This week, England picked five specialist bowlers and defeated the West Indies inside three days in the earliest Test Match ever held in England – starting a full five days earlier than the previous record-holder. Debutant Tim Bresnan only bowled seven overs despite nudging the 90mph mark on the radar speed gun, but the other four bowlers all contributed towards the victory with crucial wickets at vital times.
While on the subject of bowlers, it is possible to use the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings to try to discover which was the finest bowling attack in Test history. By totalling the bowling points for each team in each match, we can go some way to attempting to answer this question.
The first obvious candidate is the all-conquering West Indian pace-attack of the 1980s. Their bowling peak came at the end of the 1986 Test Match in Antigua when they totalled 3635 points mainly thanks to Malcolm Marshall (900), Joel Garner (845), Michael Holding (786), Roger Harper (484) and Patrick Patterson (383).
Another possibility is the Warne / McGrath inspired Australians of the 1990s and 2000s. Their peak was during the 1997 Ashes when they reached a total of 3755 points thanks to Glenn McGrath (878), Shane Warne (811), Paul Reiffel (652), Michael Bevan (417) and Jason Gillespie (383). Steve Waugh (331) and Mark Waugh (230) also contributed to the total. That was as high as the Aussies ever reached in their extraordinary run of success in the past two decades.
So, if those teams didn’t quite make the medal places, which were the three best attacks in Test history?
In third place we have the 1975 Australians who took the field at Headingley. The Test is mainly remembered for the sabotaging of the pitch by vandals who caused the match to be abandoned before the fifth day. However, the Australian bowling line-up was formidable and dismissed England twice for under 300: Dennis Lillee (812), Max Walker (744), Ashley Mallett (678), Jeff Thomson (608) and Gary Gilmour (410) being the prime contributors to the total of 3848 bowling points.
In second place we have the Australian contingent from the 1955 Bourda Test against the West Indies in Guyana which came in the middle of a 3-0 series win for the visitors. The home side featured the three W’s and a certain Garry Sobers in their line-up but they were humbled for just 182 and 207 to go down to an eight-wicket defeat thanks to the combined efforts of Ray Lindwall (830), Keith Miller (796), Bill Johnston (728), Ian Johnson (637), Ron Archer (444) and Richie Benaud (403) who contributed nearly all of the Australian team’s 3873 bowling points.
However, our search for the greatest bowling line-up in Test history ends with an England side. Not the 2005 Ashes-winning side that famously used five specialist bowlers to recapture the Ashes (they peaked at 3474 by the way). This team took the field nearly half a century earlier – at The Oval in August 1958 against New Zealand – in a match ruined to such an extent by rain that only twelve hours total play was possible. However, there was enough time for the visitors to be shot out for just 161 in their first innings - not surprising when you examine the bowlers on display. Opening the attack were Fred Trueman (733) and Brian Statham (693) with Trevor Bailey (727) operating as first-change. Once the shine was off the ball, it was turned over to spin twins Jim Laker (912) and Tony Lock (866) giving a total of 3931 points from just five bowlers – all of whom were rated in the top eleven of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers at the time.
So, whether they use four bowlers or five, it seems unlikely that any team will ever manage to equal the incredible talent on display all those years ago when England’s bowlers ruled the world.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Dual table toppers
Aubrey Faulkner may be the only man to date to have topped both Test Match batting and bowling Ratings tables, but two players have achieved the feat in One Day International matches – one man and one woman.
The man in question is Keith Stackpole. He made his Test debut for Australia against England at the Adelaide Oval in 1966 and was a good-enough batsman to play in 43 Test Matches in total, scoring 2807 runs at an average of 37.42. He was even able to topple Garry Sobers from the top spot in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen for two matches in the summer of 1972 after a match-winning innings of 79 against England at The Oval.
His ODI career was far shorter, extending to just six matches, which included the first ever staged – a hastily-arranged match at Melbourne on 5 January 1971 after the fifth Test of the Ashes series was washed out. However, over 46,000 spectators turned up to watch the spectacle, and cricket was never the same again. Stackpole took three for 40 in eight overs with his leg-breaks to help restrict England to just 190, which Australia successfully chased down with more than five overs to spare. The result of this victory was to see Stackpole top of the bowling charts with 141 points. That was as good at it got for him, as he only bowled another thirteen ODI deliveries and Ashley Mallett took over as number one.
However, Stackpole had his batting to fall back on. Successive half-centuries at Lord’s and Edgbaston over the course of three days in late August 1972 enabled him to move above Ian Chappell into the batting lead and become the first man ever to top both Test and ODI batting trees at the same time. But once England’s Dennis Amiss scored a second century in his first four matches in July 1973, the Australian’s moment in the sun had come to an end.
The other player to have reached the top spot with both bat and ball in hand is the remarkable Enid Bakewell. Arguably the finest all-rounder that the English women’s game has ever produced, she scored three Test centuries in her first five matches and signed off from the longer form of the game with a century and ten wickets against the West Indies. She continued to play for East Midlands into her fifties and in club cricket well into her sixties.
Her One Day International career started in similar fashion – scoring an unbeaten 101 for England against the International XI in the very first Women’s ODI of all on 23 June 1973. However, her opening partner, Lynne Thomas scored 134 and kept Bakewell out of the top spot. Her innings of 118 and bowling figures of two for 28 in twelve overs were instrumental in England’s victory over Australia to win the inaugural Women’s World Cup the same year. However, three years later she managed to reach the pinnacle thanks to a half-century against Australia at Lord’s and an innings of 32 four days later at Trent Bridge, both leading to England victories. Her stay at the top was relatively short – extending to just five matches – before Thomas and Rachael Heyhoe-Flint made the number one position their own personal battle for the next four years.
She continued to bowl her left-arm spin with incredible accuracy and ended her career with an economy rate of just 2.41 runs per over from her 23 matches. It was during the 1982 World Cup in New Zealand that she reached top spot after she took three for 13 against India at Wanganui and then three for 29 against the International XI at Wellington. What made the achievement all the more remarkable was the fact that she was aged 41 for the duration of the tournament and she retired from international cricket soon afterwards.
The man in question is Keith Stackpole. He made his Test debut for Australia against England at the Adelaide Oval in 1966 and was a good-enough batsman to play in 43 Test Matches in total, scoring 2807 runs at an average of 37.42. He was even able to topple Garry Sobers from the top spot in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen for two matches in the summer of 1972 after a match-winning innings of 79 against England at The Oval.
His ODI career was far shorter, extending to just six matches, which included the first ever staged – a hastily-arranged match at Melbourne on 5 January 1971 after the fifth Test of the Ashes series was washed out. However, over 46,000 spectators turned up to watch the spectacle, and cricket was never the same again. Stackpole took three for 40 in eight overs with his leg-breaks to help restrict England to just 190, which Australia successfully chased down with more than five overs to spare. The result of this victory was to see Stackpole top of the bowling charts with 141 points. That was as good at it got for him, as he only bowled another thirteen ODI deliveries and Ashley Mallett took over as number one.
However, Stackpole had his batting to fall back on. Successive half-centuries at Lord’s and Edgbaston over the course of three days in late August 1972 enabled him to move above Ian Chappell into the batting lead and become the first man ever to top both Test and ODI batting trees at the same time. But once England’s Dennis Amiss scored a second century in his first four matches in July 1973, the Australian’s moment in the sun had come to an end.
The other player to have reached the top spot with both bat and ball in hand is the remarkable Enid Bakewell. Arguably the finest all-rounder that the English women’s game has ever produced, she scored three Test centuries in her first five matches and signed off from the longer form of the game with a century and ten wickets against the West Indies. She continued to play for East Midlands into her fifties and in club cricket well into her sixties.
Her One Day International career started in similar fashion – scoring an unbeaten 101 for England against the International XI in the very first Women’s ODI of all on 23 June 1973. However, her opening partner, Lynne Thomas scored 134 and kept Bakewell out of the top spot. Her innings of 118 and bowling figures of two for 28 in twelve overs were instrumental in England’s victory over Australia to win the inaugural Women’s World Cup the same year. However, three years later she managed to reach the pinnacle thanks to a half-century against Australia at Lord’s and an innings of 32 four days later at Trent Bridge, both leading to England victories. Her stay at the top was relatively short – extending to just five matches – before Thomas and Rachael Heyhoe-Flint made the number one position their own personal battle for the next four years.
She continued to bowl her left-arm spin with incredible accuracy and ended her career with an economy rate of just 2.41 runs per over from her 23 matches. It was during the 1982 World Cup in New Zealand that she reached top spot after she took three for 13 against India at Wanganui and then three for 29 against the International XI at Wellington. What made the achievement all the more remarkable was the fact that she was aged 41 for the duration of the tournament and she retired from international cricket soon afterwards.
Monday, April 13, 2009
100 Years Ago - a Unique Cricketer
Since the very first Test Match of all was played in March 1877, a total of sixty-five different men have found their way to the top of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for batsmen. Furthermore, there have been 73 players who have topped the bowling charts. However, only one man’s name appears on both lists – and it will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the all-rounder Rankings of late to discover that he is a South African.
However, the identity of this player is somewhat harder to guess. The first obvious candidate is Jacques Kallis, who has spent the majority of the past eight years at the top of the all-rounder tree, but he has never reached higher than number six with the ball. His long-time team-mate Shaun Pollock never reached higher than number 37 with the bat, and Brian McMillan – whilst topping the all-rounder charts – never reached higher than number eight with the bat. In fact, the only man to achieve this feat was just establishing himself in the South African team exactly one hundred years ago and his name was Aubrey Faulkner.
He was born in 1881 and made his Test debut at the age of twenty-four against the touring English team at Johannesburg in January 1906. He started well, taking six wickets, and it was his bowling that kept him in the team as he failed to pass fifty with the bat in any of his first eight Test Matches. However, the turn of the decade saw a sharp upturn in his batting fortunes as he scored 545 runs and took 29 wickets in the five-Test series against England and even held seven catches for good measure.
His startling run of form continued the following winter as the Australians were put to the sword to the tune of 732 runs in the five Tests in Australia, including a career-best innings of 204 in the second Test at Melbourne. It was during this series that he reached the top of the batting tree and he spent pretty much the whole of 1911 in top spot. His series aggregate was a Test record which stood for fourteen years until England’s Herbert Sutcliffe sneaked past it by a mere two runs in the 1924/25 Ashes series in Australia.
Despite starting the 1912 Triangular Test Series in England with an undefeated century against Australia at Old Trafford which took his batting Rating to 879, by that time Jack Hobbs had started his almost-unbroken run of sixteen years as number one. Faulkner’s form with the bat fell away, and in his last seven Tests he didn’t manage to pass 25.
His seven for 84 in England’s first innings at The Oval in August 1912 helped him to rise to number two in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers at the start of the First World War – albeit a massive 348 points behind leader Sydney Barnes of England. Enlisting in the British Army, he served on the Western Front and in Macedonia, Egypt and Palestine. His bravery earned him the ‘Distinguished Service Order’ and the ‘Order of the Nile’ despite contracting malaria.
Upon the resumption of international cricket when the hostilities had ended, Barnes was now aged 47 and considered too old for Test cricket, despite continuing to pick up wickets for Staffordshire at an alarming rate. This had the effect of lifting Faulkner to the number one spot by default, a position he held for a mere six months before being overtaken by the Australian leggie Arthur Mailey.
Faulkner was recalled to play for South Africa in response to an injury crisis on their 1924 tour of England, but he was past his best and after one disappointing performance at Lord’s, he retired for good to start up a cricket school in London – the first of its type in the world. Alas, the Aubrey Faulkner story has a tragic ending, as he suffered from prolonged bouts of depression and ended up taking his own life in September 1930.
However, nearly one hundred years after he started his ascent to greatness, he remains the only member of this most exclusive of Test Match Ratings clubs. Next time, it is the turn of the two players who have achieved this feat in the shorter format of the game, and they are two very surprising names indeed.
However, the identity of this player is somewhat harder to guess. The first obvious candidate is Jacques Kallis, who has spent the majority of the past eight years at the top of the all-rounder tree, but he has never reached higher than number six with the ball. His long-time team-mate Shaun Pollock never reached higher than number 37 with the bat, and Brian McMillan – whilst topping the all-rounder charts – never reached higher than number eight with the bat. In fact, the only man to achieve this feat was just establishing himself in the South African team exactly one hundred years ago and his name was Aubrey Faulkner.
He was born in 1881 and made his Test debut at the age of twenty-four against the touring English team at Johannesburg in January 1906. He started well, taking six wickets, and it was his bowling that kept him in the team as he failed to pass fifty with the bat in any of his first eight Test Matches. However, the turn of the decade saw a sharp upturn in his batting fortunes as he scored 545 runs and took 29 wickets in the five-Test series against England and even held seven catches for good measure.
His startling run of form continued the following winter as the Australians were put to the sword to the tune of 732 runs in the five Tests in Australia, including a career-best innings of 204 in the second Test at Melbourne. It was during this series that he reached the top of the batting tree and he spent pretty much the whole of 1911 in top spot. His series aggregate was a Test record which stood for fourteen years until England’s Herbert Sutcliffe sneaked past it by a mere two runs in the 1924/25 Ashes series in Australia.
Despite starting the 1912 Triangular Test Series in England with an undefeated century against Australia at Old Trafford which took his batting Rating to 879, by that time Jack Hobbs had started his almost-unbroken run of sixteen years as number one. Faulkner’s form with the bat fell away, and in his last seven Tests he didn’t manage to pass 25.
His seven for 84 in England’s first innings at The Oval in August 1912 helped him to rise to number two in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers at the start of the First World War – albeit a massive 348 points behind leader Sydney Barnes of England. Enlisting in the British Army, he served on the Western Front and in Macedonia, Egypt and Palestine. His bravery earned him the ‘Distinguished Service Order’ and the ‘Order of the Nile’ despite contracting malaria.
Upon the resumption of international cricket when the hostilities had ended, Barnes was now aged 47 and considered too old for Test cricket, despite continuing to pick up wickets for Staffordshire at an alarming rate. This had the effect of lifting Faulkner to the number one spot by default, a position he held for a mere six months before being overtaken by the Australian leggie Arthur Mailey.
Faulkner was recalled to play for South Africa in response to an injury crisis on their 1924 tour of England, but he was past his best and after one disappointing performance at Lord’s, he retired for good to start up a cricket school in London – the first of its type in the world. Alas, the Aubrey Faulkner story has a tragic ending, as he suffered from prolonged bouts of depression and ended up taking his own life in September 1930.
However, nearly one hundred years after he started his ascent to greatness, he remains the only member of this most exclusive of Test Match Ratings clubs. Next time, it is the turn of the two players who have achieved this feat in the shorter format of the game, and they are two very surprising names indeed.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
ICC Women’s World Cup – 'Ranking' the teams
And so England's women return home triumphantly from Australia with the ICC Women’s World Cup for the first time since 1993, having beaten New Zealand by four wickets in the final at the North Sydney Oval.
Looking at the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings it is easy to see why they emerged as champions. They ended the competition with their top four batsmen all ranked in the world's top 11, headed by Claire Taylor – who has now spent a total of 111 matches at the top of the batting tree – a total only surpassed by the two Australians Karen Rolton (197) and Belinda Clark (160).
There are an incredible six England bowlers in the top fifteen of the bowling Ratings too. Isa Guha may have slipped from her pre-tournament top spot, but the strength in depth is there for all to see with Holly Colvin, Nicky Shaw and Laura Marsh all ending the final at their highest-ever Ratings.
Another way of examining the relative strengths of the teams participating in the competition is to have a look at the total Rating points for each of them. We can then divide it up further to examine their relative batting and bowling prowess. So here are the total batting Rating points for each team – averaged over their matches in the competition:
So – England had a narrow lead over the chasing Kiwis and Aussies with India further behind. The bottom four are pretty much as expected.
Here is the bowling table:
This time Australia have a narrow lead, helped by Shelley Nitschke and Lisa Sthalekar having successful tournaments with the ball. Again, it is the “big four” leading the way.
And here is the overall table:
Not much to choose between the top three sides, with England just shading it from the Aussies and New Zealand just behind them. These figures probably go to show that there really isn’t a huge amount to choose between the top few sides in the world. Australia did beat England in the tournament – albeit once England’s place in the final was assured – but it suggests that the hosts somewhat underachieved in the tournament as a whole given the quality of their players. On the flip side, India punched above their weight by twice defeating the Australians to pick up third place.
Looking at the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings it is easy to see why they emerged as champions. They ended the competition with their top four batsmen all ranked in the world's top 11, headed by Claire Taylor – who has now spent a total of 111 matches at the top of the batting tree – a total only surpassed by the two Australians Karen Rolton (197) and Belinda Clark (160).
There are an incredible six England bowlers in the top fifteen of the bowling Ratings too. Isa Guha may have slipped from her pre-tournament top spot, but the strength in depth is there for all to see with Holly Colvin, Nicky Shaw and Laura Marsh all ending the final at their highest-ever Ratings.
Another way of examining the relative strengths of the teams participating in the competition is to have a look at the total Rating points for each of them. We can then divide it up further to examine their relative batting and bowling prowess. So here are the total batting Rating points for each team – averaged over their matches in the competition:
| Team | Ave total |
| England | 4611 |
| New Zealand | 4597 |
| Australia | 4408 |
| India | 3564 |
| Sri Lanka | 2939 |
| South Africa | 2656 |
| West Indies | 2363 |
| Pakistan | 1962 |
So – England had a narrow lead over the chasing Kiwis and Aussies with India further behind. The bottom four are pretty much as expected.
Here is the bowling table:
| Team | Ave total |
| Australia | 3396 |
| England | 3242 |
| New Zealand | 3003 |
| India | 2599 |
| South Africa | 2542 |
| Sri Lanka | 2446 |
| Pakistan | 2100 |
| West Indies | 2036 |
This time Australia have a narrow lead, helped by Shelley Nitschke and Lisa Sthalekar having successful tournaments with the ball. Again, it is the “big four” leading the way.
And here is the overall table:
| Team | Ave total |
| England | 7853 |
| Australia | 7804 |
| New Zealand | 7600 |
| India | 6163 |
| Sri Lanka | 5385 |
| South Africa | 5198 |
| West Indies | 4398 |
| Pakistan | 4062 |
Not much to choose between the top three sides, with England just shading it from the Aussies and New Zealand just behind them. These figures probably go to show that there really isn’t a huge amount to choose between the top few sides in the world. Australia did beat England in the tournament – albeit once England’s place in the final was assured – but it suggests that the hosts somewhat underachieved in the tournament as a whole given the quality of their players. On the flip side, India punched above their weight by twice defeating the Australians to pick up third place.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Wither the West Indian paceman?
For the best part of two decades, there was nothing like a Test series against the West Indies to send your batting average into freefall. For those unfortunate enough to have their Test careers coincide with the four-pronged pace battery, it was a case of “what might have been” as their overall Test records were deflated somewhat by their ordeal by pace. Here by way of an example are four players who ended their Test careers with Test batting averages of more than forty, but struggled against the Caribbean pacemen:
Javed Mianded (career 52.57, v West Indies 29.78)
Mohammad Azharuddin (career 45.03, v West Indies 28.36)
David Gower (career 44.25, v West Indies 32.82)
Mark Taylor (career 43.49, v West Indies 28.11)
Even though the West Indies led the series one-nil going into the fifth and final Test with England last week at the Queen’s Park Oval, given their history of bowling strength, it was still surprising to see that they dropped a bowler in favour of a more conservative approach.
The West Indian bowling attack at Trinidad managed a total of 1725 points which is obtained by adding all the bowlers’ current Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings points. When you consider that England’s bowling attack – which featured debutant Amjad Khan and a man playing in just his fifth Test (Graeme Swann) totalled 2198 points – it is possible to see what a weak bowling attack the home team fielded, especially lacking the injured Jerome Taylor’s 670 points.
Few though 1725 points may seem, back in May 2003 at Bridgetown, the entire West Indian team which took the field against Australia at Bridgetown had a total of only 944 bowling points – their lowest total since they faced India in November 1948. Unsurprisingly, the Aussies piled up 605 for nine declared and triumphed by nine wickets as Messrs Lawson, Best, Drakes, Banks and Gayle tried their utmost, but toiled hard for more than 150 overs.
So – if that was the modern “nadir” of the West Indian bowling line-up, who comprised the strongest? With the help of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings we can offer an answer, and – funnily enough – it occurred in a match in which a batsman made most of the headlines.
Back in April 1986, the home team went into the final Test at the Antigua Recreation Ground already leading the series with England 4-0. To rub salt in the English wounds, Viv Richards made the most of his home ground to make what is still the fastest-ever Test century – from just 56 deliveries. However, Ratings-wise, this was the strongest-ever West Indian bowling attack to take the field with a combined total of 3635 Ratings points and three of the top five bowlers.
Right now, Jerome Taylor is the only West Indian in the top twenty of the bowling Ratings. What they wouldn’t give for one of the top three from 1986 in the team right now!
Javed Mianded (career 52.57, v West Indies 29.78)
Mohammad Azharuddin (career 45.03, v West Indies 28.36)
David Gower (career 44.25, v West Indies 32.82)
Mark Taylor (career 43.49, v West Indies 28.11)
Even though the West Indies led the series one-nil going into the fifth and final Test with England last week at the Queen’s Park Oval, given their history of bowling strength, it was still surprising to see that they dropped a bowler in favour of a more conservative approach.
The West Indian bowling attack at Trinidad managed a total of 1725 points which is obtained by adding all the bowlers’ current Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings points. When you consider that England’s bowling attack – which featured debutant Amjad Khan and a man playing in just his fifth Test (Graeme Swann) totalled 2198 points – it is possible to see what a weak bowling attack the home team fielded, especially lacking the injured Jerome Taylor’s 670 points.
Few though 1725 points may seem, back in May 2003 at Bridgetown, the entire West Indian team which took the field against Australia at Bridgetown had a total of only 944 bowling points – their lowest total since they faced India in November 1948. Unsurprisingly, the Aussies piled up 605 for nine declared and triumphed by nine wickets as Messrs Lawson, Best, Drakes, Banks and Gayle tried their utmost, but toiled hard for more than 150 overs.
So – if that was the modern “nadir” of the West Indian bowling line-up, who comprised the strongest? With the help of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings we can offer an answer, and – funnily enough – it occurred in a match in which a batsman made most of the headlines.
Back in April 1986, the home team went into the final Test at the Antigua Recreation Ground already leading the series with England 4-0. To rub salt in the English wounds, Viv Richards made the most of his home ground to make what is still the fastest-ever Test century – from just 56 deliveries. However, Ratings-wise, this was the strongest-ever West Indian bowling attack to take the field with a combined total of 3635 Ratings points and three of the top five bowlers.
| Player | Rating |
| Malcolm Marshall | 900 |
| Joel Garner | 845 |
| Michael Holding | 786 |
| Roger Harper | 484 |
| Patrick Patterson | 383 |
| Viv Richards | 126 |
| Larry Gomes | 110 |
| Desmond Haynes | 1 |
Right now, Jerome Taylor is the only West Indian in the top twenty of the bowling Ratings. What they wouldn’t give for one of the top three from 1986 in the team right now!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
The Australian bowling attack
Before the recent Johannesburg Test, much was made of the lack of experience in the Australian bowling attack. Going into that match, the entire team had taken a total of just 135 Test wickets between them, of which 78 could be attributed to Mitchell Johnson.
Of course, by winning the Test, they added another twenty to that total, but this does beg the question – how does this Australian attack compare to those of the past? One way of looking at it is to examine how many wickets they had going into the match. Well - the team that took the field against the South Africans at Sydney for their previous Test only had 133 wickets between them before winning that one too.
These are the lowest totals for Australia since they played Pakistan at Karachi in September 1988 when Peter Taylor, Tony Dodemaide, Bruce Reid and Tim May made up their bowling attack. By way of a comparison, when the played the Proteas at Sydney in January 2006, they fielded a team with 1573 Test wickets under their belts with McGrath, Lee, Warne and MacGill contributing the vast majority.
This is all well and good, but it is slightly skewed towards the present day in which far more Test Matches are played than was the case in the past. So what can the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings tell us about their current bowling strength compared to that of past Aussie teams.
If we total all the current bowling Ratings of the Australian team who played in the first Test at Johannesburg we obtain a figure of 1707 points from the following bowlers: Johnson 804, Siddle 427, McDonald 165, Clarke 108, Katich 85, Hilfenhaus 71, Ponting 29, North 10 and Hussey 8.
How does 1707 points compare with the Australian teams of the past? Let’s start with that January 2006 team at Sydney. At that time, the total bowling points stood at 3143 thanks to McGrath 853, Warne 842, Lee 599, MacGill 594, Symonds 218 and Ponting 37. So – that team had almost twice as many Ratings points as the recent one. Not surprisingly they won that Test by eight wickets although it was Ricky Ponting who made the headlines with twin centuries in his hundredth Test.
All this begs the question – was this Australian attack with McGrath, Warne, Lee et al their best ever? With the help of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings we can compare the total points of each bowling attack to represent the Aussies in Test history. The Sydney 2006 attack was good, but not that good! In fact, it rates just 108th in Australian Test history in terms of total Rating points out of the 706 Tests they have played up to and including the recent one in Johannesburg.
In order to find their highest-Rated attack we need to go quite a bit further back. Back all the way to April 1955 in fact. The Australian team that triumphed over the West Indies at Georgetown, Guyana had a staggering total of 3873 points shared out as follows:
The Australian attack in that match featured three of the top five in the world, backed up by Johnson (12th), Archer (23rd) and Benaud (25th). Not much respite for the West Indian batsmen, who were dismissed for just 182 and 207 to go down to an eight wicket defeat.
Of course, by winning the Test, they added another twenty to that total, but this does beg the question – how does this Australian attack compare to those of the past? One way of looking at it is to examine how many wickets they had going into the match. Well - the team that took the field against the South Africans at Sydney for their previous Test only had 133 wickets between them before winning that one too.
These are the lowest totals for Australia since they played Pakistan at Karachi in September 1988 when Peter Taylor, Tony Dodemaide, Bruce Reid and Tim May made up their bowling attack. By way of a comparison, when the played the Proteas at Sydney in January 2006, they fielded a team with 1573 Test wickets under their belts with McGrath, Lee, Warne and MacGill contributing the vast majority.
This is all well and good, but it is slightly skewed towards the present day in which far more Test Matches are played than was the case in the past. So what can the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings tell us about their current bowling strength compared to that of past Aussie teams.
If we total all the current bowling Ratings of the Australian team who played in the first Test at Johannesburg we obtain a figure of 1707 points from the following bowlers: Johnson 804, Siddle 427, McDonald 165, Clarke 108, Katich 85, Hilfenhaus 71, Ponting 29, North 10 and Hussey 8.
How does 1707 points compare with the Australian teams of the past? Let’s start with that January 2006 team at Sydney. At that time, the total bowling points stood at 3143 thanks to McGrath 853, Warne 842, Lee 599, MacGill 594, Symonds 218 and Ponting 37. So – that team had almost twice as many Ratings points as the recent one. Not surprisingly they won that Test by eight wickets although it was Ricky Ponting who made the headlines with twin centuries in his hundredth Test.
All this begs the question – was this Australian attack with McGrath, Warne, Lee et al their best ever? With the help of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings we can compare the total points of each bowling attack to represent the Aussies in Test history. The Sydney 2006 attack was good, but not that good! In fact, it rates just 108th in Australian Test history in terms of total Rating points out of the 706 Tests they have played up to and including the recent one in Johannesburg.
In order to find their highest-Rated attack we need to go quite a bit further back. Back all the way to April 1955 in fact. The Australian team that triumphed over the West Indies at Georgetown, Guyana had a staggering total of 3873 points shared out as follows:
| Player | Rating |
| Ray Lindwall | 830 |
| Keith Miller | 796 |
| Bill Johnston | 728 |
| Ian Johnson | 637 |
| Ron Archer | 444 |
| Richie Benaud | 403 |
| Arthur Morris | 23 |
| Neil Harvey | 12 |
The Australian attack in that match featured three of the top five in the world, backed up by Johnson (12th), Archer (23rd) and Benaud (25th). Not much respite for the West Indian batsmen, who were dismissed for just 182 and 207 to go down to an eight wicket defeat.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
25 years on.....
This year sees the silver anniversary of what is generally considered to be the greatest ODI innings of all-time - the majestic unbeaten 189 by Viv Richards against England at Old Trafford back in 1984.
Richards himself rated this innings as one of the best he had ever played. But how does the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings computer see it? Last year we counted down the best bowling performances in the shorter format of the game, so now we look at the greatest innings:
10 - Saeed Anwar (Pak) 194 v Ind at Chennai in 1997
Still the World record score in One Day Internationals more than a decade later, and achieved against their deadliest rivals, the next-highest score in the innings was just 39. It could have been even higher too - Pakistan added another thirty runs after he was dismissed in the 47th over.
9 - Brian Lara (WI) 139 v Aus at Port-of-Spain in 1995
Another masterclass from Brian Lara as he scored his first century for the West Indies in his native Trinidad. His innings came from just 125 deliveries against an Australian attack which featured McGrath, Fleming, Reiffel and Warne, before the visitors fell away to be dismissed for just 149.
8 - Allan Border (Aus) 127* v WI at Sydney in 1985
He may have scored only three ODI hundreds, but this one was described by opposing captain Clive Lloyd as the best One-day innings he had seen. Rescuing his side from 64 for four against the might of Garner, Holding, Marshall and Davis, he helped lift them to a 26-run triumph.
7 - MS Dhoni (Ind) 183* v SL at Jaipur in 2005
After Kumar Sangakkara had set the tone with an unbeaten 138 to set the home team nearly 300 to win, the Indian wicket-keeper played a career-defining innings - the highest ever by a ODI wicket-keeper - from just 145 deliveries before sealing the victory with his tenth six.
6 - Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) 151* v Ind at Mumbai in 1997
India’s batsmen had found it heavy going as they managed to score just 225 in their fifty overs. Most of the Sri Lankans struggled in a similar manner; however Jayasuriya seemed to be playing a different game to everyone else. He slammed his runs from just 121 balls to win the match with nine overs to spare.
5 - Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) 189 v Ind at Sharjah in 2000
The Sri Lankan dynamo was at it again three years later as his national-record innings led his side to an imposing 299 for five in the Coca Cola Champions Trophy Final. Only Russel Arnold of his team-mates managed to score more than fifteen. A shell-shocked Indian side was humbled for just 54 in response.
4 - Kapil Dev (Ind) 175* v Zim at Tunbridge Wells in 1983
Another match to have entered cricketing folklore, With qualification for the semi-finals in some doubt, India slumped to 17 for five before Kapil began his assault, slamming sixteen fours and six sixes from just 138 deliveries. Not content with that, he followed up with an economical spell to lead India to a narrow victory.
3 - Desmond Haynes (WI) 145* v NZ at Berbice in 1985
The opener’s seventh ODI century was made against a strong bowling attack featuring Richard Hadlee and Ewen Chatfield - second and fifth in the bowling charts at the time. Eight Kiwis were dismissed bowled as they were all out for just 129, less than Haynes managed by himself.
2 - David Gower (Eng) 158 v NZ at Brisbane in 1983
The first Englishman on the list, and it is often forgotten what a successful batsman the languid left-hander was in the shorter format of the game. He entered in the ninth over and faced just 118 balls to lift England to a 54 run victory over a Kiwi side featuring five of the world's top twenty bowlers at the time.
1 - Viv Richards (WI) 189* v Eng at Manchester in 1984
So - twenty-five years on and still no-one has bettered Viv’s monumental effort. It could have been so different as he was on 96 with his team struggling at 166 for nine when last man Michael Holding strode to the crease. What followed is now history as the last wicket pair added 106 in fourteen overs and England were beaten easily.
Richards himself rated this innings as one of the best he had ever played. But how does the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings computer see it? Last year we counted down the best bowling performances in the shorter format of the game, so now we look at the greatest innings:
10 - Saeed Anwar (Pak) 194 v Ind at Chennai in 1997
Still the World record score in One Day Internationals more than a decade later, and achieved against their deadliest rivals, the next-highest score in the innings was just 39. It could have been even higher too - Pakistan added another thirty runs after he was dismissed in the 47th over.
9 - Brian Lara (WI) 139 v Aus at Port-of-Spain in 1995
Another masterclass from Brian Lara as he scored his first century for the West Indies in his native Trinidad. His innings came from just 125 deliveries against an Australian attack which featured McGrath, Fleming, Reiffel and Warne, before the visitors fell away to be dismissed for just 149.
8 - Allan Border (Aus) 127* v WI at Sydney in 1985
He may have scored only three ODI hundreds, but this one was described by opposing captain Clive Lloyd as the best One-day innings he had seen. Rescuing his side from 64 for four against the might of Garner, Holding, Marshall and Davis, he helped lift them to a 26-run triumph.
7 - MS Dhoni (Ind) 183* v SL at Jaipur in 2005
After Kumar Sangakkara had set the tone with an unbeaten 138 to set the home team nearly 300 to win, the Indian wicket-keeper played a career-defining innings - the highest ever by a ODI wicket-keeper - from just 145 deliveries before sealing the victory with his tenth six.
6 - Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) 151* v Ind at Mumbai in 1997
India’s batsmen had found it heavy going as they managed to score just 225 in their fifty overs. Most of the Sri Lankans struggled in a similar manner; however Jayasuriya seemed to be playing a different game to everyone else. He slammed his runs from just 121 balls to win the match with nine overs to spare.
5 - Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) 189 v Ind at Sharjah in 2000
The Sri Lankan dynamo was at it again three years later as his national-record innings led his side to an imposing 299 for five in the Coca Cola Champions Trophy Final. Only Russel Arnold of his team-mates managed to score more than fifteen. A shell-shocked Indian side was humbled for just 54 in response.
4 - Kapil Dev (Ind) 175* v Zim at Tunbridge Wells in 1983
Another match to have entered cricketing folklore, With qualification for the semi-finals in some doubt, India slumped to 17 for five before Kapil began his assault, slamming sixteen fours and six sixes from just 138 deliveries. Not content with that, he followed up with an economical spell to lead India to a narrow victory.
3 - Desmond Haynes (WI) 145* v NZ at Berbice in 1985
The opener’s seventh ODI century was made against a strong bowling attack featuring Richard Hadlee and Ewen Chatfield - second and fifth in the bowling charts at the time. Eight Kiwis were dismissed bowled as they were all out for just 129, less than Haynes managed by himself.
2 - David Gower (Eng) 158 v NZ at Brisbane in 1983
The first Englishman on the list, and it is often forgotten what a successful batsman the languid left-hander was in the shorter format of the game. He entered in the ninth over and faced just 118 balls to lift England to a 54 run victory over a Kiwi side featuring five of the world's top twenty bowlers at the time.
1 - Viv Richards (WI) 189* v Eng at Manchester in 1984
So - twenty-five years on and still no-one has bettered Viv’s monumental effort. It could have been so different as he was on 96 with his team struggling at 166 for nine when last man Michael Holding strode to the crease. What followed is now history as the last wicket pair added 106 in fourteen overs and England were beaten easily.
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