Bevan and Pollock top the One-Day Ratings (27 April 1999)
Michael Bevan and Shaun Pollock are the new number one batsman and bowler in the PricewaterhouseCoopers One Day Ratings, updated after 65 one-day internationals played this year
27-Apr-1999
27 April 1999
Bevan and Pollock top the One-Day Ratings
PricewaterhouseCoopers Media Release
BEVAN AND POLLOCK TOP THE ONE DAY RATINGS
Michael Bevan and Shaun Pollock are the new number one batsman and bowler
in the PricewaterhouseCoopers One Day Ratings, updated after 65 one-day
internationals played this year.
Bevan has averaged 102.2 with the bat in 1999 and takes over from Sachin
Tendulkar who missed two series for India. Pollock replaces Saqlain
Mushtaq at number one.
The One Day Ratings put more emphasis on players' recent form than
performances earlier in their careers.
GILCHRIST AND KLUSENER CLIMB
In the batting, there have been big climbs for Adam Gilchrist (up 15 to
5th) and Lance Klusener (up 30 to 9th). Those surprised at Klusener's
rise will be interested that he has averaged 88.6 with the bat this year,
scoring at about a run a ball. Graeme Hick (11th), Inzamam-ul-Haq (14th)
and Darren Lehmann (20th) have also moved up significantly in 1999.
Brian Lara has dropped by almost 100 points since January, but his very
high Rating from previous years means that he holds on to third place.
In the bowling, Azhar Mahmood's combination of wickets and economy has
lifted him to third in the bowling (Mahmood has been one of the most
economical ODI bowlers over the last twelve months). Glenn McGrath, who
has been set back by injury for much of the last two years, is up 12
places to 10th. Other bowlers heading for the top are Adam Dale (20th),
Alan Mullally (33rd), Merv Dillon (39th) and Shoaib Akhtar (41st). All of
these bowlers are still qualifying for their full Ratings (which they will
achieve after playing 40 matches).
Note 1 If a player misses an ODI for his country for any reason, he loses
0.5% of his points. Glenn McGrath and Sachin Tendulkar have both lost
points for this in 1999.
Note 2 We have reviewed and amended the way the Ratings are calculated
prior to the World Cup. The changes include an improvement to the method
of assessing opposition bowling strength. These changes have been
backdated, and some players' points have therefore been affected.
TOP PLAYERS BY COUNTRY
The following are the top One Day batsmen and bowlers in the latest
PricewaterhouseCoopers Ratings, by country:
Country Batsman Bowler England Graeme Hick (11th) Darren Gough (5th=) Australia Michael Bevan (1st) Shane Warne (8th) Bangladesh Amin-ul-Islam (70th) Mohammad Rafiq (76th) India Sachin Tendulkar (2nd)Anil Kumble (5th) Kenya Steven Tikolo (56th) Asif Karim (46th) New Zealand Nathan Astle (7th) Chris Harris (11th) Pakistan Saeed Anwar (10th) Saqlain Mushtaq (2nd) Scotland - - South Africa Hansie Cronje (4th) Shaun Pollock (1st) Sri Lanka Aravinda de Silva (11th) Muttiah Muralitharan (7th) West Indies Brian Lara (3rd) Curtly Ambrose (9th) Zimbabwe Grant Flower (24th) Paul Strang (13th=)
BEST RATINGS
The PricewaterhouseCoopers Ratings represent a snapshot of how players
stand based on their recent performances. However, the peak Ratings of
players are a good indicator of who have been the top players in the past.
The final column in the attached tables shows the highest Ratings the
players have reached (the Ratings have been backdated using the updated
ratings program). 800 points is an indicator of outstanding form, and 900
is exceptional and rarely reached by any player.
In the batting, the highest Ratings in the 1990s have been achieved by
Brian Lara, Gary Kirsten, Sachin Tendulkar and Aravinda de Silva. All
except Tendulkar are currently more than 100 points below their peak
Ratings.
In the bowling, the highest Ratings have been for Curtly Ambrose, Shane
Warne, Saqlain Mushtaq, Allan Donald and Anil Kumble. Ambrose is down
nearly 200 points from his peak of 915 in 1992.
AVERAGES AND RATINGS
Conventional averages in One Day Internationals are often meaningless.
Batting averages are distorted by not outs and bowling averages ignore the
importance of economy. Below are the leading averages in ODIs for 1999,
with comments on how the PricewaterhouseCoopers Ratings deal with some of
the issues.
The top batting averages for 1999 in ODIs are:
Runs Innings N.O. Ave Michael Bevan 511 14 9 102.2 Lance Klusener 443 12 7 88.6 Guy Whittall 149 4 2 74.5 Steven Tikolo 187 4 1 62.3 Inzamam-ul-Haq 498 11 11 55.3
(Sachin Tendulkar has averaged only 18.3 in four games this year, and
Lara 13.3 in eight).
Batting averages benefit considerably from not outs. The
PricewaterhouseCoopers Ratings give a batsman relatively little credit for
remaining not out, but they do give credit for fast scoring. Klusener's
high Rating is boosted by his rate of scoring rather than his average.
Steven Tikolo is Kenya's highest rated batsman at 56th. The Ratings take
into account the bowling attack that a batsman faces. In Tikolo's case,
almost one third of his runs have been made against Bangladesh (including
a recent 108 not out). He gets less credit for these runs than for big
scores against the countries with highly rated bowlers.
The bowling averages for 1999 (qualification 5 wickets, and in order of
economy) are:
Runs Wickets Average Econ. Paul Strang 162 7 11.0 2.85 Adam Dale 564 13 24.1 3.32 Azhar Mahmood 582 19 17.7 3.46 Shaun Pollock 562 22 15.2 3.56 Shoaib Akhtar 528 22 14.5 3.62
The Ratings combine wicket-taking with economy. If every bowler bowled 0
for 25, the opponents' total off 50 overs would be 125, while if everyone
took 2 for 40 the opponents would reach 200. This shows why it is
important to give credit for economy. In fact in the Ratings, 0 for 25
and 2 for 40 are given roughly the same credit.
All of the bowlers above have moved up the Ratings this year except for
Paul Strang, who has remained roughly level. All of Strang's bowling was
against Kenya, for which he gets less credit than bowling to the top
batsmen from the established countries.
Adam Dale has rocketed up the Ratings because of his impressive economy.
Had he been fit for the recent series in the West Indies he might easily
have reached the top five in the Ratings by now. If he is fit for the
World Cup, he is very likely to be in the top ten of the Ratings by the
end of May. Shoaib Akhtar is another bowler likely to reach the top ten
soon.