Cricinfo runs the stat rule over the key performers, digging out head-to-heads and other tidbits
The Ashes mean more to England and Australian players than series against any other team, but how have the key performers from both sides coped with the added pressure? Cricinfo runs the stat rule over the key performers, digging out head-to-heads and other tidbits.
Of the England batsmen expected to line-up against Glenn McGrath and Co. in the first Test at Lord's, only two have played Australia before. Marcus Trescothick has clearly struggled to live up to his status as a top-notch opener, but his below-par stats are compensated for by Michael Vaughan's glorious form against them.
|
Ave v Aus (Innings) |
Ave v Others |
Diff in ave |
| Michael Vaughan |
63.30 (10) |
42.82 (91) |
20.48 |
| Marcus Trescothick
| 29.10 (20) |
49.33 (95) |
-20.23 |
Among the Australian batsmen, the captain is the one who won't like the looks of the numbers below. In 25 innings against England, Ricky Ponting only averages 41.72, almost 19 runs lesser than average against the other teams.
|
Ave v Eng (Innings) |
Ave v Others |
Diff in ave |
| Justin Langer |
56.53 (19) |
45.17 (131) |
11.36 |
| Adam Gilchrist
| 61.18 (13) |
54.77 (84) |
6.41 |
| Damien Martyn |
54.00 (15) |
50.70 (84) |
3.30 |
| Matthew Hayden
| 48.67 (16) |
54.25 (101) |
-5.58 |
| Ricky Ponting |
41.72 (25) |
60.28 (118) |
-18.86 |
England's bowlers certainly haven't enjoyed bowling to the Australians. Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard, the two bowlers who will most likely share the new ball, have terrible averages against Australia, though to be fair to Harmison, he has improved by leaps and bounds since he last played a Test against them. Among the Australians, the only bowler with a negative record (a worse average against England than against other teams) is Brett Lee. The other three fast bowlers, McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz, all have a strike rate of less than 50 balls against England - that's a wicket every eight overs or less.
|
v Aus - Ave (SR) |
v Others Ave (SR) |
Diff in ave (SR) |
| Simon Jones |
32.00 (42.00) |
31.40 (54.18) |
-0.6 (12.18) |
| Ashley Giles
| 42.71 (67.14) |
36.84 (81.73) |
-5.87 (14.59) |
| Stephen Harmison |
50.56 (88.33) |
26.14 (51.94) |
-24.42 (-36.39) |
| Matthew Hoggard
| 62.50 (103.50) |
28.33 (52.11) |
-34.17 (-51.39) |
|
v Eng - Ave (SR) |
v Others Ave (SR) |
Diff in ave (SR) |
| Michael Kasprowicz |
26.25 (48.94) |
32.02 (64.90) |
5.77 (15.96) |
| Shane Warne
| 23.03 (59.03) |
26.25 (59.08) |
3.22 (0.03) |
| Glenn McGrath |
20.03 (44.62) |
21.59 (53.11) |
1.56 (8.49) |
| Jason Gillespie
| 25.60 (45.47) |
25.77 (57.82) |
0.17 (12.35) |
| Brett Lee |
46.91 (72.41) |
28.80 (49.46) |
-18.11 (-22.95) |
A comparison of how England's top-order batsmen have fared against the Australian attack reveals the expected - McGrath is easily the best of the lot. Vaughan averages 33 against him, and while Trescothick has scored at an unusually fast clip against him (3.74 per over), McGrath has also nailed him four times.The table reveals something else - Vaughan is far happier facing any of the other bowlers than McGrath. He has scored 136 against Gillespie without being dismissed, while Shane Warne and Lee have only got him once each: against the three of them, he has a combined average of 89.33; against McGrath, who has nailed his man four times, it drops to 33. Vaughan did have his moments against McGrath on that tour in 2003-04, but on balance McGrath got his own back. Plus, he pulled off that magnificent catch at deep square leg to end Vaughan's knock at Adelaide.
| McGrath versus |
Runs/ Balls |
Dismissals |
Ave/ SR |
| Michael Vaughan |
132/ 222 |
4 |
33.00/ 59.46 |
| Marcus Trescothick
| 114/ 183 |
4 |
28.50/ 62.30 |
| Gillespie versus |
Runs/ Balls |
Dismissals |
Ave/ SR |
| Michael Vaughan |
136/ 224 |
0 |
-/ 60.71 |
| Marcus Trescothick
| 223/ 346 |
7 |
31.86/ 64.45 |
| Lee versus |
Runs/ Balls |
Dismissals |
Ave/ SR |
| Michael Vaughan |
79/ 139 |
1 |
79.00/ 56.83 |
| Marcus Trescothick
| 114/ 151 |
4 |
28.50/ 75.50 |
| Warne versus |
Runs/ Balls |
Dismissals |
Ave/ SR |
| Michael Vaughan |
53/ 126 |
1 |
53.00/ 42.06 |
| Marcus Trescothick
| 62/ 107 |
3 |
20.67/ 57.94 |
(stats includes the last two Ashes series - in 2001 and in 2003-04) Pack the slips cordon when bowling to Vaughan, but don't bother with too many slips and gullies for Hayden. That's one plan that both teams would do well to implement, based on the numbers below. A high number of the England batsmen's dismissal occur through catches in the slip cordon, but that constitutes a much smaller percentage for the Australians - for none of them does it exceed 40%.A comparison between the stats for Hayden and Vaughan is interesting: both bat high up in the order, at the time when the ball is quite often new, and hence you'd expect both to nick it to the wicketkeeper and the slips quite often. Not so. Only 17 of Hayden's 73 dismissals have been as a result of edges behind the wicket - that's less than 25%. For Vaughan, though, that figure goes up to a whopping 54.67% - 41 out of 75. McGrath and co. should have a simple plan for Vaughan - keep it on or outside off, and wait for Vaughan to commit the fatal error. Shaun Pollock worked Vaughan out superbly in their last two series, and it's highly unlikely that John Buchanan wouldn't have noticed Vaughan's tendency to often make good balls appear unplayable when they pitch in the corridor.
For Hayden, on the other hand, the plan could well be to fortify the on side and bowl that sucker short ball - ten times he has been caught in the arc between midwicket and fine leg. A similar plan might work for Adam Gilchrist too (though there's no knowing how much it would cost England in terms of runs) - 11 out of his 37 dismissals have been in the midwicket-fine-leg region. In fact, the distribution of dismissals says a lot about the Australians' aggressive attitude towards batting.
The other interesting comparison is between Justin Langer and Trescothick. Both have been out 76 times during this period, but their spread of dismissals indicates just how differently they bat. Langer, with his tendency to shuffle across his stumps, is a ripe lbw candidate, and has fallen in that manner nearly 20% of the time (15 out of 76 dismissals), the highest among all the batsmen studied in the list. Trescothick, with his tendency to stay on side and play with minimal footwork, has been bowled exactly that many times, but has seldom been trapped in front (5 out of 76).
| Batsman |
Bowled (%) |
Lbw |
Caught behind wkt |
Caught elsewhere |
| Justin Langer |
11 (14.47) |
15 (19.74) |
25 (32.89) |
23 (30.26) |
| Matthew Hayden
| 8 (10.96) |
9 (12.33) |
17 (23.29) |
34 (46.58) |
| Ricky Ponting |
9 (15.79) |
8 (14.04) |
20 (35.09) |
10 (17.54) |
| Damien Martyn
| 4 (7.01) |
10 (17.54) |
22 (38.60) |
17 (29.82) |
| Adam Gilchrist |
11 (20.37) |
2 (3.70) |
14 (25.93) |
23 (42.59) |
| Batsman |
Bowled (%) |
Lbw |
Caught behind wkt |
Caught elsewhere |
| Marcus Trescothick |
15 (19.74) |
4 (5.26) |
30 (39.47) |
24 (31.58) |
| Andrew Strauss
| 2 (8.33) |
4 (16.67) |
10 (41.67) |
7 (29.17) |
| Michael Vaughan |
8 (10.67) |
9 (12.00) |
41 (54.67) |
14 (18.67) |
| Andrew Flintoff
| 7 (12.73) |
8 (14.55) |
15 (27.27) |
23 (41.82) |
| Adam Gilchrist |
11 (20.37) |
2 (3.70) |
14 (25.93) |
23 (42.59) |
(Stats since September 2001)S Rajesh is assistant editor of Cricinfo. For some of the stats he was helped by Arun Gopalakrishnan from Cricinfo's Chennai office.