Bairstow and Anderson take centrestage
Stats highlights from England's convincing 2-0 series win against Sri Lanka
S Rajesh
14-Jun-2016
A key reason for England's comfortable series win was the degree by which their pace attack outperformed Sri Lanka's • ESPNcricinfo Ltd
41.21 England's batting average in the series, which was 82.5% better than Sri Lanka's average of 22.58. England's batsmen passed 50 once every five innings on average, compared to Sri Lanka's average of once in 8.3 innings.
Team | Runs scored | Wkts taken | Bat ave | 100s/ 50s | Inngs/50+ score |
England | 1525 | 51 | 41.21 | 3/ 6 | 5.00 |
Sri Lanka | 1152 | 37 | 2258 | 1/ 6 | 8.29 |
603 Runs scored by England's Nos. 6 and 7 batsmen in the series, at an average of 120.60. All three centuries for England in the series came from those two positions - two from Jonny Bairstow and one from Moeen Ali. For the top five positions, England's average was only 32.33, though Sri Lanka did even worse at 25.38.
Nos. 1-5 | Nos. 6 & 7 | |||||
Runs | Average | 100s/ 50s | Runs | Average | 100s/ 50s | |
England | 679 | 32.33 | 0/ 5 | 603 | 120.60 | 3/ 0 |
Sri Lanka | 660 | 25.83 | 0/ 5 | 283 | 28.30 | 1/ 0 |
355 Runs scored by Bairstow when batting at No. 6 or 7, out of his overall series tally of 387. It is the most runs scored by any England batsman when batting at No. 6 or lower, in a series of three or fewer Tests. The earlier record was 311, by Matt Prior on England's tour to New Zealand in 2012-13. Overall, only six batsmen have scored more, with the highest being Adam Gilchrist's 473 in South Africa in 2001-02.
4 Fifty-plus stands for England's sixth wicket in the series, in as many partnerships; in four innings, their partnerships were 141, 70, 63, and 82. This is the first instance of four 50-plus stands for England's sixth wicket in a series of three or fewer Tests.
18.44 The collective average for England's fast bowlers - they took 49 wickets, at a strike rate of 38.2, which was better than the bowling average for Sri Lanka's seamers (41.00).
99.50 Bowling average for England's spinners - Moeen took 2 for 180 while Joe Root had 0 for 19, giving the spinners combined figures of 2 for 199. Sri Lanka's spinners averaged 37.50, with Rangana Herath taking seven of their ten wickets.
Pace | Spin | |||||
Wickets | Average | Strike rate | Wickets | Average | Strike rate | |
England | 49 | 18.44 | 38.2 | 2 | 99.50 | 154.0 |
Sri Lanka | 27 | 41.00 | 71.9 | 10 | 37.50 | 73.1 |
21 Wickets for
James Anderson alone, the joint second best by an England bowler in a series in which he played three or fewer Tests since 1980. Only Ryan Sidebottom, with 24 wickets in New Zealand in 2007-08, has more.
10.80 Anderson's bowling average, fourth best since 1970 for a bowler who has bowled in at least five innings in a series. Only Muttiah Muralitharan (9.80 versus Zimbabwe in 2001-02), Richard Hadlee (10 versus Sri Lanka in 1983-84) and Mudassar Nazar (10.40 versus England in 1982) have done better.
10 Wickets for Nuwan Pradeep, the third best for a Sri Lankan bowler in a series (more than one Test) in England. Only Muttiah Muralitharan (24 wickets in 2006) and Shaminda Eranga (11 in 2014) have taken more wickets in a series in England. (This excludes Muralitharan's 16 wickets in the one-off Test in 1998.)
S Rajesh is stats editor of ESPNcricinfo. @rajeshstats