Numbers Game

The standout aspect of Shivnarine Chanderpaul's Test career has been his consistency, and his prolific run even after he turned 35

The Lord's result further reinforces the notion that New Zealand - especially their bowlers - struggle to finish teams off in the second innings of Tests

Teams batting first have a 31-23 win-loss record in IPL 2015; last year, they won only 22 games and lost 37

The D/L method has undergone another modification and has a new name as well, but there remain areas where its results are iffy

Jonathan Trott struggled in his last couple of series', but through large parts of his career he was superb for England at one-down

Bangladesh won each of their three games against Pakistan by comfortable margins, and their batsmen had a huge role to play in that

Brendon McCullum has started the 2015 IPL in fine style, but his numbers in the previous seven seasons aren't consistent with his obvious attacking skills and talent

The South African quick has been superb in limited overs, but he now needs to show he can take up the leadership role in Tests as well

Mitchell Starc and Trent Boult have led the way, but several other left-arm fast bowlers have also shone, making this a tournament to cherish for them

Kumar Sangakkara and AB de Villiers have been the two best batsmen in this World Cup, and over the last couple of years

Spinners have averaged 43.68 runs per wicket so far, the worst in any World Cup since 1979

Mohammed Shami has been in excellent ODI form over the last year, but the same can't be said for England's No. 3 batsmen

Early numbers indicate this could be the best World Cup of all for batsmen, especially in the last ten overs

Before the first India-Pakistan World Cup game in 1992, Pakistan had won 18 of their last 21 ODIs against India. But they lost in Sydney, and are still searching for their first World Cup win against India

In the last couple of years Anderson has been the most-feared new-ball bowler in ODIs, but over the course of an entire innings South Africa have been the best bowling unit

Other teams have matched South Africa's top order in terms of averages and run rates in ODIs in the last two years, but none has scored hundreds at the rate that South African batsmen have

Spinners have found it more difficult to take ODI wickets in Australia than in any other country, especially in the middle overs

Over the last six years, India has been the best country for opening batsmen in ODIs; Australia has been one of the worst

The ongoing Australia-India Test series has been an uninterrupted run-fest, and especially so for the captains

Australia haven't lost at the Gabba since 1988, while South Africa have a 14-2 record in Centurion. These are easily the two most dominant home venues going around