Expert Blog

ICC Champions Trophy: a review of performances

Here’s a quick glance at some important numbers thrown up by the recently concluded Champions Trophy.

Whatever be my credentials as an analyst, it looks like I am a very poor crystal gazer. Three of the four teams I had guesstimated as potential semi-finalists at the ICC Champions Trophy (CT) took earlier flights home. But then most of the experts and analysts got it wrong. So all of us are in good company.

In this article, let me look at the top performances in the six editions of the tournament. I will not go into the methodology of performance ratings. That is for later articles. Runs scored, scoring rate, team position, bowling quality, wickets captured, quality of wickets taken, bowling accuracy, pitch type, target score, relative team strengths, match result, match venue, margin of win, match importance, resources used are some of the parameters used to rate these performances.

Ganguly’s 141 in the 2000 semi-final against a strong South African team is the best CT batting performance. It is closely followed by Andy Flower’s 145 against India in a losing chasing cause. The third in this list is Kallis’ match winning century against Sri Lanka in the 1998 semi-final. Surely the most important batting performance would be Chris Cairns’ match-winning 100 against India in 2000. New Zealand, chasing 265, were 132 for 5. Chris Cairns controlled the rest of the innings beautifully and New Zealand ran out surprise winners.

The best bowling performance is by Maharoof who captured 6 for 14, including five top order wickets against West Indies in 2006. Next in line is Kallis’ 5 for 30 against West Indies in the 1998 Final. This is followed by Ntini’s 5 top-order Pakistani wickets for 21 during the 2006 edition.

Tendulkar’s 141 and 4 for 38 against Australia in 1998 is the best ever player performance in CT matches. This is followed by Ganguly’s 2000 semi-final performance of 141 and 1 for 5. Kallis’ 37 and 5 for 30 against West Indies in the 1998 final is the third best.

The most devastating team performance is Sri Lanka’s demolition of West Indies in 206. After dismissing West Indies for 80, they reached the target in 13 overs.
 
Watson’s 136 against England is the best batting performance in the CT concluded recently. Smith’s back-to-the-wall 141 runs this close. Gavin Tonge’s top-order demolition of Pakistan in the current edition is the fourth best CT bowling performance ever. Watson’s semi final all-round effort of 136 and 2 for 35 is also the fourth best playing performance. Australia’s semi-final white-wash of England is the best team performance in CT 2009.

A footnote: A peculiar facet of the Champions Trophy batting has been that most of the top innings have been around 140.