Starring in the English summer

Asian teams, coming from the heat and largely placid tracks of home, are generally expected to struggle during the early part of the English summer as they come to terms with the cold conditions and the seaming ball.

The first innings of the Lord's Test conformed to that script as the Sri Lankan batsmen crashed to 192 all out. However, facing a deficit of 359, Mahela Jayawardene scored his second century at Lord's in as many Tests as Sri Lanka pulled off the cricketing equivalent of Houdini's giant milk can escape and retorted with 537 for 9 before bad light ended the game. This week we look at how Asian players have fared in England.

That imposing firm of Rahul Dravid (87.66) , Sourav Ganguly (74) and Sachin Tendulkar (71.59) lead the list of highest averages in England. Seven of the top eight batsmen, Zaheer Abbas being the exception, have played predominantly after 1990, a time when England almost never had a settled bowling attack. Even so, none of the top six averages belong to openers, an indication that playing the new ball in England is not the easiest thing in the world no matter who's bowling.

Biggest difference in batting average for Asians in England - Tests (qualification: 6 innings, 2 series)

Player	Span		Mat	Runs	Ave	100		Eng	Runs	Ave	100		Diff
SC Ganguly (India)	1996-2002		88	5221	40.78	12		6	666	74.00	3		33.210
R Dravid (India)	1996-2002		100	8553	57.79	22		6	789	87.66	3		29.876
Saleem Malik (Pak)	1987-1996		103	5768	43.69	15		13	931	66.50	3		22.799
Ijaz Ahmed (Pak)	1987-1996		60	3315	37.67	12		7	494	54.88	1		17.218
SR Tendulkar (India)	1990-2002		132	10469	55.39	35		10	1074	71.59	4		16.209
KS More (India)	1986-1990		49	1285	25.69	0		6	247	41.16	0		15.466
Aamer Sohail (Pak)	1992-1996		47	2823	35.28	5		7	490	49.00	1		13.710
Mohsin Khan (Pak)	1978-1982		48	2709	37.10	7		6	501	50.10	1		12.990
Zaheer Abbas (Pak)	1971-1982		78	5062	44.79	12		9	841	56.06	2		11.266
MS Atapattu (SL)	1998-2002		88	5330	38.90	16		4	301	50.16	1		11.256

Sunil Gavaskar , who scored 1404 runs at 70.20 as opener in the West Indies, managed only 1152 in 28 innings at 41.14 in England, a far cry from his career average of 51.12. Hanif Mohammad too averaged 41.87 as opener but struggled in England. His 15 innings at the top yielded just 302 runs but he managed an unbeaten 187 from the No. 4 slot to boost his average to 26.63.

Among batsmen with the highest differences between overall averages and their figures in England, Hashan Tillakaratne is the only batsman from the 1990s to figure in the list. One reason for this could be because players are getting accustomed to English conditions while playing county cricket.

Biggest difference in batting average for Asians in England - Tests (qualification: 6 innings, 2 series)

Player	Span		Mat	Runs	Ave	100		Eng	Runs	Ave	100		Diff
Haroon Rashid (Pak)	1978-1982		23	1217	34.77	3		4	34	5.66	0		-29.103
PR Umrigar (India)	1952-1959		59	3631	42.22	12		8	273	18.19	1		-24.019
KC Sangakkara (SL)	2002-2006		58	4311	47.37	9		4	191	27.28	0		-20.084
CG Borde (India)	1959-1967		55	3061	35.59	5		7	200	16.66	0		-18.923
P Roy (India)	1952-1959		43	2442	32.56	5		9	233	13.70	0		-18.854
Hanif Mohammad (Pak)	1954-1967		55	3915	43.98	12		12	586	26.63	1		-17.353
HP Tillakaratne (SL)	1991-2002		83	4545	42.87	11		5	164	27.33	0		-15.546
Majid Khan (Pak)	1967-1982		63	3931	38.92	8		9	375	23.43	0		-15.482
AV Mankad (India)	1971-1974		22	991	25.41	0		4	99	12.37	0		-13.035
Wasim Raja (Pak)	1974-1982		57	2821	36.16	4		6	232	23.19	0		-12.970

Most Indian spinners have performed below par in England. EAS Prasanna, Anil Kumble, Bishan Bedi , Srinivas Venkataraghavan, among others, average significantly more in England compared to their overall average. Their Pakistan counterparts, on the other hand, have fared better, with Mushtaq Ahmed's haul of 32 wickets from eight Tests being the best performance.

Pakistan have 12 of the top 14 bowling averages for Asians in England but pride of place goes to Muttiah Muralitharan who picked up 16 for 220, the best figures for an Asian, in his first Test in England in 1998. Since then he has 11 wickets from three Tests and could play a pivotal role in the remaining two Tests of the ongoing series.

This series is Chaminda Vaas's second in England which makes him eligible according to our criteria of appearing in at least two series. He had a terrible first outing in 2002, taking four wickets for 434 runs, and an insipid performance in the recent Lord's Test gives him an average of 93 in England compared to his overall 29.03.

Biggest difference in bowling average for Asians in England - Tests (qualification: 300 balls, 2 series)

Player	Span		Mat	Wkts	Ave	5		Eng	Wkts	Ave	5		Diff
ED Solkar (India)	1971-1974		27	18	59.44	0		6	7	37.42	0		-22.011
Asif Masood (Pak)	1971-1974		16	38	41.26	1		6	20	28.94	1		-12.309
Sarfraz Nawaz (Pak)	1974-1982		55	177	32.75	4		6	17	22.82	1		-9.936
Saleem Altaf (Pak)	1967-1971		21	46	37.17	0		4	10	29.00	0		-8.170
Mudassar Nazar (Pak)	1978-1987		76	66	38.36	1		11	15	32.93	1		-5.426
Ata-ur-Rehman (Pak)	1992-1996		13	31	34.54	0		3	8	30.25	0		-4.299
Mushtaq Ahmed (Pak)	1992-1996		52	185	32.97	10		8	32	28.81	2		-4.157
VS Hazare (India)	1946-1952		30	20	61.00	0		7	5	57.60	0		-3.399
Asif Iqbal (Pak)	1967-1974		58	53	28.33	2		9	16	26.25	0		-2.089
M Nissar (India)	1932-1936		6	25	28.28	3		4	18	26.55	2		-1.724

Biggest difference in bowling average for Asians in England - Tests (qualification: 300 balls, 2 series)

Player	Span		Mat	Wkts	Ave	5		Eng	Wkts	Ave	5		Diff
WPUJC Vaas (SL)	2002-2006		91	303	29.03	11		4	6	93.00	0		63.969
JR Ratnayeke (SL)	1984-1988		22	56	35.21	4		2	2	86.50	0		51.289
SG Shinde (India)	1946-1952		7	12	59.75	1		3	2	94.00	0		34.250
Saeed Ahmed (Pak)	1962-1971		41	22	36.45	0		9	3	69.66	0		33.216
RJ Shastri (India)	1982-1990		80	151	40.96	2		9	11	70.63	0		29.676
EAS Prasanna (India)	1967-1974		49	189	30.38	10		5	12	58.08	0		27.703
CPH Ramanayake (SL)	1988-1991		18	44	42.72	1		2	4	61.75	0		19.020
Nasim-ul-Ghani (Pak)	1962-1967		29	52	37.67	2		7	7	56.42	0		18.758
A Kumble (India)	1990-2002		106	510	28.76	32		7	22	45.81	0		17.048
Intikhab Alam (Pak)	1962-1974		47	125	35.95	5		12	23	49.73	1		13.789