
June 27, 2009
Test Batsmen Analysis: a follow-up
Posted by Ananth Narayanan -
6 days, 23 hours ago in Batting

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Brian Lara remains on the top of the list as the best Test batsman since 1960
© AFP
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| The follow-up to a major article is always fraught with pitfalls. One has to make sure that the changes are not just cosmetic, nor be influenced by a point only because it is made by the majority, nor knee-jerk reactions and finally must significantly improve the original submission. Each change has to be carefully considered and implemented. Hence, I have taken the time required to peruse all comments (over 700 in all), sift amongst these, pick up the meaningful and valid ones and come out with a revised set of tables which are a great improvement and should satisfy most readers. Let me summarise the changes below.
These changes are given in order of importance and the impact on the original submission.
1. The Match Performance points are divided by the number of innings played rather than the matches played. This will impact the calculations significantly and benefit players such as Richards who have played the second innings infrequently.
2. The Scoring rate measure has been dropped. This is again a significant change since it gets all the batsmen on an equal keel and is fair to all.
Continue reading "Test Batsmen Analysis: a follow-up"
Comments (95)
June 22, 2009
ICC World Twenty20 - an analyst's view
Posted by Ananth Narayanan -
1 week, 4 days ago in Twenty20

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Umar Gul's 5 for 6 against New Zealand was by far the best bowling performance of the tournament
© Associated Press
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| The T20 World Cup has been covered extensively in the Cricinfo Records section and by Rajesh's review. This article looks at the areas not covered by these two excellent reviews. If there is an overlap, worse things have happened.
The first three tables relate to the best Batting and Bowling performances during the World Cup. These are based on the Ratings calculations. As I have already explained, these Ratings calculations are totally different to the Test/ODI Ratings. There I have adopted the bottom-up approach insofar as I determine base points based on runs scored or wickets captured and then apply various multiplicative indices on these base points.
In T20s, I have adopted a top-down approach. The Par Score is determined for each innings, be it the target-setting one or the chasing one. Then the team performance is worked out, to what extent the target score has been exceeded or fallen short, the extent of resources (runs and balls) used and the result. Afterwards, the batting and bowling function contributions are worked out and these allotted points further allotted amongst the batsmen and bowlers of each team. This is the basis for the Maruti-Cricinfo Ratings and more details are available there.
Continue reading "ICC World Twenty20 - an analyst's view"
Comments (28)
June 9, 2009
In search of the balanced allrounder
Posted by Ric Finlay -
3 weeks, 3 days ago in Allrounders

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Ian Botham: as close as you can get to the most balanced allrounder
© Getty Images
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| The beauty of cricket lies in the variety of different roles players can assume when they play the game. I contend there exists a continuum, with specialist bowlers at one end, specialist batsmen at the other, and a range of different types of allrounder in between. The terms “bowling allrounder” and “batting allrounder” are often used in reference to particular players, and it follows that in between these two categories, there must be a group of players whose allround capabilities are perfectly balanced; that is, they bat equally well as they bowl.
If my continuum does exist, then it should be possible to quantify each player’s position along this line, and to determine who the “perfectly balanced” allrounders have been in the game’s history.
Concerning myself with just Test cricket, I started with two extremes: the “purest” batsman was surely Brian Lara, who scored 11,953 runs in 131 Tests, but failed to take a wicket, the only scorer of 10,000 runs to do so. At the other end of the scale, we have South Africa’s Mfuneko Ngam, who was only trusted with the bat once in his three Tests, scoring 0 not out, but was good enough as a bowler to take 11 wickets. Continue reading "In search of the balanced allrounder"
Comments (80)
June 4, 2009
T20 Internationals - an analytical review
Posted by Ananth Narayanan -
on 06/04/2009 in Twenty20

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Brendon McCullum: The leading run-scorer in Twenty20 internationals
© Getty Images
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| 1. Potpourri of T20 information
Given below are some interesting facts. Detailed tables for these can be viewed using Cricinfo's Statistics section.
1. McCullum is the leading run-scorer with 582 runs.
2. Symonds has the highest strike rate amongst batsman who have scored 100 runs. He has a strike rate of 169.35 while scoring 337 runs.
3. Jayasuriya has secured 5 MOM awards.
4. Umar Gul has captured the maximum wickets, 24 in all.
5. Ray Price (Zimbabwe) has the best economy rates among bowlers who have bowled 10 overs. His economy rate is 3.25.
6. Gayle is the only batsman to have scored a century. His score was 117.
7. Yuvraj's innings of 58 in 16 balls is the fastest in T20s.
8. Gillespie (New Zealand) has the best bowling figures, 2.5-0-7-4.
9. Cusack (Ireland) has the most accurate bowling analysis in T20s, 3.0-1-3-2.
10. Anderson (England) has the most expensive bowling T20 bowling spell ever, 4-0-64-1.
11. Sri Lanka has scored the highest total in T20s, 260 against Kenya.
12. Kenya, in addition to above, also has the lowest innings total against Ireland, a paltry 67.
13. South Africa chased a total of 205 made by West Indies.
14. Ireland defended a total of 43 (9 overs) against Bermuda. Continue reading "T20 Internationals - an analytical review"
Comments (11)
May 27, 2009
IPL 2009: an analytical overview
Posted by Ananth Narayanan -
on 05/27/2009 in
One may love or hate IPL but certainly cannot ignore it. I might complain and crib about many IPL-related things, but the players, their commitment, performances and their give-all attitude makes you forget the shortcomings and watch the same. It is also an analyst's dream. There is a lot of data waiting to be mined.
Cricinfo provides a comprehensive statistical section on IPL. In addition Rajesh has come out with an excellent statistical overview of IPL2. I have tried to make sure that I do not overlap any of the tables available in these two segments. What is given below is also a look into the future of T20 analysis. This has to be different to traditional Test/ODI analyses.
Continue reading "IPL 2009: an analytical overview"
Comments (30)
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