Atapattu's run-fest, and the Whatmore effect

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:

Atapattu cashes in
All the Sri Lankan batsmen feasted themselves on some rather mediocre bowling on their recent tour to Zimbabwe, but one man enjoyed more than his share of the goodies on offer - Marvan Atapattu made 170 and 249 in his two outings, in the process nudging his average past 40 for the first time in his Test career. Atapattu's century tally in Tests has now swelled to 14, six of which have been doubles, a feat bettered by only Don Bradman (12), Wally Hammond and Brian Lara (seven each).

All those double-centuries - three of them unbeaten ones - have also meant that Atapattu's average century score is an imposing 232.40, only marginally lower than Bradman's average, and sixth in the all-time list of batsmen with at least 14 hundreds. (Click here for the full list of Atapattu's double-hundreds.)

Atapattu's double-hundred count may be burgeoning, but a look at its break-up reveals an ability to make the most of weaker opposition - three of those two-hundred plus scores have been against Zimbabwe, and another against Bangladesh. The table below indicates exactly why Atapattu, despite his copybook technique and elegant strokeplay which make him such a pleasure to watch, isn't generally rated among the top batsmen in the world: an average of just 30 against the better attacks indicate that Atapattu hasn't quite measured up in tougher conditions.

What also stands out in Atapattu's career stats is his propensity to be dismissed early: he's been nailed for single-digit scores a whopping 45 times - that's nearly 40% of his total innings (excluding innings when he's been unbeaten for less than 10). Being an opener, it's more likely that he'd succumb early in the innings when the ball is new and the bowlers fresh, but Atapattu's percentage is still alarmingly high. Compare those numbers with another modern-day opener's: in 52 such innings, Mark Richardson has fallen for a sub-ten score only on 11 occasions, a mere 21% of the time. In fact, among the top six players who have been dismissed for a sub-10 score most often (min. qual: 50 innings and an average of 35), four are middle-order batsmen. The only regular opener apart from Atapattu - who, expectedly tops the list - is Dennis Amiss, who slots in at fourth position.

Even more interestingly, heading the other end of the list - players with least sub-ten scores (keeping the same qualification as above) - are two openers. Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe both managed to get starts an amazingly high number of times: Hobbs only failed to get into double figures once every seven innings, while Sutcliffe was nearly as good.

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The Whatmore effect
Bangladesh lost all three one-day internationals on their current tour to the West Indies, but they did their reputation no harm, nearly pulling off a rare win in the first game, which they eventually lost by one wicket. It wasn't the first time Bangladesh had been pipped at the post either: at Multan in 2003 they came agonisingly close to pulling off their maiden Test win, only to be denied by an amazing innings by Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Both those near-misses came with a new coach at the helm. Dav Whatmore may not have significantly altered Bangladesh's win-loss record yet, but he has brought about a noticeable improvement in attitude, discipline and work ethics - the batsmen at least attempt to spend longer periods at the crease, and the bowlers and fielders realise the value of keeping the runs in check even when wickets are tough to eke out.

In the nine Tests since Whatmore took charge, Bangladesh have batted, on an average, 72 overs per Test innings: in the pre-Whatmore era, that figure was 65. The opposition batsmen have found the going slightly tougher too, scoring just 43 runs per wicket, a drop of 15 runs from the pre-Whatmore period. Bangladesh will unquestionably be the underdogs in the Test series, which starts on May 28 in St Lucia, but if West Indies continue to perform as listlessly as they have in the last few years, expect Habibul Bashar and his team to cause a few surprises.

S Rajesh is assistant editor of Wisden Cricinfo.