Stage fright? What stage fright?

So Pakistan are without Inzamam-ul-Haq, their captain and highest runscorer, as they begin their quest for the Champions Trophy. Leaving captaincy aside The List says that Pakistan might not miss Inzamam the batsman much in such a big tournament. Before you dismiss this statement as rubbish, browse through Inzamam's stats in previous editions of the Champions Trophy . In fact, check out his World Cup stats - 30 innings, no centuries and an average of 23.81 - or his performances in all tournaments with more than five teams. He has only seven scores above 50 (93 in his career) and an average of 28.77 from 40 innings in such tournaments. Inzamam hasn't been much of a big tournament batsman since his heroics against New Zealand and England in the 1992 World Cup and needs to set this record straight at next year's World Cup.

Nathan Astle is another who has a dire record in big tournaments. He made 101 in the first match of the 1996 World Cup against England but thereafter scored 0,1,2,6 and 1 in the remainder of the tournament. He contributed all of 19 runs in the 1998 Wills international Cup and 68 in the World Cup that followed. Astle improved in the 2003 World Cup, scoring a fifty against South Africa, a hundred against Zimbabwe but ended the tournament with consecutive ducks. A massive 145 in the 2004 Champions Trophy pushed his average past 20, but it must be remembered that the opponents were USA . Here's an interesting stat: Astle has reached 20 only nine times out of 31 innings, but New Zealand lost none of those matches.

Biggest difference in batting average in tournaments with 5+ teams (qualification: 10 innings)

Player	Span		Mat	Runs	Ave	100		Tourn	Runs	Ave	100		Diff
CL Hooper (WI)	1987-2003		227	5761	35.34	7		30	463	20.13	0		-15.209
MG Bevan (Aust)	1994-2003		232	6912	53.58	6		34	684	40.23	0		-13.344
NJ Astle (NZ)	1996-2004		212	6890	35.69	16		31	676	24.14	3		-11.557
Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak)	1992-2004		367	11549	39.82	10		46	1007	28.77	1		-11.048
JN Rhodes (SAf)	1992-2003		245	5935	35.11	2		36	640	24.61	0		-10.504
M Amarnath (India)	1975-1989		85	1924	30.53	2		24	362	20.11	0		-10.428
ADR Campbell (Zimb)	1992-2003		188	5185	30.50	7		27	482	20.08	1		-10.416
M Prabhakar (India)	1987-1996		130	1858	24.12	2		33	250	13.88	0		-10.241
DPMD Jayawardene (SL)	1999-2004		222	5952	32.34	8		28	467	22.23	0		-10.111
GW Flower (Zimb)	1993-2003		219	6536	33.69	6		28	567	23.62	0		-10.064

There have also been some fantastic successes in these tournaments, one of the biggest being Lance Klusener, who averages 78 in tournaments with more than five teams. He was irresistible during the 1999 World Cup and was a shoo-in for the Man of the Series with his power-hitting and clinical finishing. He scored 281 runs in the tournament, remained unbeaten six times out of eight, and had a strike-rate of 122.17.

India's big three - Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly - all have averages in the fifties in such tournaments. Dravid, who averages 57.15, was the top-scorer in the 1999 World Cup with 461 runs and Ganguly's 348 was the highest tally in the Champions Trophy in Nairobi the following year.

Biggest difference in batting average in tournaments with 5+ teams (qualification: 10 innings, 100 runs)

Player	Span		Mat	Runs	Ave	100		Tourn	Runs	Ave	100		Diff
L Klusener (SAf)	1999-2004		171	3576	41.10	2		21	468	78.00	0		36.899
HH Gibbs (SAf)	1999-2004		186	6119	35.57	16		20	1070	62.94	5		27.361
RR Sarwan (WI)	2002-2004		108	3587	45.98	3		11	431	71.83	0		25.843
RD Jacobs (WI)	1998-2003		147	1865	23.31	0		16	311	44.42	0		21.118
G Fowler (Eng)	1983-1985		26	744	31.00	0		10	412	51.50	0		20.500
SC Ganguly (India)	1998-2004		279	10123	40.65	22		37	1753	58.43	7		17.783
R Dravid (India)	1998-2004		297	9576	39.73	12		38	1429	57.15	3		17.429
SB Styris (NZ)	2000-2004		116	2503	28.77	3		14	413	45.88	1		17.118
Saeed Anwar (Pak)	1990-2003		247	8823	39.21	20		33	1518	56.22	5		17.012
RG Twose (NZ)	1996-2000		87	2717	38.81	1		18	696	53.53	0		14.728

India have reached the finals of six of the 11 tournaments Tendulkar has played in, including four of the last five finals - the exception being the 2004 Champions Trophy in England. Tendulkar became the only player to score more than 500 runs in a World Cup in 1996 and bettered that in 2003 when he stacked up 673 in South Africa .

Shane Bond is the only bowler playing in their year's Champions Trophy to feature in the list of best averages - 23 wickets at 16.71 each - in tournaments with more than five teams. He took six wickets in two matches during the 2002 Champions Trophy and scalped 17 in eight games during the 2003 World Cup, the highlight being a six-wicket haul that helped reduce Australia to 84 for 7 before Andy Bichel and Michael Bevan staged a miraculous fightback.

Best bowling average in tournaments with 5+ teams (qualification: 500 balls)

Player	Span	Mat	Runs	Wkts	BBI	Ave	5
CM Old (Eng)	1975-1979	9	243	16	4/8	15.18	0
JN Gillespie (Aust)	2000-2004	11	307	20	4/15	15.34	0
SE Bond (NZ)	2002-2003	10	389	23	6/23	16.91	1
RGD Willis (Eng)	1979-1983	11	315	18	4/11	17.50	0
Waqar Younis (Pak)	1989-2003	24	802	45	6/26	17.82	2
SK Warne (Aust)	1994-2002	23	787	44	4/29	17.88	0
MA Holding (WI)	1979-1985	15	418	23	4/33	18.17	0
RJ Hadlee (NZ)	1975-1985	17	517	28	5/25	18.46	1
RMH Binny (India)	1983-1987	14	517	28	4/29	18.46	0
DNT Zoysa (SL)	1998-2004	11	372	20	3/19	18.60	0

Shane Warne is the only spinner in the list of top-ten bowlers. His 44 wickets cost only 17.88 apiece but even more impressive is his economy-rate of 3.70 in these matches which is far lower than his career figure of 4.25. Incidentally Warne, along with Geoff Allot, was the highest wicket-taker with 20 scalps in the 1999 World Cup.