Naved loses his ODI nous

The tour of South Africa has so far been a dismal one for Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Given an opportunity to figure in the starting line-up of the first Test at Centurion, Naved repaid the think-tank's faith by leaking 92 runs from 17 overs in the first innings - he ultimately finished with match figures of 2 for 113 in 24 overs.

Bowling with the red ball has never been Naved's forte, though - he averages 58 runs per wicket, with just 18 wickets in nine matches - and it was expected that he would bounce back in the pajama version with white ball in hand, spearing in the swinging yorkers with his usual efficiency. The first two one-dayers, however, have been unmitigated disasters for him: in the first game, at Centurion again, he leaked 92 from eight overs, making it the most expensive spell (at least five overs) by a Pakistani bowler in ODIs, while it became worse at Durban - none for 43 from four, even as Mohammad Asif bowled an impeccable spell at the other end to further enhance the contrast.

Over his 58-match one-day career so far, Naved has had quite a few moments to savour - most notably when he ripped the heart out of India's powerful line-up at Jamshedpur in 2005 - but in the last year those moments have dried up. In 22 ODIs since January last year, Naved has gone at a run-a-ball or more ten times - as the table below shows both his wicket-taking and run-saving abilities have taken a beating in the last year.

Naved's disastrous performances in his last two matches means he is among the most expensive ODI bowlers of all time. His combined analysis of 135 runs from 12 overs in those matches lifted his economy rate from 5.34 to 5.50, which only puts him behind Zimbabwe's Henry Olonga and Tapash Baisya of Bangladesh in the list of most extravagant ODI bowlers. And if you restrict the analysis to just Pakistan's bowlers, Naved sits well clear of all other contenders.

Despite the deluge of runs he has leaked, Naved remains in the mix for Pakistan primarily because of his wicket-taking ability. His strike rate of 28.97 balls per dismissal is only marginally poorer than Shane Bond's, and better than the corresponding stats for Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis. Even in the last year, when his economy rate has taken such a beating, the strike rate remains an impressive 30.4. That wicket-taking ability ability, coupled with fitness problems for some of the other contenders, means Naved has got plenty of opportunities despite shabby performances. On current form, though, he might still struggle to make it to Pakistan's World Cup squad.

Trans-Transman rivalry?
The CB Series league games were a one-horse race from the moment the tournament started, but there was still plenty of drama in the last match, and when England sneaked a place in the finals at the expense of New Zealand, the general consensus was that Australia would be pleased with their opponents. The Trans-Tasman rivalry has been played up a lot, but the stats reveal that New Zealand have been hopelessly outclassed by the Australians in the last four years.

In their last 20 matches against Australia, New Zealand have lost 18, which makes their win-loss ratio worse than all other teams who have played Australia during this period. Some of the margins have been agonizingly narrow - in five of the games Australia won by ten runs or less, or by fewer than three wickets - but New Zealand have generally been found wanting at the crunch. England, on the other hand, have a 4-12 win-loss record against Australia, the last one helping them come back from the brink of elimination. Any takers for two more upset wins over the next week?