wi.

Review of New Zealand-Bangladesh Tests (2022)

This two-test series marked an important landmark, as Bangladesh won their first Test against New Zealand in their 16th attempt. The series was drawn 1-1.

Results of all Tests between NZ and BD:

Overall: 17 tests: NZ lead 13-1, 3 draws

In NZ: 11 tests: NZ lead 10-1

In BD: 6 tests: NZ lead 3-0 with 3 draws.

Most runs (minimum 350):

Tamim Iqbal leads with 908, followed by Shakib (763) and newly-retired R Taylor (746).

Highest individual scores (Minimum 110):

TWM Latham’s 252 in the second Test is the highest for NZ against BD, surpassing the 202 by SP Fleming at Chattogram in 2004. Their previous best in NZ was 200* by Williamson at Hamilton in 2019. Also note that Shakib had made 217 at Wellington in 2017.

Incidentally Latham is the first player to score 252 in a Test.

While there is not enough data for meaningful batting averages, we have some strike rates:

Highest strike rates (Min 1000 balls faced, all instances):

Not surprisingly, R Taylor has the highest strike rate. Williamson and Shakib are slightly lower.

Bowling:

Most wickets (Minimum 10):

Vettori (51) is followed by the current trio of Wagner, Boult and Southee.

The most 5wi are 5 by Vettori and 3 by Wagner.

The only 10wm is by Vettori.

Best innings bowling (including all 6wi):

Shakib has BD’s best innings figure of 7-36 at Chattogram in 2008. In this series, Ebadot took 6-46 which is BD’s best innings figure in NZ. The previous best for BD in NZ was 5-166 by Rubel Hossain at Hamilton in 2010.

Best match bowling (7wm and above):

Vettori’s 12-170 at Chattogram is the best performance here.

Ebadot’s 7-121 is BD’s best match figure in NZ. The previous record was 5-88 by Mashraf Mortaza at Dunedin in 2008.

There is not enough data for meaningful bowling averages etc, as Vettori is the only one with over 2000 balls bowled.

Fielding:

Most dismissals (Minimum 8):

McCullum (28) and Watling (26) have the most dismissals.

Watling (26) and McCullum (24) have the most catches by a keeper.

Mc Cullum (4) has the most stumpings.

R Taylor (17) and Sinclair (12) have the most dismissals by a fielder.

Most innings dismissals (Minimum 4):

Imrul Kayes has the most catches by a keeper in an innings (5)

During this series Shadman Islam and TWM Latham both took 4 catches as fielders.

Most match dismissals (Minimum 5):

Watling (7) has the most dismissals by a keeper in an innings (all caught). Next is McCullum with 6.

The most catches by a fielder is 6 by Latham in this series. Next are Sinclair and Shadman with 5.

All-round performance:

50+ and 5wi in a match:

Vettori’s 55*, 76 and 9-133 at Chattogram in 2008 is clearly the best. If he had taken one more wicket, he would have become one of the only five players to score 100 runs and take 10 wickets in a test (The others are Davidson, Botham, Imran and Shakib).

ODI statistics for 2021- Part 1

2021 had relatively fewer ODIs than in recent years. Covid cancellations played their part, and many teams gave priority to T20Is because of the World Cup late in the year. (But that will happen in 2022 as well). Anyway, we summarize whatever information is available for ODIs in the calendar year 2021.

Team performances:

Considering teams which have played at least 10 matches, the best W/L ratios are by Bangladesh and Oman followed by South Africa. Teams such as New Zealand, England, Australia and India played less than 10 matches.

Batting:

Most runs (250 and above):

As you may guess, the most runs were played by someone from a minor team: PR Stirling of Ireland with 706. Next is JN Malan of SA with 509. India has one representative here in S Dhawan (297).

The most centuries are 3 by PR Stirling, and 2 by 3 others.

The most 50+ scores are 5 by Stirling (again) and Tamim Iqbal.

Highest individual scores (100 and above):

The top scores (above 150) are 193 by Fakhar Zaman, 177* by JN Malan, 173* by JS Malhotra (USA) and 158 by Babar Azam. The best for India is 108 by KL Rahul.

There is not enough data (minimum 20 innings) for batting averages. However, we have something for Strike Rates (Minimum 500 balls faced, all instances):

JN Malan’s 90+ SR is considerably higher than the next (Stirling yet again).

To be continued.

Review of Bangladesh-Pakistan Tests (Dec 2021)

Tests between these sides have invariably been one-sided, as you can see in this list below:

Pakistan has won 12 of these 13 Tests with one draw.

In Bangladesh, Pakistan leads 7-0 with 1 draw.

In Pakistan, Pakistan leads 5-0.

The one exception to heavy defeats was at Multan in 2003 where Bangladesh came within one wicket of defeating Pakistan. Inzamam (in his home town) was able to scrape through a 1-wicket win here.

We now look at individual scores, starting with Batting:

Most runs (minimum 400):

Azhar Ali has the highest total among current players, followed by Shakib Al Hasan.

The most centuries are 3 by M Hafeez and Younis Khan. The most 50+ scores are 7 by Habibul Bashar (who had only one century). Next are Taufeeq Umar and Shakib with 5 each.

Highest innings (minimum 100):

Abid Ali and Liton Das scored centuries in the just-concluded series.

Yasir Hameed scored centuries in both innings on his Test debut, but never made another century.

There is not enough data (minimum 20 innings) for calculating batting averages.

But we can find batting strike rates (for those with a minimum of 1000 balls faced).

Younis Khan leads 4 Pakistani players here.

Now for Bowling.

Most wickets (minimum 10 wickets):

Current player Taijul Islam (22) has the most for Bangladesh, although Danish Kaneria has the most with 34. Umar Gul also has 22. Newcomers Sajid Khan and SS Afridi are also here.

Best innings bowling (all 6wi and above):

Sajid Khan’s 8-42 is now the best in this series, surpassing Danish’s 7-77.

Taijul Islam now has the best innings figures for Bangladesh (7-116) surpassing Shakib’s 6-82.

Best match bowling (including all 8wm):

Here Sajid Khan’s 12-128 is second to Danish’s 12-94.

In this series, Taijul Islam had the best figures for Bangladesh (8-205).

Best bowling averages-not enough data as no one has bowled 2000 balls.

Fielding records:

Most dismissals (Minimum 8):

Rashid Latif has by far the most dismissals (26). Next is Khaled Mashud with 9.

Among fielders, Azhar Ali and Younis Khan have 8 each. Mahmudullah has 7.

Innings dismissals (Minimum 4):

Match dismissals (Minimum 5):

Rashid Latif again leads with 7 dismissals, while Shadab Kabir had 5 as a fielder.

All-round match performance (Minimum 50+ and 5-for):

Here we have the best performance by a Bangladesh player, with Shakib scoring 144 and taking 6-82).

A landmark win for Bangladesh

Bangladesh has now completed 100 Tests. They marked the 100th Test with their 9th Test victory. Here are the 9 Test victories in chronological order:

This can be summarized as:

Won 1-0 at home vs Zimbabwe in 2004-05

Won 2-0 away vs West Indies in 2009

Drew 1-1 away vs Zimbabwe in 2013

Won 3-0 at home vs Zimbabwe in 2014-15

Drew 1-1 at home vs England in 2016-17

Drew 1-1 away vs Sri Lanka in 2016-17

Today’s win was their first Test victory against Sri Lanka (and in Sri Lanka).

At this point we can review the performances of Bangladeshi players in these 9 Test victories.

Runs: 100 and above:

Tamim, Shakib and Mushfiqur played in 8 of the 9 wins. They only missed the one in 2004-05. Tamim scored 4 centuries and 2 fifties in these matches, as you can see in the table below.

Highest innings (90 and above):

Bowling (5 or more wickets):

Shakib far ahead of the others with Taijul as a surprise second, with newcomer Miraz rapidly moving up.

Best innings bowling (5wi and above):

The one-Test heroes Taijul and Enamul head the list. Otherwise there is mainly Shakib, but do not forget Mahmudullah’s fiver on debut as well as the emergence of MH Miraz.

Best match bowling (7 or more wickets):

Headed by Miraj and Shakib. Shakib scored a century in the same match.

Most fielding dismissals (5 and above):

Headed by Mushfiqur who kept in all but the 2005 match. Khaled Mashud was the keeper then. Mahmudullah and Mominul have the most catches as non-keepers.

Innings fielding dismissals (3 or more):

Mainly Mushfiqur, though Soumya Sarkar has the most (4) catches by a non-keeper.

Match fielding dismissals (4 or more):

As above, headed by Mushfiqur for keepers and Soumya for non-keepers.

All-round performance (minimum 250 runs and 5 wickets):

Shakib followed by Mahmudullah (who was dropped for the current match).

All-round performance in match (fifty and five-for):

Includes M. Rafique, the only all-rounder in the early Tests and two efforts by Shakib. This includes the century and ten wickets at Khulna, which puts him on the same level as Botham and Imran.

You can also see this piece written at the time of the victory over England a few months ago:

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2016/10/31/bangladeshs-greatest-test-win/