Williamson and Starc take top honours

The Statsguru Awards are based purely on numbers from international matches in 2015. However, they go beyond the usual stats and are based instead on detailed data analyses of performances. Which batsman played more consistently than any other over the entire year? Which batting pair was the most prolific through the year? Which bowler was at his best in the third and fourth innings of Tests? Read on to find out.

BATSMAN OF THE YEAR
(cut-off: 750 runs in Tests, 750 in ODIs)

Kane Williamson
Test weighted score 71.68, ODI weighted scored 47.61, Total 119.29
Williamson was outstanding with the bat in every format of the game in 2015. He scored five hundreds in Tests and three in ODIs, averaged more than 90 in Tests and 57 in ODIs, and also scored at a strike rate of 165 in T20Is. He was also the only batsman to pass 1000 runs in both Tests and ODIs in 2015.

Williamson's aggregate of 1172 and his average of 90.15 gave him a Test weighted score of 71.68 (average weighted by the number of runs scored, as a ratio of the top scorer in the year), while his ODI score was 47.61 (average multiplied by runs scored per ball, and weighted by the runs scored, as a ratio of the top-scorer in the year). His aggregate score for the year was 119.29.

The only player who came close to those numbers was Steven Smith, who had a stunning year himself, with six hundreds in Tests and two in ODIs. He was the leading run scorer in Tests with 1474 at an average of 73.70, while in ODIs he scored 805 at an average of 53.66 and a strike rate of 86.09. His overall score for the year was 98.67.

BOWLER OF THE YEAR
(cut-off: 30 wickets in Tests, 25 in ODIs)

Mitchell Starc
Test weighted score 33.78, ODI weighted score 12.49, Total 46.27
Like last year, there weren't that many bowlers who took a bagful of wickets in both Tests and ODIs. Starc, though, was certainly one of them. In just 18 ODIs he took 41 wickets - no bowler took more in ODIs - while in Tests he was impressive as well, with 46 scalps in 11 matches. His ODI average was spectacular (16.26), while his Test average of 25.06 was pretty good too.

Overall, Starc had a Test score of 33.78 (average weighted by the number of wickets, as a ratio of the leading wicket-taker of the year), while his ODI score was an exceptional 12.49 (average multiplied by runs per ball, weighted by the number of wickets, as a ratio of the leading wicket-taker of the year). That gave him a total score of 46.27. The only bowler who was also in the frame was Trent Boult, who took 36 ODI wickets (average 19.77), and an equal number in Tests (average 31.47). His overall adjusted score was 70.86.

BEST TEST BATSMAN
(cut-off: 750 runs)

Steven Smith - 1474 runs at 73.70, weighted score 73.70
No batsman scored as many runs or as many centuries in Tests as Smith, who also made a double-century and a 199. His 1474 runs came at an average of 73.70. Though Williamson and Adam Voges had better averages, Smith's sheer number of runs, along with a hefty average, tilted the scales in his favour. Williamson's weighted score was 71.68, and Voges' was 59.74.

MOST CONSISTENT TEST BATSMAN
(cut-off: 750 runs)

Kane Williamson - Consistency factor 1.34
In 16 Test innings in 2015, Williamson scored five centuries and four fifties, and was dismissed below 20 only four times. His standard deviation - which is a measure of the average distance from the mean - was 67.24. That, combined with his average of 90.15, gave him a consistency factor (average divided by standard deviation) of 1.34, which was the best among all batsmen who scored 750-plus Test runs in 2015. Voges ran him close with a factor of 1.31, followed by Joe Root on 1.27 and Younis Khan on 1.22. Smith had a consistency factor of 1.19.

BEST TEST BOWLER
(cut-off: 30 wickets)

R Ashwin - 62 wickets, average 17.20, weighted score 17.20
Not only was R Ashwin the leading wicket-taker in Tests in 2015, he also had the best average by far, among bowlers with 30 or more wickets. His average of 17.20, coupled with the fact that he was the leading wicket-taker, made his weighted scored by far the best; next best was Stuart Broad, who took 56 wickets at 23.82. His weighted score was 26.37.

BEST ODI BATSMAN
(cut-off: 750 runs)

AB de Villiers - ODI batting factor 58.67
For the second year in succession, de Villiers won this prize. In 2014, he scored 879 ODI runs at an average of 73.25 and a strike rate of 114.45; this year he did even better, scoring 1193 runs at an average of 79.53 and a strike rate of 137.91. Twice in the year he made 100-plus scores at strike rates of more than 240, and his last ODI innings of the year was a 61-ball 119. His 44-ball 149 against West Indies in January created a new record for the fastest 50 and fastest century in ODIs.

Three batsmen made more runs than de Villiers, but none did it as effectively. Even after weighting his aggregate against that of the highest in the year - Martin Guptill's 1489 - de Villiers' batting factor was still 87.88, easily the highest among the 21 batsmen with 750-plus runs in the year. Second-best was Guptill with a score of 53.24, followed by Kumar Sangakkara, who had a fabulous World Cup, with three hundreds on the trot. Sangakkara had a batting factor of 51.33, the number coming down because of his relatively low aggregate - 862, from 13 innings.

BEST ODI BOWLER
(cut-off: 25 wickets)

Mitchell Starc - ODI bowling factor 12.49
There a couple of other contenders here, but Starc's numbers stood out because he sustained his excellence over a longer period of time, and also performed superbly at the biggest stage of them all - the World Cup, where he was the leading wicket-taker with 22 at a scarcely believable average of 10.18. Boult took 22 as well in the tournament, at 16.86, but the other bowler who deserves special mention for his ODI performances in 2015 is Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman, who took 26 wickets in just nine games at 12.34. He finished with a bowling factor (which is calculated by multiplying the average by runs conceded per ball, and then weighting the score by their wickets tally) of 13.82, while Boult's was 16.66.

****

OTHER AWARDS

Test batting
(Cut-off: 750 runs, unless mentioned otherwise)

BATTING PAIR OF THE YEAR: OPENERS
(Cut-off: ten innings)

Chris Rogers and David Warner
With four century partnerships and two more stands of more than 50, Rogers and Warner were the most prolific opening pair in terms of partnership runs scored, with 720 from 11 innings, at an average of 72. Three of their century stands came in the Ashes, when Australian batsmen generally had a tough time. Warner did well with his other opening partner in 2015 too, adding 658 runs with Joe Burns at an average of 73.11, but they batted together nine times. Among those with at least ten partnerships, New Zealand's Guptill and Tom Latham were next, averaging 40.07 from 14 partnerships.

BATTING PAIR OF THE YEAR: OTHERS
(Cut-off: eight innings)

Steven Smith and Adam Voges
Smith and Voges were clearly the most prolific pair of the year, adding more runs than any other pair, and at the best average as well. They put together 816 runs in nine innings, including two 200-plus stands, at an average of 102. The only pair that came close to those numbers were New Zealand's Ross Taylor and Williamson, who added 734 runs at 81.55, while Joe Root and Alastair Cook scored 579 runs at 64.33.

HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF TEAM RUNS

Kane Williamson
Williamson was so prolific in 2015 that it is hardly surprising he scored almost 24% of New Zealand's bat runs in Tests. His 23.87% is marginally higher than de Villiers' contribution of 23.03% of South Africa's bat runs in Tests in 2015. South Africa had a poor year with the bat, and de Villiers' 492 runs at 49.20 was a high percentage of 2136 runs they scored with the bat in all. In contrast, Australia scored 7512 runs in all, of which Smith's contribution was 19.62%.

MOST RUNS IN WINS

Steven Smith
Smith was the only batsman to score 1000-plus Test runs in wins in 2015 - he scored 1029 at an average of 102.90. Two other batsmen had higher averages - Root made 886 runs at 110.75, while Voges scored 768 at 153.60. Williamson averaged 97.50 in wins, scoring 585 in eight innings.

BEST STRIKE RATE

David Warner
For the third year in a row, Warner had the best strike rate among batsmen with at least 750 runs in Tests in 2015. His scoring rate of 81.85 was easily on top; no other batsman touched 65. Four others logged between 59 and 64, though: Root (63.70), Smith (62.08), Williamson (59.94) and Voges (59.01).

HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF RUNS IN BOUNDARIES

David Warner
Of the 1317 Test runs Warner scored in 2015, 718 were in boundaries (163 fours, 11 sixes). His percentage of 54.52 was the highest among batsmen who scored at least 750 runs, though Dinesh Chandimal followed him closely with a percentage of 53.94. The only other batsman with a 50-plus boundary percentage was Voges (52.92), while Root had a percentage of 49.96.

Test bowling
(cut-off: 30 wickets)

BEST STRIKE RATE

R Ashwin
Dale Steyn and Mitchell Johnson won this prize in the last two years, but in 2015 Ashwin showed that his striking powers were second to none: he took 62 wickets in 376.4 overs, which is a wicket every 36.4 balls. He was well clear of any other bowler: the next best was Sri Lanka's Dhammika Prasad, with a strike rate of 44.3.

MOST FIVE-FORS

R Ashwin
Ashwin won this one too by a considerable margin: he had seven five-fors in 2015, while no other bowler managed more than three.

BEST THIRD- AND FOURTH-INNINGS BOWLER
(cut-off: 15 wickets)

R Ashwin
Ashwin swept this one too, taking 32 second-innings wickets at an average of 15.75. Yasir Shah was the next highest in terms of wickets, with 23 at 23.29, while Josh Hazlewood took 22 at a fine average of 16.81.

ODI batting
(cut-off: 750 runs, unless mentioned otherwise)

BEST SCORING RATE (Qual: 750 balls)

AB de Villiers
Among the 28 batsmen who faced at least 750 deliveries in ODIs in 2015, four had strike rates of more than 100. Three of those - Kumar Sangakkara, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Grant Elliott - had strike rates between 101 and 104. The one who stood out was de Villiers, with a strike rate of 137.91. Brendon McCullum's scoring rate was 152.49, but he faced only 501 balls to score 764 runs.

LOWEST SCORING RATE (Qual: 750 balls)

Chamu Chibhabha
The Zimbabwe opener scored 859 runs from 1146 balls, a strike rate of 74.95, the least among batsmen who faced at least 750 balls in the year. Ahmed Shehzad, the batsman with the poorest rate last year, was next with a strike rate of 75.79, while Lahiru Thirimanne's rate was 76.80. Of the 28 batsmen who faced 750-plus balls, only five had strike rates of less than 80.

BATTING PAIR OF THE YEAR: OPENERS
(cut-off: minimum ten innings)

Soumya Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal
In ten partnerships, Bangladesh's Sarkar and Tamim put together 540 runs, including three century stands, at an average of 54 and a run rate of 5.68 per over. Their partnership factor (the average partnership multiplied by runs scored per ball) was 51.12, the best among pairs which batted at least ten times in the year. They pipped the New Zealand pair of McCullum and Guptill, who averaged 39.34 at a run rate of 7.76, giving them a factor of 50.88.

BATTING PAIR OF THE YEAR: OTHERS
(cut-off: minimum ten innings)

Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara
In ten partnerships, Dilshan and Sangakkara put together five century stands, including three in the 2015 World Cup. They averaged 94.44 runs per stand, at a run rate of 6.38, giving them a partnership factor of 100.42. They were well clear of any other pair - no one else managed a score of 70. The second-best score was 66.48, by South Africa's Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis - they averaged 74 runs per partnership, at a rate of 5.39.

HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF RUNS IN BOUNDARIES

Martin Guptill
Of the 1489 runs Guptill scored in ODIs in 2015, exactly 900 were in fours (162) and sixes (42) - that's a percentage of 60.44, the best among all batsmen who played at least 750 balls. He pipped de Villiers, who got 59.68% of his runs in boundaries, including 58 sixes, the most by any batsman in the year. The lowest percentage, interestingly, belonged to Kohli, who scored only 35.96% of his runs in fours and sixes, but still managed a reasonable strike rate of 80.59.

LOWEST DOT-BALL PERCENTAGE

AB de Villiers
de Villiers has made this category his own: he has won it four times in a row, and by huge margins. In 2015 his dot percentage was 36.07; the next best was Mushfiqur Rahim at 42.12. In 2014, he had a dot-ball percentage of 35.29, well clear of the second-placed Kohli (43.57). In 2013, his percentage was 41.40, while the second-best was George Bailey's 46.75. On the other hand, the highest dot percentage belonged to Ahmed Shehzad (60.77), followed by Chibhabha (59.12).

HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF TEAM RUNS (Top 10 teams only)

Tillakaratne Dilshan
The Sri Lankan opener scored 21.44% of Sri Lanka's bat runs in ODIs in 2015 (1207 out of 5630). Dilshan was in prolific form through the year, averaging 52.47 at a strike rate of 90.75, with four centuries and six fifties. Next in the list was de Villiers, who scored 19.13% of South Africa's total runs. He pipped Guptill, 2015's highest run scorer in ODIs, by the narrowest margin: Guptill scored 19.12% of New Zealand's total bat runs in the year.

MOST RUNS IN WINS

Martin Guptill
Guptill was the only batsman to score 1000-plus ODI runs in wins in 2015: he made 1180 runs in wins at an average of 69.41 and a strike rate of 101.11. A fifth of those runs came in one innings, when he scored an unbeaten 237 against West Indies in the 2015 World Cup. The difference between his aggregate and the next best was 257 - Hashim Amla scored 923 runs in wins at an average of 71 and a strike rate of 97.87.

MOST RUNS IN CHASES

Martin Guptill
Guptill won this one too, scoring 755 runs in chases at an average of 50.33 and a strike rate of 98.56. Zimbabwe's batsmen took the next two spots, with Sean Williams scoring 735, while Elton Chigumbura made 638. In fact, three of the top five positions in this category went to Zimbabwe batsmen.

ODI bowling
(cut-off: min 125 overs)

BEST ECONOMY RATE

Trent Boult
Among the 21 bowlers who bowled at least 125 ODI overs in 2014, Boult was the only one with an economy rate of less than 4.5 - his 4.44 was the best for the year, followed by Starc and Shakib Al Hasan on 4.61. Of these 21 bowlers, only ten had economy rates of less than five.

WORST ECONOMY RATE

Adil Rashid
Three out of the 21 bowlers with the 125-over cut-off had economy rates of more than six, but the worst of them was England's Adil Rashid, with an economy rate of 6.10. The other two were both from New Zealand: Mitchell McClenaghan (6.05) and Tim Southee (6.03). Both those New Zealand bowlers were among the wickets, though: Southee took 28 from 18 games, while McClenaghan had 26 from 17.

BEST DOT-BALL PERCENTAGE

Trent Boult
Boult and Starc were again the stand-out bowlers in this aspect: Boult had a dot-ball percent of 64.31, followed by Starc on 64.29. They were well clear of all other bowlers: the third-best was Morne Morkel, at 60.99%.

LOWEST BOUNDARY PERCENTAGE

Mohammad Nabi
Afghanistan's offspinner conceded just 33 fours and 14 sixes in 796 balls, a percentage of just 5.90. The next best was Moeen Ali, with a percentage of 6.25. The top seven positions were all taken by spinners, which isn't surprising considering they usually bowl in the middle overs, which batsmen usually adopt a more conservative approach. The first fast bowler in the list was Wahab Riaz, with a boundary percentage of 8.59, followed by Boult with 8.74. The bowler with the highest boundary percentage was Southee, at 14.29%.

Twenty20 internationals

BEST BATSMAN
(cut-off: 180 balls faced)

Faf du Plessis
Faf du Plessis played only six T20I innings in 2015, but scored 272 runs, the second highest by any batsman in the year - Afghanistan's Mohammad Shahzad got more, but he needed 11 innings to make 297. Du Plessis made 45.33 runs per innings, at a strike rate of 157.22. Multiplying the runs per innings with the strike rate - with a 1.1 factor for strike rate, given its importance in the format - du Plessis' score was 74.57, the best among batsmen who faced 120 or more balls in T20Is in the year. Among batsmen from the top ten teams, Pakistan's Mukhtar Ahmed had the next-best score, of 47.53, followed by Shahzad's 44.13 and Rilee Rossouw's 40.17.

BEST BOWLER (cut-off: 20 overs)

David Wiese
With a 20-over cut-off, and among bowlers from the top ten teams in this format, the top wicket-taker was South Africa's David Wiese with 14. In 23.2 overs, Wiese, a right-arm seamer, averaged 11.78 at an economy rate of 7.07. Multiplying his bowling average with the runs conceded per ball, with a 1.1 factor for economy rate, Wiese finished with a bowling factor of 14.11, the best among bowlers who bowled at least 20 overs in this format in the year. The next-best bowling factor belonged to Afghanistan's Dawlat Zadran (21.53), while South African spinner Aaron Phangiso was third with a score of 25.54.

BEST BATTING PAIR
(cut-off: six partnerships)

Ahmed Shehzad and Mukhtar Ahmed
In six partnerships, the Pakistan pair of Ahmed Shehzad and Mukhtar Ahmed added 278 at an average of 46.33 and a run rate of 7.86. The 142 they added against Zimbabwe in Lahore in May was the second-highest partnership of the year. Multiplying their average stand by the run rate, with a 1.1 weightage for the run rate, they finished with a partnership factor of 62.35, the highest among the ten pairs who batted at least four times in the year (from the top ten teams in the format). The next best was the Afghanistan pair of Najibullah Zadran and Samiullah Shenwari, who had a score of 58.40, while Amla and de Villiers had a score of 56.23.

Team

MOST DOMINANT: TESTS

Pakistan and India
Both these Asian teams had a 5-1 win-loss record in 2015, the best among all teams in 2015. The only Test Pakistan lost was in Sri Lanka, but they won that away series 2-1, and then also beat England 2-0. India's only Test defeat was also in Sri Lanka, but they too won that series 2-1, and then beat South Africa 3-0. The next-best win-loss ratio belonged to Australia - they won eight and lost three, while New Zealand won four and lost three.

MOST DOMINANT: ODIs

Australia
For the second year in a row Australia were the undisputed leaders in ODIs, winning 15 and losing only three. They were utterly dominant in their victorious World Cup campaign, and then won the ODI series against England 3-2. Apart from those two defeats against England, their only loss was against New Zealand in the World Cup game in Auckland. Their win-loss ratio of five was the best among all teams. Bangladesh had an outstanding year as well, winning home series against Pakistan, India and South Africa, and reaching the World Cup quarter-finals; their 13-5 record was second-best, followed by South Africa's 21-10.

MOST DISCIPLINED: ODIs

Australia
The best ODI team of 2015 was also the most disciplined. In 19 ODIs, Australia conceded only 86 wides and seven no-balls, an average of 4.89 per game. They were well ahead of all other teams: the next best were Sri Lanka, with an average of 7.04 game per game. West Indies were the most indisciplined, conceding 136 wides and ten no-balls in 15 games, an average of 9.73 per ODI.

MOST DOMINANT: T20Is

England
England had a flawless 5-0 record in T20Is in 2015, winning four games by outright margins, and one in the Super Over against Pakistan. They batted first in each of the five games, and apart from that nailbiter against Pakistan, they won two other games by margins of fewer than six runs. South Africa had a 6-3 record (when playing against the top ten teams).