Expert Blog

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/

Monday, August 16, 2010

Winning scores for the India-New Zealand-Sri Lanka Tri-series

Let’s take a look at how the Dambulla cricket ground in Sri Lanka has shaped up team performances over the years.

India was comprehensively beaten in the first ODI of the India-New Zealand-Sri Lanka tri-series. The batsmen deserve a lot of the blame after being skittled out for 88, one run short of Styris’ individual score and 7 short of Taylor’s. The bowlers didn’t come through either, and chasing 289 runs at Dambulla was always going to be a stiff task. Here’s a look at past performances at Dambulla, which gives us an indication of what to expect for the rest of the tri-series since all the matches will be played on this ground.

Of the 37 matches played at this venue, the side batting first has won 18 times while the side chasing has won 19, so there isn’t a marked advantage one way or the other. The average runs per over on this ground is 4.40, indicating an average score of 220 runs per 50 overs. The graph below shows the distribution of 1st innings scores at Dambulla and how those scores translate into wins or losses.

300 has been surpassed just twice - Pakistan got 385 and Sri Lanka reached 312 - both against Bangladesh. A competitive score seems to be in the 200-250 range. However, the scoring rate has increased over the past year, which means the par score today is more towards the higher side in the 200-250 bracket.

Further evidence of the pitch not being the most batting-friendly is that there have only been five centuries scored at this ground. Afridi makes the list twice, Jayasuriya and Jayawardene got centuries in 2009 while Rahul Dravid is the only Indian on the list and is the only one to have scored a ton at Dambulla pre-2009.

While the pitch has eased for batting and scoring rates have increased, Dambulla still remains one of the more bowler-friendly ODI pitches today. It’s hard to get settled in and it will be important for batsmen who get a start to kick on and play a long innings, like Taylor and Styris did in the first ODI. Middle order batting could be the key in this series, and it’s an area where all three teams look somewhat shaky. Expect a close series with the batsmen really having to apply themselves on a tricky wicket.

http://www.castrolcricket.com/ee/index.php/castrol_weblog/comments/winning_scores_for_the_india-new_zealand-sri_lanka_tri-series/