Why the West Indies were not the worst team in 2000 (and why they were)
So you think the West Indies have been abominable, appalling, atrocious and quite the worst team imaginable in the year 2000
Rick Eyre
01-Jan-2001
So you think the West Indies have been abominable, appalling, atrocious and quite the worst team imaginable in the year 2000? Think again.
A much better record at home than away, combined with an international program which gave them more Test matches than any other team this year, means that the West Indies actually won more Tests in 2000 (four) than five other teams.
And their ratio of wins to matches played is better than both Pakistan and New Zealand's.
The West Indies had some memorable successes this year - defending a target of 97 to dismiss Zimbabwe for 63, defeating Pakistan by one wicket, and thrashing England by an innings in three days. Unfortunately, it is the losses, and some bad losses at that, which stay in the mind in the year 2000. Beaten by England in three days and then in two, beaten by Australia in three days, three days, five days and four. They've been bowled out this year for 54, 61 and 82. They have been five wickets down for 24, 49, 39, 60, 66, 22, 28 and 17.
Their ratio of matches won to matches played is better than Pakistan, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Their ratio of matches lost to matches played is the equal of India, and better than New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. But is the combined West Indian team batting average - scoring 22.1 runs per wicket - which is the worst of any Test nation in the year 2000, including debutants Bangladesh.
Australia steamrolled through the year with a perfect record, including one win over India, three over New Zealand, and four over the West Indies. What is remarkable is the magnitude of their victories. Only once (against the West Indies at Adelaide) did they need to take to the field for five playing days (not including washouts), and only once were they really stretched (needing to score 212 to defeat New Zealand at Hamilton). Their team batting average - 39.0 runs per wicket - was easily the best in the world this year, and almost double their team bowling average of 20.2 runs per wicket, which was also easily the best in the world.
Of the individual honours, Inzamam ul-Haq was the leading run scorer of the year, with 1090. Along with batting partner Yousuf Youhana he shared the title for the most centuries, with four. Andy Flower was the only other batsman to top 1000 runs, and he led the averages with 80.38.
Muttiah Muralitharan, with 75 wickets in ten Tests, was the outstanding bowler of the year, although his workload (623.2 overs) was substantially more than that of any other bowler except Courtney Walsh (583.3 overs), who celebrated his world record-breaking year by taking 66 wickets. Without taking anything away from the individual successes of Muralitharan and Walsh, the sheer weight of overs that each has bowled is perhaps indicative of the lack of bowling depth in both Sri Lanka and the West Indies.
Dominic Cork, with 20 wickets at 12.25 in four Tests, had the best bowling average of the year.
Jimmy Adams, Sherwin Campbell, Ridley Jacobs and Courtney Walsh were the only players to appear in fourteen Tests this year. Curiously, while the WI had more Tests than any other country, they played only nineteen one-day internationals.
How the Test teams performed in 2000:
Team P W L T D Won % BatAv BowAv Australia 8 8 0 0 0 100.00% 39.0 20.2 South Africa 11 6 2 0 3 54.54% 32.2 25.0 England 12 6 2 0 4 50.00% 27.9 26.7 India 6 2 3 0 1 33.33% 35.4 39.4 Sri Lanka 10 3 4 0 3 30.00% 28.4 29.8 West Indies 14 4 7 0 3 28.57% 22.1 27.0 Pakistan 12 3 4 0 5 25.00% 32.4 30.7 New Zealand 9 2 5 0 2 22.22% 29.4 33.2 Zimbabwe 9 0 6 0 3 0.00% 28.3 42.1 Bangladesh 1 0 1 0 0 0.00% 24.5 44.8
Most runs in Tests in 2000 (minimum: 400 runs)
Name Mat I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St Inzamam-ul-Haq 12 19 1 1090 142 60.55 52.35 4 6 7 - PAK A Flower 9 16 3 1045 232* 80.38 48.76 3 5 23 1 ZIM MA Atherton 12 21 1 990 136 49.50 36.43 3 5 7 - ENG Yousuf Youhana 12 18 1 839 124 49.35 39.04 4 2 17 - PAK JH Kallis 11 18 2 780 160 48.75 40.47 2 3 6 - RSA DPMdeS Jayawardene 10 18 1 740 167 43.52 51.78 2 3 15 - SL MS Atapattu 10 18 1 732 207* 43.05 37.61 2 4 8 - SL ST Jayasuriya 10 18 0 722 188 40.11 61.34 2 2 2 - SL G Kirsten 11 18 1 712 180 41.88 37.00 1 4 15 - RSA WW Hinds 13 23 1 687 165 31.22 46.54 1 4 12 - WI JL Langer 8 13 1 684 223 57.00 64.04 2 2 9 - AUS JC Adams 14 25 5 669 101* 33.45 28.40 1 3 11 - WI R Dravid 6 11 3 624 200* 78.00 49.44 2 1 6 - IND CD McMillan 9 16 1 587 142 39.13 47.87 1 4 5 - NZ DJ Cullinan 10 16 3 581 120 44.69 45.35 2 2 11 - RSA SR Tendulkar 6 10 1 575 201* 63.88 60.27 2 1 5 - IND AJ Stewart 12 20 2 560 124* 31.11 44.23 2 1 23 2 ENG L Klusener 11 16 4 550 118* 45.83 50.97 1 4 9 - RSA NJ Astle 9 16 1 549 141 36.60 44.85 1 3 7 - NZ SL Campbell 14 26 1 539 82 21.56 37.53 - 4 22 - WI ME Waugh 8 13 3 536 119 53.60 50.18 1 3 17 - AUS Saeed Anwar 8 11 0 524 123 47.63 45.01 1 4 3 - PAK CL Cairns 5 9 1 517 124 64.62 63.12 2 2 1 - NZ BC Lara 9 17 0 497 182 29.23 58.95 2 1 13 - WI SR Waugh 7 11 3 479 151* 59.87 49.43 2 1 5 - AUS S Chanderpaul 8 13 2 448 89 40.72 39.36 - 3 3 - WI SP Fleming 9 16 0 438 99 27.37 43.49 - 4 6 - NZ MS Sinclair 9 17 2 434 150 28.93 44.19 1 - 8 - NZ MH Richardson 6 9 0 425 99 47.22 38.70 - 4 4 - NZ GJ Whittall 6 12 2 414 188* 41.40 47.20 1 1 1 - ZIM RD Jacobs 14 24 3 411 96* 19.57 46.70 - 1 55 2 WI A Ranatunga 7 12 2 410 88 41.00 50.12 - 4 6 - SL Younis Khan 9 14 1 403 116 31.00 43.37 2 1 11 - PAK
Most wickets in Tests in 2000 (minimum 15 wickets)
Name Mat O M R W Ave Best 5 10 SR Econ M Muralitharan 10 623.2 147 1463 75 19.50 7-84 7 3 49.8 2.34 SL CA Walsh 14 583.3 184 1234 66 18.69 6-74 4 1 53.0 2.11 WI D Gough 12 371.3 65 1152 48 24.00 5-109 1 - 46.4 3.10 ENG SM Pollock 11 384.5 145 819 42 19.50 4-24 - - 54.9 2.12 RSA GD McGrath 8 292 106 608 39 15.58 6-17 3 2 44.9 2.08 AUS AR Caddick 12 360.4 90 978 37 26.43 5-14 2 - 58.4 2.71 ENG CEL Ambrose 10 376.4 141 636 36 17.66 4-30 - - 62.7 1.68 WI B Lee 6 191.5 58 597 35 17.05 5-61 2 - 32.8 3.11 AUS Waqar Younis 10 282 48 881 34 25.91 4-40 - - 49.7 3.12 PAK SB O'Connor 8 286.3 81 692 29 23.86 5-51 1 - 59.2 2.41 NZ RD King 9 240.1 55 698 28 24.92 5-51 1 - 51.4 2.90 WI HH Streak 9 300.5 90 720 27 26.66 6-87 2 - 66.8 2.39 ZIM Saqlain Mushtaq 7 397.2 102 842 27 31.18 8-164 2 - 88.2 2.11 PAK CR Miller 5 192.2 55 501 26 19.26 5-32 3 1 44.3 2.60 AUS Wasim Akram 9 273 78 629 26 24.19 6-61 3 1 63.0 2.30 PAK AA Donald 5 177.1 55 412 24 17.16 5-47 1 - 44.2 2.32 RSA N Boje 9 295.1 81 644 24 26.83 5-62 2 - 73.7 2.18 RSA C White 7 184 35 510 22 23.18 5-32 2 - 50.1 2.77 ENG CL Cairns 5 186.5 41 600 21 28.57 5-31 1 - 53.3 3.21 NZ J Srinath 6 216.2 53 570 21 27.14 5-60 1 - 61.8 2.63 IND Abdur Razzaq 11 315.5 73 798 21 38.00 4-56 - - 90.2 2.52 PAK DG Cork 4 109.5 31 245 20 12.25 4-23 - - 32.9 2.23 ENG Arshad Khan 5 242 69 528 19 27.78 4-62 - - 76.4 2.18 PAK NAM McLean 8 247.4 44 861 19 45.31 3-60 - - 78.2 3.47 WI WPUJC Vaas 10 339 78 840 19 44.21 4-85 - - 107.0 2.47 SL JN Gillespie 3 104 31 267 18 14.83 6-40 2 - 34.6 2.56 AUS PJ Wiseman 5 227.5 63 585 18 32.50 5-90 1 - 75.9 2.56 NZ AF Giles 3 182 55 410 17 24.11 5-75 1 - 64.2 2.25 ENG JH Kallis 11 226.5 69 575 17 33.82 3-30 - - 80.0 2.53 RSA CS Martin 4 121 35 363 16 22.68 5-71 1 - 45.3 3.00 NZ M Dillon 4 128.4 20 479 16 29.93 4-76 - - 48.2 3.72 WI M Ntini 5 146.4 48 353 16 22.06 6-66 1 - 55.0 2.40 RSA FA Rose 6 173 41 540 16 33.75 4-19 - - 64.8 3.12 WI DL Vettori 3 135 44 297 15 19.80 7-87 2 1 54.0 2.20 NZ SK Warne 4 154.2 37 496 15 33.06 4-68 - - 61.7 3.21 AUS
Most dismissals by fieldsmen/wicketkeepers in Tests in 2000 (minimum 15)
Name Mat Ct St Dis Team RD Jacobs 14 55 2 57 WI AC Gilchrist 8 37 2 39 AUS MV Boucher 11 37 2 39 RSA AC Parore 9 29 3 32 NZ Moin Khan 11 23 5 28 PAK AJ Stewart 12 23 2 25 ENG A Flower 9 23 1 24 ZIM SL Campbell 14 22 - 22 WI ME Waugh 8 17 - 17 AUS RP Arnold 10 17 - 17 SL Yousuf Youhana 12 17 - 17 PAK RS Kaluwitharana 6 12 3 15 SL DPMdeS Jayawardene 10 15 - 15 SL G Kirsten 11 15 - 15 RSA
Not Quite So Successful
Lowest batting averages for recognised batsmen who played at least 10 Test innings this year (cutoff average 20 or less):
Name Mat I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St RD Jacobs 14 24 3 411 96* 19.57 46.70 - 1 55 2 WI GW Flower 8 16 1 265 106* 17.66 28.13 1 - 6 - ZIM AFG Griffith 9 17 1 280 54* 17.50 33.89 - 2 4 - WI N Hussain 11 19 3 240 51 15.00 27.14 - 1 5 - ENG RS Kaluwitharana 6 12 1 155 42 14.09 60.78 - - 12 3 SL CM Spearman 6 12 0 163 38 13.58 30.81 - - 9 - NZ SM Pollock 11 15 0 198 33 13.20 34.19 - - 6 - RSAWith an honourable (?) mention to:
WJ Cronje 4 5 0 25 13 5.00 26.88 - - 1 - RSA
Highest bowling averages for recognised bowlers who conceded at least 100 runs this year (cutoff average 60 or more):
Name Mat O M R W Ave Best 5 10 SR Econ M Mbangwa 4 111.2 42 250 4 62.50 2-40 - - 167.0 2.24 ZIM Mushtaq Ahmed 6 208 28 666 10 66.60 3-91 - - 124.8 3.20 PAK BC Strang 5 181 55 479 5 95.80 3-116 - - 217.2 2.64 ZIM GW Flower 8 108.2 27 288 3 96.00 2-101 - - 216.6 2.65 ZIM BGK Walker 4 96.4 14 302 3 100.66 2-92 - - 193.3 3.12 NZ DR Tuffey 3 73 12 321 3 107.00 3-38 - - 146.0 4.39 NZ SB Doull 2 48 12 142 1 142.00 1-78 - - 288.0 2.95 NZ IDK Salisbury 3 69 8 193 1 193.00 1-32 - - 414.0 2.79 ENG R Herath 1 36 7 115 0 - - - - - 3.19 SL