Paine vs Pant

The Instagram photo. 

I wanted to quickly share my thoughts about the Paine - Pant sledge.

I've been an outspoken critic of "mental disintegration" -- the tactic of using personal abuse and insults to get under a player's skin and put them off their game, but I really liked what I heard from Paine, and think it's the sort of sledging that is totally appropriate.

New Zealand's remarkable consistency under McCullum

New Zealand have traditionally had reasonable bowlers and not very good batsmen.

Even New Zealand's best batsmen, Crowe, Reid, Turner and Sutcliffe didn't manage to hold the team together often enough for New Zealand to regularly score big scores.

Before the year 2000 New Zealand had only managed to pass 400 on 52 occasions. (roughly 10% of innings). From 2000 until the end of 2012, they managed to pass 400 on 32 occasions (roughy 17% of innings). Since then, under Brendon McCullum, they have managed to pass 400 on 12 occasions in 32 innings (37.5%).

The consistency has been remarkable.

Under McCullum New Zealand have scored under 200 in 27% of innings. The next best was Fleming with 29.3%. Under every other captain who had the team for at least 5 matches, New Zealand scored less than 200 on at least one third of their innings.

This graphic displays the difference quite well:

Under McCullum, New Zealand have scored over 400 more often than they scored over 300 with most captains.

The team's ability to score 400 regularly is actually impressive when compared globally also.

I decided to look at how often a team scored 400, divided by the number of times they were bowled out.  This eliminates situations where the match situation makes scoring 400 unrealistic, for example where a team scores 90/3 to win a match or declares for 385/7 to set up a win.

Here's the table:

Captain	400's	All Outs	400s per AO
DG Bradman	16	21	0.762
SR Waugh	36	56	0.643
AJ Strauss	27	47	0.574
MJK Smith	11	21	0.524
SC Ganguly	27	52	0.519
RT Ponting	45	89	0.506
SM Gavaskar	21	42	0.5
BB McCullum	12	24	0.5
Imran Khan	20	41	0.488
Mushtaq Mohammad	9	20	0.45
GC Smith	50	112	0.446
MS Dhoni	33	76	0.434
MS Atapattu	9	21	0.429
Waqar Younis	9	21	0.429
SM Pollock	11	26	0.423
N Kapil Dev	15	36	0.417
DPMD Jayawardene	17	42	0.405
MJ Clarke	18	45	0.4
WM Woodfull	12	30	0.4

Some other New Zealand names on the list are Fleming, 0.298; Vettori 0.214 and Howarth 0.212.

It is still very early days, but this New Zealand team under Brendon McCullum are starting to show some real promise.

Mini-session Analysis 2nd Test, Australia vs Sri Lanka, MCG, Melbourne, Australia 2012/13

Here is the final mini-session analysis for the second test between Australia and Sri Lanka at MCG, Melbourne, Australia

A mini-session is (normally) half a session, either between the start of the session and the drinks break or the drinks break and the end of the session. Occasionally a long session will have 3 mini-sessions where it will be broken up with 2 drinks breaks.

Mini-Session	Score	Winner
1-1a	Sri Lanka 36/2 off 12	Australia
1-1b	Sri Lanka 43/1 off 13	Sri Lanka
1-2a	Sri Lanka 55/2 off 13	draw
1-2b	Sri Lanka 22/5 off 5.4	Australia
1-3a	Australia 90/0 off 16	Australia
1-3b	Australia 60/3 off 23	Sri Lanka
2-1a	Australia 47/0 off 15	Australia
2-1b	Australia 41/0 off 15	Australia
2-2a	Australia 60/0 off 16	Australia
2-2b	Australia 34/3 off 11	Sri Lanka
2-3a	Australia 51/1 off 16.3	Australia
2-3b	Australia 57/1 off 16.3	Australia
3-1a	Australia 20/2 off 5.4	Sri Lanka
3-1b	Sri Lanka 43/4 off 13	Australia
3-2a	Sri Lanka 59/2 off 10.3	Australia
3-2b	Sri Lanka 1/1 off 0.5	n/a

Final update, click here
Australia win the mini-session count 10 - 4

First drinks, Day 1: Australia lead the mini-session count 1-0

Great start for Australia, after Sri Lanka chose to bat. Bird looks like a handy bowler. There is a little in this pitch, but I think it should settle down this afternoon, it doesn't look like the sort of pitch that will misbehave for too long.

Lunch, Day 1: The mini-session count is tied up, 1-1

Take a bow Kumar Sangakkara! He battled through reasonably difficult conditions and saw off some good bowling to bring up his 10000 career runs in the same number of innings as Tendulkar and Lara. He chose a good way to bring it up too, with a scorching square drive along the slow outfield to what is probably the longest square boundary in world cricket.

Middle drinks, Day 1: The mini-session count is tied up, 1-1

While Sri Lanka scored quickly enough that the formula almost gave them the hour, the two wickets were very big wickets. Australia are probably actually in the lead in this match. Sri Lanka need a very big partnership here, and probably one other if they are going to stay in this match.

Tea, Day 1: Australia lead the mini-session count 2-1

Absolutely awful stuff from Sri Lanka. There was some good bowling and (particularly) good captaincy, but it was just brainless by Sri Lanka. Within 3 balls of every break Sri Lanka lost a wicket. And a lot of the wickets in the match have been to particularly poor shots. Sri Lanka have tried to attack, but I think they have been just too aggressive.

Final drinks, Day 1: Australia lead the mini-session count 3-1

Sri Lanka are in a world of trouble. Eranga looks very poor against left-handers, Welegedera has had trouble with his length, Prasad has been erratic, and Warner and Cowan have been imperious.

I was asked earlier today who I felt the best batsmen I had seen were, and I mentioned Matthew Hayden. I don't think even Hayden had scored an attacking 50 while opening as good as this innings from Warner. The big feature has not been his power, but his placement. He has only faced 17 dot balls so far in his innings. Phenomenal batting.

Stumps, Day 1: Australia lead the mini-session count 3-2

Sri Lanka struck back well there. It started when Angelo Matthews removed Warner, and then Rangana Herath came on and started to build the pressure.

It could have been a lot better too. First Dilshan dropped Michael Clarke on 5 and then, 3 overs later, Sangakkara put down a relatively tough chance off Watson. If those two had been taken the match would have potentially been all square, but Sri Lanka couldn't take the opportunities, and are behind in the match as a result.

Australia are still well in control, but Sri Lanka are back in it.

First drinks, Day 2: Australia lead the mini-session count 4-2

A good mornings cricket. Both batsmen were looking to attack, but the bowlers were bowling well enough to keep them honest. Eranga in particular put both batsmen under pressure. He hit Clarke on the head, and generally had him looking quite uncomfortable. Australia will be very pleased to have come out of this hour without losing a wicket and having scored at about 3 an over.

Lunch, Day 2: Australia lead the mini-session count 5-2

Both batsmen brought up their fifties in that hour, but both were given lives in the same over by Herath. First Clarke should have been stumped, but Sangakkara couldn't gather cleanly. Then Watson edged a ball that hit Mahela in the chest, but was moving too quickly for him to grab. Sri Lanka are generally a good fielding side, and they will be very disappointed to have missed 4 chances so far in this innings.

Middle drinks, Day 2: Australia lead the mini-session count 6-2

Michael Clarke is relentless. Despite the bowlers generally bowling very well in this hour, he has advanced the score, and brought up his hundred. Watson is almost fading into the background of this fantastic Clarke knock.

Clarke's innings hasn't been chanceless, however. Herath has really caused him some problems. In this hour he edged one between keeper and slip. Sri Lanka have now given him 3 lives. He's not often one to pass up such generosity.

Tea, Day 2: Australia lead the mini-session count 6-3

Sri Lanka finally hung onto a catch. And it was contagious. After they got one they picked up two more. But it couldn't last: Hussey was missed by Sangakkara off the luckless Herath in the last over before tea. It was a good hour for Sri Lanka, but it's a long way back from here.

Final drinks, Day 2: Australia lead the mini-session count 7-3

Another good hour for Australia, but with a significant highlight for Sri Lanka, a brilliant catch by Rangana Herath to dismiss Hussey. Australia batted quite cautiously, but managed to score relatively quickly regardless. The Sri Lankan bowlers are starting to look tired.

Stumps, Day 2: Australia lead the mini-session count 8-3

Mitchell Johnson is working his way towards being back for the ashes. He has been sublime in this innings, looking almost completely untroubled throughout. It was Australia's day today. Sri Lanka are going to need to bat very very well in order to get back into this game. They really need to bowl Australia out quickly, then score something like 500 to have any chance.

The pitch is not nearly as easy as the score would indicate. There have been a couple keep low, balls have moved off the seam (even with the old ball) and some have stood up and bounced sharply. This has really been a fantastic effort from Australia, and they deserve to be in the lead.

First drinks, Day 3: Australia lead the mini-session count 8-4

Sri Lanka have managed to clean up the tail for the addition of only 20 runs. Another right hander dismissed by Eranga, although this one was not in the usual manner of caught behind the wicket. Now they have the small matter of knocking off the 304 run lead then posting a target.

Lunch, Day 3: Australia lead the mini-session count 9-4

If there was any doubt who was winning this hour has cleared it up. First Karunaratne was run out after turning blind. Next Dilshan hit a leg glance into his thigh pad and got hit at short leg. After that Mahela summed up his match by attempting to leave the ball, but just chopping it on instead. The final wicket in the hour was Samaraweera who was out plumb lbw. He reluctantly challenged, but it was to no avail. At the other end, Sangakkara is batting as well as anyone has this test. It was said of the New Zealand team's bowling in the 80's that it was like facing the World XI at one end, and the Illford 2nd XI at the other end. It must feel like that for the Australian bowlers at the moment.

Middle drinks, Day 3: Australia lead the mini-session count 10-4

Possibly the most futile drinks break in history, Sri Lanka effectively have only one wicket left. It looks fairly likely that Australia will win now.

End of Match, Day 3: Australia win the match by an innings and 201 runs and the mini-session count 10-4

And it only took 5 balls to wrap it up. This is the first time that a team has had an innings closed to lose a match after losing only 7 wickets. It's also Australia's biggest ever win over Sri Lanka. This match would have been much closer if the Sri Lankans hadn't been struck down with injuries (4 players injured, first Kulasekera in the warm up, then Jayawardene, Welegedera and Sangakkara), and also if they had taken their chances. It was really a case of poor concentration more than anything else. Sri Lanka lost wickets straight after every break except the final lunch break. They missed vital chances in the field. Then once the Australians got on top, they made the Sri Lankans pay.

Australia weren't as clinical or as comfortable as the scoreline would suggest, but they still played a lot better cricket than Sri Lanka and thoroughly deserved their win.

The news has come in that Sangakkara is out for 6-8 weeks, so this loss will have serious repercussions for the next test and the One Day Internationals.

Preview - Aus Ind 1st Test Melbourne

Well, it's almost here, Day 1 of the first test of the Border-Gavaskar trophy. The Boxing Day test.

A cool overcast day in Melbourne should provide good conditions for the bowlers. A reasonably fresh pitch should make the first session exciting. Australia's attacking batsmen (particularly Warner and Marsh) coming against Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma.

Sharma is the key for me. We know that Zaheer Khan is an outstanding bowler, but Sharma has been in patchy form recently, averaging 61.06 in his last 7 test matches with an appalling strike rate of 105.9. However Sharma has shown that he might be on the way back taking 22 wickets in the 3 matches against the West Indians at 26.22.

Cowan looks like the goods, and it will be interesting to see if he can replicate his recent form (hundreds in his last 3 first class matches) on his test debut.

The other big question for me will be how Ashwin will go later in the day. In his previous matches against Australia he has dismissed both Ponting and Hussey.

Some good bets:
David Warner 1st wicket $1.90
Australia to win $2.00 - India often start a series slowly - have a very bad record on green pitches
Top opening partnership India - $2.05 - much better conditions for them, combined with a more experienced lineup.
Ponting -60.6 $2.90 He's been in much better form than people think.

So How Good is Zaheer Khan really?

Many people, myself included have said that India are rely on a good performance from Zaheer Khan in order to do well in Australia.

So I thought I'd look at his career, and see how well he's actually done.

Over his career he has averaged 31.78 which puts him 208th out of the 448 bowlers to have bowled more than 450 overs in Test cricket. This is somewhat underwhelming, putting him in the same region as Daryl Tuffey and Andre Nel. While both of these were good bowlers, they were hardly player that you expect to regularly win their team a series.

But Zaheer has had a couple of distinct disadvantages, but also one advantage.

1. India don't have a huge quantity of quality pace bowlers, so he was possibly picked before he was ready, and had to play when he was out of form, rather than in for example South Africa or England where a player has to be bowling very well to just make the side.

2. India play a large quantity of their cricket in Asian conditions, which are not suited for pace bowling.

3. Zaheer Khan has not had to bowl against Tendulkar, Sehwag, Dravid, Ghambir or Laxman. India's batsmen have tormented bowlers from outside South Africa over the last 10 years.

So to fully assess his ability, we need to filter the results.

Here are some indicators of where he fits in:

Pace bowlers in Asia, 2008-2011 (min 500 deliveries)

DW Steyn	9	46	21.30	38.5
M Ntini	5	15	24.60	48.0
KMDN Kulasekara	8	22	26.22	48.4
Junaid Khan	3	12	26.58	54.5
SR Watson	9	19	28.68	68.1
A Flintoff	2	7	29.42	72.0
Z Khan	20	78	29.48	53.5
IE O'Brien	4	14	29.64	51.2
R Rampaul	3	10	29.70	59.7
Aizaz Cheema	3	11	33.45	58.0
I Sharma	23	68	34.66	62.6
KAJ Roach	5	13	34.76	54.3
Umar Gul	12	41	35.85	60.3
T Thushara	7	20	36.55	60.3
CS Martin	5	14	37.42	72.4
M Morkel	9	24	37.50	66.9
TA Copeland	3	6	37.83	108.0
DJG Sammy	8	15	38.46	75.6

All pace bowlers outside of Asia (min 500 deliveries)

Name	Matches	Wickets	Average	Strike rate
VD Philander	3	24	12.37	21.7
JDP Oram	7	17	18.05	61.7
DAJ Bracewell	3	16	19.25	37.8
WPUJC Vaas	2	12	19.75	43.6
TT Bresnan	8	34	21.82	45.0
DW Steyn	24	133	21.96	39.5
CT Tremlett	7	36	24.22	47.2
RJ Harris	6	24	24.50	44.6
RJ Sidebottom	12	50	24.62	53.4
ST Finn	10	46	25.41	38.4
Mohammad Asif	12	55	25.50	51.5
SR Watson	20	35	25.74	48.1
P Kumar	6	27	25.81	59.6
Z Khan	6	25	26.56	50.1
JM Anderson	41	174	26.97	52.9
DE Bollinger	11	45	27.00	50.1
Mohammad Amir	11	45	27.17	53.0
CB Mpofu	3	12	27.75	51.5
M Morkel	24	95	28.25	50.8
B Lee	10	49	28.38	52.9
SR Clark	10	33	28.51	60.9
KM Jarvis	3	13	29.69	49.6
MG Johnson	35	152	30.02	52.1

All bowlers last 2 years (minimum 450 overs)

Name	Matches	Wickets	Average	Strike rate
DW Steyn	15	83	20.44	38.0
Mohammad Amir	7	33	22.33	45.7
Z Khan	11	53	22.71	42.4
TT Bresnan	8	38	22.92	48.5
SR Watson	17	33	23.66	50.3
JM Anderson	19	92	23.68	49.5
CT Tremlett	7	36	24.22	47.2
P Kumar	6	27	25.81	59.6
M Morkel	15	61	26.08	50.1
Saeed Ajmal	12	65	26.81	62.2
ST Finn	12	50	26.92	41.4
Mohammad Asif	8	33	27.36	55.1
GP Swann	22	91	28.41	57.0
SCJ Broad	17	59	29.08	61.3
R Rampaul	10	31	29.83	63.5
FH Edwards	8	32	29.90	47.3
Abdur Rehman	10	45	30.73	73.6

Away games against Teams other than India, Bangladesh or Zimbabwe (min 150 overs bowled)

Name	Matches	Wickets	Average	Strike rate
Mohammad Asif	12	55	25.50	51.5
P Kumar	6	27	25.81	59.6
Shakib Al Hasan	8	35	26.51	56.0
DW Steyn	10	47	27.89	48.2
Mohammad Amir	14	51	29.09	56.2
PM Siddle	11	40	29.55	56.6
Saeed Ajmal	14	68	30.51	68.6
Z Khan	9	33	30.78	54.6
GP Swann	12	55	31.14	66.5
M Morkel	12	44	31.22	57.6
BW Hilfenhaus	10	37	31.35	59.6
JM Anderson	15	57	31.54	59.3
DL Vettori	8	29	32.17	74.9
Danish Kaneria	8	36	34.33	58.0
Abdur Rehman	8	34	34.38	82.8
SCJ Broad	13	35	34.65	75.4
MG Johnson	20	70	35.14	60.0

We can see that he is near the top, but not at to top for most of these measures. He has certainly shown that he can do well. The most interesting thing for me here though is how well Praveen Kumar has done. He may well be a big loss in this series. Given that Ishant does not even figure in the last 3 tables, it is not unreasonable to expect that India are very reliant on Zaheer.

The final stat I want to look at is influence that a player having a good day has on his team. This is a difficult thing to measure, as a bowler can bowl really well (like Peter Siddle at the 'Gabba) and create so much pressure that loose bowling at the other end gets wickets. However I've looked at bowlers who have taken 5 wicket bags in 5 or more matches in the last 5 years, and seen the impact they have had on their team.

To quantify this I have used football scoring (3 points for a win 1 point for a draw) for matches, and found what percentage of available points a team has got over that time, and then in matches where each player has taken a big haul of wickets, and finally I have divided them. As a result we find out how much better the team does when this bowler performs than when they don't.

Name	5wi in Match	5wi w-l-d	Team w-l-d	Influence
DL Vettori	7	2-1-4	6-14-6	1.55
DW Steyn	9	7-1-1	12-8-7	1.53
Z Khan	5	3-0-2	17-11-13	1.41
Harbajhan Singh	5	3-0-2	17-11-13	1.41
GP Swann	10	7-0-3	18-9-11	1.40
JM Anderson	7	5-0-2	20-9-12	1.38
MG Johnson	7	4-2-1	17-14-9	1.24
FH Edwards	6	1-3-2	3-14-14	1.12
Shakib Al Hasan	9	1-8-0	1-12-2	1.00
HMRKB Herath	6	2-2-2	8-7-12	1.00

We can see that Zaheer has a significant influence on his team. This is perhaps why we are expecting India to be reliant on Zaheer Khan. It will be intriguing to see how he performs.