The lack of draws Till the last day of cricket in 2014, there had been only six draws in 39 Tests in the year - the last time there had been fewer draws in a calendar year was 1970, when only six Tests were played, of which two were drawn. As it turned out, the last day of cricket added 33% to the number of draws, as India held on at the MCG, and the weather played spoilsport in Port Elizabeth. That increased the number of draws in 2014 to eight, which is still a nice and low number, given that 41 Tests were played this year. In terms of percentages, there has been only one year with fewer stalemates: in 2002, eight out of 54 Tests were drawn, a percentage of 14.81. In that year, Pakistan played 12 Tests without a single draw, Australia played 11, and South Africa nine, with none of them being draws. Last year was highly skewed in favour of home teams - there were only two wins by touring teams (excluding matches in neutral venues) - but the balance was redressed somewhat in 2014, with nine wins for touring teams. A 9-18 win-loss record was much better than the 2-29 of 2013, but it still wasnt as even as in some of the previous years: it had been 13-13 in 2011, and 14-16 in 2010. Among the nine away wins in 2014 were two by Australia in South Africa, one by South Africa in Sri Lanka, and one by Sri Lanka in England. Even India won an away Test, at Lords, before slumping in the rest of the series. Despite the fewer draws, the overall batting average went up in 2014 to 35.96, from 32.17 last year, an increase of almost 12%. The scoring rates went up too, from 3.13 to 3.27. Lowest draw percentages in a calendar year since 1970 Year Tests Draws Draw % Runs per wkt Run rate 2002 54 8 14.81 32.49 3.18 2014 41 8 19.51 35.97 3.27 2004 51 11 21.57 35.55 3.30 2001 55 12 21.82 33.64 3.03 2008 47 11 23.40 34.12 3.23 2012 42 10 23.81 34.00 3.12 1998 45 11 24.44 30.13 2.82 2005 49 12 24.49 33.53 3.38 In ODIs, the highlight was a run rate that kept moving upward. The 2014 ODI run rate was 5.29, the highest it has ever been in a calendar year; the previous best was 5.12 in 2009. The matches in India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka contributed heavily to the high scoring rate - the eight ODIs in India had a rate of 5.86, while New Zealand and Sri Lanka both had rates in excess of 5.50. There were 31 totals of 300 or more, with the highest being Indias 404 against Sri Lanka in Kolkata in November. Highest run rates in a calendar year in ODIs Year Matches Average Run rate 300+ scores 2014 121 31.53 5.29 31 2009 150 30.92 5.12 43 2013 136 30.65 5.11 35 2005 107 31.38 5.10 27 2012 90 31.09 5.05 15 2011 146 29.97 5.04 32 2007 191 30.39 5.04 51 2010 142 30.11 4.98 18 The teams that stood out More incredible than Indias 404, though, was what happened on the first day of 2014, in an ODI in Queenstown. In a match reduced to 21 overs per side, New Zealand blasted 283, riding on a 36-ball century from Corey Anderson, the fastest in ODI history. That turned out to be a harbinger of things to come in the rest of the year for New Zealand, in both forms of the game. In Tests, they won five in 2014, their best performance ever. Theyve won four in a year only five times, and the last of those was in 2008, when three out of four wins were against Bangladesh. Two other teams won five Tests in 2014 - Australia and Sri Lanka - but both lost three, to New Zealands two, which means New Zealand had the best win-loss ratio for the year. Apart from Zimbabwe, the team with the worst win-loss ratio was India - one win and six defeats, which was a function of the fact that they played all their Tests overseas. They were the only team, excluding Zimbabwe, to lose more Tests than they won in 2014. In both Tests and ODIs, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa were among the teams with the three best win-loss ratios - conclusive proof that 2014 was a terrific year for teams from the southern hemisphere. Test and ODI records for teams in 2014 Tests ODIs Team Matches W/ L Ratio Matches W/ L Ratio New Zealand 9 5/ 2 2.50 16 9/ 5 1.80 South Africa 8 4/ 2 2.00 19 12/ 6 2.00 Australia 9 5/ 3 1.66 18 13/ 5 2.60 Sri Lanka 11 5/ 3 1.66 32 20/ 12 1.66 Bangladesh 7 3/ 3 1.00 18 5/ 12 0.41 England 8 3/ 3 1.00 25 9/ 16 0.56 Pakistan 9 4/ 4 1.00 16 6/ 10 0.60 West Indies 7 3/ 3 1.00 13 7/ 6 1.16 India 10 1/ 6 0.16 24 14/ 8 1.75 Zimbabwe 4 0/ 4 0.00 16 3/ 13 0.23 The best batsmen Much of the reason for New Zealands superb performance in Tests in 2014 was the batting of Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson, and the consistency of Trent Boult and Tim Southee with the ball. Before 2014, the most runs McCullum had scored in a year was 764, in 2008; it took him 24 innings to score those runs. Last year, in just 16 innings, he amassed 1164, at an average of 72.75. Its the first instance of a New Zealand batsman scoring 1000 Test runs in a calendar year. Williamson was almost as prolific, with 929 runs at an average of 61.93. Before 2014, the highest in a calendar year for New Zealand was John Reids 871 runs in 24 innings in 1965. In 2014, not only was a record that stood for almost 50 years broken, it was broken by two batsmen, and both played stellar roles in New Zealands bumper year in Tests. Sri Lanka won five Tests too in 2014, and their batting stars were Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews. Sangakkara, with 1493 runs at 71.09, was the leading run-scorer in Tests last year. He made two scores of 200 or more, including 319 against Bangladesh in Chittagong. In three innings against Bangladesh, Sangakkara made 499 runs, but even excluding those runs, he made 994 runs in 2014 at an average of 55.22. Mathews was the second highest run-scorer, with 1317 at an average of 87.80. Mahela Jayawardene made more than 1000 too, which meant Sri Lanka was the only side with three batsmen scoring 1000-plus Test runs. Australia were well-represented too, with Steven Smith and David Warner in the club, while Younis Khan was Pakistans only representative. Sangakkara and Mathews were also the leading run-scorers in ODIs in 2014, and they were two of only three batsmen to make 1000-plus ODI runs in the year. Virat Kohli redeemed his Test year with runs in Australia, and in ODIs he was the third batsman with 1000-plus runs, scoring 1054 off 1058 balls, at an average of 58.55. A peculiar feature of 2014 was the batting form of captains in Tests. McCullum and Mathews had stunning years, Misbah-ul-Haq made 747 runs at an average of 57.46, while Hashim Amlas 442 runs as captain came at an average of 73.66. Smith and Kohli only started their captaincy stints, but both made massive runs when leading their teams: Smith made two hundreds in two Tests, while Kohli scored a century in each innings in Adelaide. Together all of those runs made up for the relative failures of some others - most notably Michael Clarkes 429 runs at 35.75, and Alastair Cooks 390 at 32.50 - and ensured that captains averaged 49.40 with the bat in 2014. Since 1980, there have been only two years when they have averaged more - 1990 and 2009. Best years for captains with the bat in Tests since 1980 Year Inngs Runs Average 100s/ 50s 1990 88 4503 58.48 14/ 17 2009 140 6401 49.62 20/ 26 2014 146 6422 49.40 18/ 23 2012 149 6585 48.77 19/ 27 2003 149 6349 48.46 19/ 23 2005 176 7650 48.41 23/ 38 2006 163 7225 48.16 20/ 33 1991 68 2885 48.08 4/ 17 Captains who scored the most runs in Tests in 2014 Batsman Inngs Runs Average 100s/ 50s Brendon McCullum 16 1164 72.75 4/ 0 Angelo Mathews 20 1160 77.33 2/ 8 Misbah-ul-Haq 16 747 57.46 3/ 4 MS Dhoni 17 534 33.37 0/ 5 Hashim Amla 7 442 73.66 2/ 0 The bowling stars In 2013, Rangana Herath took only 25 Test wickets, but thats because he played just four Tests. In 2014, he played ten, and duly continued taking wickets at about the same rate, finishing the year with 60, at an average of 27.45. No other bowler took 50 Test wickets. (Click here for the leading wicket-takers in Tests, and here for ODIs.) Mitchell Johnson, James Anderson and Dale Steyn were the three leading wicket-takers among fast bowlers, and they all took their wickets at an average of less than 24. Trent Boult and Tim Southee were consistently among the wickets as well, and played key roles in New Zealands fine year in Tests. Overall, though, bowlers didnt enjoy the year quite as much as they had 2013: their average runs per wicket went up to 35.55 from 31.97 last year. The fast bowlers averaged 33.23 - up from 30.53 in 2013 - while spinners averaged 38.97, up from 34.43. Left-arm fast bowlers averaged better than all other bowler types, thanks largely to Johnson and Boult, but wicket-taking was a bigger struggle for right-arm spinners, who conceded almost 43 runs per wicket. Different bowler types in Tests in 2014 Wickets Average Econ rate Strike rate 5WI/ 10WM Right-arm fast 634 33.64 3.11 64.8 17/ 0 Left-arm fast 159 31.59 3.18 59.5 4/ 1 Right-arm spin 306 42.75 3.41 75.0 13/ 2 Left-arm spin 202 33.25 2.90 68.8 16/ 2 Englands bowlers were the best, and Indias the worst, in 2014. Indian bowlers averaged more than 44 runs per wicket, which was poorer than all teams. Indian wickets were fairly cheaply available for bowlers from other teams, though: when they bowled at Indian batsmen, they conceded only 30 runs per wicket, which was cheaper than all wickets except those of Zimbabwean batsmen. Its also quite telling that Indian bowlers took only 141 opposition wickets in ten Tests, but their own batsmen fell 183 times to opposition bowlers - a negative difference of 42 wickets. On the other hand, Englands bowlers took 152 opposition wickets, and their batsmen were dismissed 116 times, a positive difference of 36. Bowling stats for and versus each team in Tests in 2014 For each team Versus each team Team Tests Wickets Ave SR Wickets Ave SR England 8 152 28.14 55.2 116 36.81 66.6 South Africa 8 126 31.83 57.7 110 36.62 78.9 West Indies 7 104 33.88 70.2 97 33.64 62.1 Sri Lanka 11 188 33.94 65.9 173 39.50 77.7 Pakistan 9 146 35.07 70.4 134 42.27 80.3 New Zealand 9 143 35.72 66.3 147 37.74 69.1 Australia 9 149 36.41 67.0 148 38.49 63.2 Zimbabwe 4 57 39.26 81.5 80 23.51 49.3 Bangladesh 7 101 40.98 75.6 119 31.57 63.0 India 10 141 44.27 74.6 183 30.18 56.2 More numbers from 2014 2868 Runs scored by Sangakkara in all international matches in 2014, the highest by any batsman in a calendar year, surpassing Ricky Pontings 2833 in 2005. Mathews scored 2687, which is third in the all-time list; he too went past Ponting, whod scored 2657 in 2003. 33 The number of sixes McCullum struck in Tests in 2014, which is easily the highest in a calendar year. The next best is 22, by Adam Gilchrist (in 2005) and Virender Sehwag (in 2008). Also the number of sixes conceded in Tests by Mark Craig, New Zealands offspinner. Its the second highest by any bowler in Tests in a calendar year since 2002 - Graeme Swann conceded 34 in 2013. 923 The number of runs McCullum scored in his centuries this year - 224, 302, 202 and 195. Only ten batsmen have scored more Test runs in hundreds in a calendar year. McCullums tally in hundreds alone is more than any other New Zealand batsman had scored in a calendar year before 2014 (John Reids 871 in 1965). Had McCullum scored five more runs against Sri Lanka in Christchurch, he would have become only the second player - after Michael Clarke - to score 200 or more four times in a calendar year. Apart from all these runs, he also twice set records for the fastest Test hundred by a New Zealand batsman. 183 Runs McCullum scored in ten ODI innings in 2014, at an average of 20.33. His highest in this format was 49 not out. 112 The number of times teams scored fewer than 264 runs in a completed ODI innings in 2014. Rohit Sharma made 264 all by himself in an ODI against Sri Lanka in Kolkata in November 2014. 26 The number of times Indian bowlers conceded 100 or more runs in a Test innings in 2014, easily the highest among all teams. Pakistan and Sri Lanka were next with 14 instances each. For India, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma led the way with five such instances, followed by Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Aaron with three each.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 11:17:27 +0000
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