Geoff Boycott and Andrew Strauss are the latest additions to the cricketing knights of England:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/49641823
Which was not without controversy in Boycott’s case.
More on this topic in my earlier post in 2017:
https://abn397.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/sir-geoffrey-and-the-real-knights/
In the ongoing Test at Kingston, India registered a somewhat rare triumph of a fifty at No 9 along with a century partnership.
Fifty plus by No 9 batsmen from India:
Ishant Sharma’s 57 is a little below the middle. There are several Indians above him, led by J Yadav who vanished as quickly as he got into the team. Even a century at no 9 does not help.
Century partnership for the 8th wicket by India:
Again, the partnership of 112 by Vihari and Ishant is little below the middle. There is one against WI a little higher (120* by Dravid and Sarandeep in 2002).
For the sake of comparison, we also look at:
Fifty plus at No 9 against the West Indies:
Here, too, Ishant is a bit lower than the middle. The highest for India is 79 by Kunderan in 1966-67. The highest for India in the West Indies is 68 by BS Sandhu. Oddly enough, Sandhu’s 71 against Pakistan in 1982-83 is the best on debut by a No 9 in all Tests.
Century partnerships for the 8th wicket against the West Indies:
The Vihari – Sharma partnership is the 8th highest here, while the 120* by Dravid and Sarandeep is the 6th highest. The highest partnership of 217 was part of one of the more remarkable comebacks in all Tests, when Brian Close captained for the first time:
This involved a recovery from 166/7 to 527 and fifty-plus from the No 9, 10 and 11 batsmen (Murray, Higgs and Snow).
Hope that you have read Part 1.
Continuing with individual performances:
Bowling:
Most wickets (30 and more):
The most fivers were by Ambrose (8) and Gibbs (7). And the most tenners were 2 by Ambrose, Gibbs and Trueman.
The contemporaries Ambrose and Walsh have the most wickets, with Trueman’s 86 for England far behind. Among current players there are Anderson (82), Broad (57) and Roach (42).
Best innings bowling (including all 7wi and above):
RL Chase’s freakish 8-60 in this series is the best for a WI spinner against England, surpassing Valentine’s 8-104 back in 1950. No other major performance in this series, though Anderson and Stokes combined at Lord’s in 2017. Note ARC Fraser’s efforts in 1994 and 1998.
Best match bowling (including all 10wm and above):
No outstanding performance in this series, while there is one by Anderson in 2017.
CS Marriott is the only one in all Tests to take a tenner in his only Test. Greig’s 13-wicket performance was his only 10-for and the best for England in these matches.
Best bowling average (Minimum 2000 balls, all instances):
Garner and Ambrose at the top, Anderson, Roach and Broad from the present.
Ramadhin and Valentine are together in this table.
While Garner and Ambrose have the best average, Valentine and Ramadhin have the best economy rate while Marshall and Holding have the best strike rate.
Fielding:
Most dismissals (20 and above):
DL Murray and Dujon are far ahead of the others. Ames of the 1930s has the most stumpings, Murray the most catches by a keeper and Lara the most by a non-keeper.
Best innings fielding (5 dismissals and above):
The best by a non-keeper is 4.
Best match fielding (7 dismissals and above):
The most stumpings are 3 by the occasional keeper Walcott, the most catches by a keeper are 9 by Browne and the most catches by a non-keeper are 6 by Cowdrey, Sobers and Adams.
Best dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.600):
Here Jacobs and Dujon have the best rate, while Hammond has the best by a non-keeper.
All-round performance (see criteria in table):
It is not surprising to see Sobers at the top, but Holding at no 2 is surprising. He seems to have reserved his best batting and bowling efforts for England. No one from recent years.
All-round match performance (50 and 5wi):
The best performances here would be by Sobers, Greig and Boyce. Here we do have Chase from this series and Stokes from the previous one. Sadly, Boyce and Marshall died young.
The 3-Test series was won 2-1 by the West Indies, with all three matches ending in decisive results. West Indies won their first series against England since early 2009. They have not won a series in England since 1988, and did not win a Test in England between 2000 and 2017.
The overall results are:
The West Indies still enjoy an overall lead and at home, while England leads them in matches played in England.
We now come to individual performances:
Batting:
Most runs (1000 runs and more):
A long list without much contribution from recent years. The only name from the past few years is AN Cook.
The most centuries are 10 by Sobers and 8 by Richards and Headley. The most from England is 6 by several players. The most scores of 50+ are 23 by Richards and Sobers, followed by 21 by Chanderpaul. The most by England is 20 by Boycott.
Highest innings scores (175 and above):
This list is led by Lara’s world records and is followed by Sandham’s score which was the first Test triple century. The only such score from this series is captain Holder’s 202*, while Cook scored 243 in the last series in 2017.
Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings and 35.00):
Yet again, Cook is the only representative in recent years with his 57.96. Hutton and Headley are far ahead of others, and they both played their last Test in this series in 1954.
Highest strike rate (Minimum 1000 balls faced, 50.00):
Here we have the recent player MJ Prior at the top, followed by Richards and Pietersen. Root is the only recent player here.
To be continued.
Only a few days ago we noticed that Bangladesh had finally got a Test ranking (8th) higher than that of the West Indies (9th). It was therefore hoped that Bangladesh would be competitive in the 2-Test series in the West Indies starting on July 4.
That did not happen, as Bangladesh was dismissed for 43 before lunch on the first day of the series at North Point. The main wrecker was Kemar Roach (5-1-8-5 with an injured knee).
In the following tables I have considered 9 or 10 wickets down, to cover cases where teams batted one man short.
This is the lowest score by Bangladesh in all Tests:
It also has the lowest number of balls in any Test innings by Bangladesh (112), the next lowest being 152 for their 62-run effort in 2007.
It is also the lowest Test score by any side since 2000 ( the list shows scores below 75)
However, they lasted for 112 balls which is higher than that for Australia (108 balls for 47 in 2011) and 111 balls for 60 in 2015).
And you can see that 43 all out is fairly low down in the all-time Test lows (below 50). India was dismissed for 42 (one man absent) in 1974.
We also look at the all-time Test lows by balls faced (less than 120 balls):
The all-time low is 75 balls by SA for 30 all out in 1924. The NZ team which made 26 all out did survive for 162 balls and thus does not appear here. India’s record low of 102 balls for 42 can be seen here.
The Bangladesh team’s 112 balls is one more than Australia’s 111 balls for 60 in 2015 and 108 balls in 2011, which are the lowest in recent years.
Finally we look at the lowest scores in the first innings of the match (below 60);
Bangladesh’s 43 today is the 3rd lowest here, and the lowest since 1946.
Also note that England won after being dismissed for 45 in 1887.
And the lowest number of balls faced in the first innings of the match (below 120):
Here Bangladesh has survived for one ball more than Australia’s famous 60 in 2015, which is the record.
And the 43 is the lowest Test score in the West Indies:
A total of 20 Tests have been played between these countries:
In these 20 Tests, WI has won 4, SL 9 and 7 were drawn.
In the 9 Tests in the West Indies, WI won 4, SL 2 and 3 were drawn.
In the 11 Tests in Sri Lanka, WI has won none, SL 7 and 4 were drawn.
Sri Lanka has never won a series in the West Indies, but have drawn 1-1 in 2008 and again in 2018.
Batting records:
Most runs: (500 runs and above):
Highest innings (100 and above):
Dowrich made the highest score in this series. Earlier, BC Lara made the most runs (351) in any Test where his team lost (221 and 130).
Batting averages (Minimum 20 innings) : No instances.
Bowling records:
Most wickets (20 and above):
Muralitharan and Vaas are far ahead of the others.
Best innings bowling (6wi and above):
Gabriel now has the best innings bowling of 8-62 for WI against SL. He surpassed Collymore’s 7-57 in 2003.
Best match bowling (8wm and above):
Gabriel and Holder both surpassed the previous WI v SL record of 9-85 by Collymore in 2003.
Best Bowling average (Minimum 2000 balls):
Fielding records:
Most dismissals (10 and above):
Dowrich leads among current players.
Best innings dismissals (4 and above):
Best match dismissals (5 and above):
Dowrich has done well in this series, as has Kusal Mendis.
Best dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, all instances):
Interesting that it is headed by a non-keeper.
All-round :
Overall performance (see criteria in table):
Match performance (Fifty and 5wi):
Holder’s performance in the 3rd Test was the best.
Here are the records which were set in this match, which was one of the most one-sided T20I matches ever. First, the scorecard:
All figures are correct on April 1, 2018.
Lowest-ever T20I scores (85 and below):
Live link: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283172.html
We see that WI’s total is among the lowest in all T20Is, but still ahead of the record of 39 all out by Netherlands in 2014, in the course of the T20I World Championships. Their previous lowest was 79/7 against Zimbabwe in 2010, which you can see in the above total. The previous lowest all-out total was 101 against Sri Lanka in 2009, in the course of the T20I World Championship.
Pakistan recorded its joint-highest T20I total, as it had also made 203/5 against Bangladesh at Karachi in 2008. This is however not too high in the all-time list of high T20I scores, which is headed by Australia’s 263/6 against Sri Lanka in 2016.
Highest T20I totals by Pakistan:
And Pakistan also recorded its highest margin of victory:
It can be seen that it is the second-highest margin (by runs) in all T20Is, surpassed only by Sri Lanka’s demolition of Kenya in the first T20I World Championship. It is also the largest victory margin in matches between full members. Pakistan’s previous record was 103 runs against New Zealand in 2010.
Live link: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283283.html
