Arbit Statistics - 12

The insane test between South Africa and Australia at Newlands provided loads of crazy statistics. This was the one which set a new record.

Nathan Lyon became the No. 11 batsman to come into bat at the lowest score ever 21/9 beating the  previous record of coming into bat at 25/9 held by fellow Australian Tom McKibbin from a match of an era gone by. Also he became the lowest highest scoring No. 11 in an innings in a test.

More arbit stats on this match by Andy Zaltzman in his special quiz.

Updates to Arbit Statistics 

Arbit Statistics - 11: Andrew Strauss has rectified the anomaly and gone past Graeme Swann in the highest 1st class scores department.

Arbit Statistics - 10: Sachin Tendulkar has snatched the crown of most 4th innings runs from Rahul Dravid. Though both being active players, this record might keep moving between the two of them for the time being.

Arbit Statistics - 11

India vs England, 4th Test, Oval

At the score of 447/3, England sent in James Anderson as a nightwatchman. A very weird decision in my opinion. But this led to a little comic and statistic. Looking at the current first class batting records of the England XI, their no. 11 Grame Swann has a higher first class score than their opener Andrew Strauss (183 vs 177). Not that it is any comparison index, but Strauss would certainly like to rectify this anamoly.

Source - A comment on BBC text commentary. Not verified as yet.

2000th Test: Lords - Day 4 Thoughts

End of Day 4 in the 2000th Test at Lords. 98 overs of play left. India need 378 runs. England 9 wickets. 1st result highly unlikely, 2nd one quite so.

• India left fighting for survival in the first test. Pretty much following the script of our overseas tours. Batting gets derailed, then bowlers unable to close out things or totally ineffective. But this is a 4 test series so we should be able to come back (if needed, that is).
• Clutching at Straws fact - On the last tour in 2007, India survived in Lords with rain washing out the final session and the last wicket pair of Dhoni & Sreesanth at the crease.
• Day 4 of the Lords Test showed why Test Match cricket is so intriguing. England are were they would have wanted to be at the start of the day, eyeing a lead of around 450 and declaring at tea or in the final session. However what they wouldn't have anticipated was collapsing to 62 for 5 and then a 150 + partnership between Prior and Broad bailing them out.
• Matt Prior for the second time in the match pulled England out of a spot of bother, scoring fast without taking too many risks.
• Stuart Broad arrived in the Test with a big question mark on his place. He removed it with both ball and bat.
• Rahul Dravid's celebrations on day 3 after reaching his 100 showed just what these runs meant to him. Also he opened the batting the second time around when he has clearly shown a disdain for it in the past (although why it is so is a mystery as quite often he has been batting in the first over itself) Still anyone out there wanting him to retire?
• Ishant Sharma destroyed the English top order. But then went missing after lunch almost literally. Have to say this, love the sight of an Indian bowler bouncing out the opposition top batsman (Pietersen in this case).
• In an attempt to cut down the scoring rate, Dhoni spread the field but the rate improved. Aren't attacking fields better at saving runs also. Just wondering.
• I like the way Strauss allows his batsmen to reach personal milestones. Bell against Sri Lanka, KP in the first innings, Prior in the 2nd.
• Random Observation - Suresh Raina seems to be always there when a players' celebration is going on. Batsman at other end, as a runner for the batsman, near the bowler or the catching fielder, Raina is always in the frame.
• Now for Day 5 - Can India save the match? Yes we can. Will we save the match. I certainly hope so. Don't want to jinx any of the batsmen so no predictions on the likely centurions.

England - The Most Entertaining Cricket Team Ever?

England are the most entertaining cricket on this planet. How they have become so is a total mystery. They may not be the best but are certainly the most entertaining. And that too across all three formats of the game (They also have 3 different captains in place).

England are the current T20 World Champions, a format in which they have lost to Netherlands also.

Their performances in the ODI World cup earlier this year, defied any sort of cricketing logic. A team which beat South Africa & West Indies and tied with India, while losing to Bangladesh & Ireland and getting pushed to the limit against the Dutch. The only consistency they showed was how they made every single game exciting and worth watching to the neutral followers.

And in Tests, the English have mastered the art of dramatic endings. In a 12 month period they produced 4 cliff hanger draws with the last pair on the crease fighting desperately for survival till the last over. (Against West Indies they were at the receiving end of it). Winter Ashes they beat the Aussies thrice by an innings while losing 1 match by an innings themselves. And today against Sri Lanka at Cardiff, they again showed up the maverick nature of cricket.

When the last day's play began after a rain delayed start, England were 91 runs ahead with some 57 overs of play left. A boring draw was the most likely conclusion. Ian Bell, the Sledgehammer of Eternal Justice (as he has been named) duly completed another Slipstream Century. And in a surprising decision Strauss immediately declared. First thought was why bother coming out to bat to add 5 runs to the lead while losing 4 overs. Bell was allowed to reach his personal landmark. And then Tremlett, Swann and Broad knocked out Sri Lanka in under 25 overs and helped seal an innings victory. (Some terrible, if you a Lankan fan, Stats here).

Certainly a maverick victory to say the least. Showed that the old adage still holds - In cricket it is not over till the last ball has been bowled and certainly not when England are one of the teams involved.

P.S. Now waiting for the "blame the IPL" for this defeat game to begin. 

P.P.S. Eagerly awaiting for the India-England Test series.

In other news, Shahid Afridi has retired from all international cricket. (Pakistan - the non-stop controversy continues)

World Cup Thoughts - Feb 27

After watching a CRAZY tied match between India & England, well, there is lots and lots to say. If I was commentating like Ravi Shastri, I would have said "In the end, cricket was a winner". 

• Virender Sehwag's edgy start. Should have been out 3 times in the 1st over. Wasn't and helped the team get off to a flier.
• Sachin Tendulkar's brilliant century. And seeing him hit those big sixes off Swann was special. The best one though was the first one off Collingwood and here is what Cricinfo had to say about it, 

  17.4	Collingwood to Tendulkar, SIX, the ball was straight, but the bat much straighter. Tendulkar with one, simple movement has lifted this over the bowler's head and straight into the advertising boards. First six of the match, made to look indecently easy

• Tim Bresnan was brilliant in the end. And he was in my Fantasy League team along with SRT.
• Munaf Patel ran out Zaheer trying to take an impossible second run, after having run the first one short. A little thing but in the proved decisive. 
• Forget Sehwag, this time around even the entire team could not bat out the 50 overs.
• At the halfway stage, it seemed India would romp home but our bowling attack (sorry, wrong word) just wasn't there for most of the England innings.
• Strauss played an innings hardly expected from him or in general any English batsman for that matter. But Zaheer's yorker took him out.
• Ian Bell (the hero of this blog) was playing fine till he got a cramp. Also involved in a bizarre decision review. Started walking off on seeing the replay but umpire stood by his original decision and gave him Not Out on a technicality.
• The Batting Powerplay seriously scares the Batting side. India lost their way a bit, while the English almost lost the match.
• And when the Indians seemed to have the match under control, a flurry of sixes from Swann, Bresnan & Shahzad sealed a tie.
• England nearly choked. Well, with so many South Africa born players in their ranks, what else could we expect.
• India & England both have a good batting and pathetic bowling lineups. Not sure how longer they can go on with this.India's in particular starts and ends with Zaheer, the rest are just kind of running through the motions.
• The "Movies Now" channel was showing all 6 Rocky movies. Manged to catch quite a bit of action in between overs. Just wondering how awesome it would have been to watch the match with the Rocky theme on rather than the cliched commentary. 

In the end I can say this was probably the best match of the past 3 world cups. The best since Edgbaston 1999, another tied match.

And a day earlier, Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in another close game further strengthening my belief of Pakistan as a dark horse for winning the Cup. Still a long way to go.

Now over to some boring matches from tomorrow. Predictions Zimbabwe & West Indies to win.

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust...

The Ashes are done and dusted. Australia have been thrashed beyond recognition. In fact the 3-1 margin actually is quite flattering towards the Aussies. The previous series in England had been a close fought one with Australia being the better performers inspite of being on the worng side of a 2-1 scoreline. Andrew Strauss had then commented that "When we bad we were awful, when we were good we managed to be just good enough". This time after 3 innings victory there is not much to review, except what exactly happened in Perth?

The SCG could have been the farewell venue for Ricky Ponting's Test career. Instead it was Paul Collingwood who got the perfect farewell from Test cricket. The totally dominant Aussies were reduced to a joke in the light of England's throughly professional performance. Underperforming players and some muddled selection policy made the Autralian cricket time of quite a few jokes. The cricketing world rejoiced to see them suffer. Here are a few highlights.

• What do you call an Australian cricketer who is world class? Retired.
• After winning the toss, Strauss to Ponting, "You lads can bat". Ponting, "No mate we can't. We really can't".
• What is the Australian version of LBW? Lost, Beaten, Walloped.
• Michael Clarke wanted to captain Australia very badly. He did just that.

On the cricketing front the highlights would be the surreal score of 1-517, Collingwood's catches, England's pace attack, Bell's 1st Ashes century, Trott's batting, Hussey's lonely battle. And above all Alastair Cook, for whom the picture is the most apt description.

And if we add the Sprinkler dance, an almost perfect Ashes for the England team.

P.S. Now I am waiting for the Indian tour of England later this year.