Kartikeya Date
Which batsmen thrive against the best bowlers?
Why Tendulkar and Lara were superior all-round Test players, and why Sangakkara is a freak
Kartikeya Date
14-Feb-2014
Kumar Sangakkara made a triple-hundred and a hundred in the same Test in Chittagong recently. In the last 12 months, Sri Lanka have played four Tests against Bangladesh. In these, Sangakkara has scored 142, 105, 139, 55, 75, 319 and 105. In his last 12 Tests against one of the other seven top Test-playing teams, Sangakkara averages 48. This is a broader phenomenon in Test cricket. Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have conceded runs at an impressive rate to the world's top batsmen. Players from the subcontinent play these two teams more often than players from Australia or England.
A few weeks ago I described a method to determine the bowling and batting strength of a Test team. I have since found that a simpler method of measuring bowling strength is similarly correlated with Test results. I describe it briefly below using the example of India's first innings in the Cape Town Test of 2011. This method could be improved substantially with detailed ball-by-ball data, but since this data is not available for all Tests, I use innings-level data.
Sachin Tendulkar made 146 in this Test in Cape Town and had a memorable battle with Dale Steyn. But South Africa's bowling attack as a whole was not particularly strong. The table below shows the calculation of bowling strength for the South African attack. The individual averages are the bowler's averages at the start of the Test innings. Tendulkar made 123 in 231 balls against Morkel, Tsotsobe and Harris, and 23 in 83 against Steyn. Steyn bowled 120 balls while Tendulkar was at the wicket. Tendulkar faced 83 of those. In the other 37, Steyn took three wickets.
Full postBowling averages and beyond: spinners
The two phases of Warne's career, and the challenge for fingerspinners in Tests
Kartikeya Date
04-Feb-2014
The 1990s marked a resurgence in spin bowling in Tests after a decade dominated by pace. If you ask most fans to name a prominent spinner from the 1980s, they will probably name Abdul Qadir, if at all. India did have a couple of talented spinners - Maninder Singh and L Sivaramakrishnan - who came of age in the early 1980s, but their careers remained unfulfilled.
In 1990, all that changed. Anil Kumble emerged as an unorthodox legspinner. He was to be followed by Shane Warne. Pakistan found Mushtaq Ahmed, followed quickly by Saqlain Mushtaq, and Sri Lanka found Muttiah Muralitharan. Towards the end of the 1990s, Harbhajan Singh burst onto the scene. Before they were finished, these six spinners would take nearly 3000 Test wickets between them.
By 2013, Graeme Swann, Danish Kaneria, Rangana Herath, Stuart MacGill and Daniel Vettori all took at least 200 Test wickets each. These bowlers were part of varied attacks and had contrasting conditions available for spin bowling at home. Some acquired reputations as attacking spinners, others, like Vettori, were often criticised for not attacking enough. This era of spin-bowling resurgence can be divided into two periods: the 1990s, dominated by the giants (Kumble, Warne and Murali), and the 2000s, when these giants were still very much present (in fact, each took more wickets in the 2000s than in the 1990s), but were joined by a flood of other spinners. By the late 2000s every one of the top eight Test teams had at least one quality front-line spinner.
Full postHow good is Australia's pace trio?
Johnson was often unplayable but Australia's support bowlers were equally important to their victorious campaign
Kartikeya Date
22-Jan-2014
The misery in England about the 5-0 Ashes defeat is made worse by the perception that this Australian side isn't that good. At least, the argument goes, in the past when England were wiped out 5-0 it happened against sides that were considered great. Ponting's Australians of 2006-07, Richards' West Indians of 1985-86, and Lloyd's West Indians of 1984 inflicted total defeat on England, but in two of those series England had their moments.
I will add to these the Ashes series when England refused to play for the urn, in 1979-80, when they were up against a full-strength Australia led by Greg Chappell. Captained by the shrewd Mike Brearley, England were at full strength, and lost 3-0. They managed to score 228, 215, 123, 237, 306 and 273 against Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Geoff Dymock, Len Pascoe, Ashley Mallett and Ken Higgs. But England had their moments in that series too. Botham took 19 wickets and scored a century coming in at 88 for 5 in Melbourne. There were two scores of 98 not out by Gower and Greg Chappell, a 99 not out by Boycott, and a 99 run out by Gooch. Lillee took 23 wickets.
However, just as the Gauls never speak of Alesia, the English never speak of that series.
Full postWould you pick Haddin over Gilchrist for an Ashes Test?
Haddin's record against England is better than his illustrious predecessor's, and he played for a far weaker team
Kartikeya Date
11-Jan-2014
Adam Gilchrist is considered by many as the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman in Test history, and rightly so. AB de Villiers (1482 runs at 58 as wicketkeeper) might eventually challenge him for the spot. But if we look at the numbers alone, Andy Flower is Gilchrist's only serious rival for this honour. Seventeen Test hundreds, 5570 Test runs at 47.60, the ability to destroy bowling attacks and the skill to keep with distinction to Lee's lightning pace, Warne's guile and MacGill's exaggerated turn, make Gilchrist's claim in both departments a strong one. No other player comes close. Kumar Sangakkara (3117 runs at 40.48 as wicketkeeper) might have challenged Gilchrist, but Sri Lanka chose to relieve him of keeping duties for good in 2008, and the results have been spectacular (7440 runs at 68 in 70 Tests).
In Ashes Tests, it is a different story. England, India and Sri Lanka were Gilchrist's toughest opponents in Tests. Overall, his record against England is wonderful. But I would argue that Brad Haddin has an even better one.
| Haddin | Gilchrist | |
| Matches | 19 | 20 |
| Innings | 33 | 28 |
| Runs | 1337 | 1083 |
| Average | 43.1 | 45.1 |
| Strike-rate | 61.8 | 92.0 |
| Centuries | 3 | 3 |
| Fifties | 11 | 6 |
| Team average | 33.7 | 42.8 |
| Median first-innings score at which innings began, batting first | 138 (ten inn) | 438 (7 inn) |
| Median first-innings score at which innings began, fielding first | 112 (nine inn) | 230 (13 inn) |
| Median score in all innings at which innings began | 143 | 243 |
Can Kallis really be called an allrounder?
Jacques Kallis was among the greatest of batsmen who could bowl, but he doesn't belong to the pantheon of legendary allrounders like Sobers, Imran and Botham
Kartikeya Date
01-Jan-2014
I have argued previously that Jacques Kallis is not a Test allrounder because that is not what South Africa wanted him to be. South Africa did not use him as an allrounder. They used him as a batsman who could bowl. The cricket world, by and large, seems to disagree. I'm curious as to why that is, because an allrounder is a player who is good enough to make the team as a specialist batsman, or as a specialist bowler, and is used in both those roles.
We are far more willing to accept modest bowlers as allrounders than we are modest batsmen. A batsman who averages 30 and bowls well immediately becomes a "bowling allrounder". Ian Botham and Imran Khan have been categorised in this way. A bowler who bowls at a decent speed is categorised as an allrounder far more readily, like Shane Watson over Shane Warne. Bowlers who can deliver a few overs each day, maybe bowl to an established partnership, are considered bowlers far more readily than are lower-order batsmen who can figure in a stand with a set batsman and make 25 on their own, especially if these bowlers bowl seam-up and can deliver the ball upwards of 130kph.
The gold standard for an allrounder in the era of the four great allrounders - Hadlee, Kapil, Botham and Imran - was the double - 3000 runs and 300 wickets. This was difficult to achieve, given that most Test players in that era played just over 100 Tests. Bowlers played closer to 80. The three great, genuine allrounders - Botham, Imran and Sobers - fell away towards the end of their careers. They took on less responsibility, especially on the bowling side.
Full postBeyond bowling averages
Why Siddle and Herath are special. And why some bowlers are better at dismissing the tail than others
Kartikeya Date
20-Dec-2013
What does a bowling average show? And more importantly, what does it hide? What does it mean when two very different bowlers, R Ashwin and Peter Siddle, average in the 28-30 range? Each is effective in very different conditions, and perhaps against batsmen with different strengths and weaknesses.
The bowling average and strike rate provide a good entry point into understanding cricketers and their cricket. It can be safely argued that a bowler averaging 35 in Tests is not a very good Test match bowler, while one who averages 25 probably is. But beyond that, what can we learn?
In this post, the first of a three-part series, I present two measures that tell us a little bit more. But before I detail these measures, a word on how I hope these statistics will be read. My purpose with these measures is not to say one bowler is better than the other, but to show how differences between bowlers are visible in their records. In this post, I consider all contemporary bowlers who have taken at least 100 Test wickets.
Full postWhy long Ashes tours are hurting Test cricket
England's and Australia's established schedules of a five-Test series every other year makes it hard for other teams to create rivalries
Kartikeya Date
06-Dec-2013
England v Australia has been a peculiar rivalry in that very few series have been competitive. The vast majority of Ashes series have found one of three conditions - decisive Australian superiority, decisive English superiority, or weakness in equal measure on both sides that have made stalemates inevitable. The third was the rule in the 1960s.
Competitive Ashes series have been rare, and when they occur, are talked about for years. Come what may every four years England tour Australia and every four years Australia return the favour. With an increasing number of teams vying for spots on the international calendar, the Ashes use up a lot of time and space, much like an old, inefficient handmade limousine on a contemporary city street. The chart below shows the extent to which the Ashes dominate the Test-playing commitments of England and Australia.
| Period | Test teams | Team | Ashes Tests | Total | Ashes share | Share if equal |
| 1952-1970 | 7 | Australia | 47 | 118 | 40% | 20 |
| 1952-1970 | 7 | England | 47 | 166 | 28% | 28 |
| 1971-1982 | 6 | Australia | 41 | 115 | 36% | 23 |
| 1971-1982 | 6 | England | 41 | 100 | 41% | 20 |
| 1982-1992 | 7 | Australia | 28 | 90 | 31% | 15 |
| 1982-1992 | 7 | England | 28 | 103 | 27% | 17 |
| 1992-2000 | 9 | Australia | 22 | 92 | 24% | 12 |
| 1992-2000 | 9 | England | 22 | 86 | 26% | 11 |
| 2000-2013 | 10 | Australia | 36 | 157 | 23% | 17 |
| 2000-2013 | 10 | England | 36 | 177 | 20% | 20 |
The Richards Standard for ODI batsmen
Which modern-day batsmen can match the speed and certainty of Viv Richards' run-making?
Kartikeya Date
25-Nov-2013
One-day cricket has not seen a batsman dominate the way Bradman did in Tests. Viv Richards comes very close, though. In the Richards era, which ran from the beginnings of limited-overs internationals to the eve of inventions like the 30-yard circle, fielding restrictions and pinch-hitting, the average scoring rate for middle-order batsmen (3, 4, 5 and 6 in batting order) was 70 runs per 100 balls. Richards scored his runs at 90 runs per hundred balls. His ODI batting average at the end of his career was an even 47. A typical middle-order batsman averaged 30. ODI centuries were rare. During Richards' career, 80 ODI centuries were scored in 4921 innings in the middle order, one in every 61 innings. Richards made 11 in 166 innings, or one every 15 innings. Every sixth inning played in the middle order was worth 50 or more between 1975 and 1991. Richards made a half-century every three innings.
The speed and certainty of Richards' run-making in ODI cricket was unmatched in his day. The distance between his ability to produce runs in ODI cricket (leave alone the style in which he made them) and that of the typical ODI batsman remains, I suggest, unmatched to this day. He achieved the highest-ever rating in the ICC's ODI Player Ratings. But even Richards' career numbers, impressive as they are, do not convey the dominance of his play. His average over his first 100 ODI matches was 53, over his best stretch of 100 ODI matches, 58. His career record, like that of many great players in both formats - ODI and Tests - should be read by adding about five runs to his career average to get a true measure of how good he was. See the Test records of Miandad, Ponting, Tendulkar, Gavaskar and even Richards in the same way. At their peak, each of these batsmen averaged closer to 60 than 50.
When compared to the numbers produced by today's top batsmen, Richards' figures look less exceptional. Over admittedly shorter careers so far, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni have produced arguably more impressive figures than Viv Richards. The typical middle-order ODI batsman in the 1990s scored at 71 runs per 100 balls. In the 2000s, this rose to 75, in the 2010s it has risen further to 78. The batting average of the typical batsman has risen to 34 in the 2010s from 30 in Richards' era.
Full postWhy the new fielding restrictions in ODIs are a good idea
Bowlers who err go for boundaries and bowlers who are consistent challenge batsmen to take risks
Kartikeya Date
13-Nov-2013
The scoring rate in Australia's recent series in India set off a debate among serious observers of the game about the impact of the new rules. The Indian captain MS Dhoni has been critical of the rules and observed that we would be better off using bowling machines.
Here at ESPNcricinfo, the matter has been discussed in detail. Michael Jeh wondered whether any total was safe anymore. Jon Hotten observed that the single, once the holy grail of ODI cricket (Bob Simpson built a World Cup-winning strategy around the idea that 100 singles in 50 overs won games), had declined in value. Anantha Narayanan extended Hotten's point with data. Subash Jayaraman was full of empathy for Vinay Kumar. Ian Chappell put the problem down to heavier bats and shorter boundaries. The figures suggest a more complicated picture. S Rajesh showed that the rule changes have not had an effect on run rates. I have shown that it is especially an Indian issue.
For a closer, more nuanced look, I calculated three things. First, the total runs scored with the bat over 300 deliveries (300*[total runs scored] / [total balls faced]) in every host nation in each year. Second, how many of these runs came in boundaries. And third, how many of these runs came in sixes. The geographical distribution suggests that Chappell makes an excellent point about bats and boundaries. Dhoni is only partly right. The significant leap in scoring rates is down to an increase not only in the number of boundary hits, but in the number of sixes hit per 300 balls. The number of non-boundary runs scored with the bat per 300 balls has remained more or less the same over the last 20 years, in the range of 130.
Full postAre India's bowling woes part of a larger trend?
Has T20 affected one-day cricket on a large scale, or is it mostly an Indian phenomenon?
Kartikeya Date
30-Oct-2013
On October 16, 2013, Virat Kohli was in one of his mad moods at Jaipur's Sawai Mansingh Stadium. He made a century in 52 balls and India chased 360 easily. Three days later, in Mohali, MS Dhoni produced a special of his own. It was a sprawling, undefeated affair that began in the 14th over of India's innings with the team four wickets down. Dhoni's first 50 runs took 77 deliveries and 22 overs of batting. His next 89 runs came in 44 deliveries. It would not be enough. James Faulkner launched a breathtaking assault on Ishant Sharma to help Australia successfully chase a total in excess of 300 against India for the first time.
The sequence of scores in the ongoing series has prompted plenty of comment. On this blog, Jon Hotten suggests that the T20 game is having a say in the 50-over game and the single is the chief casualty. Michael Jeh worries about the inability of contemporary bowlers to consistently land yorkers correctly. V Ramnarayan suggests eight rules to improve the fortunes of bowlers. At one point in the washed-out game in Ranchi, Lawrence Booth, the Wisden editor, tweeted: "[I]t's a measure of this series that Australia's total currently looks well below par". At the time, the Australians were about 240, scoring at about five and a half runs an over. Harsha Bhogle suggested that the fielding restriction was killing bowlers.
Is it really true that there has been a general explosion in ODI run-scoring since the advent of T20? Or is this a peculiarly Indian phenomenon? The figures suggest that while scoring rates in ODI cricket have increased across the board, games involving India are a special case that deserves attention.
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