T Dexter: When statistics are anything but damned lies (14 Aug 1998)

14 August 1998

When statistics are anything but damned lies

By Ted Dexter

COMPUTER ratings for Test cricketers have been with us now for 12 years. Most of the great names of the game have clawed their way to the top of the lists for a while during this time including Viv Richards, Graham Gooch, Shane Warne and Curtly Ambrose. But, unlike averages, current form is what counts most and who would argue with the current leaders, Sachin Tendulkar and Allan Donald?

It took the cricket world a year or two to get used to the idea of ratings but it was the great mass of inexpert spectators, rather than the cognoscenti, who decided that they liked having an up-to-the minute form guide to tell them whether they were watching a top-10 star or a middle-30s journeymen. Test cricket, with all its complexity, was the natural medium for the first ratings system but the growing number of one-day internationals has changed all that.

From now on there will be the PricewaterhouseCoopers Ratings for both Test cricket and the one-day version of the game, with the current lists taking account of all previous form and, in particular, the 136 internationals played since June of last year. Test cricket remains the highest form of the game but is it good sense to call a player the best in the world if he never does much in one-dayers?

Although some of the names recur in both lists, the different nature of the two games is highlighted by the presence of New Zealand's Chris Harris, who tantalises and frustrates batsmen who try to hit his slow-medium cutters in limited-overs matches, whereas he just bowls them into form in the Tests. Similarly England's Nick Knight is a master of the swashbuckling start to any innings so long as it is not a Test, when the bowlers can exploit technical shortcomings.

The new ratings reflect what is important in the winning of the shorter matches. For example, the bowler who takes three wickets for 65 in 10 overs may well turn a Test match in his country's favour whereas the same analysis could easily lose a one-day game. An analysis of none for 15 off 10 overs would go unnoticed by the computer in Tests but will gain many points in the new ratings system.

Batting averages are always with us but they never take account of run-rate and give too much credit for the not-out innings. We know that fast scoring can win matches and being not out in a 50-over game is almost meaningless. So again the new system gives a large bonus for fast scoring in the winning team with hardly a point for any not-outs.

Incidentally the two top innings ever played in one-day internationals, according to the computer analysis, were both by Viv Richards: 189 against England in Manchester, 1984; and 181, from only 125 balls, against Sri Lanka in the 1987 World Cup.

For England, our bowlers figure rather better than the batsmen, with Darren Gough sixth, Angus Fraser eighth and Robert Croft 13th. Despite their limitations as fielders, and indeed as batsmen, it seems that they have easily justified their recent selections to the one-day squad. Alec Stewart and Graham Thorpe only just squeeze into the top 20.

Do we really need a new set of ratings? Arguably short matches are more of a team game than Tests. However, we don't have countries as heroes, so much as individuals, and where would tennis reporting be without a slavish fascination for the latest move of our very own Tim Henman from 12th to 11th in the world. Cricket followers will enjoy it if their favourite players receive the same kind of coverage.

ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS - BATTING

1 S R Tendulkar (India) 845

2 B C Lara (W Indies) 837

3 M G Bevan (Australia) 810

4 S T Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) 798

5 P A de Silva (Sri Lanka) 777

6 Saeed Anwar (Pakistan) 765

7 N J Astle (NZ) 749

8 W J Cronje (S Africa) 743

9 R T Ponting (Australia) 727

10 M E Waugh (Australia) 705

BOWLING

1 A A Donald (S Africa) 838

2= Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan) 831

2= M Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) 831

4 S M Pollock (S Africa) 816

5 C E L Ambrose (W Indies) 801

6 D Gough (England) 783

7 Wasim Akram (Pakistan) 782

8 A R C Fraser (England) 731

9 C Z Harris (NZ) 729

10 A Kumble (India) 722

TESTS - BATTING

1 S R Tendulkar (India) 858

2 B C Lara (W Indies) 790

3 S R Waugh (Australia) 786

4 A J Stewart (England) 778

5 M E Waugh (Australia) 749

6 W J Cronje (S Africa) 748

7 R Dravid (India) 744

8 C L Hooper (W Indies) 712

9 P A de Silva (Sri Lanka) 704

10 S Chanderpaul (W Indies) 703

BOWLERS

1 A A Donald (S Africa) 889

2 C E L Ambrose (W Indies) 877

3 G D McGrath (Australia) 808

4 A R C Fraser (England) 793

5 S K Warne (Australia) 756

6 S M Pollock (S Africa) 755

7 A Kumble (India) 749

8= Waqar Younis (Pakistan) 746

8= Mushtaq Ahmed (Pakistan) 746

10 Wasim Akram (Pakistan) 742

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)