ODI wins with least resource expended

How do you win an ODI without breaking into a sweat? Here’s the low-down on the teams who did exactly that.

This refers to chasing wins. The chasing team has two types of resources available: Wickets and balls. When a team chases and wins, it expends some extent of both types of resources. Theoretically, a team can win a match expending no resource. The first batting team scores 6 runs. The second team receives a no ball and the ball is hit for a six. Now that that is out of the way, let us look at real life. A team could expend nothing on the wickets front by winning by 10 wickets, but some balls have to be used up. In this article, I am looking at matches in which the least resources were expended. Wickets and Balls are assigned equal weight: 50% each. The top order wickets are valued at a higher level.

Let us look at the table. This table looks at matches in which the teams won expending less than 20% of the total resources available.

MtId	Year	Fbat	Score	Overs	Sbat	Score	Overs	Result Win by	WktRes Avlble	BallsRes Avlble	TotRes Avlble
2660	2007	Bng	93/10	37.5	Nzl	95/0	6.0	10 wkts	50.0	44.0	94.0
3101	2011	Ken	69/10	23.5	Nzl	72/0	8.0	10 wkts	50.0	42.0	92.0
1758	2011	Ken	90/10	37.1	Ind	91/0	11.3	10 wkts	50.0	38.5	88.5
1961	2003	Bng	108/10	35.1	Saf	109/0	12.0	10 wkts	50.0	38.0	88.0
1940	2003	Eng	117/10	41.0	Aus	118/0	12.2	10 wkts	50.0	37.7	87.7
2063	2003	Eng	88/10	46.1	Slk	89/0	13.5	10 wkts	50.0	36.2	86.2
2521	2007	Pak	107/10	45.4	Saf	113/0	14.0	10 wkts	50.0	36.0	86.0
2754	2008	Saf	83/10	23.0	Eng	85/0	14.1	10 wkts	50.0	35.8	85.8
2599	2007	Hol	80/10	31.2	Win	82/0	14.3	10 wkts	50.0	35.5	85.5
1776	2001	Zim	38/10	15.4	Slk	40/1	4.2	9 wkts	37.5	45.7	83.2
1958	2003	Can	36/10	18.4	Slk	37/1	4.4	9 wkts	37.5	45.3	82.8
2489	2207	Ber	133/10	39.3	Ken	137/0	18.1	10 wkts	50.0	31.8	81.8
2254	2008	Bng	139/10	35.2	Aus	140/0	19.0	10 wkts	50.0	31.0	81.0
2733	2005	Bng	115/10	38.2	Pak	116/0	19.4	10 wkts	50.0	30.3	80.3

14 matches qualify. In most of these matches, the wins are by 10 wickets: hence a wkts-resource of 50% is available. For 9-wicket wins, the wkts-resources drops to 37.5%. However the balls-resource varies depending on the ratio between maximum balls and innings balls and has a maximum value of 44.0.

The top five matches are summarized below.

ODI # 2660. New Zealand vs Bangladesh.
Played on 31 December 2007 at Queenstown Events Centre.
New Zealand won by 10 wickets. MoM: Vettori D.L.
Bangladesh: 93 all out in 37.5 overs
Mohammad Ashraful 25 ( 31)
Vettori D.L 6.0  2   7  5
New Zealand: 95 for 0 wkt(s) in  6.0 overs
McCullum B.B 80*( 28)

This is the famous McCullum match. Chasing 93, New Zealand achieved the target in 6.0 overs, scoring at an unbelievable rate of 15+ per over. Poor Shahadat did not know what hit him, conceding 38 runs in 2 overs.


ODI # 3101. Kenya vs New Zealand.
Played on 20 February 2011 at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai.
New Zealand won by 10 wickets. MoM: Bennett H.K.
Kenya: 69 all out in 23.5 overs
Waters S.R 16 ( 42)
Patel R.R 16*( 23)
New Zealand: 72 for 0 wkt(s) in  8.0 overs
Guptill M.J 39*( 32)
McCullum B.B 26*( 17)

Another New Zealand blitz.


ODI # 1758. India vs Kenya.
Played on 12 October 2001 at Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein (.
India won by 10 wickets. MoM: Agarkar A.B.
Kenya: 90 all out in 37.1 overs
Suji A.O 18*( 47)
India: 91 for 0 wkt(s) in 11.3 overs
Sehwag V 55*( 43)

Compared to the New Zealand scoring rates, this seems to be a crawl.


ODI # 1961. South Africa vs Bangladesh.
Played on 22 February 2003 at Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein.
South Africa won by 10 wickets. MoM: Ntini M.
Bangladesh: 108 all out in 35.1 overs
Khaled Mashud 29 ( 67)
South Africa: 109 for 0 wkt(s) in 12.0 overs
Kirsten G 52*( 32)

Again, Bangladesh at the receiving end.


ODI # 1940. Australia vs England.
Played on 23 January 2003 at Sydney Cricket Ground (.
Australia won by 10 wickets. MoM: Lee B.
England: 117 all out in 41.0 overs
Collingwood P.D 43 ( 71)
Australia: 118 for 0 wkt(s) in 12.2 overs
Gilchrist A.C 69*( 37)

This is the only instance in these Top-5 entries of a top team getting mauled.

When a team wins after setting a winning total, the resources situation is different. Then the run margin comes into play. That is for another article.