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Allan Border missed only one Test during a period in which Australia played 157
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A chance remark by Shankar Narayanan of New Delhi provided the spark for this article. He wanted me to look at the fact that Dravid was rarely injured and almost never missed a Test. I started thinking about and it struck me that I could not even tell when Dravid missed a Test, if ever he did. I knew that Kapil Dev missed a single Test, courtesy Gavaskar, and I started work. Thanks to Shankar for providing the spark.
I decided that I would do this analysis for both Tests and ODIs. And as I started the work, the idea of doing a combined Test+ODIs analysis also seemed feasible especially as I have already done done a lot of work regarding the forthcoming combined batting/bowling analyses.
First let us see why players miss matches.
1. They are injured. This is the most common reason.
2. They opt out. Dhoni did that during the tour of Sri Lanka and a host of English and Australian players have done so for subcontinent tours during the early days. Not now, though, with so much money being available here.
3. In rare cases for top players, they are dropped.
An extended absence from cricket through an outside happening like war is not a reason since both the team(s) and player(s) miss matches.
The cut-off is simple. For Tests it is 50 matches, for ODIs, 100 matches and for the combined analysis, these two numbers form the minimum requirement. The question of determining the number of matches played by the team presented a nice tough challenge since the career span for each player is unique.
1. Test matches: Ordered by the number of matches played
SNo.Player Cty Career <-Mats-> % Missed
Span Own Team Mats
1.Waugh S.R Aus 1985-2004 168 189 88.9% 21
2.Tendulkar S.R Ind 1989-2009 159 173 91.9% 14
3.Border A.R Aus 1979-1994 156 157 99.4% 1
4.Warne S.K Aus 1992-2007 145 177 81.9% 32
5.Ponting R.T Aus 1995-2009 136 159 85.5% 23
6.Dravid R Ind 1996-2009 134 135 99.3% 1
7.Stewart A.J Eng 1990-2003 133 154 86.4% 21
8.Kumble A Ind 1990-2008 132 159 83.0% 27
9.Walsh C.A Win 1984-2001 132 142 93.0% 10
10.Lara B.C Win 1990-2006 131 158 82.9% 27
The most amazing players in this group are Border and Dravid who missed a single Test each in careers lasting 15 years. Dravid missed the Motera Test during 2005. The others missed quite a few Tests, none more so than Warne. Surprisingly Kumble also missed 27 Tests, as did Lara. Tendulkar missed 14 Tests, no doubt due to his injuries.
To view the complete list, please click here.
2. Test matches: Ordered by the % of team matches played
SNo.Player Cty Career <-Mats-> % Missed
Span Own Team Mats
1.Gilchrist A.C Aus 1999-2008 96 96 100.0% 0
2.Reid J.R Nzl 1949-1965 58 58 100.0% 0
3.Greig A.W Eng 1972-1977 58 58 100.0% 0
4.de Villiers A.B Saf 2004-2009 52 52 100.0% 0
5.Border A.R Aus 1979-1994 156 157 99.4% 1
6.Dravid R Ind 1996-2009 134 135 99.3% 1
7.Kapil Dev N Ind 1978-1994 131 132 99.2% 1
8.Healy I.A Aus 1988-1999 119 120 99.2% 1
9.Dujon P.J.L Win 1981-1991 81 82 98.8% 1
10.Waugh M.E Aus 1991-2002 128 130 98.5% 2
11.Lawry W.M Aus 1961-1971 67 68 98.5% 1
12.Fredericks R.C Win 1968-1977 59 60 98.3% 1
...
221.Martyn D.R Aus 1992-2006 67 167 40.1% 100
...
224.Titmus F.J Eng 1955-1975 53 185 28.6% 132
What does one say of Gilchrist. 96 straight Tests and if he had not missed that catch off Laxman would have gone on past 100. This is some level of fitness. Reid and Greig played 58 straight Tests each. Greig broke this sequence since he was involved with Packer. Let us see how long is de Villiers' run. Kapil Dev missed one Test, not because he was injured, but Gavaskar's making him the scapegoat for playing a poor shot. Quite a few others have missed only one Test.
Incidentally Pietersen had a run of 54 consecutive Tests which was broken by his recent injury. Note also the very low % of matches of Martyn indicating his in-out playing career. He also had a long break between 1994 and 2000. What he achieved despite this treatment is amazing. Titmus had a six-year hiatus between 1968 and 1974.
To view the complete list, please click here.
3. ODI matches: Ordered by the number of matches played
SNo.Player Cty Career <-Mats-> % Missed
Span Own Team Mats
1.Jayasuriya S.T Slk 1989-2009 440 494 89.1% 54
2.Tendulkar S.R Ind 1989-2009 436 562 77.6% 126
3.Inzamam-ul-Haq Pak 1991-2007 378 450 84.0% 72
4.Wasim Akram Pak 1984-2003 356 478 74.5% 122
5.Dravid R Ind 1996-2009 339 447 75.8% 108
6.Azharuddin M Ind 1985-2000 334 379 88.1% 45
7.Muralitharan M Slk 1993-2009 333 445 74.8% 112
8.Ponting R.T Aus 1995-2009 330 404 81.7% 74
9.Waugh S.R Aus 1986-2002 325 357 91.0% 32
10.Vaas WPUJC Slk 1994-2008 324 399 81.2% 75
At the top it is not easy to even get to 90% which has been achieved only by Steve Waugh. Note the very high number of matches missed by Tendulkar which has pushed his playing % to below 80.
To view the complete list, please click here.
4. ODI matches: Ordered by the % of team matches played
SNo.Player Cty Career <-Mats-> % Missed
Span Own Team Mats
1.Cronje W.J Saf 1992-2000 188 191 98.4% 3
2.Tikolo S.O Ken 1996-2009 126 128 98.4% 2
3.Flower A Zim 1992-2003 213 218 97.7% 5
4.Dhoni M.S Ind 2004-2009 151 155 97.4% 4
5.Khaled Mashud Bng 1995-2006 126 130 96.9% 4
6.Dujon P.J.L Win 1981-1991 169 177 95.5% 8
7.Sangakkara K.C Slk 2000-2009 256 270 94.8% 14
8.Boucher M.V Saf 1998-2009 285 303 94.1% 18
9.Border A.R Aus 1979-1994 273 290 94.1% 17
10.Odoyo T.M Ken 1996-2009 120 128 93.8% 8
...
174.Hayden M.L Aus 1993-2008 161 392 41.1% 231
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178.Kambli V.G Ind 1991-2000 104 272 38.2% 168
179.Mushtaq Ahmed Pak 1989-2003 144 402 35.8% 258
The African players rule the roost here, picking up the top 3 places. Tikolo and Andy Flower come from the lesser nations. Dhoni's run of 150+ matches, missing only four, that too a voluntary decision, is commendable.
Note Hayden's extraordinarily low % of matches. After making his ODI debut in 1993, he had a 6-year break until 2000, after which he was devastating. Kambli was in and out. Mushtaq played a single disastrous match three years after his retirement.
To view the complete list, please click here.
5. Test+ODI matches: Ordered by the number of matches played
SNo.Player Cty Career <-Mats-> %
Span Own Team
1.Tendulkar S.R Ind 1989-2009 595 735 81.0%
2.Jayasuriya S.T Slk 1989-2009 550 636 86.5%
3.Inzamam-ul-Haq Pak 1991-2007 498 586 85.0%
4.Waugh S.R Aus 1985-2004 493 546 90.3%
5.Dravid R Ind 1996-2009 473 582 81.3%
6.Ponting R.T Aus 1995-2009 466 563 82.8%
7.Muralitharan M Slk 1992-2009 462 597 77.4%
8.Wasim Akram Pak 1984-2003 460 609 75.5%
9.Vaas WPUJC Slk 1994-2009 435 532 81.8%
10.Azharuddin M Ind 1985-2000 433 489 88.5%
11.Lara B.C Win 1990-2007 429 532 80.6%
12.Border A.R Aus 1979-1994 429 447 96.0%
The only two players who have 90+% in this top-12 table are Steve Waugh and Border. It is a tribute to their fitness. Tendulkar just about gets past 80%. Note how high Azharuddin's playing %, a tribute to his fitness.
To view the complete list, please click here.
6. Test+ODI matches: Ordered by the % of team matches played
SNo.Player Cty Career <-Mats-> %
Span Own Team
1.Cronje W.J Saf 1992-2000 256 261 98.1%
2.Flower A Zim 1992-2003 276 283 97.5%
3.Dujon P.J.L Win 1981-1991 250 259 96.5%
4.Border A.R Aus 1979-1994 429 447 96.0%
5.Sangakkara K.C Slk 2000-2009 341 357 95.5%
6.Healy I.A Aus 1988-1999 287 301 95.3%
7.Kapil Dev N Ind 1978-1994 356 375 94.9%
8.Boucher M.V Saf 1997-2009 411 438 93.8%
9.Jayawardene D.P.M.D Slk 1997-2009 416 446 93.3%
10.Marsh G.R Aus 1985-1992 167 180 92.8%
...
106.Abdul Qadir Pak 1977-1993 171 323 52.9%
107.Sidhu N.S Ind 1983-1999 187 357 52.4%
108.Martyn D.R Aus 1992-2006 275 530 51.9%
109.Hayden M.L Aus 1993-2009 264 561 47.1%
110.Mushtaq Ahmed Pak 1989-2003 196 513 38.2%
Again here Cronje is on top, followed by Andy Flower. Australia has three players in the top-10. At the end of the table we have players, barring Hayden, already discussed, who have had chequered careers. Qadir, in Tests, had a poor start, playing 10 matches in 5 years. In case of Mushtaq, his unsuccessful comeback efforts in 2003 have extended his overall career by three years. Sidhu had a 5-year gap after his debut in 1983.
Kepler Wessels has been deliberately excluded since his two-country career spanning 12 years does not lend itself to this type of analysis.
To view the complete list, please click here.
Finally one can see that the batsmen dominate the top portions of the lists. As Goel mentioned, bowlers find it difficult to maintain their playing status because of multitude of reasons.
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Sachin Tendulkar's outstanding 175 against Australia in Hyderabad meant another huge total was almost chased down
© Getty Images
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I did an analysis on a winning target score in T20s and many subsequent matches showed how close the results of my analysis were. So I have embarked on doing a similar analysis for ODI matches. For ODIs there are a lot more matches available for analysis.
First some exclusions. For obvious reasons, I am going to exclude "Abandoned" matches, "No-result" matches (100 in all), matches which were decided on previous "revised score" rules (56 matches ), the more recent "Duckworth-Lewis" rules (101 matches) and a few incomplete innings. The reason is that the D/L and similar situations distort the scores quite a bit. If a team scores 300 and loses to another team which scores 150 in 20 overs, nothing can be inferred from the match. That leaves us 2659 matches for analysis.
I have taken the first innings scores, grouped these into run ranges and tabulated the results. Then I have derived some conclusions on winning target scores by inspecting and interpreting the results.
Let me say that this is a macro analysis. I would appreciate readers understanding this and avoid making comments such as target winning score depending on bowler quality, toss, day-night, team strength et al. All these have been considered in the past and will be considered in future. Let us give a break to these in this article.
The analysis has been done for the following sets of matches.
1. All matches.
2. Starting period matches.
3. Middle period matches.
4. Modern period matches.
5. Matches in Asian sub-continent.
6. Matches outside Asian sub-continent.
I tried analysing this for the countries, but did not get far since the number of matches played comes down and the number of matches in each run group becomes so small that it is impossible to derive any conclusions. In fact for a country such as New Zealand the % of wins for 240-249 is 81.2% and for 250-259 is 60.0%. Such inconsistencies make a country-level analysis a non-starter. Only for Australia, with 472 matches, could this be done with some level of confidence.
How does one define what is a winning score? I have worked on the basis that a score which gives the team a winning possibility of around 60% can be considered a winning target score. Anything lower will not give the team any edge in the long run and aiming for much higher than 60% might backfire on the team in that they might aim for 300 and end up with 220.
1. All matches
FBatScore Matches Wins % wins AvgeWinMargin
Below 125 108 4 3.7 12.8
125 - 149 140 13 9.3 25.9
150 - 174 221 36 16.3 29.6
175 - 199 334 82 24.6 34.0
200 - 219 339 134 39.5 46.0
220 - 229 198 94 47.5 42.4
230 - 239 196 104 53.1 45.8
240 - 249 191 110 57.6 55.4
250 - 259 166 100 60.2 59.3
260 - 279 294 217 73.8 62.3
280 - 299 204 157 77.0 80.2
Above 300 268 243 90.7 101.5
Total 2659 1294 48.7 63.3
From a perusal of the above, it is a reasonable conclusion that a winning target score, based on the criteria already set, is around 250.
2. First period matches (1971-1989)
FBatScore Matches Wins % wins AvgeWinMargin
Below 125 26 2 7.7 7.0
125 - 149 32 4 12.5 15.5
150 - 174 65 11 16.9 25.1
175 - 199 98 29 29.6 36.2
200 - 219 91 39 42.9 45.7
220 - 229 42 23 54.8 30.9
230 - 239 56 35 62.5 48.5
240 - 249 41 25 61.0 60.4
250 - 259 23 16 69.6 57.6
260 - 279 53 40 75.5 60.1
280 - 299 21 19 90.5 82.1
Above 300 16 16 100.0 122.7
Total 564 259 45.9 53.9
Things were tough for the batsmen during these early bowler-friendly times. Lower totals were defended more often than not. Hence the winning target score for this period was 235. Even this has been reached with the higher scores during late 1980s.
No team which scored 300+ runs finished on the losing side. The highest score successfully chased during this period was by New Zealand who overhauled England's score of 296 during 1983. India defended a total of 125 against Pakistan quite comfortably while Pakistan defended a total of 87 in 16 overs against India.
3. Middle period matches (1990-1999)
FBatScore Matches Wins % wins AvgeWinMargin
Below 125 21 1 4.8 14.0
125 - 149 42 5 11.9 18.4
150 - 174 73 15 20.5 35.8
175 - 199 115 30 26.1 32.1
200 - 219 131 56 42.7 38.5
220 - 229 77 42 54.5 44.4
230 - 239 66 36 54.5 40.2
240 - 249 66 43 65.2 45.8
250 - 259 59 34 57.6 44.6
260 - 279 91 70 76.9 67.4
280 - 299 54 41 75.9 73.6
Above 300 61 57 93.4 91.6
Total 856 430 50.2 54.7
Things improved for batsmen during this period. Consequently the winning target score increased to around 240.
4 300+ totals were chased successfully. Australia defended a total of 101 in 30 overs against West Indies.
4. Modern period matches (2000-2009)
FBatScore Matches Wins % wins AvgeWinMargin
Below 125 61 1 1.6 23.0
125 - 149 66 4 6.1 45.8
150 - 174 83 10 12.0 25.2
175 - 199 121 23 19.0 33.8
200 - 219 117 39 33.3 57.1
220 - 229 79 29 36.7 48.6
230 - 239 74 33 44.6 49.1
240 - 249 84 42 50.0 62.1
250 - 259 84 50 59.5 69.9
260 - 279 150 107 71.3 59.8
280 - 299 129 97 75.2 82.6
Above 300 191 170 89.0 102.8
Total 1239 605 48.8 73.5
In the modern times, many more high totals were chased successfully. This effect percolated down and the winning target score could be pegged at 260.
300+ chases were commonplace with South Africa's overtaking Australian score of 434 being the highlight. West Indies defended a total of 124 in 30 overs against Bangladesh.
5. Asian sub-continent matches
FBatScore Matches Wins % wins AvgeWinMargin
Below 125 31 2 6.5 7.0
125 - 149 52 1 1.9 38.0
150 - 174 81 17 21.0 26.9
175 - 199 121 31 25.6 41.5
200 - 219 123 54 43.9 41.8
220 - 229 74 31 41.9 47.7
230 - 239 80 43 53.8 48.3
240 - 249 72 38 52.8 52.8
250 - 259 58 39 67.2 39.5
260 - 279 118 90 76.3 61.5
280 - 299 91 67 73.6 80.6
Above 300 104 95 91.3 94.1
Total 1005 508 50.5 61.1
The winning target score for the Asian sub-continent is around 255. It is not easy to defend low totals on these batting-friendly pitches.
6. Outside Asian sub-continent matches
FBatScore Matches Wins % wins AvgeWinMargin
Below 125 77 2 2.6 18.5
125 - 149 88 12 13.6 24.9
150 - 174 140 19 13.6 31.9
175 - 199 213 51 23.9 29.5
200 - 219 216 80 37.0 48.9
220 - 229 124 63 50.8 39.8
230 - 239 116 61 52.6 44.1
240 - 249 119 72 60.5 56.7
250 - 259 108 61 56.5 72.0
260 - 279 176 127 72.2 62.9
280 - 299 113 90 79.6 79.9
Above 300 164 148 90.2 106.2
Total 1654 786 47.5 64.8
Surprisingly the winning target score is the same as for Asian sub-continent. This has been caused by the way the New Zealand and English pitches have eased in recent times. The winning target score is around 250. Quite a few sub-150 totals have been defended.
Finally it can be seen that, barring the first period, the winning target score is either side of 250.
I started this article before the Hyderabad ODI between India and Australia, and fibnished it after the match. One more 300+ total (oh! a 350+ total) almost bit the dust. No score is safe, it looks like. However this match does not change this article a bit.
As requested by Khalil, I have done an analysis of the period 2005-09 and presenbted the table here.
7. Recent matches (2005-2009)
FBatScore Matches Wins % wins AvgeWinMargin
Below 125 27 0 0.0 0.0
125 - 149 33 2 6.1 49.0
150 - 174 39 6 15.4 27.3
175 - 199 52 10 19.2 33.8
200 - 219 62 20 32.3 62.3
220 - 229 34 9 26.5 49.9
230 - 239 48 22 45.8 47.9
240 - 249 40 17 42.5 69.1
250 - 259 42 24 57.1 67.0
260 - 279 67 45 67.2 54.2
280 - 299 62 46 74.2 84.2
ABove 300 125 111 88.8 103.2
Total 631 312 49.4 76.6
The winning par score could be pegged at 265, 5 runs above the 2000s value. Otherwise the numbers have stayed similar to the 2000s values.
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