Expert Blog

Maidens on the field

Maidens make for interesting analysis – on and off the cricket field. However, we are sticking to the cricket variety to understand maiden overs in ODI cricket.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has a profusion of maidens, mostly off the field, on the cheer-leaders’ platforms, in the owners’ tents, in the post-match parties et al. But very few on the field. Same with the much sober cricket-centric T20. However, the maidens in ODIs are mostly bowled on the field and this article looks at the numbers related to maiden overs over the years.

The minimum criteria for considerations are that the bowler should have bowled a minimum of 500 overs, about 60 matches. The tables show both ends, the top 10 and the bottom 3.

First, a table on the % of maidens bowled by a bowler.

Nearly a fifth of the overs bowled by Hadlee are maidens. Understandably, the table is dominated by the Pace bowlers. Only McGrath and Shane Bond, among the current bowlers, manage to get into the top-10 table.

The part-timers, Tendulkar, Mark Waugh and Samuels prop up the table with maiden % of just below 2% and a frequency of 1 in 20 matches.

Surprisingly, the best placed spinner is Ray Price of Zimbabwe who, in 663 overs, has bowled 56 maidens at 8.44%. Equally surprisingly, the next spinner is Shakib Al Hasan who clocks in at 7%. Then only come the heavyweights.
 
The above table almost remains the same if we want to see the table by average number of maidens per match. Hadlee has bowled an average of 1.61 maidens per match. He and Willis are the only bowlers who have bowled over 1.5 maidens per match. Only 15 bowlers have exceeded 1 maiden per match.

Next table is on the absolute numbers of maidens bowled.

The unheralded Shaun Pollock leads with 313 maidens, followed at some distance by Vaas, with 278 and McGrath, with 273 maidens. Muralitharan is the lone spinner to find his place in the top-10.

At the other end, the part timers, Mark Waugh, Saleem Malik and Samuels come in with 11 and 10 maidens.

Finally the innings in which most maidens were bowled.

P. Simmons had analysis of 10.0-8-3-4 against Pakistan during 1992.
B.S. Bedi had analysis of 12.0-8-6-1 against East Africa during 1975.
and
Gilmour and a dozen other bowlers had 6 maidens in their bowling spells.