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.]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/11/least_number_of_absences_over.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/11/least_number_of_absences_over.php Trivia Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:43:54 +0000

Sachin Tendulkar's outstanding 175 against Australia in Hyderabad meant another huge total was almost chased down © Getty Images

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.]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/11/whats_a_reasonable_winning_sco.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/11/whats_a_reasonable_winning_sco.php ODIs Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:34:18 +0000

Muttiah Muralitharan has taken more than 40% of Sri Lanka's wickets in the Tests they've won © AFP

A few days back I posted an article on the runs scored by batsmen in winning cause. A number of comments were received which indicated that the batting averages in winning Tests is a very important indicator. I have done the work but will post the tables in a later article since I want to do justice to the bowlers. In fact the bowlers' analysis is as different from the batsmen analysis as chalk and cheese.

The reason is very simple and fundamental. Look at the following two Tests.

In 1932, Australia scored 153 runs in the match and WON.

    South Africa:36 & 45.
    Australia: 153.

In 1921, England scored 817 runs in the match and LOST.

    Australia: 354 & 582.
    England: 447 & 370.

The common thread running through these two extreme matches is that the winning team captured 20 wickets. This is the mandatory requirement of all wins, barring a few matches in which there might have been declarations or retired-hurt situations.

]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/10/analysing_bowlers_in_test_wins.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/10/analysing_bowlers_in_test_wins.php Tests - bowling Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:37:11 +0000

Dale Steyn has the second-best strike rate among bowlers with at least 100 Test wickets © AFP

How far ahead is the top player in any list is a key point to answering the question of whether a high mark set by a player will be reached. I had earlier done a similar analysis for batting. Now I have taken a few Test bowling measures and created a table of the Top-100, subject to qualifying criteria, and assigned each position a percentage relative to the top position. A perusal of these tables will give an idea of the degree of permanence of the top places.

If an active player is at the top of an all-time list, he keeps on widening the gap on the second placed player, unless otherwise the top two or three are also active. This true of the aggregate type of measures. On the other hand in performance related measures, it does not matter since it is possible for later players to catch up with the particular measure.]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/10/how_far_ahead_is_the_top_one_p.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/10/how_far_ahead_is_the_top_one_p.php Tests - bowling Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:11:29 +0000

Len Hutton scored more than 22% of England's runs in the games they won © Getty Images

I was influenced by a recent comment by a reader on runs scored in winning causes. Everyone and their neighbour's Labrador talk about centuries scored during the wins of teams completely forgetting that more than "centuries", the emphasis should be on "runs" scored. Why ignore a winning 98 or for that matter a winning 48.

Let me take two players not often discussed. The first is Ganguly. He, and most of the knowledgeable Indian supporters, would agree that his majestic unbeaten 98 while orchestrating a great chasing win over Sri Lanka during 2001 was a far greater innings, arguably his best, than many a big 100. Ganguly might have missed a personal landmark but he did not miss the bigger objective. Would anyone, including Ganguly, have been satisfied if Ganguly had scored 5 more runs but India 5 less.

Now for Jimmy Adams. Would anyone rate his 208 against New Zealand higher than his outstanding unbeaten 48 against Wasim/Waqar/Razzak/Saqlain taking his team to an improbable one-wicket win leading to a rare series win. Even though Adams' innings was less than half of Mark Waugh's match-winning of 116 against South Africa, it was no less important.]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/10/in_a_winning_cause.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/10/in_a_winning_cause.php Batting Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:21:03 +0000

Sachin Tendulkar leads the list of run-scorers and century-makers in Tests, but Ricky Ponting has a chance to catch up © AFP

How far ahead is the top player in any list is a key to answering the question of whether a high mark set by a player will be reached. I have taken a few Test batting measures and created a table of the Top-100, subject to qualifying criteria, and assigned each position a percentage relative to the top position. A perusal of these tables will give an idea of the degree of permanence of the top places.

Since I normally can only show 5/6 tables in any article to make the same readable, I will do the Test Batting now and follow with one on Test Bowling.

If an active player is at the top of an all-time list, he/she keeps on widening the gap on the second placed player, unless the top two or three are also active. This is true of the aggregate type of measures. On the other hand in performance related measures, it does not matter since it is possible for later players to catch up with the particular measure.

]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/09/how_far_ahead_is_the_top_one.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/09/how_far_ahead_is_the_top_one.php Batting Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:38:02 +0000 above referenced article which were worth following up. One was by Arjun to have the datum of 80 innings (Bradman's career) and see what is/was the best streak in players' career. The other was Abhi/Kris's suggestion that I could look at the career in three parts, rather than two, since in most careers there is a slow start, a spurt and a slow finish. I have completed these two tables and presented these here.

The usual criteria apply. For the first table, the minimum is 80 innings and a batting average exceeding 25.00. For the second, I have retained the mid-point limits of 4000 runs and 45 Tests as the cut-off for batsmen.

]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/09/followup_on_comparing_halves_o.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/09/followup_on_comparing_halves_o.php Batting Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:41:03 +0000

Younis Khan's average in the second half of his Test career is 55.7% more than his average in the first half © AFP

In the past few posts, we have compared Test batsmen (and bowlers) with their peers; with batsmen batting at specific batting positions; with one's own team members. Now we will be looking inward. Let us compare a Test batsman/bowler with himself. I will look at the two halves of the player careers and do a comparison between these two (mostly dissimilar) periods.

The usual criteria apply. This is just to ensure that the career is sufficiently long. I have taken 4000 runs and 45 Tests as the cut-off for batsmen and 150 wickets and 45 Tests as cut-off for bowlers. These two sets of twin conditions ensure that bowlers such as Barnes do not get into the picture. Most of the top keepers get in.

Only the batting average and bowling average are used for comparison. These two are the most trusted of all measures and will provide a very good platform for a clear understanding of a Test players' career.

]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/09/comparing_the_two_halves_of_pl.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/09/comparing_the_two_halves_of_pl.php Test cricket Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:15:06 +0000 Test batsmen peer analysis. I have done these and have come out with the following tables. These have been presented with very few comments leaving the readers to draw their own conclusions. These tables have been created based on suggestions by Deon, Arjun and Rohan.

]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/08/following_up_on_the_test_batsm.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/08/following_up_on_the_test_batsm.php Batting Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:03:26 +0000

Don Bradman's average was 3.27 times that of his peers © Getty Images

I have done a lot of cricket analysis work over the past 20+ years. I love doing all this work. However once a while a new idea comes across which I consider as a watershed moment in my analytic efforts. The idea of comparing a player with peer players (the base idea of which was provided by Abdulla) is one such spark. I am very excited about this since it is one of the truest measures of a players' capabilities. This is a follow-up article to the one on Test bowlers.

The idea is to compare a player's performances with his peers. The comparison with one's own team is a limited step and is quite useful. However the real comparison is with all the peer players since it takes perfect care of the vexed question of a player playing in a very strong team. I had done this in a limited way for ODI Strike Rates. Now I have extended this to Test Players in a much more extended manner as explained below.

]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/08/test_batsmen_peer_players_comp.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/08/test_batsmen_peer_players_comp.php Batting Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:13:23 +0000

Richard Hadlee moves up to second spot among bowlers since 1970 © Getty Images

Based on the comments received, both in public and personal mails, I have made the following tweaks to the Test Bowlers Analysis.

Match performance ratings

1. Halve the balls bowled base points (a wicket equivalent for about 45 overs).
2. Introduce the bowler strike rate, in relation to team strike rate, as a new base measure, at a relatively lower weight.
3. Minor changes to the batsman dismissed base point calculation, to be based on recent form. This will lower the value of wickets of top batsmen while going through a poor patch and increase the weight of capturing in-form batsmen.

]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/08/test_bowlers_analysis_a_follow.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/08/test_bowlers_analysis_a_follow.php Tests - bowling Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:59:05 +0000

Malcolm Marshall leads his peers by a long way © Getty Images

I have done a lot of cricket analysis work over the past 20+ years. I love doing all this work. However once a while a new idea comes across which I consider as a watershed moment in my analytic efforts. The idea of comparing a player with peer players (the base idea of which was provided by Abdulla) is one such spark. I am very excited about this since it is one of the truest measures of a players' capabilities. I am posting this as an interim piece since I intend using some of the findings herein in the "Test Bowlers: follow-up" article.

The idea is to compare a player's performances with his peers. The comparisons with his own team is one limited step and is quite useful. However the real comparison is with all the peer players since it takes perfect care of the vexed question of a player playing in a very strong team. I had done this in a limited way for ODI strike rates. Now I have extended this to Test players in a much more extended manner as explained below.]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/07/comparing_test_bowlers_to_thei.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/07/comparing_test_bowlers_to_thei.php Tests - bowling Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:50:34 +0000

Muttiah Muralitharan leads the bowlers' list for the period 1970 to 2009 © AFP

At last I have been able to finish the second part of the analytical review on great Test players. The three-part analysis on Test Batsmen generated well over 1000 comments and was, in general, well received and accepted. No analysis would satisfy all and this may also be true in the on-going analysis of Test bowlers.

I have learnt a lot through the Test Batsmen analysis. First and foremost is that doing a single comparison table over 134 years is not the correct method. Test cricket has changed probably 1080 degrees over the years and there cannot be a single yardstick for all the players. Hence I have separated the analysis into multiple periods.

Period Separation:

These periods have been identified with lot of thought and deliberation with inputs from a few interested readers. Many related factors have gone into this process. Separate tables will be prepared for different periods. In addition, I will show, in the follow-up article, two tables separating the bowlers by type of bowling. This will be only for information.]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/07/an_indepth_analysis_of_test_bo.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/07/an_indepth_analysis_of_test_bo.php Tests - bowling Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:08:27 +0000 earlier article uncovered a measure which could stand firm across decades, across different types of pitches/conditions and across different types of bowling skills and strategies. There were not many comments. However there were two comments which suggested enhancing the analysis by expanding the scope of coverage. These two were very sound and I decided to do a follow-up immediately before coming out the eagerly-awaited Test Bowler Analysis next week.

First a recap. The initial analysis compared the Batsman career strike rate with the rest of the team's strike rate, in the matches played by the batsman. The concerned table is given below.]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/07/a_followup_to_odi_strike_rates.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/07/a_followup_to_odi_strike_rates.php Batting Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:11:40 +0000

Shahid Afridi outscores his team-mates by more than 37% © Getty Images

Since I need some time to complete the Test Bowler Analysis, I have come out with an article on ODI Strike Rates. What started as an interim article has turned out to be a very interesting one.

Whenever we compare measures across years we always have problems since the relevant period strategies, pitch/ground conditions, quality of bowling (or batting), prevailing laws etc vary significantly. Shahid Afridi's 100+% strike rate cannot be blindly compared to Viv Richards' sub-90 strike rate since everything has changed over the years.

I have created a new factor comparing the Batsman career strike rate with the rest of the team's strike rate, in the matches played by the batsman. The great thing with this measure is that this stands firm across decades, across different types of pitches/conditions and across different types of bowling skills and strategies.

]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/07/odi_strike_rates_a_fresh_look.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/itfigures/archives/2009/07/odi_strike_rates_a_fresh_look.php Batting Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:06:31 +0000