Interesting Stats.
I remember a time when Pakistan used to just give up if they weren’t batting first.
http://content.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/212360.html
Masters of the chase, and the most meaty strikers
S Rajesh
July 1, 2005
Perhaps numbers never do reveal the full story, but they tell a large part of it. Every Friday, The Numbers Game will take a look at statistics from the present and the past, busting myths and revealing hidden truths:
When Michael Vaughan goes out for the toss with Ricky Ponting on Saturday, he’ll be hoping the coin falls his way, and he is allowed the option of batting second - that’ll significantly improve England’s chances of pulling off a morale-boosting win in the NatWest Series before the Ashes get underway. Two factors suggest that England will stand a much better chance if they put Australia in - under Vaughan, England have an outstanding record chasing, and a poor one setting a target; plus, ODIs in England go the way of the chaser by a 2:1 ratio. Their most recent win against Australia, the result of an astonishing onslaught from Kevin Pietersen, was the latest example of England’s proficiency on the chase: at one stage, they needed they needed 93 off 72 balls, with only four wickets in hand. Most teams would have been daunted by the task; England, masterminded by Pietersen, achieved the target with plenty to spare.
England under Vaughan
in ODIsMatchesWin/ LossWin %Batting first217/1233.33Batting second 2217/ 377.27
ODIs in …Won by team batting firstWon by team chasingEngland2349Australia 5435Bangladesh2213India 2425New Zealand1933Pakistan 1916South Africa5553Sri Lanka 3935West Indies2028Zimbabwe 2728(All numbers since January 2000)
England’s head-to-head against Australia is further reason to believe in their chances when they bat second - when they’ve set a target, England have only won 13 out of 37 matches, a win percentage of 36; when chasing, that number zooms up to 48 (20 out of 44). (Click here for a summary of all ODIs between England and Australia.)
Australia’s performance in the tournament so far has been anything but awe-inspiring, but they’ll be drawing encouragement from their outstanding record in finals - 17 wins and only one defeat in their last 19 finals, dating back to February 1999. The only team which turned the tables on them in a decider was Sri Lanka, who used the slow conditions in Colombo to perfection. Of those 17 Australian wins, four have come at the expense of England, all of them in triangular series in Australia. As the table below indicates, the Australian batsmen and bowlers have both consistently lifted their games in finals, something none of the other teams barring Sri Lanka have been able to manage.
RR in all ODIs/ only finalsRR conceded in all ODIs/ only finalsAustralia5.29/ 5.434.55/ 4.34England 4.30/ 4.784.63/ 4.69India5.05/ 4.485.02/ 5.50New Zealand 4.78/ 4.724.83/ 4.38Pakistan4.91/ 4.384.70/ 4.60South Africa 4.96/ 4.504.56/ 4.42Sri Lanka4.80/ 5.104.55/ 4.50West Indies 4.76/ 4.534.77/ 4.67(Numbers since January 1999)
England’s saviour
There used to be a time when England used to struggle for runs in the final stages of their one-day innings. The advent of Andrew Flintoff changed that situation somewhat, but now England can’t complain about the lack of firepower, thanks to Kevin Pietersen. It’s been only seven months since Pietersen made his one-day international debut, but in that period, he has already slammed three centuries, one matchwinning unbeaten 91, and won the Man-of-the-Match award four times. The average of 115.16 is admittedly inflated by six not-outs in 12 innings, but even his runs per innings is an impressive 57.58, quite outstanding considering his position in the batting order.
In his short ODI career so far, Pietersen has already slammed 53 fours and 23 sixes - that’s 350 out of his tally of 691 runs. In terms of percentage of runs scored in boundaries, Pietersen’s 50.65% only puts him in 23rd place among batsmen with at least 500 runs (Shahid Afridi leads the way with 64.52%), but unlike Afridi, who has scored most of his ODI runs at the top of the order, Pietersen hasn’t had the luxury of batting against bowlers handicapped by fielding restrictions. The more critical factor for analysis is strike-rate, and Pietersen’s tally of 102.67 runs per 100 balls puts him in No. 3 position in the all-time list. In fact, England is the only team with two of their current players in the top ten.
BatsmanMatchesRunsStrike rateShahid Afridi2084659108.25Lance Cairns 78987104.89Kevin Pietersen17691102.67Ian Smith 98105499.06Ricardo Powell105207095.46Virender Sehwag 112337096.26Adam Gilchrist212705594.80Kapil Dev 225378294.41Andrew Flintoff85221392.05Viv Richards 187672190.58
Pietersen’s average after 12 innings is easily the highest of any batsman at that stage in their ODI career. The top five has some impressive names, but the exception is Dermot Reeve, who was not-out in nine of his first 12 innings, ensuring an average far above his capabilities as a batsman.
Top averages after
12 ODI inningsRunsAverage100s/ 50sKevin Pietersen691115.173/ 3Glenn Turner 52165.132/ 2Dermot Reeve18361.000/ 0Allan Lamb 59659.602/ 2Peter Kirsten52057.780/ 5