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thirdslip.com
Cricket, by the numbers
Australia vs India - Test Series 2008: a review
This is an analytical review of the recently concluded Australia - India Test series. Especially as I hold contrarian views, I will completely stay out of all the controversial issues. Enough has been said, broadcast, mailed, written and discussed about those. In all these acrimonious discussions what has been forgotten is that some great cricket was played and it was a wonderful series.
First a subjective summary of the series.
Even though Australia won the series 2-1, a 1-1 draw would have been a fairer result. After the first test, India competed very well and deserved a share of the spoils. The first and fourth tests were free of major umpiring mistakes, especially in the fourth test where the umpires, Bowden in particular, applied the same yard stick of ruling leg before wicket appeals in batsman's favour, but consistently across the two teams. During the second test the umpiring decisions were strongly in Australia's favour while India were the beneficiary in the third test. Overall the umpiring decisions were slightly in favour of Australia.
What should not be forgotten is that, notwithsatanding the umpiring decisions, it was the failure of the three Indian tail-enders to last 6 balls which caused India to lose the Sydney test.
Let us now take a critical and analytical look at the performances. The analysis is based on the Thirdslip Rating points (TSRPts) which in turn has as the core, the Wisden-100 lists created by the author a few years back.
BOWLING PERFORMANCES
To determine the TSR Bowling Points, the following criteria are used.
- Wickets taken. This is not a linear computation. As wickets increase, the points allotted increase.
- Quality of wickets taken (e.g. dismissing Tendulkar vs getting Jaffer out).
- When was the wicket taken (Ponting at 5 vs Ponting at 140).
- Bowling accuracy.
- Type of pitch.
- Match status (e.g., fourth innings defending a low target for victory).
- Quality of the opposition batting, based on their career figures.
- Result of the match.
- If win or draw, the bowler's contribution to the outcome, based on the points computed above.
The top 5 bowling performances during the series are given below.
MtNo For Bowler Analysis TSRPts Match Ground
1857 Aus Lee B 32.2 5 119 5 152.83 2nd Test Sydney
1857 Ind Singh R.P 26.0 3 124 4 152.14 2nd Test Sydney
1855 Aus Clark S.R 15.0 4 28 4 145.51 1st Test Melbourne
1855 Ind Kumble A 25.0 4 84 5 144.23 1st Test Melbourne
1857 Ind Kumble A 40.0 3 148 4 140.78 2nd Test Sydney
No surprises here. Lee's 5 wicket haul had 3 top order batsmen plus Kumble and was on a predominantly batting strip. This is closely followed by R.P.Singh's first innings haul, despite India's loss, in the same test, all four wickets being top order batsmen. Clark's low cost capture of 4 top order wickets at Melbourne comes next. The reason R.P.Singh's analysis is rated higher than Clark's is because Sydney was a batting wicket. Then comes two Kumble performances, both coming in tests lost by India. Surprisingly all these five came in tests won by Australia. The best bowling performance at Perth, in the test won by India was R.P.Singh again whose 4 for 68, two top order and two late order wickets, secured 139.5 points.
BATTING PERFORMANCES
To determine the TSR Batting Points, the following criteria are used.
- Runs scored. This is not a linear computation. As scores become bigger, the points allotted taper off.
- The Scoring Rate. If not available, the Team scoring rate for the concerned innings is used.
- The team's position at the time of arrival of a batsman (Hussey entering at 13 for 2)
- Match status at entry of a batsman. Which innings. What is the score being defended or chased et al.
- The type of pitch.
- Quality of the opposition bowling attack, based on their career figures.
- Support received from other batsmen.
- The quantum of runs added along with the tail? (e.g. Tendulkar at Sydney)
- Percentage of Team Score made by the batsmen.
- Result of the match.
- If win or draw, the batsman's contribution to the outcome, based on the points computed above.
The top 5 batting performances during the sries are given below.
MtNo For Batsman Runs TSRPts Match Ground
1857 Aus Symonds A 162* 168.24 2nd Test Sydney
1857 Aus Hussey M.E.K 145* 152.75 2nd Test Sydney
1855 Aus Hayden M.L 124 152.12 1st Test Melbourne
1863 Ind Sehwag V 151 147.76 4th Test Adelaide Oval
1857 Ind Tendulkar S.R 154* 141.14 2nd Test Sydney
The numbers on the scorecards have to be taken at face value. If we keep the umpiring decisions away, there is no doubt that Symonds' 162* at Sydney was one of the best recent test innings. Coming in at 119 for 4, score slumping to 134 for 6, adding 329 runs for the last 4 wickets (out of these, 156 runs for the last 3 wickets), all this against a very good Indian attack, all topped by an Australian win made this the innings of the series. Hussey's unbeaten 145 in the second test had similar characteristics. Hayden's match winning 124 at Melbourne comes in next, followed by Sehwag's rare second innings gem at Adelaide and Tendulkar's 154* (unfortunately on the losing side). Tendulkar's undeaten 153 at Adelaide garners only 136.9 points in view of the fact that it was a batting wicket, over 1100 runs scored for the loss of 21 wickets during the first 4 days. It will be of interest to note that Laxman's outstanding match-winning effort of 79 at Perth has been rated much higher at 126.7 points.
TOP BOWLERS
Based on these computations the summary for the series of the bowlers is given below.
Wkts TSRPts
Aus Lee B 24 842.86
Ind Kumble A 20 643.40
Aus Johnson M.G 16 555.85
Aus Clark S.R 14 492.21
Ind Singh R.P 13 490.01
Aus Symonds A 9 340.39
Ind Pathan I.K 8 332.39
Ind Harbhajan Singh 8 326.28
Aus Hogg G.B 8 284.88
Ind Zaheer khan 5 133.10
Lee was part of two wins and also captured high order wickets. He was undoubtedly the best bowler on either side. He is followed by Anil Kumble and Mitchell Johnson, at some distance. Lee had good support from Mitchell and Clark. Kumble's main support was from R.P.Singh whose absence from the last test was a major blow for India. Harbhajan had a below average series.
TOP BATSMEN
Based on these computations the summary for the series of the batsmen is given below.
Runs TSRPts
Ind Tendulkar S.R 493 477.42
Aus Hayden M.L 410 455.96
Aus Symonds A 410 452.20
Ind Laxman V.V.S 366 397.09
Aus Clarke M.J 316 385.30
Aus Hussey M.E.K 292 309.13
Ind Sehwag V 286 290.93
Aus Jaques P.A 243 274.86
Aus Ponting R.T 268 249.07
Ind Ganguly S.C 235 239.53
Ind Dravid R 237 239.01
Aus Hogg G.B 148 170.97
Aus Gilchrist A.C 150 167.02
Ind Dhoni M.S 141 147.12
Ind Jaffer W 49 55.87
Ind Yuvraj Singh 17 31.07
Tendulkar had a great series scoring nearly 500 runs. Despite missing a test Hayden was second, closely followed by Symonds. Ponting, Dravid and Ganguly had average sries. India was ill-served by Jaffer and Yuvraj who both had completely forgettable series, leaving the opening positions still unclear.
It must be noted that the bowling and batting TSR points are not necessarily comparable, particularly because the bowlers always get a chance to take 20 wickets while the batsmen do not always get to play two innings. The other reason is that this series was primarily a batting one, with an average Runs per wicket value of 37.5 and Runs per over value of 3.53. The Balls per wicket value however is somewhat low at of 63.
The series conclusively proved that
- Yuvraj still lags a long way behind Laxman or Ganguly as a Test batsman.
- Kumble still has to deliver for India to win.
- Aakash Chopra surely is worth a try against South Africa.
- Sehwag might have his off-days. But his presence is very crucial for India, for his batting and bowling.
- Ishant Sharma is a far better prospect than Sreesanth or Munaf.
- Test batting orders should not be tampered with.
- Hogg is no Warne, for that matter he is no MacGill either.
- Clark has to go some way to catch up with McGrath.
- Hayden is the most important cog in the Australian wheel.
- Symonds' value to the Australian team is increasing day-by-day.
Y. Anantha Narayanan
February 2008
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