
February 5, 2010
The best bowler, across years and formats
Posted by Anantha Narayanan -
4 days, 6 hours ago in Bowling
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Muttiah Muralitharan: the leader in Tests and ODIs
© AFP
| Finally the analysis many of you have asked and been waiting for patiently. This has been on the drawing board for the past six months and I have had quite a few exchanges with many readers to fine-tune the analysis. A lot of care has been taken care to equalise performances by the players across years and across formats. This follows the best batsman analysis.
First, the "Twelve Commandments" followed in doing the analysis.
1. Equal weight for Tests and ODIs. T20-Intls not included since many top players have not played any T20-I matches and anyhow very few matches have been played. Let the number of T20-I matches cross 1000 before we consider it worthy of inclusion in this type of analysis.
2. Recognise longevity measures, such as wickets captured, but make sure that the total weight does not exceed 20%.
3. Especially for ODIs, recognise and incorporate the important fact that during the early 20 years very few ODI matches were played.
Continue reading "The best bowler, across years and formats"
Comments (77)
January 28, 2010
The player(s) of the decade - in numbers
Posted by Anantha Narayanan -
1 week, 5 days ago in Awards
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Jacques Kallis is on top of this list, pipping Ricky Ponting to second place
© Getty Images
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Recently Cricinfo came out with their Player of the Decade article. It was the compilation of 1-2-3 positions posted by over 38 reputed players/journalists. The final results were quite impressive and very fair. However it is true that the jury, while using the decade numbers available, still finally made their informed subjective selections. They would obviously have considered factors beyond numbers since for some players such as Tendulkar, Gilchrist, Ponting, Muralitharan etc, numbers tell only part of the story.
I have decided to do a pure numbers-based analysis of the decade from all relevant angles and come with my own list of the top players. This is not to find any holes in the Cricinfo list but to study along with it. Let me say that I have not been asked by Cricinfo to do this and this is on my own initiative.
A typical paragraph in the said article might have run.
"He scored ****** Test runs at a high average of **.**. More than half these runs were scored away. In ODIs his compilation was ****** runs at a middling average of **.** and an outstanding strike rate of ***.*. In addition he picked up a total of *** international wickets at averages way below the average for the decade. His fielding was brilliant and he took *** catches. His team had a better than **% winning record in both Tests and ODIs. He led his team through player change phases very effectively". Continue reading "The player(s) of the decade - in numbers"
Comments (94)
January 15, 2010
Bowling Power Factor: measuring ODI performances
Posted by Anantha Narayanan -
3 weeks, 4 days ago in Bowling
(This piece has been written in collaboration with Anshu Jain: Updated on Sunday, Jan 16/17)
Based on Alex Tierno's excellent suggestion I had worked on Batting Power Factor - a simple measure to determine the most destructive ODI innings through simple, easy-to-create methodologies. The article was well-received because of the simplicity of the idea. My thanks to Alex.
It follows logically that I should create a similar Power Factor for bowling. I had asked for suggestions. The simplest and most effective suggestion, closest to what I myself was thinking, came from Anshu Jain. My thanks to Anshu.
The requirements are set out below. Continue reading "Bowling Power Factor: measuring ODI performances"
Comments (50)
January 4, 2010
The best batsman, across years and formats
Posted by Anantha Narayanan -
on 01/04/2010 in Batting

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Sachin Tendulkar: on top in both forms of the game
© AFP
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| Finally the analysis many of you have asked and been waiting for patiently. This has been on the drawing board for the past six months and I have had quite a few exchanges with many readers to fine-tune the analysis. Lot of care has been taken care to equalise performances by the players across years and across formats.
First, the "Twelve Commandments" followed in doing the analysis.
1. Equal weight for Tests and ODI. T20 internationals not included since many top players have not played any T20-I matches and anyhow very few matches have been played. Let the number of T20-I matches cross 1000 before we consider it worthy of inclusion in this type of analysis.
Continue reading "The best batsman, across years and formats"
Comments (208)
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