A year for Clarke, and for left-arm spin
A look at the major numbers from 2012
Thirty-two out of 42 Tests in 2012 produced decisive results, which, in percentage terms, was higher than in 2011 (76.19 to 69.23). And while 2011 had been an outstanding year for bowlers, batsmen made some sort of a comeback in 2012, though the overall runs per wicket for the year remained lower than the corresponding number for each year between 2006 and 2010. In 2011, the hundreds per Test figure dropped to 1.85, the first time since 2002 that it dipped below 2, but in 2012 it went back up to 2.12.
Year | Tests | Results/ draws | Result % | Average | Run rate | 100s/ 50s |
2012 | 42 | 32/ 10 | 76.19 | 34.00 | 3.12 | 89/ 177 |
2011 | 39 | 27/ 12 | 69.23 | 32.47 | 3.14 | 72/ 200 |
2010 | 43 | 32/ 11 | 74.42 | 36.48 | 3.34 | 98/ 214 |
2009 | 41 | 26/ 15 | 63.41 | 37.84 | 3.37 | 97/ 217 |
2008 | 47 | 36/ 11 | 76.60 | 34.12 | 3.23 | 96/ 221 |
2007 | 31 | 22/ 9 | 70.97 | 35.28 | 3.35 | 65/ 142 |
2006 | 46 | 34/ 12 | 73.91 | 34.60 | 3.34 | 95/ 208 |
2005 | 49 | 37/ 12 | 75.51 | 33.53 | 3.38 | 100/ 201 |
Year | Matches | Average | Run-rate | 100s/ 50s |
2012 | 90 | 31.09 | 5.05 | 43/ 205 |
2011 | 146 | 29.97 | 5.04 | 63/ 337 |
2010 | 142 | 30.11 | 4.98 | 65/ 303 |
2009 | 150 | 30.92 | 5.12 | 68/ 325 |
2008 | 126 | 29.00 | 4.93 | 51/ 259 |
2007 | 191 | 30.39 | 5.04 | 75/ 428 |
2006 | 160 | 28.97 | 4.82 | 60/ 331 |
2005 | 107 | 31.38 | 5.10 | 50/ 239 |
South Africa took over as the top-ranked Test team, a position they thoroughly deserved, given that they won overseas series in Australia and England, and were the only side to remain unbeaten through the year in Tests. The last time they didn't lose a single Test in a year was in 1999, when they won six and drew four. Australia were very good too, but they lost the series that really mattered, at home against South Africa. That Perth defeat was their only loss, which means they still had an excellent win-loss ratio of 7. England, the previous No.1 side, had a tough year, though they salvaged something significant from 2012 at the end with a series win in India. They finished with a 5-7 win-loss record, with comprehensive series defeats against Pakistan and South Africa. West Indies, meanwhile, won four Tests in 2012, as many as they had won in the four previous years from 2008 to 2011. The last time they won more than four Tests in a year was in 1988. (Click here for West Indies' year-wise Test results since 1985.)
In terms of individual performers, the stand-out player of 2012 was easily Michael Clarke, whose Test numbers were easily among the greatest that any player has achieved in a calendar year. His 1595 Test runs is the fourth-highest in a calendar year, and among batsmen with at least 1000 Test runs in a year, only Garry Sobers and Don Bradman - two of the greatest names in the game - have higher averages. Among captains, only Graeme Smith scored more in a calendar year (he scored 1656 in 2008), while among captains who scored 1000, only the Don had a higher average. And then, of course, there were the four double-centuries he scored, a feat which even the Don didn't manage. His 1407 Test runs in Australia is easily a record for a year in home Tests - the next-best is Mohammad Yousuf's 1126 runs in 2006.
Batsman | Year | Tests | Runs | Average | 100s/ 50s |
Don Bradman | 1948 | 8 | 1025 | 113.88 | 5/ 2 |
Michael Clarke | 2012 | 11 | 1595 | 106.33 | 5/ 3 |
Ricky Ponting | 2006 | 10 | 1333 | 88.86 | 7/ 4 |
Graham Gooch | 1990 | 9 | 1264 | 79.00 | 4/ 5 |
Brian Lara | 2003 | 10 | 1344 | 74.66 | 5/ 5 |
Graeme Smith | 2008 | 15 | 1656 | 72.00 | 6/ 6 |
Batsman | ODIs | Runs | Average | Strike rate | 100s/ 50s |
AB de Villiers | 13 | 645 | 107.50 | 108.58 | 2/ 3 |
Hashim Amla | 10 | 678 | 84.75 | 90.76 | 2/ 4 |
Virat Kohli | 17 | 1026 | 68.40 | 93.78 | 5/ 3 |
MS Dhoni | 16 | 524 | 65.50 | 87.62 | 1/ 3 |
Ian Bell | 11 | 549 | 54.90 | 82.68 | 1/ 4 |
For the third year in a row, a spinner topped the charts for most Test wickets in 2012, with Rangana Herath taking 60. (Saeed Ajmal had been the highest wicket-taker in 2011, and Graeme Swann in 2010.) The difference this time, though, was in the type of spinner who took centrestage: though Swann finished second-highest in the wickets chart with 59, this was clearly the year of left-arm spin. Apart from Herath, there were three other left-arm spinners who took 25 or more wickets - Pragyan Ojha, Monty Panesar and Abdur Rehman - and all of them did so at averages of less than 27. Not surprisingly, the overall Test stats for left-arm spin was much better in 2012 than it's been for several years.
Year | LAS wkts | Average (1) | Overall wkts | Average (2) | % wkts | 1/ 2 |
2012 | 192 | 29.14 | 1265 | 34.02 | 15.18 | 1.17 |
2011 | 167 | 29.42 | 1233 | 32.31 | 13.54 | 1.10 |
2010 | 159 | 43.07 | 1252 | 36.60 | 12.70 | 0.85 |
2009 | 172 | 37.81 | 1214 | 37.70 | 14.17 | 1.00 |
2008 | 197 | 37.50 | 1445 | 33.68 | 13.63 | 0.90 |
2007 | 102 | 37.50 | 920 | 34.83 | 11.09 | 0.93 |
2006 | 112 | 43.75 | 1400 | 34.53 | 8.00 | 0.79 |
2005 | 106 | 44.94 | 1508 | 33.40 | 7.03 | 0.74 |
2004 | 210 | 36.07 | 1555 | 35.31 | 13.50 | 0.98 |
2003 | 167 | 36.20 | 1305 | 36.12 | 12.80 | 1.00 |
Bowling type | Wickets | Average | Strike rate | Econ rate | 5WI/ 10WM |
Right-arm pace | 653 | 34.27 | 66.1 | 3.10 | 24/ 3 |
Left-arm pace | 97 | 34.42 | 61.9 | 3.33 | 4/ 0 |
Right-arm spin | 323 | 36.17 | 71.5 | 3.03 | 12/ 4 |
Left-arm spin | 192 | 29.14 | 67.1 | 2.60 | 17/ 3 |
- Virat Kohli won eight Man-of-the-Match awards in international matches in 2012, the most by any player this year. Of his eight awards, five were in ODIs, two in Twenty20 internationals and one in Tests.
S Rajesh is stats editor of ESPNcricinfo. Follow him on Twitter