General Cricket Thread ...

[Sin Hombre]

Luck has been on England's side all summer.

Got to the WC semis with some pitch engineering after 3 defeats and needed insane amounts to tie NZ twice in the finals.

Stokes played an excellent innings here, though he was dropped once, should have been run out, and was given a reprieve by the umpires on a lbw with 2 runs remaining (and Aus with no reviews).

[ankit1407]

Nothing to take away from what was an absolute master class from him ; well you do need some luck and he got it with 2 runs remaining with Lyon messing a simple run out and umpire doing what they have done most of this series ..

[S_K_S]

Read this....

[prasen9]

I used to join the irc channel #cricket and get ball by ball commentary. That was the true precursor to Cricinfo. RSC was a good forum but that was more like this forum where we would report results. There was tons of trolling and fighting all the time. So, I stopped going there. Have not gone there for a while.

*The* most classic post ever on RSC was this (emphasis mine). I have no idea what the Tamil words mean but there is enough to literally rofl.

Azharuddheen is putting second highest service in batting for India in
bad positions. First is Dravid. Tendulker is getting own money to
increase and getting support from gavaskar, vengasker and
krishnamachari type fellows.
every body is saying Australia is first in the top position for winning
the world cup. When austrlia came to senai I was also thinking that
sane warne and other bowlers will be danger for our team. Every body
was saying Tendulker can hold sane warne bowling better than all the
peoples. But in first inning tendulker was going for kattu-adi mattu-
adu batting and was not holding sane warne's balls. Sane warne got
tendulker to go into public toilet and gave only 5 runs. Every body was
afraid of sane warne. That time Dravid who is from our boys, came
forward and was holding sane warnes balls for 8 or 9 wickets. One ball
also was not in giving him any type problems. Why? he is not putting
bet, he is not getting own name up and india name down and he is
keeping the national service in front of personal service. Every OBC
boy has given good type of service like thin in the army. Even Pakistan
army was openly saying that in 1972, 1975 we are not making India go to
the public toilet becuase OBC boys are putting their chest into the
bullets, guns and other type of attack and India is coming forward.
Eating brinjal cannot make you hero or make health body.
In caclutta also Azharuddheen is holding all sane warne's balls and
putting them into boundary. All australian type fellows are looking for
his balls and standing near boundary. Even sane warne said openly that
azharuddheen and Dravid can hold my balls and put boundaries and so we
are not geting victories. Why? he is from muslim boys. But
Krishnamchari type fellows are giving chance only for brinjal eating
type fellows. Snake will know snake's legs and paapan will speak like
paapan's parrot.

venkat was in captaincy position for three times and India came back to
home with baandinakku. kapil Deve, punjabi OBC type fellow, pushed the
world cup to fall into India. Why? becuase Venkat is asking for his
friends and his boys to play for India. If gavaskar and tendulker are
so great why is there no world cup falling into india for 30 years?
putting bet is not own money but India's name is in public toilet.

I am asking all of you openly to think who is giving service to India?
and we will give clappings for those fellows

1. Dravid
2. Azharuddheen
3. Sinddhu
4. Dodda
5. karim

Other fellows can try to eat brinjal in the back area and ask for some
paisa from good players.

Yours Faithfully
Perumselva Pandiyan

[Prashant]

That is a classic indeed!

Prasen, I was a regular on rec.sport.cricket roughly 1995-2000, before drifting away from Usenet in general. Maybe we encountered each other back then.

[PKBasu]

So you guys missed the early years of Cricinfo, which started in 1992 or thereabouts...?

[prasen9]

No, I was on irc chats. Cricinfo started as a channel on irc chats. I came to the U.S. in 1993. At that time there were no browsers. Except maybe lynx a text browser. And its precursor NCSA Mosaic. That started first. We used to get ball by ball commentary on irc chat. That had the cricinfo channel.

[prasen9]

The Aussies retain the Ashes. Smith (and Labu) with the bat and Hazlewood and Cummins with the ball with bits and pieces here and there by others. What a folly it was to not have Hazlewood in the first test and the WC! Starc was slightly better than Pattinson but I like Pattinson longer term because Starc can be very erratic.

The English have had Stokes and I suppose Burns has done decently as an opener. Archer has been spectacular. Broad has been good. I suppose Woakes was okay. Overton is useless. England should go with Toby Roland-Jones. Or someone else. Not playing Sam Curran is stupid, I think.

[prasen9]

I wanted to check if today's tailenders are batting better than their predecessors in test cricket. Here are the results:

Code: Select all

Decade	Players	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	AveDescending	100	50	0	
1930s	158	66	211	43	2662	79	15.84		0	13	30	
1970s	139	113	199	55	2162	81	15.01		0	6	30	
1870s	14	3	22	5	244	52	14.35		0	1	3	
1890s	67	27	101	16	1156	134*	13.60		1	1	13	
1980s	202	225	294	86	2709	90	13.02		0	7	45	
2010s	1079	927	1356	420	11423	88	12.20		0	18	215	
2000s	504	554	740	183	6592	85*	11.83		0	12	122	
1920s	60	31	74	14	706	80	11.76		0	2	7	
1960s	155	102	214	53	1887	89	11.72		0	5	40	
1950s	137	91	194	45	1570	63	10.53		0	1	41	
1900s	43	21	63	13	522	59	10.44		0	1	13	
1990s	321	363	442	104	3237	79	9.57		0	4	80	
1940s	54	30	69	15	505	35	9.35		0	0	17	
1910s	48	20	77	18	499	36	8.45		0	0	11	
1880s	51	21	74	11	457	34	7.25		0	0	14

I am lazy to try to figure out how to format the table. Any pointers are appreciated so that I can do it in the future. I have put in bold the number of runs that #7 to #12 have scored on average and it has gone up only slightly. Nevertheless, the top teams are having their tailenders learn to bat and we should too.

[jaydeep]

Prasenjit, did the formatting ...

[Atithee]

Now just filter it for and against India, please.

[prasen9]

Thanks, Jaydeep. I will try to use code in the future.

Atithee, here is India's

Code: Select all

Overall figures
Decade	Players	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	AveDescending	100	50		
1980s	42	81	530	120	9343	163	22.78	8	41	73	
2010s	41	102	727	161	11747	159*	20.75	14	52	107	
1960s	47	52	407	91	6112	90	19.34	0	32	50	
2000s	48	103	694	151	10453 	115* 	19.25	7	40	110	
1990s	43	69	445	102	6253	129	18.23	3	28	56	
1970s	30	64	452	105	6033	88	17.38	0	30	69	
1940s	25	13	108	24	1352	123	16.09	2	3	16	
1950s	49	44	309	69	3854	130*	16.05	2	14	53	
1930s	21	7	65	14	700	60	13.72	0	3	6	

[prasen9]

So, actually, our tail has performed better than the average in the last decade. And, actually, this bunch is just worse than the 80s bunch. Of course, then we had batsmen such as Kapil, Madan, Chetan Sharma, Prabhakar, Binny, Shastri, etc. bat in the tail.

Also, here is the tail by country in the last 10 years.

Code: Select all

Team		Players	Span		Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave 	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s	
England		47	2009-2019	124	940	210	16508	169	22.61	29956	55.10	15	73	131	2006	156	
New Zealand	38	2009-2019	82	605	131	10469	185	22.08	19152	54.66	11	35	90	1153	196	
India		41	2009-2019	105	742	165	12030	159*	20.84	22531	53.39	16	52	109	1320	189	
Australia	43	2009-2019	111	798	193	12501	136	20.66	24678	50.65	3	60	95	1384	158	
South Africa	41	2009-2019	88	585	130	9278	129*	20.39	18271	50.77	7	35	73	1092	97	
Bangladesh	41	2010-2019	54	467	98	6946	136	18.82	13946	49.80	6	26	68	804	100	
Sri Lanka	46	2009-2019	96	764	157	10983	154*	18.09	21361	51.41	5	39	122	1306	94	
West Indies	40	2009-2019	85	692	135	9884	202*	17.74	19305	51.19	8	32	115	1160	162	
Pakistan	43	2009-2019	83	637	136	8239	112	16.44	15919	51.75	3	36	99	948	90	
Zimbabwe	32	2011-2018	24	230	41	3024	119	16.00	7158	42.24	3	7	41	325	29	
Ireland		9	2018-2019	3	30	5	396	54*	15.84	957	41.37	0	2	3	49	3	
Afghanistan	10	2018-2019	3	25	3	251	51	11.40	484	51.85	0	1	4	26	8

Led by Stokes, Broad, Curran, etc. the English are the best, although Stokes may not bat at #7 or below these days, but we are not that bad.

[prasen9]

If you look at batting abroad by the tail, then too we are okay.

Code: Select all

Overall figures
Team	Players	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s	
South Africa	31	2010-2018	35	241	54	3904	104	20.87	8029	48.62	2	18	22	452	46	
England		35	2009-2019	52	413	87	6568	150*	20.14	12780	51.39	6	27	65	755	74	
India		35	2010-2019	57	458	94	6899	159*	18.95	12686	54.38	5	30	74	797	94	
New Zealand	32	2010-2019	35	287	61	4256	107	18.83	8126	52.37	2	12	41	456	84	
Australia	31	2010-2019	50	411	95	5720	106	18.10	12031	47.54	1	23	52	662	69	
Pakistan	37	2009-2019	50	414	82	5725	103	17.24	10847	52.77	1	28	66	691	64	
Sri Lanka	36	2009-2019	42	353	74	4672	154*	16.74	8654	53.98	3	13	58	589	34	
West Indies	33	2009-2018	40	333	61	4203	110	15.45	7947	52.88	5	12	65	511	59	
Bangladesh	31	2010-2019	21	201	42	2350	115	14.77	4975	47.23	2	8	38	268	34	
Zimbabwe	24	2012-2018	10	98	15	1141	101	13.74	2522	45.24	1	4	23	117	13	
Afghanistan	8	2018-2019	2	20	2	225	51	12.50	403	55.83	0	1	4	24	7	
Ireland	5	2019-2019	1	10	1	51	16	5.66	103	49.51	0	0	2	8	1

At home, we are slightly bad wrt batting.

Code: Select all

Overall figures
Team	Players	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	AveDescending	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s	
New Zealand	27	2009-2019	41	266	61	5513	185	26.89	9543	57.77	9	20	38	644	94
England		34	2010-2019	66	472	111	9151	169	25.34	15563	58.79	9	42	58	1169	78	
Australia	33	2009-2019	55	329	86	5950	136	24.48	10830	54.93	2	32	35	637	81	
India		24	2009-2018	48	284	71	5131	144	24.08	9845	52.11	11	22	35	523	95
Bangladesh	34	2010-2019	33	266	56	4596	136	21.88	8971	51.23	4	18	30	536	66	
South Africa	35	2009-2019	49	318	70	5056	129*	20.38	9477	53.35	5	17	49	610	48	
West Indies	31	2010-2019	42	333	69	5235	202*	19.82	10322	50.71	3	19	46	601	100	
Sri Lanka	36	2010-2019	46	343	70	5294	129	19.39	10389	50.95	1	23	50	608	53	
Ireland		5	2018-2018	1	10	2	148	53	18.50	416	35.57	0	1	1	19	0	
Zimbabwe	25	2011-2017	14	132	26	1883	119	17.76	4636	40.61	2	3	18	208	16	

So the Kiwi, English, and Australian tails bat a lot better at home than abroad. Our tail bats much better at home than abroad too.

[prasen9]

So, what about our bowling? We are terrible right? Here is the data (home and abroad together):

Code: Select all

Opposition	Players	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	AveDescending	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s	
v Zimbabwe	66	2011-2018	24	163	40	2951	116	23.99	5470	53.94	5	11	23	312	44	
v Afghanistan	16	2018-2019	3	25	5	462	71	23.10	954	48.42	0	2	1	46	7	
v Sri Lanka	154	2009-2019	96	674	153	10965	155*	21.04	21604	50.75	14	35	79	1081	151	
v West Indies	154	2009-2019	85	549	123	8774	144	20.59	16959	51.73	10	35	77	906	131	
v Ireland	16	2018-2019	3	21	6	306	83	20.40	536	57.08	0	2	2	36	5	
v Bangladesh	137	2010-2019	54	308	64	4977	185	20.39	9608	51.80	4	19	46	500	76	
v New Zealand	156	2009-2019	82	610	134	9703	119	20.38	18659	52.00	11	36	93	1255	135	
v England	175	2009-2019	124	1015	220	16054	202*	20.19	30446	52.72	10	78	148	1991	183	
v India		165	2009-2019	105	845	183	13179	154*	19.90	25892	50.89	6	59	131	1550	159	
v Pakistan	145	2009-2019	83	660	133	10163	169	19.28	20914	48.59	6	40	103	1130	105	
v Australia	150	2009-2019	111	923	193	13488	159*	18.47	25142	53.64	9	46	133	1565	173
v South Africa	152	2009-2019	88	722	150	9487	150*	16.58	17534	54.10	2	35	114	1201	113

What about our bowlers when they are playing abroad? Do we let the tail wag too much? No, actually, we are pretty good abroad. Better than at home.

Code: Select all

Opposition	Players	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	AveDescending	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s	
v Ireland	5	2018-2018	1	6	3	159	83	53.00	291	54.63	0	2	0	18	1	
v Zimbabwe	47	2011-2017	14	101	21	1800	116	22.50	3339	53.90	4	6	17	193	28	
v Sri Lanka	113	2010-2019	46	361	80	5725	108	20.37	11583	49.42	5	21	36	524	92	
v New Zealand	106	2009-2019	41	334	69	5089	118	19.20	9511	53.50	5	17	56	704	60	
v Bangladesh	104	2010-2019	33	209	40	3129	103*	18.51	6335	49.39	3	13	37	315	40	
v England	127	2010-2019	66	581	119	8184	114	17.71	15136	54.06	3	37	96	1094	82	
v Australia	103	2009-2019	55	474	93	6740	159*	17.69	12226	55.12	4	23	75	761	90	
v West Indies	100	2010-2019	42	315	65	4204	106	16.81	8960	46.91	2	18	50	422	58	
v India		111	2009-2018	48	425	86	5552	154*	16.37	12503	44.40	1	23	68	637	71	
v South Africa	103	2009-2019	49	433	92	5132	150*	15.04	9219	55.66	1	16	75	662	57	

Not bad, eh? South Africa is the most efficient and after that are we. Incidentally, our bowlers have the best SR although we must be a tad more expensive than RSA.

At home, here are the numbers.

Code: Select all

Opposition	Players	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	AveDescending	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s	
v West Indies	87	2009-2018	40	214	54	4368	144	27.30	7616	57.35	8	16	24	463	72	
v Zimbabwe	35	2012-2018	10	62	19	1151	102*	26.76	2131	54.01	1	5	6	119	16	
v England	90	2009-2019	52	385	90	7440	202*	25.22	14309	51.99	7	40	43	856	98	
v Bangladesh	61	2010-2019	21	99	24	1848	185	24.64	3273	56.46	1	6	9	185	36	
v India		106	2010-2019	57	420	97	7627	137*	23.61	13389	56.96	5	36	63	913	88	
v Sri Lanka	85	2009-2019	42	261	62	4638	155*	23.30	8736	53.09	9	11	36	511	48	
v New Zealand	85	2010-2019	35	239	56	4197	119	22.93	8240	50.93	5	19	30	496	73	
v Afghanistan	11	2018-2019	2	15	3	265	71	22.08	516	51.35	0	1	1	24	5	
v Pakistan	112	2009-2019	50	375	76	6062	169	20.27	11882	51.01	5	24	56	723	62	
v South Africa	80	2010-2018	35	265	53	4086	132*	19.27	7752	52.70	1	18	36	502	54	
v Australia	96	2010-2019	50	408	86	6154	129	19.11	11984	51.35	4	21	54	747	76	
v Ireland	6	2019-2019	1	10	2	121	37	15.12	164	73.78	0	0	2	16	3

This one looks a tad bad.