Elliott fizzles, Ponting sizzles

Test cricket is littered with players who faded after promising starts, and those who stuck it out to resurrect careers after disastrous beginnings. Vinod Kambli and Marvan Atapattu are examples of each that spring to mind. This week we look at players with the largest difference in averages between the first and second halves of their Test careers, divided on the basis of matches played.

Matthew Elliott, the former Australia opener, made his debut at Michael Slater's expense during the 1996-97 home series against West Indies. He began with a duck at the Gabba but scored 78 in the second Test in Adelaide before retiring hurt after a collision with Mark Waugh. He tore a knee cartilage and did not play again in the series. Elliott came back strongly on the tour of South Africa with 85 in Johannesburg and also contributed significantly to the 3-2 Ashes win in England in 1997. He scored two centuries, including 199 at Headingley, and two fifties on the tour, and his career average touched a high of 54.20, after 16 innings, during the fifth Test at Trent Bridge. However, that was as good as it got for Elliott, who was dropped after he failed at home against South Africa and New Zealand in 1997-98. He received two more opportunities, against West Indies in 1998-99 and Sri Lanka in 2004, but was dismissed for four ducks in his last eight innings. Elliott scored only 322 in his last 19 innings, which included a century in Hobart, at an average of less than 17.

Biggest difference in batting average between first and second halves of career - Tests
(qualification: 15 innings in each)

Player		1st half

Inns Runs HS Ave 100

2nd half Inns Runs HS Ave 100

Diff MTG Elliott (Aus) 1996-1997

17 850 199 53.12 2

1997-2004 19 322 114 16.94 1

36.17 JC Adams (WI) 1992-1996

43 1963 208* 61.34 5

1997-2001 47 1049 101* 25.58 1

35.75 Basit Ali (Pak) 1993-1994

15 652 103 46.57 1

1994-1995 18 206 53 11.44 0

35.12 LG Rowe (WI) 1972-1975

22 1293 302 61.57 6

1976-1980 27 754 100 29.00 1

32.57 MS Sinclair (NZ) 1999-2001

23 973 214 51.21 3

2001-2006 23 475 76 21.59 0

29.61 AR Morris (Aus) 1946-1951

37 2097 206 61.67 10

1951-1955 42 1436 153 34.19 2

27.48 RN Harvey (Aus) 1948-1955

67 3766 205 61.73 15

1956-1963 70 2383 167 36.10 6

25.63 BW Luckhurst (Eng) 1970-1971

19 765 131 51.00 3

1971-1974 22 533 101 25.38 1

25.61 RW Morgan (NZ) 1965-1965

18 606 97 33.66 0

1965-1972 16 128 35 8.53 0

25.13 G Ulyett (Eng) 1877-1884

21 754 149 35.90 1

1885-1890 18 195 74 10.83 0

25.07 DL Houghton (Zim) 1992-1995

16 852 266 56.80 3

1995-1997 20 612 104* 32.21 1

24.58 JM Gregory (Aus) 1920-1921

17 744 119 49.60 2

1921-1928 17 402 73 25.12 0

24.47 BC Booth (Aus) 1961-1964

26 1099 169 54.95 4

1964-1966 22 674 117 30.63 1

24.31 VS Hazare (India) 1946-1951

28 1420 164* 59.16 6

1951-1953 24 772 146* 35.09 1

24.07 Yasir Hameed (Pak) 2003-2004

19 784 170 49.00 2

2004-2007 22 573 76 26.04 0

22.95

Lawrence Rowe still remains the only batsman to score a double-hundred and a century on debut. He averaged 314 after his first Test, against New Zealand in Kingston in 1972, but that figure shrank to human proportions - 57.22 - before England toured the Caribbean in 1973-74. Rowe scored three hundreds against England, including a double, and pushed his average back up into the 70s. Thereafter it went into freefall as Rowe scored only 754 runs from his last 27 innings, compared to 1293 from his first 22, at an average of 29. His participation in the rebel tour to South Africa in 1983 ended his career for the West Indies.

Ricky Ponting's rise as the world's premier batsman over the last five years has been meteoric. If you spilt up his career into two halves, he scored 3505 runs with ten centuries and averaged 45.51 after 89 innings in the first half. However, since the neutral-venue series against Pakistan in 2002-03, Ponting has outstripped his contemporaries, scoring 6003 runs in 97 innings at an average of 72.32. He has scored 23 hundreds during this period, including back-to-back centuries on three occasions.

Biggest difference in batting average between first and second halves of career - Tests
(qualification: 15 innings in each)

Player 1st half Inns Runs HS

Ave 100 2nd half Inns Runs

HS Ave 100 Diff

CG Macartney (Aus) 1907-1912 30 802

137 27.65 1 1912-1926 25

1329 170 60.40 6 -32.75

RT Ponting (Aus) 1995-2002 89 3505

197 45.51 10 2002-2007 97

6003 257 72.32 23 -26.80

Imran Khan (Pak) 1971-1982 69 1651

123 27.98 1 1982-1992 57

2156 136 51.33 5 -23.35

JW Burke (Aus) 1951-1956 23 519

101* 24.71 1 1956-1959 21

761 189 47.56 2 -22.84

CL Walcott (WI) 1948-1953 34 1434

168* 44.81 5 1953-1960 40

2364 220 67.54 10 -22.73

EAB Rowan (SA) 1935-1948 25 750

89* 32.60 0 1948-1951 25

1215 236 55.22 3 -22.61

DG Bradman (Aus) 1928-1934 39 3224

334 89.55 13 1934-1948 41

3772 304 110.94 16 -21.38

Younis Khan (Pak) 2000-2003 47 1680

153 37.33 5 2004-2007 54

2906 267 58.12 9 -20.78

SJ McCabe (Aus) 1930-1933 27 915

187* 36.60 1 1933-1938 35

1833 232 57.28 5 -20.68

KC Sangakkara (SL) 2000-2004 55 2315

230 45.39 4 2004-2007 57

3426 287 65.88 11 -20.49

JR Ratnayeke (SL) 1982-1985 21 240

36 15.00 0 1986-1989 17

567 93 35.43 0 -20.43

JH Kallis (ICC/SA) 1995-2001 90 3612

189* 48.16 9 2001-2007 99

5585 186 67.28 20 -19.12

MH Denness (Eng) 1969-1974 24 718

76 31.21 0 1974-1975 21

949 188 49.94 4 -18.72

T Taibu (Zim) 2001-2003 24 482

83 20.95 0 2004-2005 22

791 153 39.55 1 -18.59

JE Cheetham (SA) 1949-1953 23 394

54 17.13 0 1953-1955 20

489 89 34.92 0 -17.79

Narendra Hirwani spun circles around the West Indians on a dust bowl in Chennai and picked up 16 for 136 on Test debut in 1987-88. He continued his excellent start, taking 20 wickets at 19.50 apiece in the three Tests that followed at home against New Zealand. However, Hirwani's form dipped once he left the spin-friendly surfaces at home and travelled overseas. His 21 wickets in nine Tests in West Indies, New Zealand and England cost 59 apiece. His final ten matches, the last against South Africa in 1996-97, yielded only 22 wickets at an average of 48.

Biggest difference in bowling average between first and second halves of career - Tests
(qualification: 1500 balls in each)

Player

1st half Balls Wkts BBI Ave 5

2nd half Balls Wkts BBI Ave

5 Diff Saleem Altaf (Pak)

1967-1973 2011 31 4/11 25.09

0 1973-1978 1990 15 3/33

62.13 0 -37.03 RJ Bright (Aus)

1977-1981 2562 33 7/87 28.39

3 1981-1986 2979 20 5/94

62.15 1 -33.75 SJ McCabe (Aus)

1930-1933 1868 23 4/13 31.73

0 1933-1938 1878 13 2/5

62.53 0 -30.79 S Madan Lal (India)

1974-1981 2979 41 5/23 28.60

4 1982-1986 3018 30 3/18

55.76 0 -27.15 ND Hirwani (India)

1988-1990 1994 44 8/61 21.13

3 1990-1996 2304 22 6/59

48.04 1 -26.90 BD Julien (WI)

1973-1975 2298 32 5/57 27.93

1 1975-1977 2244 18 3/32

54.11 0 -26.17 DJ Bravo (WI)

2004-2006 1738 28 6/55 33.53

2 2006-2007 1820 17 4/40

59.58 0 -26.05 Mohammad Nazir (Pak)

1969-1980 1552 22 7/99 24.18

2 1980-1983 1710 12 5/72

49.33 1 -25.15 N Boje (SA)

2000-2003 3777 53 5/62 30.94

2 2004-2006 4843 47 5/88

55.85 1 -24.90 CN McCarthy (SA)

1948-1950 1709 23 6/43 33.34

2 1950-1951 1790 13 4/76

57.15 0 -23.80 Mohammad Rafique (Ban)

2000-2004 4326 57 6/77 31.91

4 2004-2007 3836 37 5/62

54.48 3 -22.57 JM Gregory (Aus)

1920-1921 2894 57 7/69 23.71

3 1921-1928 2688 28 5/111

46.28 1 -22.56 GRJ Matthews (Aus)

1983-1986 2690 33 5/103 38.00

2 1986-1993 3581 28 4/76

60.28 0 -22.28 JM Blanckenberg (SA)

1913-1922 1951 40 6/76 23.20

3 1923-1924 1937 20 5/61

44.45 1 -21.25 PJ Wiseman (NZ)

1998-2000 2440 32 5/82 37.56

2 2000-2005 3220 29 4/64

58.65 0 -21.09

Intikhab Alam finished his 47-Test career with 125 wickets at an average of 35.95. However, his record after 25 Tests was nowhere near as good: he had taken only 39 wickets at 51.87 apiece with a best of 4 for 39. However, in his last 22 Tests he picked up 86 wickets at 28.73 with five five-fors and a couple of ten-fors to rapidly improve his bowling stats.

Wkts BBI Ave 5 2nd half

Balls Wkts BBI Ave 5

Diff V Pollard (NZ) 1965-1968

2286 16 3/3 65.12 0

1968-1973 2135 24 3/21 33.79 0

31.33 WJ Cronje (SA) 1992-1997

2240 14 2/11 50.42 0

1997-2000 1560 29 3/14 20.06 0

30.35 EP Nupen (SA) 1921-1924

1606 14 5/53 55.07 1

1927-1936 2553 36 6/46 28.25 4

26.82 CPH Ramanayake (SL) 1988-1991

2030 19 2/39 57.89 0

1991-1993 1624 25 5/82 31.20 1

26.69 RF Surti (India) 1960-1967

1948 16 3/38 63.06 0

1967-1969 1922 26 5/74 36.65 1

26.40 AMB Rowan (SA) 1947-1948

2238 17 4/108 55.82 0

1949-1951 2955 37 5/68 30.67 4

25.14 DAJ Holford (WI) 1966-1969

2414 20 3/34 54.45 0

1969-1977 2402 31 5/23 29.67 1

24.77 HB Cave (NZ) 1949-1955

1608 13 3/45 56.00 0

1955-1958 2466 21 4/21 35.19 0

20.80 GH Hirst (Eng) 1897-1904

1872 20 5/77 43.25 1

1904-1909 2138 39 5/48 23.20 2

20.04 AP Freeman (Eng) 1924-1928

1763 22 4/58 39.00 0

1928-1929 1969 44 7/71 19.29 5

19.70 EE Hemmings (Eng) 1982-1988

2332 16 3/53 54.75 0

1989-1991 2105 27 6/58 35.14 1

19.60 Intikhab Alam (Pak) 1959-1969

4422 39 4/39 49.30 0

1969-1977 6052 86 7/52 29.89 5

19.41 LN Constantine (WI) 1928-1931

1865 26 5/87 38.65 1

1931-1939 1718 32 5/75 23.15 1

15.49 A Flintoff (Eng/ICC) 1998-2004

5539 63 5/58 42.31 1

2004-2007 7023 134 5/78 27.17 1

15.13 C Blythe (Eng) 1901-1906

2135 30 4/30 29.03 0

1906-1910 2411 70 8/59 14.17 9

14.86