The Inzamam factor, and no-ball kings

Leaning on Inzamam
Pakistan's abysmal batting display in their Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka immediately raised questions - once again - about their batting frailty. "When Inzamam-ul-Haq fails, the rest of the batting line-up gives up the cause without a fight," went one of the commentators, reminiscing a situation which was often attributed to India and Sachin Tendulkar before Rahul Dravid and co. pulled their weight for the side. The comment, though, was one which deserved more research - have Yousuf Youhana and the rest of the Pakistan line-up delivered only on the back of Inzamam's successes, or have they stood up to be counted when Inzamam has failed?

Due to the overs restriction, it would perhaps be unfair to compare the numbers in one-dayers - Inzamam getting a big score would probably mean the rest of the batsmen would get fewer overs to make an impact - but the Test stats indicate that those comments weren't far off the mark. In all Tests since 2001, when Inzamam scores 30 or more, the rest of the Pakistan batsmen average 34 per dismissal, but that figure drops by nearly ten when Inzamam gets out early. The contrast only gets a touch starker when the numbers are restricted to the top seven batsmen.

Youhana's numbers make for interesting reading: he averages 52 when Inzamam fails, but the figure shoots up to 76 when Inzamam scores below 30.

Right-arm or left-arm?
While considering the bowling line-up for a match, think-tanks often look at the past record of the venue to decide on the mix of pace and spin in their attack. Fair enough too, for some grounds have juicier pitches which favour seamers, others are dry and crumbly and are a spinner's paradise. Pace v spin might be a common point of contention, but should captains include another criterion when choosing their bowling line-up?

A look at the table below indicates that not only the pace with which the ball is bowled, but also the arm it is bowled off, is a factor. If you are playing at the Bangabandhu Stadium in Bangladesh, for instance, it is wise to choose a right-arm fast bowler over a left-arm one - it could make a difference of ten runs per wicket. (It goes without saying that the quality of the bowler should be considered as well.) Two West Indian venues - Kingston and Port-of-Spain - are similarly biased towards the right-arm fast bowler, but Bridgetown, Barbados, is kinder to the left-arm seamers: they average almost seven less per wicket than their right-arm counterparts.

However, there's one ground which left-armers would do well to stay clear of: the Bourda at Georgetown is known to be a bowler's nightmare, but it's far worse if you're of the left-arm fast variety - their tribe has taken just ten wickets in as many Tests there at a shocking 78.79 runs per wicket; the right-armers average a far more respectable 34. The last time a Test was played there, between West Indies and Australia last season, Pedro Collins was the only left-arm pace bowler, and ended with match figures of 1 for 110. Meanwhile, Vasbert Drakes and Jason Gillespie both nabbed five-fors, while the right-armers collectively managed a rich haul of 20 wickets at just 33.

Of course, the best option to counter this - and a certain John Buchanan would endorse the idea - would be to resort to ambidexterity, check the venue stats, and then decide whether to use the right hand or the left.

Venue	Right-arm fast - ave	Left-arm fast - ave	Difference
Bulawayo	35.28	28.10	7.18
SSC, Colombo	36.29	30.53	5.76
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi	36.99	31.51	5.48

(Min Qual: 10 Tests)

The no-ball kings
The current crop of West Indian fast bowlers have often been derided for their lack of discipline and their tendency to no-ball repeatedly, but here's something that might just cheer them up slightly - in all ODIs since, and including, the 1999 World Cup, the bowler who has sent down the highest percentage of no-balls is Courtney Walsh, who bowls one every 19 balls. Dilhara Fernando, Mohammad Sami and Charitha Buddika are among a closely grouped bunch trailing Walsh, while the highest non-regular bowler in the list is Sourav Ganguly (a no-ball every 40 balls).

In Tests, though, Ganguly is right up there heading the list of offenders, ahead of the likes of Dilhara Fernando and Brett Lee.