Rise and fall

One of the statistical sidelights from 2008 was the alarming drop in Michael Hussey's Test batting average: from a Bradmanesque 80.58 after 19 games, it crashed to 59.04, with his return for 2008 a measly 900 runs from 25 innings, an average of 37.50. Maybe we should have seen it coming: in 2007, Hussey's ODI average declined from 77.11 to 57.34, but two centuries in six innings helped him keep the Test average high. This week's List looks at the ups and downs in averages between consecutive years in Tests.

Viv Richards' first century came in his second Test - a flamboyant 192 not out in Delhi - but he scored only one more half-century in his first 11 Tests. In seven Tests in 1975 he managed an average of 19.09, but a year later he imposed himself on bowling attacks, smashing six hundreds - including two doubles - and scoring fifties in ten consecutive games. His record of 1710 runs stood for 30 years, and his average of 90 erased his poor 1975.

Like Richards, Garry Sobers took a while to hit his stride at the highest level. In 14 Tests spread over four years there was no century, but when it came it was earth-shattering: perhaps to make up for lost ground, Sobers made 365 not out in Kingston, and he ended up averaging 112.33 runs more in 1958 than in the previous year. Sobers features twice in the list for improving batting averages, but perhaps the most remarkable jump is that of Steve Waugh, who battled the odds towards the end of his career. With an average of 30.39 in 11 Tests in 2002, the pressure to call it quits was on the 37-year-old Waugh. But he bounced back, scoring a magical century - during which he went past 10,000 Test runs - with a boundary off the final ball of the second day in the New Year's Test in Sydney. There were three more hundreds in a year where he averaged nearly 80, and Waugh bid farewell on his own terms, at the end of the next New Year's Test.

For five players - Mike Gatting, Mohammad Yousuf, Jacques Kallis, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mark Boucher - whose averages improved considerably between years, the crash came in the very next. Yousuf overhauled Richards' record with 1788 runs at nearly 100 in 2006, but his 2007 average was a mere 40. Kallis shone in 2007, scoring hundreds in four consecutive games. He had 9282 Tests runs at the end of the year, but a significantly lower tally in 2008 - 665 runs at 31.66 - meant his quest for No. 10,000 extended to 2009. Two left-handers, Hashan Tillakaratne and Andy Flower, who hit a peak in 2001 head the list for the biggest decline in consecutive years. (Note: The difference in Hussey's averages between 2007 and 2008 was 37.30.)

Unlike in the batting list, it is the lesser-known names that top the bowling table for the biggest improvement in averages over successive years. Corey Collymore's bowling average in 2005 was almost one-third that of 2004, when he averaged 66.20 for his 10 wickets. For Craig White and Carl Hooper, it was a rather poor 2001 that made their 2002 averages remarkable in comparison. Kapil Dev's first year of Test cricket, in 1978, was tough, but his persistence paid off in 1979, when he took 74 wickets - then the record for a calendar year - in 17 Tests at 22.95 apiece. Towards the bottom of the list is Glenn McGrath, who averaged over 40 in his first two years in Test cricket. McGrath hit the low 20s in 1995, an average he maintained for his rest of his career.

Like for the batsmen, peak years for bowlers followed by lean ones has also led to them finding a place in the table for declining averages. White, Collymore, Phil Tufnell, Hedley Verity, Abdul Qadir and Ravi Shastri find a place in both lists. There are five left-arm bowlers in the top ten. Bernard Julien, the West Indies allrounder who played 24 Tests in the 1970s, suffered the worst loss of bowling form; and Tufnell's on-off career results in him featuring twice. Shastri's phases of improvement and decline differ. His debut year, 1981, was his best in Tests, when he averaged 25.09 with the ball. In 1982, his wickets cost him over 60, the biggest year-to-year decline. In 1985 he managed to take wickets below 40 after another expensive year - his biggest improvement.

Terry Alderman made a fine start in 1981 but failed to carry it into the next year. In contrast, the other three Australians in the list suffered their biggest decline towards the final years of their careers. Jason Gillespie failed to match his superlative efforts in Australia's conquest of India, the final frontier, in 2004, the very next year, when Australia were upset in the Ashes. He played his final two Tests in 2006, against Bangladesh, and finished his career with an unbeaten 201 with the bat. After Shane Warne's arrival in 1992, Tim May forged a successful spin partnership with the newcomer, but his wicket-taking abilities declined considerably in 1994, leading to his exit after the New Year's Test in 1995. Garth McKenzie renounced Test cricket when only into his 30s in favour of the county game, but overwork had taken its toll by then: while his 37 wickets in 1969 came at around 25 runs each, his final six games fetched eight wickets at 85.50.