First impressions - Part II

Some statistics, like Bradman's average and the number of centuries Tendulkar has made are known to pretty much every cricket buff. But The List will bring you facts and figures that aren't so obvious, adding fuel to those fiery debates about the most valuable middle-order bat, and the most useless tailender. If there's a particular List that you would like to see, e-mail us with your comments and suggestions.

In last week's column, the List featured the best performers when facing an opposition for the first time. This week, we look at the reverse - how different countries have performed while playing opposition players for the first time.

England's fledgling batsmen, Alastair Cook and Owais Shah, averaged 63 and 61 in the recently concluded Test series in India and Collingwood, in his first series against India, averaged 68. This instance is consistent with how batsmen have fared in their first outings against India for they have always had one of the weaker attacks.

England's bowlers have the best overall record against batsmen they've never played before but in the last ten years their average runs conceded has been 30.90 (sixth place) much higher than the overall figure of 25.55.

Given that Sri Lanka entered the Test fraternity as late as 1982, they have a better record than most in this regard. Overall, they have the second best batting record and in the last ten years their bowlers average 28.36 against first-time opposition and their batters score at 42.41 against bowlers they are facing for the first time.

Predictably, Australia have been overwhelmingly dominant against rookie opposition batsmen and bowlers. Over the last decade, the Australian attack has conceded 25.81 to new opposition batsmen and has battered bowlers for 54.96 per wicket.

If there's a particular List that you would like to see, e-mail us with your comments and suggestions.