For sportstats home
page, and info in Test Cricket in Australia 1877-2002, click
here
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Z-score’s
Cricket Stats Blog The longest-running cricket stats blog on the Web
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Charles Davis: Statistician
of the Year (Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians)
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Who are the Fastest-Scoring (and Most Tenacious) Batsmen in Test
Cricket? Click Here. |
Longer articles
by Charles Davis Click Here |
A list of
“Unusual Dismissals” in Test matches |
Unusual Records. For Cricket Records you
will not see anywhere else, Click Here |
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some
remarkable first-class innings, re-scored. |
The Davis Test Match Database Online. Detailed scores for all Tests from 1877 to the 2010s have now been posted.
More than three-quarters of Tests include ball-by-ball coverage; virtually
all others offer some degree of extended detail, beyond anything previously
made available online. The starting page
is here. An information page outlining
this database is here. Major Test
Partnerships (200+) 1877 to 1970. Major Test
Partnerships (200+) 1971 to 1999. |
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******** I have
updated a list of Most consecutive balls faced without scoring, extending
it down to 50 balls. Most of this data is from the ball-by-ball database.
There are probably other cases where bbb data is not available. There is also
some uncertainty over cases drawn from non-bbb data, but which probably belong
on the list. ********** |
30 May 2026
Following up a question, I took a
look at individual bowlers and their performances against left-hand and
right-handed batsmen. This requires ball-by-ball records to produce the most
useful results. Most bowlers do better against RH than against LH. This
is because LH bats have a better overall average than RH bats. A major factor
is that far more tailenders bat RH than LH.
Not many current bowlers on this list.
Only five players have faced more than 10,000 balls
and bowled 10,000 balls in Tests.
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After his first innings at Nottingham 1947, Bruce
Mitchell waited about 520 overs before he batted again. The exact number is not
known but 520 can be reasonably be estimated. Kanhai at Bridgetown 1958 was
probably a little under 500 overs. (UPDATE: 520.2 overs, exact number) https://www.sportstats.com.au/zArchive/1940s/1947ES/1947ES1.pdf https://www.sportstats.com.au/zArchive/1950s/1957WP/1957WP1.pdf ******* Here is a posting (elsewhere) by Sreeram. I hope
he doesn’t mind me copying it. “There is an often repeated
statement that Madan Lal bowled the first ball of the world cup. The problem
with this is that there were four matches on that day and the first ball
could have been in any of them… “[However, there is a] news report that the
Lord's clock on this day was three minutes fast. Does not necessarily prove
anything but may slightly enhance the Madan Lal claim to being the first… “… the next paragraph says (after talking about
Amiss missing his hundred because of the early lunch) : "Those who go in
for clock watching at that time of the morning might have noticed that the
game started early so presumably Amiss had the full two hours" ******** |
24 April 2026
I recently updated my ‘appeals’ file, which I have
been keeping for a quarter-century now, where I identify as many balls as
possible that contained an appeal by the bowling team (Tests only). To do
this, the Cricinfo texts were searched for mention of appeals, ‘shouts’ or the many euphemisms that commentators use. It
is remarkable how many different terms crop up. They include… … beg, bellow, beseech, enquire, implore, plead,
polite enquiry, roar, scream, screech, squawk, squeal, whisper, yell, and
yelp. Overall (since 2000) about one-third of appeals
result in a wicket, including those that go through review. (This assumes
also that all batsmen out lbw, caught behind or caught at short leg, have
been subjected to an appeal.) There has been a slight trend in the success
rate of appeals. From 2001 to 2005, about 31 per cent were successful, while
from 2021 to 2025, the figure has risen to 35 per cent. There has been a
parallel decline in the number of appeals per Test, from around 46 per Test
in the early years of the century, to around 41 in this decade. The reasons
for this are not clear to me: there was not step change around 2009
(introduction of DRS) but there was such a change around 2020. Appeal Success Rates by Team 2000-2025
Here are the Top 10 ‘most appealing’ bowlers, since
2000. Note that Murali leads even though one-third of his career is missing
from the data.
The most successful bowlers, when it comes to
appeals, are all pace bowlers. (Note once again that only about half of
McGrath’s career is representated).
Minimum 250 appeals The pace bowler with the lowest success rate was
Zaheer Khan on 27 per cent. At the other end of the scale there are only
spinners. Anyone who saw the excitable Monty Panesar in action won’t be
surprised at this list. Lowest Appeal Success Rate
The spin bowler with the highest success rate is
Shakib al Hasan on 37 per cent. Interesting in light of
Bangladesh’s low success rate of 29 per cent. ******** |
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I have bought a book “Test Cricket Cavalcade
1877-1947” by E.L. Roberts (2nd edition 1948). The book claims to
be the first compilation of the complete ‘canon’ of Test matches, and I have
no reason to doubt this. The first edition in 1947 had omitted the Test in
New Zealand in 1946, but this had been granted Test status by 1948. ******** |
22 March 2026
I have completed an annual search for missed chances
in Test matches. The search has used the same technique on the Cricinfo texts
since 2002 (and some Tests earlier), flagging balls that have all manner of
synonyms and euphemisms for dropped catches, followed by individual checking
of all ‘hits’. My favourite description this year
was of a fielder who “shells an absolute soda”. (It would be much simpler if
the commentators would simply use the word “Dropped” whenever it happens.) For 2025, Australia performed best, after a couple
of years trailing South Africa and New Zealand. Overall
the top 3 or 4 teams performed at about the same level in 2025 as in the
decade overall. There was, however, a decided slide in performance by other
teams. India had a bad year, but not as bad as Sri Lanka which at 40% dropped
was at an all-time low in terms of catching success. Note, however, that Sri
Lanka played only four Tests in the year, so the sample size was marginal. Missed Chances 2025, by Team
Zimbabwe, who actually played
nine Tests in this set, had one of their best years by this measure. Ireland
and Afghanistan don’t play a lot of Tests, but overall
their drop rates have been 27% and 29% respectively. On an individual basis, there has not been a lot of
change in the records. Nathan Lyon, now with 139 missed chances off his
bowling, has passed Jimmy Anderson (136) for second place in this century,
after Stuart Broad on 144. Judging by the way Lyon
was treated in the Ashes series, it is uncertain if he will get many more
opportunities. In an interesting development, I was able to obtain a detailed list of more than
four thousand dropped chances from the CricViz database. This data goes back
to 2008, although the early years are very patchy. CricViz details 253 dropped catches for 2025, while
I found 268 (not including stumpings) in the same set of Tests. While this is
an encouraging correlation, it is also a reminder that there is a subset of
missed chances that can be a matter of opinion. Most of the excess in my data
were ‘fingertip’ or half-chances. Looking at specific disagreements, I also
found cases of drops in the CricViz data that were absent from mine, being
specifically described as falling short of the fielder in Cricinfo and Cricbuzz,
which also does detailed text descriptions. I was relieved to find that CricViz reported no
drops at all in the Multan Test between Pakistan and West Indies in January
2025, which had 19 catches. Relieved because this confirmed by own finding
(after much searching and head-scratching). The only other Tests for which I have found no
missed chances (excluding a couple of washed out or abandoned matches) are
South Africa v Zimbabwe Cape Town 2005 (17 catches) and England v New Zealand
Lord’s 2022 (22 catches). ******** Here’s another very early Test record that has stood
the test of time… Longest careers as Test Wicketkeeper
Qualification: kept wickets in their
first and last Test matches. ******** |
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Travis Head made the highest score of the match
in four out of the five recent Ashes Tests: 123 at Perth, 170 at Adelaide, 46
at Melbourne and 163 at Sydney. The only other similar case is Don Bradman in
1930 (when he set the one-series all-time record of
974 runs). Curiously (and technically), Head only top scored
three times in the series. His 123 was in an innings where only four batsmen
batted, and normally everyone has to bat in an
innings for a player to get a top score credit. But the ‘top score of match’ stat still applies.
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27 February 2026
A few years ago I started gathering, from the Cricinfo bbb texts, as much data as I
could on bowling speeds in Test matches. For some reason I did not do much
with this, but now I have updated the compilation and come up with some
averages.
The beauty of having such a long record is that it
offers data on all important bowlers in this century. This includes Shoaib
Akhtar of Pakistan, for whom I have readings on 135 balls spread over 18 Test
matches spanning eight years (1999-2007). This is a small sample, but I would
argue that it seems enough for a reasonable average. By contrast, I have 3772
balls Mitchell Starc.
Minimum 50 balls measured While you could say that the detail is debatable, it
seems to be a satisfying list, agreeing broadly with reputation. I know
little about Nahid Rana, who has played little outside the subcontinent, but
all reports are that he is very fast and the fastest bowler ever produced by
Bangladesh. We will see if he is able to sustain his speed.
I mentioned that a minimum of 50 measured balls was
applied. There is one interesting case that did not qualify. Shaun Tait only has
eight measured balls in the data, but his median is 149 with three balls over
150 kph. I remember that Tait continued to regularly register over 150 in T20
matches after being discarded from Tests. I did another check on Shoaib by extracting 130
records of bowling speed from the ODI ball-by-ball records. This produced a
median of 147.1 kph and an average of 146.4. The maximum was 161.3, which has
been cited elsewhere as a record. (I deleted a ball called at 166 kph,
presumably a typo, since the text described it as a slower ball.) Tait’s
median in ODIs, based on a larger sample of 266 balls, was 146.5 kph. There is another, much more detailed, source for
bowling speeds. The Cricviz database, has been recording most balls in recent
years, more than just a sampling. However, it has very little before 2008,
and only one Test involving Shoaib Akhtar, his last. I only have limited
access to this, but I have obtained the following comparisons.
There would appear to be some checking required in
the Cricviz data. The range for Starc, 50 to 170 kph, is quite improbable;
Lee likewise. I believe that Starc was once measured at 176 kph but that the
figure was rejected for unspecified reasons. It highlights a problem with the
speed guns: once a speed is measured it is not really
possible to go back and confirm the figure. It can be hard to
distinguish between real numbers and technical glitches. If only one ball in
a thousand is a glitch, eventually most extreme speed measurements will be
glitches. ******** While on the subject of bowling speeds, Bryan French has kindly sent me an article about
the bowling speed of the fast bowlers in the Perth Test of 1975, which recorded
some extreme speeds by Jeff Thomson. It looks reasonably rigorous to me.
Contrary to some claims (that speeds were measured at the batting end or the
full length of the pitch), the speeds were measured out of the hand, just as
the speed guns do. One thing I like about this data is that the speeds
could, in principle, be checked after the fact by re-examining the films,
which were made by high-speed cameras (with calibration). This is not
possible with the speed guns.
Recorded in the Perth Test of 1975-76 Remember that these ‘fastest’ speeds were based on
very small sample sizes. Some features: ·
Only six balls by Thomson were assessed; two of them were over 99mph! ·
The numbers refer to the fastest balls recorded, not averages. ·
There a
clear gap between Thomson and the other fast bowlers. ·
Lillee and Thomson were clobbered by Fredericks and Lloyd in that
match. ·
I don’t think that Lillee was at his fastest that day even though he
broke Kallicharran’s nose. This is supported by
preliminary testing of the equipment in another match where Lillee was about
5 kph faster. ·
Holding was playing one of his first Tests. Reportedly, he would bowl
faster in coming years. ·
I remember this Test well, and Roberts (7/54) was very fast in the
second innings! ·
Speed were also measured at the batsman’s
end. The ball slowed down by 10-15 kph by the time it reached the batsman. https://www.sportstats.com.au/articles/1975bowlingspeedtest.pdf Ultimately, it should be emphasised that sheer speed
is not the be all of pace bowling, even though here are some great bowlers
among the all-time fastest. The pace bowlers with the most wickets, Anderson
and Broad, are not among the fastest 50 in my list, while Glenn McGrath would
probably not be in the fastest 100 (there is not really
enough data for him, however). Only one out of 27 balls over 155 kph
in my data took a wicket.
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About 150 bowlers have taken a wicket in their
first over of Test cricket, but only Tareq Aziz of Bangladesh has managed to effect a run out. He did so at Gros Islet in 2004. Other
bowlers have seen a run out in their first over (JC Watkins, MA Hanley, SMSM
Senanayake) but they did not receive a run out credit. Aziz did not actually
take a wicket in said over, and only took one wicket in his career, for 261
runs. Four bowlers have taken a catch in their first
over bowling in Test cricket (i.e., a caught & bowled): JA Rudolph JS Patel WW Hinds
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13 February 2026 The recent sale ($A460,000) of a Baggy Green cap
worn by Don Bradman in 1947-48 was the second sale of a cap from that season
in the past two years. Turns out that Bradman was issued with two caps and
gave both away to members of the touring Indian team of that season. Both are
now returning to Australia. It got me looking into the Baggy Green and making
some notes … Australia adopted green caps in 1899. However, the early
caps not “baggy” but were tight-fitting (skull caps) with minimal peaks. There was a coat of arms on the caps, which is still
used today. Curiously, this is not the coat of arms of Australia (as adopted
at Federation in 1901), but an earlier version. In 1921, the Australian touring team was issued caps
with a looser fit – the “Baggy Green” (although not known by that name at the
time). For some time, these included the motto “ADVANCE AUSTRALIA”, which had
been used even before the myrtle green colour was adopted in 1899. By the
early 1930s, this motto had been simplified to “AUSTRALIA” in yellow on a red
background. The term “Baggy Green” seems to date from the 1950s,
although it did not come into wide use until the 1980s. For several decades, players were issued with new
caps for every series, sometimes multiple caps (such as Bradman’s duplicate
1948 caps). The early ones were undated. After World War II, dates (seasons)
were stitched on the caps; this was discontinued by 1973. Bradman was issued with up to 13 baggy greens.
Eleven are known to still exist. The practice of issuing multiple caps
continued up to the 1980s. Len Pascoe says that he was issued with four caps
from 1977 to 1982 (14 Tests). None were dated, unlike the late Bradman caps. Even Steve Waugh was issued with multiple caps. The
one he wore to near-destruction was not his original
Test cap. The ceremonial issuing of caps to new players began
in 1996 (Kasprowicz, Elliott) under captain Mark Taylor. From this point,
only one cap was issued to each player. A near-religious veneration of the Baggy Green
developed under captain Steve Waugh, brought to a new level by a 2003 sale of
a 1948 Bradman cap for $425,000. Allowing for inflation, this remains the
highest price paid for a Baggy Green, with the exception of
Shane Warne’s cap, auctioned for over one million dollars (ironically, only
infrequently worn – Warne preferred floppy hats) in 2020. The price was
amplified by the fact that the money was going to charity (bushfire victims). ******** |
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******** Ian Hill has alerted me to some problems with the
ball-by-ball scores of the 2000 England v West Indies series. This was in the
early days of Cricinfo’s bbb texts. These were not presented as reliable
scores, but at the time they were the only available source for the data. https://www.sportstats.com.au/zArchive/2000s/2000EW/2000EWcov.pdf ******** |
24 January 2026 Most wickets on the first 2 days of a Test (since 1920)…
Curiously, there were no Tests with more than 30
wickets on the first two scheduled days between 1912 and 1999. A number of Tests played before 1920, when wickets were poorer
and over rates high, would also feature on this list. These include three
Tests in which the full 40 wickets fell on the first two days, including the
original Ashes Test in 1882 (also Lord’s 1888 and Port Elizabeth 1895-95). ******** In response to a question, I compiled a list of
bowlers whose first over of Test cricket contained a wicket (or two). Turned
out to have exactly 150 names. The list included a few wickets that were run
outs. Most of the data (125) came from ball-by-ball records with 24 names
from the Test Cricket Lists book, from Tests that are not in the bbb
record. (There are also one or two names in TCL that have proven to be
in error, and some of the others may be regarded as unconfirmed). The 150th
name was Keith Miller, who is in neither source but
it now known to have taken a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket (in
the second innings against New Zealand in 1946, having not bowled in the
first innings). Other names from earlier times may yet come to light. Graeme Swann and Richard Johnson took two wickets in
their first over in Tests. ******** |
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At Perth, England was over 100 runs ahead with
nine second-innings wickets in hand. Yet only two sessions later, England had
lost the Test. How rare is this?... [Conditions: team 2nd innings more than 100 runs
ahead with nine or more wickets in hand. Team is bowled out and loses match,
all on the same day...] Adelaide 2006-07, after Flintoff's (in)famous
declaration at 6/551, Australia 513, England was 69/1 on final day. Out for
129, England lost by 6 wickets. Colombo 2009, Pakistan was 285/1, 135 ahead on
the last day. Out for 320 and lost by 7 wickets.
Subramanyaiah Nallamutla Hanumantha Rao Srinivasulu Nagabhushanam Hanumantha
Rao Surampudi Nethi Hanumantha Rao Sri Nagendra Hanumantha
Rao These four names are all wrong and are completely
made up. Ultimately, Indian umpiring guru Ashru Mitra provided the full name.
It is Sakaleshpur Narayana Rao Hanumantha Rao “Rao” occurs twice; it is not a typo. Narayana
Rao is his father’s name. ******** Their first scoring shot in Test cricket was a
five… Shakeel Ahmed Pak v Zim (2), Bulawayo (Queen's)
1994/95 PR Adams Cape Town 1995-96 BW Hilfenhaus Aus v SAf
(1), Johannesburg (Wanderers) 2008/09 Naeem Islam Ban v NZ (1), Chittagong 2008/09 MD Rae NZ v WI Wellington 2025-26 ******** |
15 December 2025 Yet More Data on Fast Centuries Hundred in a Session in the Fourth Innings of a Test SJ McCabe 189* Aus v SAf (2),
Johannesburg (Old Wanderers) 1935/36 A Melville 104* SAf v Eng
(1), Nottingham (Trent Bridge) 1947 NJ Astle 222 NZ v Eng (1), Christchurch 2001/02 DR Smith 105* WI v SAf
(3), Cape Town 2003/04 Mushfiqur Rahim 101 Ban v Ind (1), Chittagong
2009/10 KS Williamson 121* NZ v SL (1), Christchurch
(Hagley) 2022/23 TM Head 123 Aus v Eng (1), Perth Stadium 2025/26 Prior to Head, Williamson was the only one to do
this for a winning side. Williamson remains the only one to score a century
after tea on the 5th day to win. Speaking of Bulawayo, there is another feature of Wiaan Mulder’s 367 not out in July that I have just
noticed. He scored a century in a session twice in the one innings. He scored
131 after tea on the first day and then 103 before lunch next day. There are
only three precedents: Mulder follows Bradman (334), Hammond (336*) and
Hayden (380). Rachin Ravindra recently scored centuries in a session in
two consecutive Tests, at Bulawayo (once again, poor Zimbabwe!) and
Christchurch. ******** Another Look at DRS LBW reviews. This time including lbw decisions that did not
attract a review. A block of 177 recent Tests was examined. In eleven
of the Tests DRS was not used, so these Tests were excluded. Only Top 6
batsmen were considered. Curiously, the number of batsmen who ended up lbw in
these Tests was actually 553. This takes into account an additional 89 batsmen who were
initially given not out lbw, but the decision was overturned by a bowling
review.
Sometimes batsmen do not review an adverse decision
because no reviews are available, or they are simply in error and might well
have been not out on review. This appears to be quite uncommon, however. ******** |
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In 1976 against New Zealand in Karachi, Majid
Khan played one of the great opening innings, reaching 108 runs before lunch
on the first day. There is no full scoresheet for this match, but now Afzad Ahmed has published a book that includes a one-page
linear score (produced by Ben Lawrence) of Majid’s innings; as a result a full ball-by-ball record of the innings can be
built. My rendering of the innings can be found here. There are still only six cases of a century
before lunch on the first day. Majid’s remains the fastest; he reached 100
off 77 balls. A feature of the play is that only 18 eight-ball overs were
bowled before lunch. Only 138 balls were bowled before Majid reached his
century. Even though it was almost 50 years ago, the over rate is very
similar to modern rates. ********
******** I was asked about the unusual case of Indian
captain Ajit Wadekar, who scored 44 and 0 in two consecutive Tests in
1972-73. There are quite a lot of cases of players making identical scores in
two consecutive Tests if you include ducks, although very few involving a
score of 40 or more. Certainly the most notable of
all cases is Harbhajan Singh who scored 63 and 7 at Sydney in 2008, and then
the same at Adelaide. He did not play in the intervening Test in Perth. There are a few players who batted eight times in
four Tests without scoring a run, although all include 0 not outs, including
D Ramnarine and Chris Martin. ******** |
30 November 2025 More Data on Fast Centuries Travis Head’s century at Perth (100 off 69 balls) has
been described as one of the most remarkable in Ashes, coming in the fourth
team innings after none of the previous three had reached 200. Measured from
the start of the (team) innings, Head’s innings was the second-fastest ever,
behind a century by David Warner in 2011-12. A list of the fastest centuries,
measured in balls bowled after the batsman came to the crease, follows… Fewest Balls Bowled before a Batsman
reached a Century
Well I suppose this is much the same list as the fastest
centuries in balls faced, but it does add a bit of interesting data. The data
is from various sources: no balls may or may not be included. ******** Batsmen benefiting from DRS
overturns.
Latham was given out lbw twice (to Ebadot Hossain) in one over. ******** |
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First-class cricket at most different grounds
This table is offered with uncertainties. The
identification of grounds is sometimes difficult especially with frequent
changes of ground names. |
12 September 2025 Changing Face of Test Stats It has taken a while, but I have updated the “hotscore” file, showing
the fastest-scoring players in Test history. The update shows the impact of ‘Bazball’, with no fewer than four current England players
hurtling into the all-time Top 20. Travis Head of Australia is another bat
flying high. The Hot 100: The Fastest-Scoring Test Batsmen of All
Time Qualification: 2500 runs for
recent careers. 1,500 runs for careers ending before year 2000. Batting average greater than
20, batting position <7. Updated to September 2025.
If you relax the qualifications quite a bit to
include batsmen with just 500 runs and an average over 15, and include
tailenders, you also get an interesting list… The Fastest-Scoring Test Batsmen (500+ runs) Qualification: 500 career
runs. Batting average greater than 10. Updated September 2025.
L Amar Singh (India 1930s) scored 292
runs at 102 runs/100 balls. The extended lists are found here. At some point I
will try to update the other lists on that page, although there tends to be
little movement in the slow-scoring lists. (The previous list is here.) If you are wondering about the fastest-scoring
batsman of all, without qualification, the Australian fast bowler Jhye Richardson has faced just 14 balls in Tests and
scored 18 runs, a scoring rate of 128 runs /100 balls. His last Test
appearance was in 2021, so he could conceivably play again. ******** There have also been changes at the top in the area of head-to-head, batsman v bowler stats. After
Virat Kohli/Nathan Lyon just failed to take the top spot from Smith/Broad
last Australian season, Joe Root, facing Ravi Jadeja, swept in to pass the 600 run mark. Here is a short
article I wrote on the subject for a magazine. ******** |
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29 August 2025 1902 Revisited The
1902 England-Australia Tests still rank among the finest and most memorable
Ashes series. For the statistician, however, it is a frustrating series in
that it is poorly represented by original scorebooks. At the Australian end,
no tour book is known, and in England only one full Test score (Edgbaston)
survives, along with a partial score (lacking bowling details) for the
Manchester Test. Now
there has been some progress, and on a couple of fronts. Simon Wilde has
published a fascinating book “Chasing Jessop” about 1902 and focussing
on Gilbert Jessop’s famed 104 at The Oval, where England won by one wicket.
Using the ever-expanding British Newspaper Archive, Wilde has uncovered some
new sources, a couple of which give ball-by-ball accounts for Jessop’s hundred.
Wilde found the source of Gerald Brodribb’s account, a source that had eluded
me for a long time. It was not in a daily newspaper, but in The Athletic
News and Cyclists’ Journal, a weekly published five days after the event.
Test
1 Edgbaston: reconstructed ball-by-ball from a full scorebook. Test
4 Old Trafford Aus 1st innings
reconstructed by me some years ago from newspaper reports and the partial
scorebook. Could do with more work. Test
5 The Oval: full reconstruction of England 2nd innings by S Wilde. The
cover page for the series, with the updated files, is
here. ******** |
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A report in the Adelaide Chronicle for the 5th
day of the Adelaide Test in 1907-08 (15th January) claimed that
the temperature reached 111 degrees Fahrenheit (44 Celsius). I wondered about
the accuracy of this, but the Adelaide Register and the Advertiser both gave
an official maximum for the city that day of 111.4 degrees “in the shade and
153 degrees in the sun”. The temperature at Eucla in W.A. was recorded as 122
in the shade (50 Celsius) and “179 in the sun” (!). John Benaud has a book out about the 1973
Australian tour of West Indies: “The First
Ball after Lunch”. There are
a couple of little snippets that show up how cricket, and society, have
changed. Benaud mentions player payments from the time: A$200 per Test plus a
few allowances. Sponsorship was starting to add to this, but not by a lot.
I seem to recall that one of Allan Border’s
children was born while he was batting in a Test. It was one of the only days
of his career where he was dismissed twice. ******** |
Bob Simpson 1936-2025 I saw Bob Simpson play from time to time in the late
60s/early70s. He played in Sydney for Western Suburbs 1st Grade, whose home
ground was near our home. Having retired too early from first-class cricket,
he was still one of the best bats in the world, and he rather terrorised the
Club bowlers. He was one of a cohort of Australians at the time who gave up
the game because of poor pay and the need to make a career elsewhere. My father was a 1st grade umpire and knew Bob. One
day when Wests were playing away and Dad was umpiring
I spent the day watching (getting out of Mum's hair). Bob gave us a lift
home. Dad introduced me. I was too shy to say anything much, but I was most
impressed that Dad and Bob were on a first name basis and chatted all the way
home. My school friend Malcolm Gorham was a cricket (and
Simpson) fanatic. While still at school, he had managed to get a gig as
Western Suburbs scorer, using linear scoring. Malcolm went on to score Test
matches at the SCG, but died (far too young) decades
ago. Simpson famously returned to Tests in 1977 after a
10-year break and scored a couple more centuries. Simpson’s passing on August 15 brings to five the
number of players from the 1966-67 tour of South Africa who have died in the
last few months. I can't find any other cases of five members of a team
passing away so close to one another. The nearest I found was five deaths in
639 days for the South African team that played in Durban in Durban in
1935-36.
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The shortening of boundaries, which have been in
place for more than 20 years now, has led to shots for three becoming far
less common. The most in this decade is 45 at Brisbane in 2020-21. There were 85 threes in the Ashes Test at
Adelaide Oval in 1994-95. Of the historical Top 20 where data is available,
ten were at the MCG. At Headingly in 2023, there were no threes at
all. ******** A minor record: Wiaan Mulder’s
367* at Bulawayo is the highest score by a batsman who was dismissed by a no
ball: previously Warner 335*. Mulder was 'bowled' by LT Chivanga on 247. I believe that Len Hutton was caught in the deep
off a no ball when he made 364, although in those days with the early call it
was effectively a free hit. Most runs added after being dismissed by a no
ball: 279 by Sangakkara (287). Dale Steyn 'bowled' Sangakkara and had him
dropped in the same over. The pair then added more than 600 runs. |
14 August 2025 I thought I'd share an observation about the recent
resurgence in batsmen retiring hurt. The incidence of retirements has jumped
in the last few years. I wouldn’t read too much into each fluctuation in the
figures, but there are definitely some trends.
******** UPDATE of a list from only a couple of weeks ago. At
The Oval, for the second time in the series, the losing side scored more runs
off the bat than the winning side. At Lord’s England had beaten India by 22
runs, at The Oval it was India winning by 5 runs. There had only been four
previous such Tests in all Test history. Winning a Test with fewer runs off the bat
Tests won by runs margin with no
follow-on. In the 1992 match, Sri Lanka managed to bowl 53 no balls
to Australia’s 19, and lost by 16 runs. At the Oval,
England bowled 22 wides to India’s 11 and lost by 5 runs. |
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Forty years ago (1985) I was travelling around
southern Africa, part of a 5-month round the world trip which also took me to
North America and Europe. It was mostly low budget solo travel - I never
spent more than $20 on a night's accommodation, even in Switzerland - but I
did join small group tours to remoter places like Namibia and Botswana. Since I wasn't completely broke when I got home to
Sydney, I drove up to Cairns and beyond for a bit. Don't ask me why. After
that I WAS completely broke. I have written down a few little memories of that
trip and my other travels last Century. https://www.sportstats.com.au/Travel/Travelslist.pdf ******** Making a Century after being dropped
first ball…
Since 2002 only. The Hussey case is debatable and may
not have been a dropped catch. |
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Much has been said about records set in the
Kingston Test, with West Indies bowled out for 27. Some adds… The innings saw the slowest over rate in Test
history for a complete innings – around 55 balls per hour (pending a check of
times). One could argue mitigating circumstances. ******** In 1974 Gerald Brodribb published a biography of
Gilbert Jessop (The Croucher) that included a ball-by-ball summary of
Jessop’s famous 104 in the Oval Test of 1902. Brodribb did not name his
source, and over many years I have not been able to locate it. Such
frustration. ********* I try to record fielder locations for all catches
in Tests. In the Lord’s Test, Washington c Brook v Archer was the first catch
by a longstop that I have noted since Tom Horan took a couple in 1879 ! I have often thought that longstop would be a
useful position in T20 with all those ramp shots, but I haven't seen it in
Tests. I don't know if anyone recalls anything similar. ******** Most runs on first day as a Test captain…
******** At Hyderabad in 1983, Javed Miandad faced a hat-trick
ball from BS Sandhu and went on to score 280 not out in a partnership of 451
with Mudassar. Gavaskar probably faced a hat-trick ball to start
his 236 at Chennai but I don't have enough detail to be sure. None of the
reports I have specifically says so. I only have ball-by-ball data for about 80-85% of
hat-trick balls. If wickets are taken with the last two balls of an over,
then either bat could face the hat-trick ball. ******** |
20 July 2025 I have written before (as long ago as 2006!) about the
intriguing limited-overs match in South Africa in 1967 between the touring
Australians and a “Sports Roundup Invitation XI”, effectively a fully-representative South Africa. Although not
‘official’, it has enough hallmarks of a One-Day International to be
recognised as the first such match (IMHO).
South African XI v Australians, 50-over match,
Johannesburg 4-Mar-1967
Australia
Innings FoW
TR Veivers retired hurt at 5 for 276. South
Africa Innings FoW
The match was 50 (6-ball) overs a side, with bowlers
limited to 11 overs. Although arguably played in a ‘picnic’ atmosphere, there
was money at stake; it was taken seriously enough for the keeper Brian Taber
to be dropped and Simpson taking the gloves to strengthen the Australians
batting. Grahame Thomas of NSW was in the team and scored 70; he had not
played in the Tests, but his mere presence in apartheid South Africa is
interesting in that he was part-aboriginal – especially in
light of the D’Oliveira affair less than two
years later. For the South Africans, the first appearance of Barry Richards
is notable. Keith Stackpole hit a ball from fast man Peter
Pollock clean out of the ground, but was out next
ball. Tom Veivers then came in and appears to have retired hurt first ball;
he did not bowl later. The over eventually cost 10 runs even with two wickets
(Stackpole, Thomas) plus Veivers’ retirement (1 leg
bye, 6, W, RH, 3, W). The match was scored by two women, “Miss P Williams
and Miss SR Hall”. Tour scorer M (Mitch?) McClennan is also named, but the
score is not in his handwriting. (I believe that McClennan was a South
African scorer contracted to score on the tour; he also did 1957-58). An
image of a page from the score is here. I have posted
before an article on
the match by Alf Batchelor. ******** At Lord’s England beat India by 22 runs in spite of hitting fewer runs off the bat. There have
only been five such Tests… Winning a Test with fewer runs off the bat
Tests won by runs margin with no
follow-on. In the 1992 match, Sri Lanka managed to bowl 53 no
balls to Australia’s 19, and lost by 16 runs. ******** |
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250 and 150 in a first-class match. Dhruv Shorey, 252* and 150* Delhi v Assam 2022-23 Shubman Gill 269 and 161, Edgbaston 2025 Warwick Armstrong came very close in 1920: 157*
and 245 in a Sheffield Shield match ******** At Hyderabad in 1983, Javed Miandad faced a hat-trick
ball from BS Sandhu and went on to score 280 not out in a partnership of 451
with Mudassar. Gavaskar probably faced a hat-trick ball to start
his 236 but I don't have enough detail to be sure. None of the reports I have
specifically says so. I only have ball-by-ball data for about 80-85% of
hat-trick balls. If wickets are taken with the last two balls of an over,
then either bat could face the hat-trick ball. ****** |
11 July 2025 Here is a broad look at a ‘batting decay curve’, the
number of innings by recognised batsmen (those with median batting positions 1
to 6) at every level of scoring. I have taken the liberty of including not
outs by adding the batsman’s career average to the score (this can be
supported statistically, in a broad sense). So an
innings of 100 not out by a batsman who averages 50 registers as a score
equivalent to 150. Above a score of 50, I have pooled results to smooth
the curve. So the point at 110 represents the
average of scores 106 to 115. The size of the pool is larger at very high
(and rarer) scores. Averaging out at the high end, across a wide pool, can
give values less than 1.
The graph is log-linear because the results are
exponential, with quite a good fit to a simple exponential decay curve (the
trendline is based on data from 15 to 300). Put simply, a batsman’s chances
of getting out when he reaches a given score is about 2.6 per cent, and this
applies, in a broad sense, at all scores from about 20 all the way to 300 or
beyond. Naturally, individual batsmen can and do deviate from this trend, but
the averages are fairly consistent. There are some general deviations, though. That 2.6
per cent probability of getting out doesn’t settle down until a score of
about 15. In particular, There are more than 4200
ducks which represent about 15 per cent of all innings. Between 50 and 100,
the chances of getting out are slightly lower than the long-view average,
while from 200 to 250, the chances are a bit higher. ******** 400 runs in a first-class match without
a quadruple century
[Note: EDITED the Perera instance was left out of
the original table.] |
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“Substitute” bowlers taking a wicket
in same over
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16 April 2025 More on
1957 I mentioned in February the discovery
of some Balls Faced figures for the 1957 England/West Indies series, found in
the Daily Express newspaper. Previously, I had calculated balls faced
figures by re-scoring surviving scorebooks. I have now tabulated these and compared them to the Express
figures (where available – not all innings were covered) at the link. The comparison
was disconcerting in places, in that there were many differences between the
two data sets. In my original analysis, I had already flagged the fact that
anomalies, even provable errors, had cropped up in some of the scores. This
was not uncommon in scores from this era. Additional uncertainty was created
because byes and leg byes were not marked in the scores; I had to estimate
their position in a way that preserved the batsmen’s runs scored and sequence
of scoring strokes. As a result, balls faced for most large innings contained
uncertainties. If Cowdrey faced
613 balls, then his century came off 527 balls; I previously had 535. The 527
is still the slowest known Test century of all time, although Nazar Mohammad may have exceeded this at Lucknow in
1952-53 (no published figures for Balls faced, but Nazar batted 174 overs to
reach 100, to Cowdrey’s 166). An additional
problem with this innings is the difference in balls faced by the openers.
The rescore gives Peter Richardson 100 balls but the Express says 119,
a wide gap. Once again there are identifiable errors in the score, so maybe
we should accept the Express numbers. But note that the 119 balls
would require about 62 % of the strike to Brian Close’s 38 %, possible but
rather unusual for a 32-over partnership. ******** |
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I have been alerted to a problem with
ball-by-ball files that were posted recently in the online database, wherein
the over-by-over bowler figures could be seriously wrong with respect to runs
conceded. Other columns did not exhibit any problems, so the actual
ball-by-ball data were correct apart from those runs conceded. The problem
cropped up especially in Tests from October 2010 to November 2011. These have
all been fixed now. ******** I was watching the European Club championships,
for a laugh. One team need 65 off the last 17 balls and got them with a ball
to spare. One batsman reached 47 off 10 balls but was out next ball trying to
reach his 50. ******** At Bulawayo in January, Sean Williams was given
not out caught behind, but then walked (there was no
DRS in that Test). I wonder if there are any other examples in recent times.
I recall that Ravi Ashwin once walked when there was no appeal. ******** One thing that has become clear in the DRS era is
that batsmen frequently do not have a clue whether they are out or not, and
even if certain about being not out they can be wrong. There are more than
120 cases of batsmen going to DRS after being given out caught behind, when
in fact they had hit the ball. Many of them were probably hoping for some
glitch in the DRS, but there must also be many who were just kidding
themselves that they hadn't hit the ball. Likewise there must be cases of batsmen who think they
hit the ball but didn't. Lara may be one of them. Mitchell Marsh appeared to
walk before the umpire's decision, after missing the ball at Adelaide in
December. |
4 April 2025 Back pain is making life a bit of a misery at the moment; I am slowing down. Anyway, here is some
broader data on dropped catches over the last eight years on a team basis,
drawn from Cricinfo’s ball-by-ball texts. I won’t say much about it; make of it what you will.
There is a broad but slight improvement trend in this century, but results
for individuals years for particular
countries can vary a lot. I am a bit mystified by Pakistan’s good
showing in some years. My general impression has been that Pakistan is a weak
catching team, but they seem to have spells of very good results. I mentioned
recently that I could not find any dropped catches at all in a recent Test
involving Pakistan at Multan. That Test was in 2025 and is not included in
the data here.
Using the Cricinfo bbb texts, I have analysed more
than one thousand Tests for dropped catches going back to 2001. (I started
this process around 2008 but went back and did some earlier Tests from 2001
on, and a few from 1999 and 2000). I have also obtained drop catch data for
almost 400 earlier Tests, the majority involving Australia or England. The
total represents drop catch data for about 55 per cent of all Tests. ******** |
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A small adjustment; at Bridgetown in 1983, West
Indies target of just one run was reached with a no ball bowled by Kirmani.
While Kirmani was (correctly) recorded as bowling 0.1 overs, it can be
confirmed that he bowled two deliveries to Greenidge (source, Barbados Advocate) including
the no ball from "a run up longer than Michael Holding's".
Greenidge did not hit either delivery. https://www.sportstats.com.au/zArchive/1980s/1982WI/1982WI4.pdf ******** |
12 March 2025 Four Wickets in Five Balls: a Discovery Coming back from an Antarctic cruise, I found that
the ACS Journal has published a little article of mine, on the discovery of a
previously unknown case of four wickets in five balls in a Test match, taken
by Imran Khan in a Test match at Sialkot in 1985. The discovery was made by
my Pakistan contact Shahzad Khan, hence he is listed
as lead author. I have rendered the score supplied by Shahzad into
ball-by-ball form, as best as I was able. Although the score, like many from
the subcontinent in the 1980s, contained anomalies and unexplained
inconsistencies, the section containing Imran’s feat was not in doubt. https://www.sportstats.com.au/zArchive/1980s/1985PL/1985PL2bbb1.pdf https://www.sportstats.com.au/zArchive/1980s/1985PL/1985PL2.pdf ******** |
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The England Women managed to drop seven catches
in one day on the way to being clobbered by an innings in the Test at the
MCG. I can find only one men’s Test team that can top that – Pakistan v
England at Faisalabad on 22nd Nov 2005, dropping eight catches and
taking only two on the third day of the Test. ******** |
2 February 2025 Early Reports of Balls Faced in
Tests
I wondered if
this reporting might have been related to Bill Ferguson coming out of
retirement to score this series. However, the Express maintained this
style right through the series including the 5th Test, even after Ferguson
suffered a terrible misfortune after the 4th Test. I haven’t seen a full
description of what happened to Fergie, but it appears that he had a bad fall
at a hotel in August, was in hospital for quite some time, then died on 22nd September shortly after
being discharged from hospital. He did not score the final Test of the series
in August. This was the
first year of such detailed reporting in the Express. In 1956, there
was a column for minutes batted but not Balls Faced. After 1957, the BF
reporting continued up to 1961 for home Tests. They gave up on it for the
1962 Tests, and it is a shame that it didn’t catch on elsewhere. It has created a
bit of a problem; the BF data found so far is sometimes difficult to reconcile fully with my
own re-scoring of the traditional scoresheets preserved from this series. I
will have to study this more at some stage. The Daily
Express has been a paper that has mostly been out of reach in Australia
in the past. The extended British Newspaper Archive (subscription required)
has been progressively adding more years of this most useful paper to its
online service. ******** Compiling some more dropped catch reports, I found
up to seven missed chances in a single innings of 234 by Rahmat Shah of
Afghanistan against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo last month. This would be a
modern-day record, comparable to the all-time high set by Bonnor in 1883.
However, some are ambiguous and opinions may vary on which if any should be
excluded. Here are the Cricinfo descriptions... 10.4^2&Nyamhuri to Rahmat, 2 runs,dropped by Myers at the gully region! Short of
a length ball angling away with extra
bounce, slices it straight to the gully fielder, tires to reverse cup it and goes
through the hands of Myers!,, 18.4^•&Muzarabani to Rahmat, no run,Back of a length ball on the fifth stump line,
punches off the back foot, thick
outside edge to the gully fielder, dives to his left-side and grassed it! Myers is the
fielder there, dropped his second
today, both chances were extremely difficult though.,, 28.5^4&Williams to Rahmat, FOUR runs,dropped again! Quicker length ball cuts it
square and thick outside edge past
the first slip fielder, similar to the one
Ervine dropped earlier, shoulder
height and slow reaction from the fielder,, 37.2^3&Williams to Rahmat, 3 runs,chance! Full ball just outside off. Turning
away and Rahmat attempts a drive.
Takes the outside edge and goes past the diving first slip fielder. Down to deep third for three runs
with Mavuta's slide stopping the boundary,, 79.6^1&Williams to Rahmat, 1 run,dropped! Last ball before the second new ball
gets available! Full ball on middle,
Rahmat comes down the track, lifts it down
the V, and Nyamhuri at long-on has misjudged
it! He runs in, then tries to
backtrack, and all he can get is a fingertip! Williams looks
disappointed and Shahidi survives,, 92.5^•&Muzarabani to Rahmat, no run,Muzarabani dropped a sitter! Back of a length
ball on the leg stump, plays the leg
glance shot early and finds the leading edge, hits it straight back to the bowler, easy
pickings for the bowler and Muzarabani fumbles it!,, 116.4^•&Williams to Rahmat, no run,Another dropped catch? Back of a length ball
turning away on the off stump, plays
the square cut late, extra bounce and might have outside edged back to the keeper, Gumbie
failed to grab the ball. The reaction
from Ervine at the first slip position explains everything.,, AND here are the
Cricbuzz descriptions. There are certainly some differences... 10.4 Newman Nyamhuri
to Rahmat, 2 runs, dropped! Back of a length outside off, Rahmat cuts and doesn't bother to
keep it down. Goes quickly to gully and
Dion Myers fails to hold onto it. Tries to reverse-cup and the ball
bursts through his palms 18.4 Muzarabani to
Rahmat, no run, back of length and wide, Rahmat pushes at it away from the body and the ball takes a
thick edge. Dies down onto the gully
fielder who was leaping forward. Just short 28.5 Williams to Rahmat, FOUR, dropped! short
on length onto off, Rahmat tries to
cut and gets an edge that flies to the left of first slip. Whizzes past him before he could react and runs away
for four 37.2 Williams to Rahmat, 3 runs, slower
through the air, Rahmat goes for the drive and the outside edge beats a diving Ervine to his
right at first slip 79.6 Williams to Rahmat, 1 run, dropped! A
miscued lofted drive from Rahmat
after he shimmies down the track. Nyamhuri
backpedals from deep-ish mid-on and fails to hold onto it as he tries to
catch it overhead. Another reprieve
for Rahmat! Williams won't be happy with that 92.5 Muzarabani to Rahmat,
no run, dropped! Back of length and gets some extra bounce onto off stump, Rahmat tried to
clip it leg side but gets a leading
edge that lobs back to the bowler. A simple return catch put down by
the bowler. Rahmat Shah gets two
lives in this over! 116.4 Williams to Rahmat, no run, short and
extra bounce outside off, goes over
the attempted cut I concluded that the 37.2 “3 runs,chance!” incident was not really a dropped
catch. (Some reporters don’t use ‘chance’ to mean a dropped catch.) That leaves us
with six dropped catches in Rahmat’s innings. A couple of little extras on dropped catches... -
When Harry Brook scored 171 at Christchurch, he was missed five times.
This equals an England 'record' (again, very much a 'where known' record) of
WG Grace (170) in 1886. As often happens, there is some ambiguity about
Brooks' tally: one of the misses was called leg bye by the umpire,
but was clearly off the bat on replay. If the keeper had made the
catch, a review would have overturned the leg bye call, so it should stand as
a dropped catch. -
I could not find a single dropped catch in the first Test between West
Indies and Pakistan at Multan a few weeks ago. A contact of mine who also
follows these things (Garry Morgan) concurs. In the last 20-odd years I think
that there are only a couple of other completed Tests where I could not find
any misses. I have updated a list of the most fumble-favoured
innings in Tests. Naturally, there could be others yet to be recognised… Batsmen dropped most times in a Test
innings (where known)
UPDATE: Trevor Bailey was reportedly dropped five
times in making 82 against West Indies at Lord’s in 1957. ******** |
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At the start of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
series, Virat Kohli needed 49 runs of Nathan Lyon's bowling to set a new
head-to-head record. However, he managed only 44 runs off Lyon in 5
Tests, taking him to 573 runs, short of the 577 by Steve Smith off Broad.
Kohli did manage to top Pujara's take off Lyon of 571 runs. Most would have backed Kohli to take this record,
but a combination of Kohli's indifferent form, and Lyon hardly being given a
proper bowl, denied him. It is conceivable that they will play one another
again. ******** A few little notes from a day at the cricket... There was a 'double overthrow', although only 3
runs were scored. I know Allan Knott once got a seven this way, but does
anyone know of other instances? There were no
advertising logos painted on the (hallowed) turf, just one word
"Melbourne" at the east end. I wonder if this was a change of
policy, or not enough sponsorship. I saw Mike Walsh's name as one of the official
scorers. Mike first scored a Test match at the MCG in 1980-81. Eden Gardens’ record for biggest whole-Test crowd
still stands, although this match was the biggest accurately-counted
match. ******** As far as long-serving scorers go, Dr Murray
Power has been scoring for Ireland since 1976, although full Test matches
only started for Ireland much more recently. Apparently the MCG Test was Mike Walsh’s 101st Test
as scorer. Amazingly he is only halfway to Bill Ferguson’s tally. I saw an
inaccurate number given online for Fergie and took a closer look. Fergie
himself claimed that he scored 204 Tests. However, this includes the final
test of 1930-31, whereas the surviving score for this Test includes a note
that Fergie was ill and there was a stand-in scorer. ******** In the 1982-83 Ashes, Ian Botham either batted or
bowled on all 25 days of the five-Test series. Wally Hammond batted or bowled on 30 days of the
1928-29 series, but there were 33 days play in that series (Timeless Tests). There were only 21 days in the 2009 Ashes, but
Stuart Broad batted or bowled on all of them. Also on 21, VS Hazare in Aus in
1947-48, KR Miller in 1950-51 Ashes, and NAT Adcock SA v Eng 1960. Haven't checked these numbers thoroughly. Data is
from bbb files only. ******** |
13 January 2025 Sobers – Separating his Bowling
Styles I have been asked a few times over the years about
Garry Sobers’ variety of bowling styles and what contribution each style made
to his statistics – has anyone compiled any data on this question? I haven’t
seen any, so I took a little time and did some research on this. Unfortunately the surviving scorebooks provide almost no relevant
information, with no specification of bowling styles at different times. So I turned to detailed newspaper reports and/or film
highlights where available – ten series in all. The selected series extended
from 1959-60 to 1973, covering 44 Tests in all, more than half of Sobers’
Tests in this period. In a few of the Tests, Sobers took no wickets. In
the Tests where he took wickets, I was able to distinguish between pace and
spin for all his wickets, almost 150 of his 235 career wickets. Results look
like so… Garfield
Sobers – Wickets by Bowling Type (Selected Series)
(Unfortunately, in most cases I wasn’t always able
to glean enough info to distinguish between Sobers’ finger-spin and
wrist-spin styles. Sobers said in his autobiography that he stopped bowling
wrist spin after 1966 due to shoulder problems.) While this is not necessarily a random sampling of
Sobers’ Tests in this period, it is quite a large sample. There were about 15 Tests out of the 44 in which he
took wickets with both pace and spin within the same match. There is definitely a
historical pattern. While I didn’t do detailed research prior to 1960, what I
did see suggested that all Sobers’ early wickets were taken with spin bowling
– finger-spin I think (although some reports talk of him bowling “leg breaks”
which I take to mean left arm orthodox). Sobers had been selected initially
as a spin bowler, but within a few years he was setting world records as a
batsman, while his bowling efforts were moderate at best. In 1960-61, he
introduced his pace bowling style, probably because the team touring
Australia was already stronger in spin than pace. In 1961-62 at home, wickets
were more spin friendly and he took most of his
wickets accordingly. For a number of years, he mixed
his bowling styles with considerable success. In later Tests, after 1968-69 in Australia, the
table shows that Sobers bowled less and less spin.
This was also evident in detailed film highlights of the World XI matches in
1971-72, where all the bowling that I could see was pace bowling. Here is a second table summarising all of Sobers’
Test wickets. Some estimates are necessary but I
think the final result would be reasonably robust.
I would stress that I have no information on the
number of overs or runs conceded using the different styles in the above
tables. Note that Sobers’ bowling average in his spin-only stage up to 1960
was a rather indifferent 45.0 (32 Tests, 40 wickets). His bowling average in
his later pace-only Tests from 1969 was 30.9 (20 Tests, 53 wickets). I note that some reporters describe his pace bowling
as “medium pace” and others say “fast-medium”. I don’t know if the
distinctions are meaningful; others may know more about this. ********* Sam Konstas, in the MCG Test against India, scored
his first 50 runs in Test cricket just 66 minutes into his first Test match,
facing 52 balls. Probably the fastest for any player: PP Shaw took about 75
minutes for India in 2018, although that time is only an estimate. Shaw
scored 75 before lunch, the most (in a strictly 2-hour session) by any
debutant on the first day. LJ Tancred scored 87 before lunch on debut in
1902, in a slightly extended session. Konstas’s 60
runs was also just shy of Rick Darling’s 61 before lunch on debut in 1978. ******** Fewest Balls Faced for an Innings over
60, All Tests
Complete innings only. Others have reached 60 in
fewer balls, but they continued batting. ******** |
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