Busting Kanpur's myths, and McGrath's woes

Busting a Green Park myth
Plenty has been written about the spinner-friendly pitch for South Africa's first Test against India at Kanpur, but Graeme Smith might be heartened to see what the numbers tell him about the venue. In 18 matches at the Green Park, spinners have taken more wickets than pace bowlers, but the difference is marginal - 228 to 200, which translates to less than two per Test. Even more encouragingly, the fast bowlers have a better average and strike rate, and the six ten-wicket hauls at this ground have been shared equally by fast bowlers and spinners. The last time South Africa played a Test here, though - in 1996-97 - the seamers only took 14 out of 37 wickets to fall. It wasn't a match to remember for South Africa: they were bundled out for 177 and 180, and were trounced by 280 runs.

As in many Indian grounds, the best chance for the South Africans to score runs is against the new ball. As the table below indicates, the opposition openers average nearly 50 for the first wicket; the rest of the top order only put together 37. The Indians have no such problems here, though - the openers average nearly 47, and the rest of the top six only two runs fewer.

Sinclair's fits and starts
When Mathew Sinclair emulated Lawrence Rowe, scoring 214 in his first Test innings, New Zealand seemed to unearthed a batsman of rare ability - he became only the fourth double-centurion on debut, and the first to achieve the feat for New Zealand. Things went pear-shaped for him thereafter, but now, he might finally be getting his act together.

Sinclair has typically been a blow-hot, blow-cold player: his first five innings at the Test level - 214, 8, 6, 4, 0 - encapsulates his case. Before the Gabba Test against Australia, he had two double-centuries and a 150 in 23 Tests, yet his average was only a reasonably acceptable 39.21. In fact, 44% of his total career runs came in those three innings. Not surprisingly, his career average is the third-lowest among batsmen with at least two double-hundreds.

Even Sinclair's inconsistency with the bat is nowhere close to the levels achieved by Vinoo Mankad, who heads the list. Mankad scored two doubles - 223 and 231 against New Zealand, in the second and fifth Tests of the 1955-56 series - and yet finished up scoring less than 32 per innings. Mankad's downfall was his shaky starts - 40% of his total innings ended in sub-ten scores.

McGrath's nemesis
The last time New Zealand went to Australia, they famously drew the series and thwarted the menace of Glenn McGrath, allowing him only the meagre returns of five wickets at a rather exorbitant 65.40. The Kiwi ghosts returned to haunt him again in the first Test of the current series at the Gabba, when he bowled 27 fruitless overs in New Zealand's first innings. In fact, New Zealand is the one team which has given McGrath plenty of trouble in his career - it's the only opponent against whom he averages more than 30. And when playing at home against them, the numbers look especially bad: 18 wickets in six matches at nearly 40 apiece. To be fair to him, though, two of those Tests were in his very first series, when he was finding his feet as an international cricketer.