ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL STATISTICS
THE FASTEST-SCORING BATSMEN & MOST ECONOMICAL BOWLERS
*by David Piesing, Director of Fantasy Cricket Club Limited *
At Fantasy Cricket Club we have devised a unique scoring system for our fantasy games based on One-Day Internationals. The system not only rewards the number of runs scored and wickets taken, but also earns bonuses for fast scoring and economical bowling and sees penalties incurred for slow scoring and expensive bowling.
We thought it would be interesting to see which players currently lead the Fastest-Scoring Batsmen Chart and Most Economical Bowling Chart over their ODI careers to date. Only Batsmen who have scored at least 500 ODI runs and Bowlers who have completed at least 150 overs as at 30th April 2002 qualify for the charts.
FASTEST-SCORING BATSMEN
ODIs S/Rate Runs
1 A Symonds AUS 48 102.16 707
2 V Sehwag IND 28 100.00 699
3 Shahid Afridi PAK 142 99.45 3266
4 RL Powell WI 51 93.06 1006
5 Yuvraj Singh IND 30 92.10 653
6 AB Agarkar IND 92 91.39 648
7 L Klusener RSA 129 90.05 2844
8 AC Gilchrist AUS 133 89.69 4203
9 SB Joshi IND 69 89.43 584
10 ST Jayasuriya SL 257 89.01 7365
11 Wasim Akram PAK 324 87.72 3372
12 N Boje RSA 68 87.34 821
13 SR Tendulkar IND 286 86.66 11069
14 J Srinath IND 204 83.89 844
15 ME Trescothick ENG 37 83.08 1248
16 DS Lehmann AUS 75 82.70 1989
17 D Mongia IND 15 82.21 527
18 SM Pollock RSA 152 81.95 1571
19 CL Cairns NZ 151 81.52 3614
20 A Flintoff ENG 39 81.51 657
21 Saeed Anwar PAK 230 81.37 8348
22 PA de Silva SL 275 81.19 8430
Andrew Symonds might not currently be in favour with the Australian selectors, but he presently holds the mantle of the fastest-scoring batsmen in ODI cricket with a scoring rate of 102.16 per 100 balls from 48 matches. Only one other player has a three-figure scoring rate, and that’s the exciting Virender Sehwag from India.
Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi has a rate of 99.45, but his rate has been achieved over 142 matches. On the basis that it is easier to sustain a high scoring rate over a small number of matches, Shahid’s statistics suggest that he is arguably the most attacking batsman in recent times on ODI cricket. Four hard-hitting left-handers, South Africa’s Lance Klusener, Australia’s Adam Gilchrist, Sanath Jayasuriya and Wasim Akram are Shahid’s nearest challengers as long-term fastest-scorer, with India’s Sachin Tendulkar’s record 11,069 runs from 286 matches having come at a very impressive rate of 86.66.
There are several surprises in the rankings. The only West Indian to appear on the list is Ricardo Powell in 4th place but he too seems to be out of favour at the moment with his country’s selectors. Apart from Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka’s only other representative on the list is Aravinda de Silva and he has been out of their one-day side for most of the last 18 months. Similarly, apart from Symonds and Gilchrist, Australia’s only other batsman with a scoring rate in excess of 80 is Darren Lehmann although there are several Aussies in the high 70s. England have just two representatives in the list, namely Marcus Trescothick and Andy Flintoff, and New Zealand have just one (Chris Cairns). In addition to Klusener, South Africa’s representatives on the list are Nicky Boje and Shaun Pollock, while there are no Zimbabweans or Bangladeshis with a scoring rate of more than 80.
Remarkably, there are 7 Indians in the top 22, and 4 in the top 10 (which does not include Tendulkar). Several of these players have emerged over the last 12 months, including Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Mongia, and three of their bowlers, Ajay Agarkar, Sunil Joshi and Javagal Srinath all score their lower-order runs very quickly indeed. Is this perhaps a pointer to a side with the right batting attributes to win the 2003 World Cup if they can really gel together?
While 5 of the top 6 batsmen are right-handers, the next 6 are all left-handers. Indeed, in the overall list of the top 22 fastest-scoring batsmen, exactly 50% are left-handers which is a suprisingly high statistic.
MOST ECONOMICAL BOWLERS
ODIs E/Rate Overs
1 CE Cuffy WI 31 3.73 279.5
2 SM Pollock RSA 152 3.76 1331
3 AD Mullally ENG 50 3.84 449.5
4 Wasim Akram PAK 324 3.86 2765.4
5 M Muralitharan SL 188 3.88 1712.4
6 AR Caddick ENG 38 3.91 349.3
7 CD Collymore WI 20 3.93 189.1
8 GD McGrath AUS 153 3.95 1321.4
9 Harbajhan Singh IND 45 4.04 414.4
10 A Kapoor IND 17 4.08 150
11 MA Ealham ENG 64 4.08 537.5
12 RD King WI 48 4.09 413.5
13 AA Donald RSA 143 4.10 1252.3
14 M Ntini RSA 40 4.16 325.3
15 A Kumble IND 223 4.21 2005.5
16 WPUJC Vaas SL 180 4.21 1456.5
17 Saqlain Mushtaq PAK 148 4.24 1294.1
18 RDB Croft ENG 50 4.24 411
19 SK Warne AUS 178 4.25 1614.3
20 D Gough ENG 106 4.26 974.1
21 CZ Harris NZ 208 4.28 1537.4
22 N Boje RSA 68 4.30 437.5
23 JN Gillespie AUS 35 4.32 261.1
24 C Hooper WI 205 4.32 1446.3
25 HDPK Dharmasena SL 125 4.33 1046
26 Abdur Razzaq PAK 95 4.34 738.5
27 S Elworthy RSA 38 4.38 275.4
28 C White ENG 42 4.41 314
29 M Dillon WI 61 4.42 518.4
30 R Telemachus RSA 25 4.42 220.4
31 SB Joshi IND 69 4.44 546.2
32 DL Vettori NZ 87 4.45 667.5
33 DN Zoysa SL 62 4.46 475.2
34 CH Gayle WI 42 4.46 205.1
35 J Srinath IND 204 4.48 1772.5
36 Shoaib Malik PAK 23 4.49 167.1
Step forward Cameron Cuffy from the West Indies, who is currently the most miserly bowler in ODI cricket with an impressive economy rate of 3.73 from 31 matches. He pips South Africa’s Shaun Pollock (3.76 from 152 matches) who is the most economical in the longer-term. Wasim Akram of Pakistan and Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka are also long-term scrooges, with Australia’s Glenn McGrath not too far behind.
As with the batting statistics, there are several surprises in the list. England have two players in the top six, namely the discarded Alan Mullally in 3rd place and 6th-placed Andy Caddick and three others in the top 20, 11th-placed Mark Ealham (also discarded), Robert Croft and Darren Gough. The West Indies have two other bowlers in the top 12, Corey Collymore in 7th place and the out-of-favour Reon King.
The Australians are not overly-represented on the list. Apart from McGrath, Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie are the only other Aussies with a rate of less than 4.5. To support Wasim Akram, Pakistan only have Saqlain Mushtaq, Abdur Razzaq and Shoaib Malik with a rate of less than 4.5, although Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis are only just above 4.5. India have Harbajhan Singh and Aashish Kapoor in 9th and 10th place respectively, while Anil Kumble, Sunil Joshi and Javagal Srinath appear lower down. New Zealand are represented by just Chris Harris and Daniel Vettori (both quite a way down the list). South Africa have Allan Donald and the fast-improving Makhaya Ntini in 13th and 14th places to back up Pollock, with Nicky Boje and Roger Telemachus also featuring. Sri Lanka have only Muralitharan in the top 10, but Chaminda Vaas, Kumar Dharmasena and Nuwan Zoysa also make it into the chart. As per the batting there are no Zimbabweans or Bangladeshis.
One revealing feature is the number of English bowlers on the list who are currently of favour with the selectors and who might therefore not appear in the 2003 World Cup. The economy rates of Mullally, Ealham and Croft compare very favourably with their international peers and they may be all be paying the price for their shortcomings with the bat and/or in the field in their performances to date.
Eleven of the top 15 bowlers on the list are seamers, with just 4 spinners represented.
In our next article we will see how these players compare with the leading ODI players of the past 30 years.