Checking Australia's starts, and a sorry comeback

Perhaps numbers never do reveal the full story, but they tell a large part of it. Every Friday, The Numbers Game will take a look at statistics from the present and the past, busting myths and revealing hidden truths:

Off with a bang
Australia are used to setting the pace early on in a match - especially at home - but things didn't quite turn out to their liking on the first day of the Darwin Test. Their total of 207 was a ten-year low for the first innings of a home Test. The last team to inflict such misery on them was England, at Sydney in 1994-95. Then, Darren Gough, playing his first overseas series, rocked the Australians with a haul of 6 for 49 to bowl them out for a paltry 116. They managed to wriggle out of that game with a draw, though: chasing a fourth-innings target of 449, Australia survived almost a day and a half, with Mark Taylor and Michael Slater both getting centuries and adding 208 for the first wicket. Australia's approach then was rather different to the current lot's, though: in 121 overs, they managed just 344 for 7; give Ricky Ponting and co. that many overs, and they might actually chase down the target.

That was in the third Test of the series. To find a similar performance by Australia in the first Test of a home series, you need to go back a further four years, to the 1990-91 season. The opponents once again were England, who made 194, then bundled Australia out for 152. That was about as far as England's dream run went: they were shot out for 114 in the second innings, and Taylor and Geoff Marsh romped past the target of 157 to give Australia a thumping ten-wicket win.

Low first-innings totals by Australia at home since 1990:

England at least stayed in the contest till the halfway stage on that occasion; of late, the opposition has rarely had a sniff. Since 1995, Australia's first-innings average in the series opener at home has been 464, the opponents' 267. Such a huge first-innings lead has ensured that midway through the game, there's only one possible winner. Australia have gone on to win 11 of those 15 games, with the remaining four ending in draws.

A sorry comeback
A place in the Australian line-up takes plenty of getting, but it doesn't take much for that opportunity to vanish in a trice. Matthew Elliott has found that out the hard way over the last couple of days. Drafted into the side as Ricky Ponting's replacement 1919 days after his last appearance in a baggy green (which, incidentally, was in an epic game against West Indies in Barbados in 1998-99, made famous by Brian Lara's unbelievable matchwinning 153 not out), Elliott lasted exactly 11 balls and added just one run to his career aggregate, being done in by corkers from Chaminda Vaas in both innings. Elliott had missed 59 Tests in the interim - only four Australians have had a longer lay-off, in terms of matches missed. With Ponting due to return for the next Test, and Michael Clarke waiting in the wings, Elliott mightn't get another opportunity to add to his tally of 1172 Test runs.

Most Tests missed between appearances for Australia:

The toss is the key
It's hardly been smooth sailing for England in the one-day format, but they have at least managed to take the unpredictability out of the contests entirely: the results of their matches these days are a foregone conclusion the moment the toss is completed. If they bat first, they lose; if they field, a win's assured. Of 21 one-dayers under Michael Vaughan, England have won 11 - all when chasing a target - and lost eight - all when batting first. (Click here for England's ODI record under Vaughan's captaincy.)