Mallett, Davidson and India

Australia lost two of its Test stalwarts on successive days; Ashley Mallett on Oct 29 and Alan Davidson on the 30th.

While Mallett was somewhat overshadowed by the Australian fast bowlers of his time, he often played an useful role as the sole spinner.

He did well bowling against India, as you can see here:

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/6472.html?class=1;template=results;type=bowling

His bowling average against India was his best against all Test countries. He only played one series against India, in 1969-70. He took 28 wickets including his only 10-for in the last Test at Madras, which gave Australia a 3-1 win. Indian fans of that period remember it more for Viswanath’s debut and numerous crowd disturbances.

Davidson is better-known for being the first to score over a 100 runs and take a 10-for in the same Test. This was at the Tied Test at Brisbane:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/west-indies-tour-of-australia-1960-61-61907/australia-vs-west-indies-1st-test-62888/full-scorecard

In later years this was overshadowed by the feats of Botham, Imran and Shakib who scored centuries along with 10-fors. No one else has emulated Davidson.

He did not do too well as a batsman against India: https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/4902.html?class=1;template=results;type=batting

But did somewhat better as a bowler:

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/4902.html?class=1;template=results;type=bowling

His bowling average against India was his best against all Test countries. His best innings figures (7-93) and match figures (12-124) were also against India.

This was at Kanpur in 1959-60, which marked India’s first win against Australia:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/australia-tour-of-india-1959-60-61422/india-vs-australia-2nd-test-62869/full-scorecard

Australia batted first, took a first-innings lead, and lost. An Australian left-arm pace bowler took 12 wickets.

20 years passed. 7 Tests were played at Kanpur and all were drawn (including the one against Australia in 1969-70).

In 1979-80, a weakened Australian team toured India.

The story was the same as in 1959-60:

Australia batted first, took a first-innings lead, and lost. An Australian left-arm pace bowler took 12 wickets.

The only difference was that the bowler was Dymock instead of Davidson:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/australia-tour-of-india-1979-80-61434/india-vs-australia-3rd-test-63243/full-scorecard

Like Davidson, Dymock took 5 wickets in the first innings and 7 in the second.

Unlike in 1959 when Jasu Patel took 14 wickets, here the spoils were shared by Kapil, Ghavri and Shivlal Yadav.

But these two Tests at Kanpur had a remarkable number of similarities, more than those of the two Australia-England Tests of 1877 and 1977.

Cricketing coincidences-2

A well-known one pertains to the very first Test at Melbourne in March 1877 and the Centenary Test a hundred years later. In both cases Australia won by 45 runs.

See the scorecard of 1877:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62396.html

and of 1977:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63189.html

Although the story-lines of the two Tests are somewhat different, the end result was the same. Note that one performance in the 1877 Test remains a Test record even today.

Now here is another lesser-known one involving two brothers-Tony Greig (58 Tests) and the lesser-known Ian Greig (2 Tests). Tony had one of the best all-round debuts including 4-53. His brother also took 4-53 on debut.

Tony: http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63084.html

Ian:   http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63317.html

Finally another one including two Tests, which had somewhat more similarities than the two Tests at Melbourne.

Our story begins at the India-Australia Test at Kanpur in 1959-60, which you will remember as India’s first victory over Australia:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62869.html

Jasu Patel’s figures of 9-69 and 14-124 stood as records for a long time. The first one was bettered only by Anil Kumble in 1998-99, and the second was bettered only by Narendra Hirwani in 1987-88.

Other points to note are:

1. India won by over 100 runs after conceding a first-innings lead
2. An Australian left-arm pace bowler (Davidson) took 12 wickets (5 and 7)

Almost 20 years passed. Kanpur saw 7 drawn Tests in succession, and got the reputation of being the deadest Test pitch in the world. These Tests were generally dull draws, with some highlights like GR Viswanath’s duck and century on debut in 1969-70 and India’s then highest total of 644/7 in 1978-79. Then came another Australian team in 1979-80, admittedly a rather weak team without the Packer players.

This was the result:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63243.html

There was no record-breaking bowling like that of Jasu Patel, but still

1. India won by over 100 runs after conceding a first-innings lead
2. An Australian left-arm pace bowler (Dymock) took 12 wickets (5 and 7)

Add to this the fact that both Australian bowler’s names started with a D, and there are certainly more coincidences than in the better-known Tests at Melbourne.

India and Australia have met only three times in Tests at this venue, in 1959-60, 1969-70 and 1979-80 but the 10-year cycle was broken in the next decade.