Losing all their Tests

We have earlier seen that only 4 players have played 5 or more Tests and seen their teams winning all of them. As you may guess, the number of players who saw only defeats is somewhat higher.

In the former list, the “topper” had played in 10 Tests. Here the figure is 17 Tests, with 18 players who played in 5 or more Tests.

As you may guess, the first few are from Bangladesh (though there are none from Zimbabwe here). There are also several from other “major” Test sides including Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies and England.

The “topper”, Alok Kapali, was a bits-and-piece player with a top score of 85 and best of 3-3:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/bangladesh/content/player/56251.html

That 3-3 icluded Bangladesh’s first hat-trick. It also earned him a place in the trivia question “Who was the first Hindu to take a Test hat-trick?”. Note that India’s hat-tricks were by Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan and more recently Jasprit Bumrah (who might be a Sikh, though this is unclear).

Next in line is the lesser-known Mohammad Sharif with 10 luckless Tests:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/bangladesh/content/player/55986.html

From England, there is JG Dewes who made his debut in the 5th Test at the Oval in 1948. He made only 1 and 10, but that would not have attracted much attention along with Bradman’s duck in his last Test.

We can extend this a little further to all those who saw defeats in 90% or more of their Tests:

Here we get 25 names. The last 7 are from Bangladesh, apart from one from Zimbabwe.

The current players here are headed by PVD Chameera (8 Tests) and DT Tiripamo (9 losses and 1 win in 10 Tests). There is still no one from India, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand.

While India and New Zealand took a long time to register their first Test victories, they were able to draw more regularly than Bangladesh.

Test matches of 2019-Bowling

Now for individual bowling performances in Tests in the calendar year 2019.

Most wickets (12 or more):

The two top positions are for Australian players Cummins and Lyon. Cummings has a large lead. The best of the newcomers appear to be Archer, Rashid Khan, Embuldeniya and SS Afridi, while Cornwall had a 10-wicket haul in his 2nd Test

Wagner and Starc had the most 5-wicket hauls (4). No one took more than one 10-for.

Best innings performances (including all 6wi and above):

Chase’s 8-wicket haul was largely responsible for England’s defeat. Next is another WI spinner who was playing in his 2nd Test. Other good performances were by newcomers JC Archer, TJ Murtagh and Rashid Khan.

Murtagh was the first Irish player to get his name on the Lord’s honours boards.

Here we add the only hat-trick this year:

JJ Bumrah took a hat-trick with the wickets of 2-13 (Bravo, 8.2 ov), 3-13 (Brooks, 8.3 ov), and 4-13 (Chase, 8.4 ov). He finished with innings figures of 6-27 and match figures of 7-58.

Best match bowling (including all cases of 8wm and above):

Rashid Khan scored a fifty along with his 11 wickets. Other newcomers here are Cornwall and Archer.

Best bowling averages (Minimum 1500 balls, all instances):

Wagner and Cummins lead here, with Archer the best of the newcomers.

The best economy rates are by Cummins and Hazlewood. The best strike rates are by Starc and Wagner.