Ordinary one year, extraordinary the next

The first List of the New Year looked at batsmen and bowlers with the largest increases and decreases in their yearly Test averages between one year and the next. This week the focus is on one-day internationals.

South Africa's rising star, JP Duminy, is the flavour of the season after his feats in Australia. He wasn't so popular in 2007, though, a year in which he scored only 198 runs in ten innings with a high-score of 46 and an average of 22. He failed against India in Ireland, against Zimbabwe, in Pakistan, and at home against New Zealand. Duminy's form changed in 2008 and he hit 79 in his first ODI of the year, against West Indies in Centurion, winning his first Player-of-the-Match award. He scored another half-century in the next match, in Cape Town, and went on to finish 2008 with 476 runs from 13 innings at an average of nearly 60. He currently averages only 38 in 2009 but he's only played three ODIs so far.

Scoring over 1000 runs in a year would usually be considered a success but Sachin Tendulkar compiled his 1011 runs in 1997 from 36 innings, at an average of 31, with only two hundreds and five half-centuries. He turned it on in 1998, with a record aggregate of 1894 runs in 33 innings at an average of 65 and a strike-rate of 102. Nearly a third of those runs came in seven innings against Australia. He also scored nine hundreds (four against Australia), which is the record for most ODI centuries in a year.

The largest increase in successive yearly averages has been between Lance Klusener's means in 1998 and 1999. He played 16 ODIs in 1998, scoring 297 at an average of 27, and gave few indications of the assaults he would unleash the following year. Klusener began 1999 by smashing 27 off 14 balls to help South Africa clinch a last-ball thriller against West Indies in Johannesburg. He went on to play the finisher's role successfully on several occasions during the course of the year, notably during the World Cup in England, where he was the Player of the Tournament. Klusener finished 1999 with 854 runs at an average of 95 - 68 runs more than the previous year. He had remained not out in 15 out of 24 innings, including a streak of nine innings in a row during which he scored 396 runs off 372 balls.

Klusener, however, did not carry his awesome form into the next year, and the difference of 58 between his average in 1999 and 2000 is the second largest in the table below. He was unbeaten in 13 out of 35 innings but his five ducks - three in a row against India and Pakistan in Sharjah - caused his average in 2000 to plummet to 37.

Statistics such as 784 runs in a year at an average of 56 would not usually be identified with a decline in form, unless you are Michael Hussey. Those were Hussey's numbers for 2006 and his average for the year was 91 runs lower than his average in the preceding year. In 2005 - his first full year on the ODI circuit - Hussey scored 587 runs, remained not out in 10 out of 14 innings, averaged 147 for the year, and 151 overall. After 2006, his career average fell to 77. It's been declining ever since and currently stands at 54.41.

Biggest decline in batting average in consecutive years - ODIs (qualification: 10 innings in each year)

Player		Year	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	100		Year	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	100		Diff
MEK Hussey (Aus)		2005	20	14	587	146.75	0		2006	27	22	784	56.00	1		-90.74
L Klusener (SA)		1999	27	24	854	94.88	2		2000	41	35	817	37.13	0		-57.75
RT Ponting (Aus)		2007	27	24	1424	79.11	5		2008	13	13	278	21.38	1		-57.72
DI Gower (Eng)		1983	20	20	1086	63.88	4		1984	10	10	201	20.10	0		-43.78
M Azharuddin (India)		1990	13	12	522	65.25	1		1991	13	13	229	25.44	0		-39.80
RG Twose (NZ)		2000	25	22	1067	56.15	1		2001	12	11	177	17.69	0		-38.45
MG Bevan (Aus)		2003	31	21	784	65.33	0		2004	12	12	278	27.80	0		-37.53
CZ Harris (NZ)		1997	17	17	477	68.14	0		1998	23	19	423	32.53	0		-35.60
RM Hogg (Aus)		1983	22	11	42	42.00	0		1984	18	11	47	6.71	0		-35.28
ND McKenzie (SA)		2001	17	13	504	63.00	1		2002	15	14	363	27.92	0		-35.07
SV Manjrekar (India)		1991	14	14	646	53.83	1		1992	16	16	317	19.81	0		-34.02
DR Martyn (Aus)		2001	18	11	417	69.50	1		2002	28	25	718	37.78	1		-31.71
A Symonds (Aus)		2007	26	21	808	62.15	1		2008	13	13	335	30.45	0		-31.69
AC Hudson (SA)		1996	24	24	950	41.30	1		1997	10	10	97	9.69	0		-31.60
HA Gomes (WI)		1983	16	10	343	57.16	0		1984	13	11	205	25.62	0		-31.54
DM Jones (Aus)		1990	22	22	1174	69.05	4		1991	14	14	472	39.33	0		-29.72
KC Sangakkara (SL)		2000	14	12	382	42.44	0		2001	26	22	264	13.19	0		-29.24
SB Styris (NZ)		2007	24	21	848	56.53	1		2008	14	13	275	27.50	0		-29.03
Asif Mujtaba (Pak)		1993	25	20	606	46.61	1		1994	17	12	124	17.71	0		-28.90
MG Bevan (Aus)		2001	19	16	581	64.55	0		2002	25	18	466	35.84	1		-28.70

The table above consists primarily of batsmen and allrounders but there's one bowler on the list. Rodney Hogg scored only 42 runs in 1983 but averaged 42 as well because he was not out in 10 out of 11 innings. He scored 47 in 1984 but averaged only 6.71 because he was dismissed in seven innings out of 11.

Not only did Klusener significantly raise his batting average in 1999 but he also improved his bowling average in that year from his performance in 1998. He took 17 wickets in 16 matches at 41 apiece in 1998, but in the next year his 41 wickets came at an average of 20.85. His best streak came during the World Cup, where he took 17 wickets in nine matches.

Curtly Ambrose did not have too many unproductive years on the one-day circuit. Until 1995. Before that year, he had averaged less than 30 in each of the years in which he had played at least five ODIs. In 1995, however, Ambrose took only six wickets in 13 matches at 72 apiece, although his economy-rate was still below four an over. He was back in business in 1996, though, taking 30 wickets in 19 matches at 17.10 apiece, a reduction of 55 runs per wicket from the previous year.

James Anderson was England's highest wicket-taker in ODIs in 2007 with 39 wickets in 28 games at an average of just under 30. His form, however, took a hit in 2008 and he managed only 10 wickets in 20 ODIs and just one from his last 10 matches of the year. His averaged 74.70 per wicket in 2008, and the increase of 45 runs from 2007 is the second highest for a bowler in consecutive years.