Expert Blog

Thursday, September 02, 2010

T20 Top batsmen: A look through a BCG graph

Using the BCG matrix, our expert analyses the top 21 batsmen in Twenty20 cricket.

Last week, Arvind Iyengar had a look at the top ODI batsmen using a graph method invented by BCG (Boston Consulting Group). It is a two-dimensional placement of performance and gives a clear visual indication of a batsman’s overall placement.

He had used the Batting Strike Rate and Batting Average as the X and Y axis variables. I feel there is a slight error in this since the Batting Average can be computed as Batting Strike Rate x Average Balls Faced Per Dismissed Innings. As such, there is a bit of double counting of the Batting Strike Rate. I feel we should use the Average Balls faced instead of the Batting Average to get a truly illustrative graph. One of these days, I will post the alternate graph on the ODI batsmen.

Here, I am going to apply the similar analysis on T20 batsmen. The only criterion is that the batsman should have crossed 500 runs. 21 batsmen qualify and that is a nice number. Large enough to have a meaningful analysis and small enough not to clutter the graph.

Let us see the graph now.

The top batsmen are in the top right quadrant. Pietersen is right on top there. McCullum and Hussey are just about there. Smith and Gayle are poised to move in there. These are the star T20 batsmen.

The group led by Yuvraj Singh, Jayawardene and Warner are in the bottom right quadrant. These are the batsmen who belong to the dashers category. If they stay, they would score faster, but their stay is below par.

The top left quadrant players are the stayers. Misbah-ul-Haq (where is he now?) is the leader and is followed by Kallis, Sangakkara and Salman Butt. It is possible that in T20s, one would prefer a batsman in the dasher category than the stayer category.

Now we come to the ***** (the original BCG terminology, representing the canine group, probably should not be used here). Let us instead call them the strugglers. They neither score fast nor do they stay. Certainly a batting liability for the team. Surprisingly Taylor, who scores breathtakingly fast in IPL, is the worst offender, followed by Kamran Akmal and again surprisingly, de Villiers.

http://www.castrolcricket.com/ee/index.php/castrol_weblog/comments/t20_top_batsmen_a_look_through_a_bcg_graph/

Thursday, August 26, 2010

All-time best ODI run getters: Stags, Class, Bombs and Stars

Our expert makes an interesting analysis of the ODI performances of some phenomenal batsmen over the years. Are your favourites in there?

Our expert makes an interesting analysis of the ODI performances of some phenomenal batsmen over the years. Are your favourites in there?

A month ago I had written about the greatest ODI bowlers of all time. A similar analysis has now been done for batsmen. Not surprisingly, there are quite a few Indians in this list and the current crop of youngsters has some big shoes to fill. 

Similar to the previous article, a bubble chart was created with the size of the bubble indicating the aggregate runs compiled in one’s career. Only the top 20 ODI run-getters have been compared for now, more on this a little later. 

In the graph above, the more top-right a batsman the better he is. You may ask what the lines in the middle of the chart are - well what’s the point of creating such a chart without a 2x2 matrix!

Each quadrant of the graph represents a particular breed of batsmen, with the best of the best on the top right. Here’s how the players can be broken down in four groups :

(Side note: after spending way too much time thinking through catchy names, these are the best four acronyms I could come up with)

Group 1: The STAGS (Skilled Tenacious Almost Greats)

This is the bottom left section of the graph comprising Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Azhar and Atapattu. Four fantastic batsmen who often delivered when the chips were down and fought till the very end. However, their averages and strike-rates are not quite enough to make them the best of all time.

Group 2: CLASS batsmen (Consistent Long-lasters Although Sometimes Slow)

Ok, I was pushing the acronym a bit but I think it’s fitting to call Kallis, Yousuf, Mark Waugh, Ganguly, Chanderpaul, Dravid, Haynes and Inzamam class batsmen. These guys are the pretty stroke-makers who put emphasis on style and managed to play long innings. In fact, after India’s recent thrashing against Sri Lanka, a friend of mine joked that India should bring Dravid and Ganguly back into the ODI side - at least then the team would last 50 overs! But that’s the hallmark of class batsmen; they consistently stick around for a long time at the crease leading to healthy averages in the 40s. They can however be guilty of not scoring quick enough at times. The same can’t be said for our next group.

Group 3: The BOMBS (Break-it Or Make-it Blitzkriegs)

Five batsmen in this group- Jayasuirya, Gilchrist, Gibbs, DeSilva and Anwar. All with strike-rates in excess of 80, Gilchrist up at 96.94! No real explanation needed for the BOMBs, destructive batsmen at their best but they provide chances for the opposition to defuse them early.

Group 4: STARS (Supremely Talented All-round Run-machines)

Lara, Ponting and Tendulkar- your all-time ODI greats. These three are complete batsmen, with the ability to score quickly and consistently. Tendulkar leads the pack with an average of 45.12, a strike-rate of 86.26 and a career aggregate of 17,598 runs (and counting!) 

A caveat to the above analysis - in picking the top 20 ODI run-scorers of all time, some of the more recent prolific ODI run getters like Dhoni, Pietersen, Symonds and Hussey were left out. A couple of retired ODI greats, Michael Bevan and Viv Richards also don’t make the cut and we’ll consider them in a later article. For now, this is just a comparison of the top 20 ODI run-getters and since most of them, with the exception of Haynes, played in roundabout the same era; we do not have to make any significant adjustments on averages or strike-rates to account for the era one played in.

The classification of batsmen in a 2x2 matrix gives us a way of placing new batsmen in particular groups when trying to assess their potential. What kind of a batsman will Virender Sehwag be by the time his career winds up? He’ll probably end up in the bomb category. What about Raina? He may end up being a class batsman. Pietersen and Dhoni are likely to be stars. The next time you’re figuring out the potential of an up and coming cricketer, you could try and see where he fits on the matrix - a class batsman, a stag, a bomb or a star.

http://www.castrolcricket.com/ee/index.php/castrol_weblog/comments/all-time_best_odi_run_getters_stags_class_bombs_and_stars/