The Number Game

from the fifth day of Faisalabad Test:

0 – Number of wickets taken by Harbhajan Singh in the series after bowling 81 overs and conceding 355 runs.

4 – Number of centuries scored by Younis Khan in last four Tests against India, becoming only the fourth batsman to score four consecutive centuries against a particular country after Don Bradman (twice v England), Neil Harvey (v South Africa) and Jacques Kallis (v West Indies).

12 – Number of centuries scored in first two Tests of this series – 6 at Lahore and 6 at Faisalabad. This equals the existing world record of most centuries in first two Tests of a series. Interestingly the previous two occasions also involved India – v England in 1990 and v Sri Lanka in 1997.

77.52 – Average runs scored per wicket in this series so far.

236 – Rahul Dravid’s batting average in this series.

446 – runs conceded by Anil Kumble in two Tests in this series.

984 - Younis Khan’s career aggregate against India in just 5 Tests and 9 innings.

1078 – Pakistan’s aggregate in their two innings – the second highest for any side in all Tests after England’s 1121 against West Indies at Kingston in 1929-30.

1702 – Runs scored in the Faisalabad Test- seventh highest in all Tests and highest between India-Pakistan.surpassing the 1492 (for the loss of 32 wickets) by a long way at Bangalore in 2004-05.

Fastest 100s by wicketkeepers

Cricinfo has mentioned MS Dhoni's 93-ball hundred as the fourth fastest by any wicketkeeper. As per my records, it is the seventh fastest. Here it is:

Balls Keeper (Score) Countries Venue Season
81 Kamran Akmal (102*) Pak v Ind Lahore 2005-06
84 AC Gilchrist (122) Aus v Ind Mumbai 2000-01
84 AC Gilchrist (113*) Aus v Zim Perth 2003-04
86 AC Gilchrist (162) Aus v NZ W'ton 2004-05
88 JR Murray (101*) WI v NZ W'ton 1994-95
91 AC Gilchrist (138*) Aus v SA Cape Town 2001-02
93 MS Dhoni (116*) Ind v Pak Faisalabad 2005-06

The Number Game

from the third day of Faisalabad Test

0 – Number of centuries scored by Indian wicket-keepers against Pakistan before MS Dhoni’s hundred

2 – Number of centuries scored by Dravid against Pakistan as captain, equalling Sunil Gavaskar’s Indian record.

4 – Number of sixes hit by MS Dhoni – more than any other Indian wicket-keeper in an innings against Pakistan.

9 – Century partnerships between Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman – 5 for fifth wicket, 2 for fourth wicket and one each for second and third wickets.

21- Number of times Dravid has been involved in a run-out – third most by any player in Test cricket after Allan Border (29) and Steve Waugh (27). Dravid himself has been run-out on 9 occasions, while on 12 occasions partners had to suffer.

28 – Previous highest score by an Indian wicket-keeper in debut innings against Pakistan (at Chennai in 1986-87).

60.07- Average partnership runs between Dravid and VVS Laxman. The pair has so far aggregated 2463 runs in 46 innings.

66.25 – Dhoni’s batting average in Test cricket – highest by any ‘specialist’ Indian wicket-keeper. He moved ahead of Dilawar Hussain, who had a career average of 42.33

93 – number of balls taken by MS Dhoni to reach his hundred – fastest by an Indian wicket-keeper and seventh fastest by any wicket-keeper in Test matches.

160- unbroken partnership between Dhoni and Irfan Pathan for the sixth wicket – highest for India against Pakistan bettering 143-run partnership between Mohammad Azharuddin and Kapil Dev at Kolkata in 1986-87.

435.4 – Number of overs after which Rahul Dravid left the ground for the first time in this series.

The Number Game

From the second day of Faisalabad Test

3 – Number of times Pakistan have made 500 runs in last 3 innings – 636 for 8 decl vesrsus England at Lahore, followed by 679 for 7 decl against India at Lahore and 588 in Faisalabad.

4 - Number of wickets taken by RP Singh – second best figures by any Indian pacer on first appearance against Pakistan (Best : 5 for 104 by Manoj Prabhakar at Karachi in 1989-90).

6 - The consecutive dismissal as caught for Virender Sehwag on Pakistan soil.

11 - Number of times Anil Kumble has conceded 150 or more runs in an innings – most by any bowler in Test cricket.

14 - Number of ducks scored by Danish Kaneria in just 44 Test innings.

47- Runs scored by Shoaib Akhtar – his highest in Test cricket beating the 38 against England at Lahore in December 2005.

116- Runs scored by Shahid Afridi in boundaries alone – 20 fours and six sixes

The Number Game

A different way of looking at cricket stats!

Day 1, Faisalabad Test


0 – Number of wickets taken by spin duo of Kumble and Harbhajan. For the second successive time in the series, this pair has gone wicket-less on the opening day.

3 – Number of left-arm pacers played by India. First such instance in Indian Test cricket history.

22- Runs conceded by Irfan Pathan in one single over to Inzamam & Afridi. The sequence – 1,0 (no ball), 4, 0, 6, 6, 4.

55 –Number of Tests after which India were playing with 5 specialist bowlers. The last instance was against Zimbabwe at Nagpur in Nov. 2000 (Srinath, Zaheer, Agarkar, Sunil Joshi, Sarandeep)

56 – Number of boundaries hit by Pakistan batsmen (52 fours and four sixes)

64 – Runs scored by Pakistan batsmen in just 7.5 overs bowled with the second new ball.

107 – Average by which Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf together have aggregated runs for the third wicket partnership (750 runs in just seven innings).

252 –RP Singh’s Test cap number for India

379 –Pakistan’s total at close of play – highest score made in Pakistan on the first day of a Test (Previous best : 356 for two by India at Multan in 2003-04).

One-Day Internationals in 2005

A total of 107 one-day internationals were played during the calendar year 2005, including the seven Combined XI games.

The year started with Tsunami relief fund match between a World XI and an Asian XI at Melbourne. Buoyed by the success of this match, ICC also granted official status (amid strong protests from statisticians the world over) to the three-match series between Asia XI and Africa XI in South Africa in August and between Australia and World XI in Australia in October. These matches, however, could not generate as much interest.

South Africa ended the year with 18 wins out of the 24 games they played this year- a winning percentage of 75. In fact they did not lose a single match in 20 consecutive matches at one stage and it was only towards the end of the year that their copybook was blotted when the five-match series against India ended in a 2-2 draw.

Australia,like in Test cricket, ended with most wins but second to South Africa in terms of winning percentage. Pakistan and India were ranked third and fourth respectively.

Click on the following link for complete article

http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2006/jan/10odis.htm

Test Cricket in 2005

A total of 48 Tests were played between ten Test playing nations in the calendar year 2005, out of which 36 produced result. And yes, there was also a farce in the name of Super 'Test' between Australia and an ICC World XI, which was accorded the official status by the ICC -- clearly because of commercial reasons.

This 'Test' has been included in this statistical analysis, though yours truly strongly believes that such hotch-potch games must never be considered at par with real Test match cricket.

India ended the year with 5 wins and one loss out of 8 games, which gave them a winning percentage of 62.50 -- the highest for any team in the year. Australia, though, ended with most wins in the year, but they also played most number of games.

Click on the following link for the full article:

http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2006/jan/03stats.htm

ICC revises definitions of Test & ODI matches

Fellow ACS member Kendix David - the man behind ICC's cricket rating - has been kind enough to inform about ICC's recent decision to change the definitions of OFFICIAL Test and ODI.This, I feel,was necessary after continuing critism from leading cricket statisticians world over. This is what David wrote in his email:

"In the light of a series of recent ICC decisions to grant official status to matches involving the top six Associates as well as matches in the Johnnie Walker Super Series, the Tsunami Appeal and Afro/Asian Cup matches, ICC recognised the need to update its definitions of Test and ODI matches

The alternative to ICC updating its definitions would have been for the status of every 'non-traditional' match to continue to be considered on a case-by-case basis. ICC's preference was that future decisions be taken according to specified criteria rather than on an ad hoc basis.

Accordingly, at the recent meeting of the ICC's Executive Board in Sydney, a detailed paper on this subject was considered and, following a debate, a new set of definitions was duly agreed. It should be noted the Executive Board, which is the ultimate decision making body in the game, is comprised mainly of the Chairmen of each of the ten Full Member countries.

The paper debated by the Board stated that the "views of the Association of Cricket Statisticians have been sought on this matter and the feedback and views received have been incorporated".

As the governing body of world cricket, ICC maintains it has every right to determine for itself which matches are deserving of official status.

The definitions of Test and ODI cricket have now been broadened and may well be wider than many ACS members would have liked. Nevertheless, at least there is now improved clarity, which itself should be welcome.

It was pointed out to ICC that some statisticians would still choose not to include these additional matches in their published records. The ICC responded that they "would have no objection to the 'traditional' Test and ODI matches being recorded as a subset of all official Test and ODI matches".

There are two areas where the Executive Board has taken an interim decision and undertaken to review it in two years' time. These relate to the Asia Cup and Afro/Asian matches.

ODI Item B (iv) below relating to the ICC Trophy may require some elaboration. My understanding is that the top 6 Associate status runs from the end of one ICC Trophy to the start of the next one. The five ICC Trophy matches to be given official status will thus all be those played by teams who at the time are guaranteed a top 6 finish and will thus be ODI countries for the next four years.

Members with any queries on the interpretation of these new regulations should feel free to contact me and I will attempt to resolve any queries through a subsequent posting..

The full wording of the new definitions of Test and ODI matches is as follows.

Test matches are those which:


A) Are played in accordance with the ICC Standard Test Match Playing Condition and other ICC regulations pertaining to Test matches; and

B) Are between:

i) Teams selected by Full Members of the ICC as representative of the Member Countries (Full Member Teams) Note: This refers to the Senior National teams not "A" teams or age-group teams; or

ii) A Full Member Team and a composite team selected by the ICC as representative of the best players from the rest of the world. (The Johnnie Walker Super Series Test Match will fall into this category).

ODI matches are those which:

A) Are played in accordance with the ICC Standard One Day International Playing Conditions and other ICC regulations pertaining to ODI Matches; and

B) Are between:

i) Any teams participating in and as part of the ICC Cricket World Cup or ICC Champions Trophy; or

ii) Full Member Teams; or

iii) A Full Member Team and any of the Associate/Affiliate Member teams whose matches have been granted ODI status (i.e. the top 6 Associates/Affiliates); or

iv) Any of the Associate/Affiliate Member teams whose matches have been granted ODI status (i.e. either as a top 6 Associate/Affiliate or as an Associate/Affiliate competing in the final, semi finals, 3rd and 5th place play offs of the ICC Trophy ); or

v) A Full Member Team and any Associate/Affiliate match played as part of the Asia Cup. This provision would be reviewed after two years.

vi) A team selected by the African Cricket Association and the Asian Cricket Council and played as part of the Afro/Asia Cup. This provision would be reviewed after the conclusion of the 2007 event.

vii) A Full Member Team (or a Top 6 Associate/Affiliate) and a composite team selected by the ICC as representative of the best players from the rest of the world (The Super Series 1 day matches would fall into this category)."

Interestingly Bill Frindall - the renowned cricket statistician - is not at all impressed with ICC's decisions. This is what Frindall replied when yours truly asked for his opinion.

"It's a classic case of moving goalposts to suit one's own convenience, in this case after the event(s) concerned have taken place.

It will not affect my excluding composite matches from the main Test and LOI records."

Clearly we haven't heard the last word on this tussle.

Two wides & a no-ball

Two wides and one no-ball, this was all what Indian bowlers and fielders conceded as extras in the sixth one-dayer against Sri Lanka at Rajkot. It was a refreshing change from the past when Indians would invariably give away a lot of runs in byes and leg-byes. Not to forget the numerous wides and no-balls sent down by our bowlers.

The three extras in Sri Lankan innings are the least conceded by India in any ODI equalling the performance of 1982-83 squad against Pakistan at Lahore. There have been three instances of four extras and another seven of five extras conceded by India in an innings.

Rajkot match provided only the fourth instance of Indian fielders not conceding any bye or leg-byes in opposition's total of 150 or more. The other three instances have been - v Pakistan at Sharjah in 1991-92, v West Indies at Harare in 2001 and v Sri Lanka at Colombo in 2002-03.

Incidentally the ODI record of least extras conceded by a side in opposition's all-out total of 150 or more is held by South Africa. In a Morrocco Cup match at Tangier in 2002, South Africa conceded only one extra (one wide) in Pakistan's total of 188.

Plethora of records for Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni set a plethora of records during his brilliant innings of 183 not out in the third one-dayer against Sri Lanka at Jaipur. Some major are:

- When he reached 50, Dhoni became first Indian wicketkeeper to score a fifty against Sri Lanka in India. Interestingly, he held the previous highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper against Sri Lanka in India with his 38 at Nagpur on October 25, 2005.

- When he reached 100, he became first wicketkeeper to score two separate hundreds on Indian soil. By reaching three-figure mark, he also provided the first instance of wicketkeepers from the opposing sides scoring a hundred in the same match.

-When he reached 146, he established the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper against Sri Lanka, obliterating Rahul Dravid's 145 at Taunton on May 26,1999.

-When he reached 149, he achieved his highest score in ODIs as well as the highest ever innings by an Indian wicketkeeper, beating his own 148 against Pakistan at Visakhapatnam on April 5, 2005.

-When he reached 154, he achieved the highest score by a batsman in ODIs batting second, expunging West Indian Brian Lara's 153 against Pakistan at Sharjah on November 5, 1993.

-When he reached 155, he set a new record of highest score by a wicketkeeper against Sri Lanka, bettering Australia's Adam Gilchrist's 154 at Melbourne on February 7,1999.

-When he reached 170, he set a new world record of highest individual innings by a batsman at number 3, bettering West Indian Brian Lara's 169 against Sri Lanka at Sharjah on October 16, 1995.

-When he reached 173, he established a new world record of highest score by a wicket-keeper in ODI history surpassing Australia's Adam Gilchrist's 172 against Zimbabwe at Hobart on January 16, 2004.

-The last six to end the match was Dhoni's tenth in the match -- a new Indian record of most sixes, beating the tally of seven sixes by Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly (twice). Only Sanath Jayasuriya and Shahid Afridi have hit more sixes than Dhoni in an innings (11 apiece).

-The tenth six also took Dhoni's run-aggregate in the match in boundary shots to 120 (10 sixes and 15 fours) -- a new world record. The previous record was jointly held by Pakistan's Saeed Anwar against India at Chennai on May 21, 1997 and New Zealand's Lou Vincent against Zimbabwe at Hobart on August 24, 2005.

- His innings of 183* is now the highest ever by any batsman against Sri Lanka in ODIs. He joined fellow-countryman Sourav Ganguly, who also registered an identical score (but was dismissed) at Taunton on May 26,1999.

-This was the third time he ended a match with a six. The earlier such occasions were -- against the West Indies at Dambulla on July 31,2005 and against Zimbabwe at Harare on September 4, 2005.He now holds the Indian record of ending a match (on a winning note) with a six on most occasions.

He was previously at level with Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar with two such instances each.

- Dhoni took his career strike-rate to 108.90 at the end of this match -- highest by any batsman in ODIs (having batted in at least 20 innings). He went ahead of Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, who has scored his runs at a rate of 108.20 runs per 100 balls.

-At the end of this match, Dhoni's average is a staggering 49.73 -- the highest by any Indian batsman (having scored at least 500 runs in a career). He moved ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, who averages 44.67.

STATISTICIANS AT LOGGERHEADS WITH ICC

Super Series suffers status static

Even as the International Cricket Council (ICC) is going hoarse, shouting from rooftops about how successful the Super Series in Australia has been, some noted statisticians have taken umbrage to the entire show being given official status, and have accused the ICC of adopting double standards.

Englishman Bill Frindall, one of the world's top statisticians, has refused to take the performances in Super 'Test' and three one-day matches between World XI and Australian XI into his records. Explaining his reasons, Frindall says: "This Superfluous Series should most definitely not be given Test match or limitedovers international status. These games are not internationals and the ICC's own regulations confirm that only Full Members of the ICC can participate in Test matches.

"Conglomerates such as World XI teams most certainly do not qualify. It is quite ridiculous that a player should be able to represent two Test teams concurrently."

The crux of Frindall's argument is that there have been, in the past, several matches played between an international select XI and a national team, like the one between and India-Pakistan combine and Sri Lanka, just before the 1996 World Cup, when Australia and the West Indies refused to visit the island nation due to security concerns. Those records were never officially recognised, so doing the same for the Super Series matches smacks of double standards.

"The ICC's main committee was far from unanimous in this controversial decision," Frindall adds. "The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians was consulted and opposed official status being given to this junket. "I will not be including the current matches in any records supplied to the BBC or published in the 'Playfair Cricket Annual'. Thankfully some of the players are embarrassed by the ICC's decision, Adam Gilchrist having publicly declared his unease with it."

It is understood that the ACS, though initially opposed to the whole idea, finally succumbed to pressure from the ICC and from members within, the ones who have tie-ups with cricket websites and publications, and finally fell in line to accept the Super Series figures as official.

"There are a great many statisticians around the world who are as outraged by this nonsense as we are," Frindall adds.

"The ICC has become totally subjected to the power of the dollar... even some World XI players didn’t regard it as a Test match," he says.

A world record for Warne

The wicket of Marcus Trescothick on the fifth and final day of Oval Test was something special for Shane Warne since it gave him a world record.

Trescothick’s was Wicket # 168 for Warne against England in his 31st Test, which put him ahead of countryman Dennis Lillee in the list of bowlers capturing most wickets against a particular country. Lillee had taken 167 wickets in 29 Tests - also against England. Warne, at the end of series, has taken 172 wickets in 31 Tests.

Earlier in this series, Warne had achieved the world record of taking most wickets in a country other than his own. Already the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, Warne is also the only bowler to have taken 100-plus wickets against three different countries with 172 wickets against England, 103 against New Zealand and 101 against South Africa. One wonders how many more records will Warne end up with, whenever he decides to retire from the game!

The following table lists the leading wicket-takers against a particular country in Test cricket:

Bowler     For   Wkts   Vs     Tests   Ave   Best  5 10
SK Warne    Aus  172  England    31   22.30  8-71  10 4
DK Lillee   Aus  167  England    29   21.00  7-89  11 4
CEL Ambrose WI   164  England    34   18.79  8-45   8 2
IT Botham   Eng  148  Australia  36   27.66  6-78   9 2
CA Walsh    WI   145  England    36   25.40  6-74   5 1
H Trumble   Aus  141  England    31   20.89  8-65   9 3
CA Walsh    WI   135  Australia  38   28.68  6-54   4 0

Series of Flintoff’s all-round brilliance

England have regained the Ashes for the first time since 1986-87. If one were to choose a single English player who made the biggest impact on the series, it can not be one other than Freddie Flintoff.

Making his first appearance in the Ashes contests, Flintoff gave one of the best all-round performance in a series in the history of the Test cricket. That it was after a gap of more than 30 years a player scored 400 runs with the bat and at the same time captured 20 wickets with the balls speaks volumes of Flintoff’s awesome talent.

Flintoff is only the second English all-rounder and seventh in Test cricket annals to achieve the grand double of 400-plus runs and 20-plus wickets in a series. Tony Greig is the only other Englishman in this very short list. Greig, incidentally, was also the last player to have done so before Flintoff. West Indian Gary Sobers remains alone in performing this feat twice.

Allrounder   For   Vs   Season Mts Runs  Ave  Wkts  Ave
G Giffen    Aus*  Eng  1894-95  5  475  52.78  34  24.12
GA Faulkner SA *  Eng  1909-10  5  545  60.56  29  21.90
JM Gregory  Aus*  Eng  1920-21  5  442  73.66  23  24.17
KR Miller   Aus   WI * 1954-55  5  439  73.17  20  32.05
GStA Sobers WI *  Ind  1961-62  5  424  70.66  23  20.57
GStA Sobers WI    Eng* 1966     5  722 103.14  20  27.25
AW Greig    Eng   WI * 1973-74  5  430  47.78  24  22.63
A Flintoff  Eng*  Aus  2005     5  402  40.20  24  27.29

* Series venue

Australia follow-on after 17 years

On the third day of the fourth Test in Nottingham, England brought an end to Australia's long-lasting streak of not facing a follow-on.

The last team to enforce follow-on on Australia was Pakistan under Javed Miandad at Karachi in September 1988. Australia went on to lose that Test by an innings margin.

Since then, Australia have played a record 190 Tests in almost 17 years without suffering the ignominy of following-on even once.

The following table gives details of longest streaks of Tests a side has gone between following-on.South Africa's instance is inclusive of the 22 years between 1970 and 1992 when they played no Test cricket.

Tests Country            Sequence                Period 
                                               (Yrs-Months)
190 Australia   v Pak,Faisalabad,Sep 1988 to   16-11
                v Eng,Manchester,Aug 2005
75 India        v NZ,Dunedin,Feb 1990 to       11- 1
                v Aus,Mumbai WS,March 2001
72 South Africa v Aus,Durban,Jan 1967 to       32-11
                v Eng,Port Elizabeth, Dec 1999
69 Pakistan     v Aus,Brisbane,Nov 1983 to      9- 5
                v WI,Port-of-Spain,Apr 1993 
68 England      v Aus,Sydney,Feb 1898 to       22-10
                v Aus,Sydney,Dec 1920
63 West Indies  v Eng, Bridgetown, Apr 1992 to  7- 8
                v NZ, Hamilton,Dec 1999

Gilchrist becomes leading run-scoring wicket-keeper in Test cricket

Australia’s Adam Gilchrist became the leading run-scorer wicket-keeper in the history of Test cricket during the just concluded Manchester Test against England. Gilchrist ended the Test with a tally of 4,572 runs to go ahead of England’s Alec Stewart’s run-aggregate of 4,540 runs in 82 Tests (although Stewart played in 133 Tests, he kept wickets in 82 Tests only).

Interestingly Gilchrist needed 11 Tests and 42 innings fewer than Stewart to surpass his aggregate. Gilchrist now holds the records of scoring maximum runs, hitting most hundreds. Gilchrist’s batting average is also the highest for any wicket-keeper who has aggregated more than 500 runs in a career. Zimbabwean Andy Flower is the only other wicket-keeper to end up with 10 or more hundreds and a batting average of 50-plus.

The accompanying table lists the leading run scoring wicket-keepers in Test cricket:

Runs  Keeper        For  Tests Ave    100s 50s
4572  AC Gilchrist  Aus   71   53.79   15  20
4540  AJ Stewart    Eng   82   34.92    6  23
4404  A Flower      Zim   55   53.71   12  23
4389  APE Knott     Eng   95   32.75    5  30
4356  IA Healy      Aus  119   27.40    4  22
3633  RW Marsh      Aus   96   26.52    3  16
3146  PJL Dujon     WI    79   31.46    5  16
3007  MV Boucher    SA    84   30.68    4  18
2759  SMH Kirmani   Ind   88   27.05    2  12
2611  FM Engineer   Ind   46   31.08    2  16
2581  Moin Khan     Pak   66   28.68    4  14
2577  RD Jacobs     WI    65   28.32    3  14
2479  AC Parore     NZ    67   26.95    2  11
2439  TG Evans      Eng   91   20.50    2   8
2387  LEG Ames      Eng   44   43.40    8   7
2336  JHB Waite     SA    49   30.34    4  16
2300  KC S'kkara    SL    35   41.82    6   7
2010  Imtiaz Ahmed  Pak   38   30.45    3  11

Most sixes hit against Australia in a Test series

The five sixes hit in England’s second innings of Manchester Test took their series aggregate of sixes to 26 (four sixes were hit in the first Test at Lord’s,16 in the second Test at Birmingham and six in the third Test at Manchester).

This is now the most number of sixes hit by any side against Australia in a Test series. The previous record was of 23 sixes hit by South Africa in four match series in 1966-67.

The following table lists the most sixes hit against Australia in a Test series:

6s For           Season    Venue       Tests
26 England       2005      England       3#
23 South Africa  1966-67   South Africa  5
22 South Africa  1969-70   South Africa  4 
22 India         1997-98   India         3 
22 West Indies   2002-03   West Indies   4
21 New Zealand   1999-00   New Zealand   3

# still continuing

A world record for Muralitharan

The wicket of India's Irfan Pathan in the opening match of Indian Oil Cup tri-series helped Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan register a new world record.

Pathan's wicket was the 368th wicket for Muralitharan in one-day internationals. He also has taken 549 wickets in Tests to register a combined aggregate of 917 wickets in international cricket.

With the wicket of debutant Venugopal Rao he extended his tally to 918, the highest combined aggregate for any bowler in international cricket -- toppling Pakistan's Wasim Akram from the apex position.

The following table lists the leading wicket-takers in all forms of international cricket -- Tests, ODIs and Twenty20:

Total Bowler           For Tests  ODIs Twenty20 
918   M Muralitharan   SL   549   369    - 
916   Wasim Akram      Pak  414   502    - 
880   Shane Warne      Aus  589   291    - 
836   Glenn McGrath    Aus  508   323    5 
789   Waqar Younis     Pak  373   416    - 
784   Anil Kumble      Ind  461   323    - 
746   Courtney Walsh   WI   519   227    - 

Note: The performances in Tsunami relief match between a World XI and Asian XI have not been taken into account.

Nehra or Agarkar ?

The Indian team for tri-series in Sri Lanka has been announced.The five wise-men of Indian cricket have preferred Ashish Nehra over Ajit Agarkar for the Tri-Series in Sri Lanka, however a look at the performance of these two players since 2003 World Cup portrays a different picture altogether.

This is how two players have performed since 2003 World Cup:

Bowler   Mts Wkts  Ave.  Best  4W  SR     RpO  W/M
Agarkar  25   40  23.53  6-42  2  28.00  5.04  1.60
Nehra    21   29  34.52  4-72  1  37.31  5.55  1.38

Agarkar is the second most successful Indian bowler in this period after Irfan Pathan, who has taken 47 wickets after playing in four matches more than Agarkar. Agarkar’s average is the best among the regular bowlers (who have taken at least 5 wickets in this period) and so is his strike rate. Agarkar’s economy rate, though not as impressive as one would like, is the best among the Indian pacers (who have played at least 5 matches). Also Agarkar’s 6 for 42 against Australia in VB Series match is the best performance by an Indian bowler in this period. And he is the only Indian pacer to take two four-wicket hauls (Sachin Tendulkar also has two four-fers with his mixed kind of stuff).

Clearly if any pacer deserves to be there in Sri Lanka, it has to be Agarkar. But selection committee had different opinion and that is what matters most!

BCCI puts byte into scoring

The cricket scoring in Indian domestic matches is ready for a radical change from the coming season. Noting the proceedings of the game by putting dots, crosses, circles etc. in the notebooks is soon going to be a thing of past. The notebooks that scorers will now carry will be the computer kind, and the mouse will replace their blue, black, red and green pens and pencils. The Association will be providing the laptops to BCCI panel scorers. This system of computer scoring will be started in all the domestic matches in 2005-06 season. BCCI also intends to link and upload all match information on its website, which is set to be launched soon.

The scoring in cricket matches has gradually progressed to its modern sophisticated pattern wherein all the latest technology is put to immense use. Since the modest beginning by William Davies (Circa 1832) Cricket's first scorer. Cricketing world has produced some outstanding, innovative scorers around the world. In India, under the banner of the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Scorers of India (ACSSI) has produced some outstanding Scorers as well as Statisticians to meet the challenges.

Keeping in sync with modern-day cricket, a two-day workshop on computer scoring was conducted on July 9 and 10 in Bangalore. A total of 42 scorers of the 75 BCCI panel scorers selected by their cricket associations attended the workshop where the finer techniques of the scoring software were taught to the scorers. The software Scorite is prepared by Stump Vision, which is run by Dinesh Kumble – brother of Indian cricketer Anil Kumble. The profession version of Scorite is an improvement on the old version and contains the Wagon-Wheel of the individual batsman as well as the Bowler versus Batsman information.

The two-days workshop was inaugurated by Mr. Greg Chappell, the former Australian Test cricketer and present coach of the Indian team. In his inaugural speech he mentioned that he learnt to maintain his own score at a very early age and continued the same in his Test career. Mr.Brijesh Patel the Test cricketer, host and Hon. Secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association complimented the scorers for the minute details in balls, minutes etc while scoring. The computer will assist further and will be very useful in the development of the game, especially for the Under-14 and Under-16 level, where the details are difficult to obtain. Theo Braganza, Convener and Hon. Secretary of the ACSSI mentioned that this would solve many problems in India like language, colour pens used for a particular ball, symbols, tallying and finally would produce far more details that one can imagine. In the closing ceremony Test cricket Anil Kumble presented the Anandji Dossa Award to the scorers who stood first in the 1997 and 2004 BCCI examinations, P.Jayapal from Bangalore and Nilesh Deshpande from Nagpur respectively. In his speech he mentioned that very few cricketers maintain their scores, he too learnt to keep scores at an early age. He advised the scorers that on a bad performance when the cricketer is returning to the pavilion it is very frustrating to hear his score being announced to the press and requested to wait till the cricketer is in the pavilion or keep the announcements low.

Before the computer workshop, BCCI also held Examination for Scorers at Kolkata from June 27th to July 1st and at Kanpur from July 3rd to 7th.These 5-days courses included the basic duties of the scorers, the Laws of cricket pertaining to scoring, scoring the box and linear method,calculations for scorers and statisticians, the Duckworth-Lewis method for rain interrupted matches, filling the BCCI score sheets, elementary computer scoring and a practice session in scoring from an actual match. This was followed by the practice test from an actual match and a written test. Scorers from the East, Central and North zones attended including those who did not clear the BCCI Examination held at Ahmedabad in 2004 from Saurashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Hyderabad, Vidarbha cricket associations. The faculties were: Dinar Gupte (Course Director) from Baroda, Blessington Thomas from Hyderabad, P.Jayapal from Bangalore, Ramesh Parab, Vivek Gupte and Theo Braganza (Convener) from Mumbai. Thirty-five scorers attended at Kolkata and 41 at Kanpur. The passing percentage was 80% and those successful will be added to the 75 BCCI panel scorers after the results are declared by the BCCI.

Rakesh Sanghi - well-known scorer from PCA - who attended the workshop at Banglaore, welcomed Board’s initiative, but was of the view that associations should bear the cost of the software. He wondered how many scorers could afford to spend around Rs. 6,000 for 30 match sheets, when the match fee is not very attractive.

Blessington Thomas, one of the faculties, was of the view that it would have been better had this workshop been conducted during the Refreshers Course at Ahmedabad (earlier this year), so that by this time scorers would have gained some knowledge about the Software and would have benefited immensely.He also showed concern about the lack of quality scorers in North, Central and the Eastern parts of the country wherein we have language, accent problems.

All said and done, no one is denying the fact that this is a step in right direction. These courses and workshop are definitely will be a new boost to scorers and will assist in forming an additional panel of scorers and assist in the network for the BCCI and their site to upload scoresheets immediately after the match, which will be accessible to the media, statisticians throughout the world.

Statisticians stumped by new rules

The International Cricket Council seems to have developed the knack of inviting the wrath of cricket statisticians. In recent times, every single decision it has taken -- having an impact on cricket statistics -- has not gone well with the custodians of cricket statistics and records.

ICC's latest ruling that allows a player to be replaced with a substitute during the course of a match has made statisticians wonder if there is any end to this nuisance.

Read more
http://snipurl.com/fy6v

A world record and a near-miss for Hussey

In the third match of NatWest Series, Australia’s Mike Hussey got a world record on his name. Hussey was dismissed after making a well compiled 84 (off 83 balls) in this game helping Australia in putting up a decent total. Interestingly it was for the first time that Hussey got out in his career of seven ODIs. Having made his debut against India at Perth in February 2004, Hussey’s scores in one-day internationals have been: 17*, 32*, 65*, 0*,31* and 84. His innings of 65* and 0* were punctuated by a ‘did not bat’ against New Zealand.

Hussey now holds the world record of aggregating most runs from ODI debut before first dismissal. The previous record was held by another Australian Michael Clarke, who aggregated 208 runs before his first dismissal in ODIs.

Hussey,in fact, just missed another world record. Had he gone not out in the match against England, he would have equalled the all-time ODI record of playing most consecutive innings from debut without being dismissed.

The ODI record in this category is held Pakistan’s Iftikhar Anjum, who played six consecutive innings without being dismissed once. In fact Anjum is yet to be dismissed in his ODI career of 12 matches, which consists of six ‘did not bat’ entries.

Hussey,however, now joins five other players who were dismissed for the first time in their career (since debut) after playing FIVE innings. They are West Indians Patrick Patterson and Ian Bishop, England’s Jack Russell,Australia’s Michael Kaprowicz and Bangladesh’s Manjural Islam.

Another high for Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen played a scintillating innings of 91 in the Bristol one-dayer to give Australia their fourth consecutive loss of the tour. Pietersen has now aggregated 649 runs in 10 innings of 13 ODIs at an average of 162.25. Both his aggregate and average are the highest for any player in ODI history after playing exactly 10 innings.
By an odd coincidence the previous record in this category was on the name of Allan Lamb – another South Africa born Englishman. The following table lists the highest run-aggregates after 10 innings in ODIs:

Runs Player        For Mts Inns Ave Hs 100 50
649 KP Pietersen Eng 13 10 162.25 116 3 3
577 AJ Lamb        Eng 10 10 72.13 118 2 2
554 RL Diad        SL 10 10 55.40 121 2 3
525 DL Amiss Eng 10 10 52.50 137 3 0
498 KC Wessels SA 10 10 55.33 90 0 6
494 PN Kirsten SA 10 10 70.57 90 0 5
456 Majid Khan Pak 10 10 45.60 109 1 4
455 NS Sidhu Ind 12 10 45.50 88 0 5
455 Yousuf Youhana Pak 11 10 56.88 100 1 4

Masters of making a comeback

Pakistan seem to have developed a habit of making a comeback in the series after losing the opening Test. In three series of the last four they have played, Pakistan have managed to level the series after suffering huge defeat in the first Tests. Interestingly on all of the three occasions Inzamam-ul-Haq lead from the front,scoring a century on each occasion which settled the issue.

Following are the instances of Pakistan making a comeback in the series to level/win the series after being one-down in the series.

Season  Opp  Venue Tests  Score    Captain
1954     Eng  Eng    4    1-1  AH Kardar
1976-77  Aus  Aus    3    1-1  Mushtaq Mohammad
1994-95  Zim  Zim    3    2-1  Salim Malik
1996-97  NZ   Pak    2    1-1  Saeed Anwar
2001     Eng  Eng    2    1-1  Waqar Younis
2004-05  SL   Pak    2    1-1  Inzamam-ul-Haq
2004-05  Ind  Ind    3    1-1  Inzamam-ul-Haq
2005     WI   WI     2    1-1  Inzamam-ul-Haq

King of LOST matches

Pakistan beat West Indies by 136 runs in Kingston Test to level the series 1-1. The defeat gave Brian Lara an entirely unwanted record on his name. Lara has now appeared in 54 LOST matches for West Indies. With this he joined England's Alec Stewart to share the record of appearing in maximum number of LOST matches. However Lara's defeat-percentage of 46 is much higher than Stewart's 41. Among the contemporary batsmen only fellow countryman S.Chanderpaul (39), New Zealander Stephen Fleming (35) and Sachin Tendulkar (35) are the ones, who can 'challenge' Lara's place on top in this table. Given team's wretched form, it seems highly unlikely that Lara would be toppled from the top in the near future.

Lara has now amassed 4654 runs in matches lost by West Indies; no other player has even managed 3000. Lara is also the only batsman with a dozen Test hundreds in defeats; in fact, no other player has more than eight. Among the top ten run-getters in defeats, Lara's average is also the highest. What more can a batsman do for his side ? Bat from both ends ?

Maximum runs in defeats

Batsman           For  Tests Runs   Ave   100  50
Brian Lara        WI    54   4654  43.09   12  21
Alec Stewart      Eng   54   2993  29.93    -  23
Allan Border      Aus   46   2771  33.39    5  13
Andy Flower       Zim   34   2713  43.06    7  15
David Gower       Eng   42   2581  32.26    4  15
Sachin Tendulkar  Ind   35   2558  36.54    8   9
S Chanderpaul     WI    39   2532  35.17    3  16
Graham Gooch      Eng   42   2423  28.85    3  16
Steve Waugh       Aus   36   2380  37.78    5   9
Mike Atherton     Eng   44   2319  26.35    1  15
Sunil Gavaskar    Ind   34   2314  35.06    6  12

More records for Lara

Even as Brian Lara got out for a duck in the second innings of Kingston Test, his first innings heroics was enough to accord him a world record. Lara has now aggregated 6,006 runs in HOME matches- highest aggregate for any batsman in Test cricket. Lara surpassed England's Graham Gooch's tally of 5,917 runs. Interestingly Lara moved ahead of Gooch in 13 Tests and 29 innings fewer than him.

Leading run-scorers in HOME Test matches:

Runs Batsman   For Tests Inns  Ave. Hs  100s

6006  BC Lara     WI 61  102  61.91 400* 16
5917  GA Gooch    Eng   74  131  46.23  333  15
5743  AR Border   Aus   86  145  45.94  205  13
5710  SR Waugh    Aus   89  140  47.58  170  15
5067  SM Gavaskar Ind   65  108  50.17  236* 16

During West Indies' first innings of Kingston Test Lara also completed his 1,000 runs in the Test matches played at this ground. His aggregate at this ground at the end of first innings reads as 1,075 runs in 17 innings at an average of 67.18.
Lara has now aggregated 1,000 runs on three different grounds. Others are - St.John's (1,632 runs) and Bridgetown (1,339 runs). Lara thus became only the fifth batsman after Australia's Greg Chappell,Allan Border and Steve Waugh and Pakistan's Javed Miandad to aggregate 1,000 runs at THREE different grounds. It is worth mentioning here that Lara has aggregated 986 runs at Port-of-Spain and is all set to soon become the first batsman ever to aggregate 1,000 runs at FOUR grounds.
The 153 in the Kingston Test was the 17th score of 150-plus or more for Brian Lara. He is now just one short of equalling Don Bradman's world record tally of 18.

Most 150s in Test cricket
18 Don Bradman Aus
17 Brian Lara WI
15 Sachin Tendulkar Ind
14 Steve Waugh Aus
12 Sunil Gavaskar Ind

Statistical Annual

Like a large number of fellow statisticians I have often been pained at the absence of a statistical annual, which could give a clear view of the domestic cricket in India season after season. It is very easy to tell who has scored maximum runs in English County Cricket. Pick the latest Wisden or go to Cricinfo record section and you have the answer in seconds. But nowhere you will get the answer as to who has scored the maximum runs in Indian first class cricket or for that matter who has effected most dismissals behind the stumps. Wisden does not have separate statistical section for Indian first-class cricket and Cricinfo’s record section on Indian domestic cricket is a farce. That Cricinfo carries a list of batsmen with highest run-aggregate in Ranji Trophy updated only upto 1998-99 season is a shame in itself.

It is not that there is no cricket annual being published in India. There are two of them. BCCI publishes their own statistical annuals, but what is the purpose behind publishing it, only they can tell. A bulky volume, containing more pages than the Wisden Almanack and almost one and a half time bigger in height, it does not cost a single penny. The Board makes it available free of cost. But the sad part is, it is not made available in the open market, so it is beyond the reach of any cricket-lover. One can get a copy only if he has his links in the BCCI office or state associations [who get two copies each]. It would have made much sense if this annual was made available in the open market after putting a price-tag on it, but then you can not expect these things from BCCI.

Hindu group must be praised for publishing Indian Cricket Annual year after year at an unbelievable low price. Very rich on contents part, this annual offers very little on statistical front. Moreover the editorial staff is not even ready to listen to suggestions for improvement. The scorecards do not carry the essential information like second innings batting order, fall of wicket details, information about debutants etc. The different statistical section normally runs in to dozen of pages, but not always covering all parts of the game. For example, batting records will cover the minute details of every batsmen who has scored 500 or more runs in a Ranji season, but one will not find the best allround performances in a match.

The only Indian annual worthy of being called a statistical annual that I have seen is ACSSI [Association of Cricket Scorers & Statisticians of India] Statistical Annual. The annual compiled and edited by Mohandas Menon carried almost everything one could wish for. But the Association has had its own problems and could not publish any annual since 1990-91.

A consistent cajoling from me has however succeeded in the revival of the annual. I have taken the responsibility of compiling and editing the 2004-05 edition and if everything goes according to the plans, the annual will become a regular feature. Hopefully we will have the feats in domestic cricket properly recognized and suitably penned down.

Anyone, who is interested in contributing in this annual, may contact me at annual2005@gmail.com. All contributions will be properly acknowledged and the contributor will get a complimentary copy [I will personally make sure it is done]. But please send only the original research and the stuff not readily available elsewhere.

Longest losing streak for West Indies

West Indies, by losing the third ODI against Pakistan at Gros Islet, recorded their worst sequence of losses in one-day internationals. This was their ninth loss at a trot, which ‘bettered’ their previous record of eight consecutive defeats in 1999-00 season – all under Brian Lara’s captaincy. The accompanying table lists all instances of five or more consecutive defeats for West Indies.

Mts From       To              Captain
9 v Pak 01-02-2005  v Pak 22-05-2005 BC Lara (1)
                                     S Chanderpaul (8)
8 v Pak 14-10-1999  v NZ  11-01-2000 BC Lara
5 v Eng 19-05-1988  v Pak 18-10-1988 IVA Richards
5 v Pak 14-10-1989  v Aus 21-10-1989 IVA Richards (3)
                                     CG Greenidge (2)
5 v Pak 09-11-1990  v Aus 09-03-1991 DL Haynes (3)
                                     IVA Richards (2)
5 v Aus 13-03-1991  v Eng 27-05-1991 IVA Richards
5 v SL 20-10-1995   v Aus 01-01-1996 RB Richardson (4)
                                     CA Walsh (1)
5 v SA 27-01-1999   v SA  07-02-1999 BC Lara (2)
                                     CL Hooper (3)
5 v Pak 23-04-2000  v Zim 16-07-2000 JC Adams #
5 v SA 02-05-2001   v SA  12-05-2001 CL Hooper

# excludes one rain abandoned match

Meet the new Indian coach

Probably world’s best coach technically. The 56-year old Australian has a flair for the big occasion. He scored a century in his first and final Tests, scored centuries in both innings of his debut Test as captain and in between established a reputation as one of the finest thinkers of the modern game.

Failed in 2000 for talking more about his pay-cheque than his vision for Indian cricket. Since travelled to MRF Pace Academy and National Cricket Academy and interacted with coaches and players. Was shortlisted by West Indies too but yet again money proved to be an impediment. Changed South Australia’s fortunes. Once suggested that Sachin should open in Tests.He has also written a brilliant book on coaching, 'Greg Chappell on Coaching: The Making of Champions.'

Sourav Ganguly, Indian skipper, had approached Chappell to try and iron out deficiencies in his technique against quick bowlers and the rising ball just before India's last tour of Australia.

Chappell seemed to have special liking for India as his five scores in Test cricket read as : 204,36,52,76 & 0.

His best performance in ODIs also came against India – 5 for 15 at Sydney in 1980-81

Chappell in Facts & Figures
Full name Gregory Stephen ChappellBorn August 7, 1948, Unley, Adelaide, South Australia
Age 56 years Major teams Australia, Queensland, Somerset, South Australia
Type : Right-hand middle order batsman & Right-arm medium pace / leg-break bowler
First-class debut : South Australia v Victoria at Adelaide,1966-67
Last first-class match: Queensland v Western Australia at Perth, 1983-84
Test debut: v England at Perth, 1970-71
Last Test: v Pakistan at Sydney, 1983-84
ODI debut: v England at Melbourne, 1970-71
Last ODI: v Sri Lanka at Colombo (SSC), 1982-83

Career highlights:
-Scored a century in his very first Test innings (108 v England at Perth,1970-71).
-Scored a century in his last Test innings (182 v Pakistan at Sydney, 1983-84).
-Remains the only player to score Test centuries in both innings on captaincy debut (123 & 109* v West Indies at Brisbane in 1975-76).
-Beat West Indies 5-1 in his debut series as a captain
-Led Australia to 8 series wins in his captaincy as against 3 losses.
-Was the top scorer 13 times in an all-out innings. Only Allan Border performed this feat on more occasions (15) as an Australian captain (after playing 68 innings more).
-Wisden Cricketer of the year 1973
-In the year 2002 he was inducted into the prestigious Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.
...and the last one
-He was infamously involved in the underarm bowling incident in the New Zealand-Australia One-day International on February 1, 1981. Greg Chappell, the captain, ordered his brother, Trevor Chappell, to bowl with an underarm motion, thus ensuring the Australian team would win the match and avoid a tie.

Frindall takes on the ICC

Bill Frindall, world's most respected cricket statistician, is not taking the Tsunami relief fund match in to his records. He is not going to include the Super Series Test and ODIs scheduled to be played between World XI and Australian XI either. And he has the reasons to defy ICC's dictat.

Infact ICC's decision of granting official status to Tsunami relief fund match had not gone well with the statisticians the world over. Most of the statisticians are against this ruling if the views expressed by the members of Association of Cricket Statisticians (England) on the internet forum mean anything.

However the ACS could not take any hard stand against ICC's decision - for the reasons better known to itself. Also some renowned statisticians did not take long to accept ICC's ruling despite being fully aware that it defies all logic and common-sense. May be some commercial reasons were also responsible for this. Those, who fell in the line with ICC, expressed the view that being the governing body ICC is free to do whatever it thinks is right.

Yours truly is totally against this view. Even if you buy this arguement, then how come these statisticians flouted ICC's ruling over first-class status to matches played in South Africa by rebellion sides. Wasn't ICC the governing body then? Clearly there is something more than what meets the eyes.

Frindall, as he has always done, didn't mince a word while criticising ICC for its ineptitude. Playfair Cricket Annual is the best selling cricket annual in the world and in its 2005 edition, Frindall, as the editor, has not included the Tsunami relief match alongwith the rain abandoned NatWest match between West Indies and New Zealand last year. The NatWest match was a strange case as ICC flouted its own rulebook in deciding when a match actually commences.

This is what Frindall wrote in his editorial for the Playfair-"That they (ICC) are proposing to confuse matters further by giving Test match status to a ‘super test’ between Australia and the Rest later this year beggars belief. For a decade after the 1970 England v Rest of the World series ‘Wisden’s records bore a grumbling appendix of those five games – and that rubber at least had the excuse of replacing a series cancelled for political reasons. Logic dictates that ‘international’ records should be exactly that – ‘contests between nations’. Perhaps a compromise would be to segregate matches involving conglomerate teams in to a separate Super Test compartment. For the same reason, the recent Tsunami Appeal game between Asian and World XI in Melbourne should not be included in the annals of Limited-Overs Internationals – and is excluded from records in this publication. Exceptionally admirable though it was in conception, the game was little more than an exhibition thrash. While enjoying the occasion hugely, none of the participants, and there were rather too many, seemed to care a hoot about the result. Another piece of gross meddling produced the crass decision to regard the toss as the start of a match. This is contrary to Law 16, which clearly states that the umpire’s call of play heralds the start."

Charlie Watt, Australia's renowned statistician, has also taken the stand on similar lines. These two have made it clear that they are not going to include such matches in their matches at any cost. ICC is feeling the heat, it is clear from the fact that ICC issued a media release clarifying its position.Earlier it was not even bothered to reply when several statisticians approached it.

This issue is not over yet. You will hear and read a lot on this subject in the progress to the Super Series matches. Keep looking at this place for the updates.

A Test of records & milestones

The St.John's Test was a statistician's delight as a plethora of records were established on the fifth and final day. Some of them are:

West Indies’ total of 747 is the seventh highest in Test cricket and HIGHEST against South Arica. The previous highest total against South Africa was 654 for 5 by England at Durban in 1938-39.

The combined aggregate of both sides’ first innings in St.John’s Test was 1335 runs [South Africa (588-6d) and West Indies (747)]. Only once before a higher combined aggregate has been recorded in Test cricket history. In the Colombo (RPS) Test in 1997-98, the combined aggregate of first innings of Indian and Sri Lankan teams was 1489 [India (537-8d) and Sri Lanka (952-6d)].

A total of 1462 runs were scored in the match at the loss of 17 wickets @ 86.00 runs per wicket, which is the fifth highest in all Test cricket.

South Africa’s total is the highest first innings total by a side successfully overhauled by the opponent in the second innings of the match. The previous highest such total posted was 537 for 8 declared by India against Sri Lanka in 1997-98 as Sri Lanka went on to score world record 952 for 6 declared.

Eight hundreds were scored in the Test– four from each side. In fact at least one hundred was scored on every day during the Test - two on each of the first three days and one on fourth and fifth days. The eight hundreds is now a new world record of most hundreds in a single Test. The previous record was of seven hundreds made on three separate occasions.

All eleven South African players bowled in West Indies innings during the St. John’s Test with wicket-keeper Mark Boucher ending with the best bowling average for South Africa in the match. Boucher became first South African and only the ninth wicketkeeper in Test history to take a wicket.

A total of 17 centuries were scored in the series – 9 for West Indies and 8 for South Africa. This is the joint third highest number of centuries scored in a Test series.

Gayle breaks new ground

Chris Gayle rewrote the record books on the fourth day at the Antigua Recreation Ground in St. John’s. The lanky West Indian opener became the first batsman in Test cricket history to score a triple-century against South Africa. Before Gayle, the record of playing highest individual innings against South Africa was held by Australia’s Don Bradman with an unbeaten 299 at Adelaide in 1931-32.

A total of 20 triple centuries have now been scored in Test cricket by 18 batsmen. The country-wise break-up : 6 for Australia,5 each for England and West Indies,2 for Pakistan and one each for Sri Lanka and India. Don Bradman and Brian Lara are the only batsmen to have done so twice.

Seven triple tons have been scored in the Caribbeans followed by England (6), Pakistan (3), Australia (2),New Zealand (1) and Sri Lanka (1), St. John’s is now at level with Leeds as the ground where most triple centuries (3) have been scored.Bridgetown and Kingston have seen two triple centuries apiece.

Highest scores against each country
Against    Score Batsman        For  Venue       Season
Australia  364  L Hutton        Eng  The Oval    1938
England    400* BC Lara         WI   St.John’s   2003-04
S.Africa   317  CH Gayle        WI   St.John’s   2004-05
W.Indies   337  Hanif Mohammad  Pak  Bridgetown  1957-58
N.Zealand  336* WR Hammond      Eng  Auckland    1932-33
India      340  ST Jayasuriya   SL   Colombo RP  1997-98
Pakistan   365* GStA Sobers     WI   Kingston    1957-58
Sri Lanka  299  MD Crowe        NZ   Wellington  1990-91
Zimbabwe   380  ML Hayden       Aus  Perth       2003-04
Bangladesh 261* RR Sarwan       WI   Kingston    2004

Kallis surpasses Kirsten

Jacques Kallis became the leading run-scorer for South Africa during his innings of 147 in the first innings of St.John’s Test against West Indies. Already the highest run-scorer for South Africa in shorter version of the game, Kallis surpassed Gary Kirsten’s aggregate of 7,289 runs in Test cricket. Incidentally Kallis did so in 8 Tests and 21 innings lesser than Kirsten. With his 147 Kallis also became the leading century maker for South Africa breaking the previous record of 21 centuries also held by Kirsten.

 
Performance against each opponent:
Opp Tests Inns NO Runs Hs Ave 100 50  0
Aus  12  23  2  685 101  32.62  1  4  1
Eng  20  32  2 1412 162  47.07  5  6  4
Ind   6  11  4  579 121  82.71  1  4  -
NZ    9  15  3  817 160  68.08  3  3  1
Pak   8  12  -  456 105  38.00  1  2  -
SL   12  21  2  639  87  33.63  -  5  1
WI   18  32  8 1856 177  77.33  7  9  2
Zim   6   7  3  679 189*169.75  3  3  -
BD    2   2  2  214 139*  -     1  1  -
TOTAL93 155 26 7337 189* 56.87 22 37  9
home 49  78 14 3855 177  60.23 12 21  4
away 44  77 12 3482 189* 53.56 10 16  5

Kallis’ record in ODIs
Mts Inns  NO  Runs   Hs  Ave.  100  50  0
210  201  36  7495  139  45.42  13  51 10

A world record for Shahid Afridi

In one of the best displays of power-hitting, Shahid Afridi just tore the Indian bowling apart in the Kanpur one-dayer. It took Afridi only 45 balls to reach his hundred, which is the fastest hundred against India and the second joint fastest hundred in all ODIs after his own 37-ball hundred against Sri Lanka (in 1996-97) and alongwith Brian Lara (v Bangladesh at Dhaka in 1999-00.

However the most significant aspect of Afridi’s brutal innings for me was the number of boundaries hit by him. During his stay at the wicket Afridi hit 10 fours and nine sixes, which means 94 runs came in boundaries alone out of an innings of 102 - an incredible 92.15% !!!

A thorough research into the details of all the 756 hundreds reveals the fact that Afridi's performance is the best ever in ODI history. The previous record was also held by Shahid Afridi himself. Afridi had made 88.24% of his runs in boundaries during his record breaking 102 against Sri Lanka at Nairobi in 1996-97.

Last ball defeat for India

Pakistan registered a remarkable win over India to level the series 2-2 in the fourth ODI at Ahmedabad. The match also provided the fifth instance of a side achieving the winning target against India off the last possible ball of the match. Interestingly three times out of five such instances Pakistan have inflicted the defeat including that famous last ball six by Javed Miandad in the Australasian Cup final in 1985-86.

The following table lists all instances of last ball defeats for India:

Opp Total      India's Total Venue        Date
Pak 248-9 (50)  245-7 (50)  Sharjah    18 Apr 1986
Eng 224-6 (48)  223-3 (48)  Jaipur     18 Jan 1993
Pak 196-8 (49)  195 (48.5)  Brisbane   10 Jan 2000
WI  285-6 (50)  283-6 (50)  Jamshedpur 06 Nov 2002
Pak 319-7 (48)  315-6 (48)  Ahmedabad  12 Apr 2005

Atapattu’s feat

Marvan Atapattu, by scoring 127 against New Zealand in the first Test match at Napier, joined the selected band of cricketers who have managed to score at least a century against all other Test playing countries. Atapattu is the fifth member of this exclusive club which includes Australia’s Steve Waugh, South Africa’s Gary Kirsten and India’s Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.

It rained fours and sixes in Visakhapatnam

It was amazing to see so many fours and sixes being hit in the Visakhapatnam match between India and Pakistan. Indian batsmen hit 34 fours and nine sixes and Pakistan paid back with 28 fours and seven sixes. In all 344 runs came in boundaries in the entire match! There has been only one better effort than this in the history of One-Day Internationals.

In the World Cup 1996 match between Sri Lanka and Kenya, 378 runs came off in fours and sixes with Sri Lanka scoring as many as 256 runs from boundary shots.

Yet another career-best against India

Younis Khan yesterday added his name to the ever-increasing list of batsmen who have reserved their best performance for India. Younis is the 34th batsman to score a double century against India.Of these as many as 25 also achieved their career-best score against India. A detailed look into the career statistics of these players reveals some interesting facts. West Indian Faoud Bacchus made 250 at Kanpur in 1978-79. It was the only hundred of his Test career and his highest score in first class cricket also. Surprised, then just have a look at England's David Lloyd's case. Lloyd made an unbeaten 214 in the Birmingham Test in 1974 series. In all his Test career, he did not have another score of 50 or more.

New Zealand's Graeme Dowling, who scored a match winning 239 at Christchurch in 1967-68- in a match where second highest score from either side was a paltry 74, had three centuries in his Test career. Interestingly all three came against India only. Another Kiwi batsman Bert Sutcliffe, who made unbeaten 230 at Delhi in 1955-56, had his three highest scores in Test cricket made against India. But Pakistan's Mudassar Nazar had even better record. Mudassar's first five highest scores all came against India.

Among the contemporary batsmen, Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawerdene, Australia's Ricky Ponting and now Pakistan's Younis Khan have made their highest score against India.

If we remove the minimum qualification of a double century, then as many as four players of this Pakistan side playing at Bangalore - Shahid Afridi,Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Sami and Younis Khan - have made their highest Test score against India.

Highest individual score for a visiting batsman on Indian soil

Younis Khan’s epic innings of 267 is now the highest individual innings on Indian soil by a visiting batsman. Younis bettered West Indian Rohan Kanhai’s 46 years old record. Incidentally Younis’ performance is the second best among all individual performances on Indian soil – for or against India after VVS Laxman’s 281 at Calcutta in 2000-01.

The following table lists the highest individual scores on Indian soil by visiting batsmen:

Runs   Batsman    For    Venue       Season
267  Younis Khan  Pak   Bangalore    2004-05
256  RB Kanhai    WI    Calcutta     1958-59
250  SFAF Bacchus WI    Kanpur       1978-79
242* CH Lloyd     WI    Bombay (WS)  1974-75
232* A Flower     Zim   Nagpur       2000-01
230* B Sutcliffe  NZ    Delhi        1955-56
210  DM Jones     Aus   Madras (MAC) 1986-87
207  MW Gatting   Eng   Madras (MAC) 1984-85
203  ML Hayden    Aus   Madras (MAC) 2000-01
201  G Fowler     Eng   Madras (MAC) 1984-85

Kumble's awesome performance in WON matches

Kumble played important part in Indian victory at Kolkata Test by picking up seven wickets in the second innings and ten wickets in the match. Kumble has now appeared in 31 WON matches for India. His tally is the highest for a specialist bowler -well ahead of Kapil Dev (24), Harbhajan Singh (18),Bishan Singh Bedi (17) and Javagal Srinath (17).In fact only Sachin Tendulkar has made appearance in more WON matches for India (38) than Kumble among all players.

Kumble's performance in these 31 matches has been awesome. He has taken 219 wickets at an average of 18.09 with 16 five-fors and 4 ten-wicket match hauls. Harbhajan Singh is distant second with 102 wickets in 18 WON matches.

Bowler          Tests Wkts   Ave. 5WI 10WM   SR    W/T
A Kumble         31   219  18.09  16   4   45.24  7.06
Harbhajan Singh  18   102  20.04   9   2   49.44  5.67
BS Chandrasekhar 14    98  19.28   8   1   45.42  7.00
BS Bedi          17    97  17.66   6   -   54.03  5.71
Kapil Dev        24    90  18.30   3   1   45.28  3.75
EAS Prasanna     15    81  17.62   5   1   50.41  5.40
J Srinath        17    68  20.31   2   -   48.72  4.00
SLV Raju         12    58  21.22   4   1   58.43  4.83

Tendulkar completes 10,000 runs in Test cricket

Sachin Tendulkar completed 10,000 runs in Test cricket when his score reached 27 on the opening day of Kolkata Test. Tendulkar became the second Indian and only the fifth batsman in Test history to do so. He, however, is the only one to aggregate 10,000 runs both in ODIs and Tests.

Tendulkar needed 195 innings to complete his 10,000 runs, which makes him the joint fastest along with West Indies’ Brian Lara. At 31 years 326 days Tendulkar is easily the youngest of the lot.

Click here for the complete statistical summary of Tendulkar's career http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2005/mar/16ten.htm

Dravid's amazing feat

Rahul Dravid achieved a landmark on the third day of Mohali Test, which no body seems to have taken notice of. The 103 runs partnership for the second wicket between Sehwag and Dravid was the 50th century partnership involving Dravid. He became only the third Indian and seventh batsman overall to accomplish this feat. Dravid’s frequency of 1.74 Tests for a century partnership at an average is easily the best for the batsmen appearing in the following list. It may be noted that fellow teammate Sachin Tendulkar has now participated in 57 century partnerships and he will soon overhaul Sunil Gavaskar’s Indian record.

100 Stands  Batsman For Tests
64 SR Waugh Aus 168
63 AR Border Aus 156
58 SM Gavaskar Ind 125
57 SR Tendulkar Ind 121
54 BC Lara         WI 112
50 Javed Miandad Pak 124
50 R Dravid Ind 87

Wilson's amazing world record

I was surprised to read the match reports of the second one-dayer between New Zealand and Australia which Australia won quite comprehensively.One report mentioned Gilchrist's record of dismissing first five batsman in a ODI,while the another informed that Vettori by scoring 83 in this match equalled Lance Klusener's record of highest individual score at number 8. But none mentioned a word about Jeff Wilson's amazing record.It was after a gap of 11 years and 331 days that Wilson was playing a ODI – missing 271 games for New Zealand during this period. With this Wilson obliterated all previous records of longest gap between two appearances – both in terms of time and matches.

Wilson had made his ODI debut way back in 1992-93 against Australia at home. After an unimpressive debut where he recorded a duck and conceded 58 runs off his 10 overs, Wilson made amends by playing a slashing innings at Hamilton (44 not out off 28 balls, 3 fours and one six), which gave New Zealand an exciting victory with two balls to spare. Surprisingly Wilson decided to focus on his rugby after that series and played his first match for the All Blacks before his 20th birthday. After a distinguished career in the black jersey, he retired from all rugby in 2002. Wilson then returned to the Otago Volts where he caught the eyes of the national selectors with some strong performances. He was a shock selection for New Zealand's one-day games against a World XI, which replaced the scheduled matches against Sri Lanka, who had returned after the tsunami disaster.Wilson did well, taking 3 for 6 in one of the games, and retained his place for the one-day series against Australia.He did not appear in the first game at Wellington, but played in the second match and history was made.

The previous record of missing most matches in between two appearances was of 218 matches held by South African wicket-keeper Errol Stewart. In terms of time interval, Wilson expunged England’s Wayne Larkins’ record who made a comeback after 9 years and 266 days during the 1989-90 Nehru Cup.

Pietersen’s feats

England’s Kevin Pietersen was in a fabulous form in the ODI series against South Africa as he ended the series with 454 runs at a mind blowing average of 151.33 with 3 hundreds and a fifty. Pietersen, in fact, just missed to overhaul West Indian Chris Gayle’s world record of most runs in a bilateral series. Gayle had aggregated 455 runs against India in 2002-03.

Pietersen, however, managed to equal two world records. When his score reached 58 during the course of his innings of 116 in the last game of the series, Pietersen completed his 500 runs in One-Day Internationals. It took him only 9 innings to accomplish this feat – same number of innings played by England’s Dennis Amiss to hold a long standing world record of fastest 500 runs in a career.

Pietersen also joined the selected band of cricketers who have scored thee centuries in a series / tournament. The other members of this exclusive club are England’s David Gower & Graeme Hick, Australia’s Mark Waugh (twice), West Indians Desmond Hayned & Chris Gayle,Indians Sourav Ganguly & VVS Laxman, Pakistanis Zaheer Abbas & Saeed Anwar.

Hundred off the last ball of the innings

Kevin Pietersen scored his second ODI hundred in the fifth match of seven match series against South Africa at East London yesterday. The remarkable thing with Pietersen was that he reached three-figure mark with a six off Andrew Nel off the last ball of the match.

There are very few instances in One-Day International cricket history of a batsman reaching his hundred off the last ball of the allotted overs to a side. Pietersen is the only one to have done so while batting second. Pakistan’s Yousuf Youhana is the only batsman to appear twice in this elite list. Youhana infact hit a six off the last ball of 50th over to bring up hundred on both the occasions. Pietersen and New Zealand’s McMillan are the only others to have emulated him.

McGrath: Pakistan's nemesis ?

When Glenn McGrath returned the figures of 5 for 27 in the second final of VB Series, it was the third time he was taking a five wicket-haul in the final / grand final of a tournament. McGrath now holds the record of most five-wicket hauls in the final or grand final of a tournament.He was previously at level with two West Indians Joel Garner and Curtly Ambrose, Pakistan’s Azhar Mahmood and Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan with two such instances. Interestingly on all of the three occasions, Pakistan was the opposing side. Clearly Pakistan find McGrath too hot to handle in the crunch situations.

McGrath’s today's figures are also the best by an Australian in the final of a tournament bettering Brett Lee’s 5 for 30 against England in the second final of 2002-03 VB Series.

Inzamam slowest to complete century of catches

Inzamam-ul-Haq became first Pakistani and 13th player (non wicket-keeper) in the ODI history to complete century of catches when he held Andrew Symonds off the bowling of Abdur Razzaq in the first final of VB Series. By taking 335 matches, Inzamam became the slowest to reach this mark obliterating India’s Sachin Tendulkar’s record who took 333 matches to do so.
The following table lists the fielders taking 100 catches in ODIs:

Ct	Fielder	   For	Mts	CpM    Mts for 

                                       100 Cts

156 M Azharuddin   Ind	334	0.47	231

127 AR Border	   Aus	273	0.47	219

120 CL Hooper	   WI	227	0.53	205

111 SR Waugh	   Aus	325	0.34	290

111 SP Fleming	   NZ	230	0.48	210

109 RS Mahanama	   SL	213	0.51	194

108 ME Waugh	   Aus	244	0.44	228

105 ST Jayasuriya  SL	334	0.32	305

105 JN Rhodes	   SA	245	0.43	226

104 BC Lara  	   WI	251	0.41	244

101 IVA Richards   WI	187	0.54	182

101 SR Tendulkar   Ind	342	0.30	333

100 Inzamam-ul-Haq Pak	335	0.29	335

Shahid Afridi sets a new world record of sixes

Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi today became the batsman to hit most number of sixes in one-day internationals in the first final of VB Series.

The six that he hit off Shane Watson was 189th of his career took him past Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya’s tally of 188 sixes.

Interestingly Afridi took 136 matches less than Jayasuriya to overhaul his record.Among the batsmen with 100 or more sixes in a career, Afridi's average of 1.01 sixes per innings is the best. His strike rate of 105.28 is also the highest among all the batsmen with an aggregate of 1,000 runs or more

SA-Eng tie 20th in history

The second match of the seven-match one-day international series between South Africa and England ended in a dramatic tie at Bloemfontein on Wednesday.

Needing to score eight runs for victory in the final over of the match with five wickets in hand, South Africa could score only seven, losing three wickets in the over as the match finished in a tie.

The tied match is the 20th instance in the history of one-day internationals. Australia (7) has figured in most tied matches followed by Pakistan (6), West Indies (5) and South Africa (5).

Interestingly, South Africa has been involved in five of the last six tied one-day internationals.

Click on the link for the complete list of tied one-day internationals:

http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2005/feb/03tie.htm

Comeback Kings-II

Adam Bacher returned to international cricket after a gap of seven years, when he played for South Africa in the first one-day international against England at Johannesburg on Sunday.
The 31-year-old had played the last of his eight one-day internationals against Australia in Sydney at 1997-98.
Bacher missed 183 matches for South Africa during this period, which is the fourth highest figure for any player in the shorter version of the game. The record of missing most matches in between two appearances is of 218 matches held by another South African Errol Stewart.

Click on the following link for a list of all players who missed 100 (or more) matches in between two successive appearances:

http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2005/jan/31bacher.htm

Fourth innings heroes

Swapnil Shah,a cricket fan from Bombay,currently in USA for higher studies and a regular visitor to my blog recently posed a very interesting query. Swapnil wanted to know if Sachin Tendulkar has ever been not out at the end of fourth innings - in matches that India have won, lost, and drawn?

"This is particularly relevant because it is a common belief that throughout his career, Sachin Tendulkar is always believed to have faltered in key matches/ situations. And, also, the match is never over until Sachin Tendulkar gets out !!" Swapnil further emphasised in his email.

Frankly speaking, I had no idea about Tendulkar's performance in the fourth innings of a Test match when I sat down to compile the stats. But it turned out that it is none other than Tendulkar himself, who emerges at top -atleast in matches won by India.

Tendulkar has,however,never remained unbeaten in the fourth innings in a match lost by India,which proves Swapnil's point that match is never over until Tendulkar gets out.

Most times not out in the fourth innings for a winning cause:

SR Tendulkar       6 times

R Dravid           5 times

SM Gavaskar        4 times

SC Ganguly         3 times

(7 players with 2 such occasions) 

Most times not out in the fourth innings for a losing cause:

BS Chandrasekhar   9 times

J Srinath          5 times

BS Bedi            4 times

RJ Shastri         3 times

S Madan Lal        3 times

P Sen              3 times

SMH Kirmani        3 times

Most times not out in the fourth innings in a drawn affair:

DB Vengsarkar      8 times

M Amarnath         5 times

Kapil Dev          4 times

S Madan Lal        4 times

SR Tendulkar       3 times

(8 other players with 3 such instances)

Comeback Kings

When Adam Bacher, nephew of former SA Board Chief Ali Bacher, appeared for South Africa against England at Johannesburg today, he was playing an ODI after a gap of 7 years. Bacher went on to miss 183 games for South Africa during this period.
The accompanying table lists the players making a comeback after a long gap:

Gap	Player	         Mts        Seasons   

9-266  W Larkins (Eng)	 110  1979-80 to 1989-90

8-251  ELR Stewart (SA)	 218  1993-94 to 2002-03

8-144  Faruk Ahmed (BD)   23  1990-91 to 1999

8-120  GE Bradburn (NZ)	 184  1992-93 to 2000-01

7-231  RR Singh (Ind)	 146  1988-89 to 1996-97

7-179  VC Drakes (WI)	 153  1994-95 to 2002-03

7-8    AM de Silva (SL)	  88  1985-86 to 1992-93

7-3    AM Bacher (SA)	 183  1997-98 to 2004-05

Highest totals without a fifty

Chasing West Indies’ mammoth total of 339 for 4, Pakistan managed to score 281 for 9 in their allotted 50 overs in VB Series match at Adelaide. What was intriguing with Pakistan’s effort was the fact that no batsman managed to score a fifty. Pakistan’s total is now the HIGHEST in One-day internationals not to include an individual fifty. The details:

Total  For  Vs	  Venue	     Date	  Hs Score

281-9  Pak  WI	Adelaide 28-01-2005 45-Youhana

265-6  Eng  Zim Harare   07-10-2001 47-Ramprakash

264    Aus  SL	Sydney   09-01-2003 41-Bevan

261-8  Pak  Ind Perth	 28-01-2000 44-Anwar

257-8  NZ   SA	Napier   25-03-1999 44-Parore

253-9  Aus  WI	Sydney   07-02-2001 47*-Harvey

251-8  SL   Pak Tangier  14-08-2002 42-Atapattu

Highest score against each country in ODIs

Brian Lara made a blistering 156 in the seventh match of VB Series against Pakistan at Adelaide. His innings is now the highest ever made against Pakistan in the shorter version of the game.Who held this record previously? Lara himself! He had made 153 (off 143 balls) at Sharjah in the 1993-94 Champions Trophy final.
The following table lists the highest innings played against each country.

Vs   Runs   Batsman	 For	Venue	   Date

Aus  167*  RA Smith      Eng  Birmingham 21-05-1993

Eng  189*  IVA Richards  WI   Manchester 31-05-1984

NZ   186*  SR Tendulkar  Ind  Hyderabad  08-11-1999

Pak  156   BC Lara	 WI   Adelaide   28-01-2005

WI   173   ME Waugh      Aus  Melbourne  09-02-2001

Ind  194   Saeed Anwar   Pak  Chennai    21-05-1997

SL   183   SC Ganguly    Ind  Taunton    26-05-1999

Zim  175*  Kapil Dev     Ind  T.Wells    18-06-1983

BD   153   HH Gibbs      SA   P'stroom   03-10-2002

SA   152*  CH Gayle      WI   J'burg     04-02-2004

Note : The above list is confined to Test playing
countries only

Lowest totals to include a century

Michael Clarke scored an unbeaten 103 in Australia's total of 167 in the fifth match of VB Series against Pakistan on Sunday. It will be interesting to note that Australia's total is the joint fourth lowest total in ODI history to include a century.

The record in this category belongs to England's Dennis Amiss,who made an unbeaten 100 against New Zealand in side's total of 159-3 at Swansea on July 18,1973. The following table lists the lowest ODI totals to include a century:

Total (Overs) Countries  Venue         Date  

159-3 (45.3)  Eng v NZ   Swansea   18-07-1973 DL Amiss - 100*

164-2 (39.1)  Aus v NZ   Auckland  11-03-1990 DM Jones - 102*

166-0 (33.5)  SL  v Eng  Colombo   27-03-2001 RS Kaluwitharana-102*

167-3 (44.4)  Pak v NZ   C'church  18-03-1992 Rameez Raja-119*

167-1 (36.2)  Aus v Pak  Sydney    23-01-2005 MJ Clarke - 103*

The lowest allout total to include an individual 100 is 191 by Australia v New Zealand
at Auckland on March 3,2000.DR Martyn remained unbeaten on 116 after opening the innings.No-one else could make even 25.

Is ICC justified in granting official status to Tsunami relief fund matches

ICC’s recent decision to grant official ODI status to Tsunami relief fund match has left the cricket statisticians around the world both astounded and bewildering. One fails to understand the logic behind ICC’s this ruling, which not only defies the commonsense, but is also against ICC’s own rulebook.

If you go through ICC’s regulations, you will find this in section 2 (Sub-Section B) which tells us that a match is deemed a one-day international if it meets the following qualifications:

i) All matches played in the official World Cup competition, including matches involving Associate Member countries.
ii) All matches played between the Full Member countries of ICC as part of an official tour itinerary.
iii) All matches played as part of an official tournament between Full Member countries, at an ICC-approved Associate or Affiliate Member venue.

Now the match between Asian XI and World XI does not fall into any of these categories. So how could it be deemed as an official one-day international ?

Well, you can trust them to come-up with such silly things every now and again. In fact, this is not the first time that ICC has invited the wrath of cricket statisticians. In June last year, we were told that a match is started with the toss and not as described in Laws of Cricket. There was also a lot of resentment among the statisticians about this decision (read http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2004/jul/14rule.htm ), however this latest ruling proved the last straw on camel’s back and statisticians revolted.

Bill Frindall- the topmost cricket statistician in the world- had this to say about ICC’s decision:

“This statement beggars belief. Limited-Overs International status and Records cover matches between national teams, not hot-potch multi-national games with no significance beyond fund raising. In no sense should the WCTA game qualify for inclusion. The ICC, for whom I was then statistician, dealt with this matter following the Rest of the World v England series in 1970, when we ruled that those five matches would not count in the official Test match records. And those games featured one international side.

This ruling, which should be reversed immediately, is as bizarre as your recent one declaring that a match starts when the toss is made - a monstrous flouting of the Laws of Cricket. It will not have my support, and performances in Monday's match will NOT be included in any records published under my name.”

Charlie Watt, Australia’s leading statistician, too refused to take this match in to consideration as an ODI. Many others have also expressed their anger against this decision. There are some, however, who think differently. Vic Isaacs, the founder of now defunct LOCIG and co-author of Wisden Book of Limited Overs Internationals has this to say:

“The ICC in their wisdom (if that is the correct word), have made a decision.No individual or body of statistician(s) should therefore go against this, despite their opinions.I believe the ACS & H as a body should contact ICC with their opinions, in the meantime I will include (sadly) the disputed matches until I hear differently”.

It is clear that different versions of cricket statistics will now be seen at different places creating a lot of confusion. It is only ICC who has to take responsibility for this confusion.

For many years ICC was not the slightest bit interested in the status of ODIs, and it was left to organisations such as the now defunct LOCIG, and the Association of Cricket Statisticians & Historians, England (ACS) to agree mutually to their status. However with the modernisation of the game, and because of commercial pressure, ICC now decide on the status. There is nothing one can have any objection on this. It is ICC’s prerogative being game’s governing body.

What one fails to understand is why ICC approaches important issues like this in such a non-professional manner. What stops them from let having a statistical committee, comprising of eminent statisticians, handle such things. It is baffling that ICC does not have a full time statistician on its payroll despite the fact that statistics are an integral part of the modern-day cricket. ICC could have even consulted ACS,which is the largest association of cricket statisticians world over with a membership strength of about 1,000, before deciding to grant official status to these matches. That they didn’t show any such intention is an indication of the fact how much importance they give to cricket statistics and its custodians.

In principle statisticians are bound by ICC decisions, but it is imperative that the ICC debates the issue with them before making the decision. If they do not do this, ICC cannot be too surprised if statisticians choose to ignore them.

ACS is now holding a meeting towards the end of this month to discuss this matter in full and take a decision. All member statisticians will follow the decisions taken in this meeting and there is a possibility that ACS committee could decide against ICC’s ruling. It may be recalled that ICC,in 1992, ruled that all matches played in South Africa between 1960-61 (when South Africa left the Commonwealth) and 1991-92 (when they were readmitted to the ICC) were not first class. All statisticians recognized this as a polically motivated and illogical ruling and ignored it. If this happens this time, it will be like a slap on ICC’s face and they cannot complain about it because they themselves chose this treatment.

Afridi’s assault

Shahid Afridi played gem of an innings in the second match of VB Series against Australia, scoring 56 off just 26 balls. The highlights of Afridi’s innings was two successive sixes off Glenn McGrath. Don’t think any other batsman has dared to treat McGrath in this fashion (though Afridi’s teammate Abdur Razzaq once hit McGrath for five successive fours). During the course of his innings, Afridi reached his fifty off only 24 balls (of course with a six!), which is the second fastest fifty against Australia after New Zealander Lance Cairns’ 21-ball fifty way back in 1982-83. Afridi’s strike rate of 215.38 is also the HIGHEST by any player against Australia in an innings of 50 or more.

Fastest fifties against Australia

Bls   Batsman	     For  Venue	           Date

21 BL Cairns (52)    NZ   Melbourne	13-02-1983

24 S.Afridi (56*)    Pak  Hobart   	16-01-2005

25 A Blignaut (54)   Zim  Bulawayo    	24-02-2003

26 Kapil Dev (58)    Ind  Rajkot	07-10-1986

30 SR Tendulkar (62) Ind  Visakhapatnam	03-04-2001



Best Strike-rates against Australia

(Min.Qualifiication : 50 runs)

SR	Batsman	   Rns Bls For Venue	   Date

215.38	S.Afridi    56* 26 Pak Hobart	16-01-2005

208.00	BL Cairns   52  25 NZ  Melbourne13-02-1983

192.86	AM Blignaut 54  28 Zim Bulawayo 24-02-2003

187.10	Kapil Dev   58  31 Ind Rajkot	07-10-1986

174.36	IT Botham   68  39 Eng Perth 	01-01-1987

164.10	MA Holding  64  39 WI  Perth 	05-02-1984

163.16	SR Tendulkar62  38 Ind V'patnam 03-04-2001

151.43	MA Holding  53* 35 WI  Perth 	04-01-1987

150.00	IVA Richards60* 40 WI  Sydney   18-01-1989

Gilchrist sets a new record

Adam Gilchrist set a new world record of most centuries by a keeper in Test cricket by scoring a blistering 113 in the Sydney Test against Pakistan. The century number 13 took Gilchrist past Zimbabwean Andy Flower, who the tally of Gilchrist also completed his 4,000 runs in Test cricket to become fifth wicket-keeper to perform this feat. Now only Alec Stewart (4,540 runs in 82 Tests), Andy Flower (4,404 in 55),England’s Alan Knott (4,389 in 95) and Australia’s Ian Healy (4,356 in 119) have more career runs than Gilchrist as a keeper.

The accompanying table lists the leading Test wicket-keepers in terms of centuries scored:

100s Keeper	      T   I   NO  Runs	Hs    Ave

13 AC Gilchrist(Aus) 65	  94  16  4109	204*  52.67

12 A Flower(Zim)     55	 100  18  4404	232*  53.71

8  LEG Ames(Eng)     44	  67  12  2387	149   43.40

6  AJ Stewart(Eng)   82	 145  15  4540	173   34.92

5  PJL Dujon(WI)     79	 111  11  3146	139   31.46

5  APE Knott(Eng)    95	 149  15  4389	135   32.75

5  KC Sangakkara(SL) 31	  52   3  2037	230   41.57

4  MV Boucher(SA)    76	 103  13  2782	125   30.91

4  IA Healy(Aus)    119	 182  23  4356	161*  27.40

4  Moin Khan(Pak)    66	  98   8  2581	137   28.68

4  JHB Waite(SA)     49	  84   7  2336	134   30.34