Test team of the year 2012

For the test team of the year, I’ve given extra weight to performances away from home. Often the mark of great players is that they can master foreign conditions. For each player I’ve generated a weighted average, and I’ve used that to pick the team.

I’ve also looked at openers as a separate skill to batting in numbers 3-5. I also feel that numbers 6 and 7 need to be multi-skilled players: who can contribute with the bat and either the ball or the gloves. As a result I’ve picked the best batsman among the keepers. It is very difficult to quantify the ability of keepers, and while I feel that Prasanna Jayawardene is currently without peer as a keeper, his batting (while improving) is significantly weaker than some of the other keepers.

With the bowlers I decided on at least 2 quick bowlers and at least one spinner. After that I picked the next best bowler. There were a few times that a team went in with either 3 spinners or 4 pace bowlers, but every time the results were not good enough to demand it being replicated in this team.

There were a couple of bowlers who had a good year without playing any away matches. For these players I looked at the average difference between home matches and away matches, and adjusted their weighted averages accordingly.

Openers: Alastair Cook and Graeme Smith.

While these two may not have the crowd in raptures with scintillating stroke-play, they have scored a lot of runs this year, both home and away.

Name	Overall Average	Away Average	Weighted average
AN Cook (Eng)	48.03	71.9	54.67
GC Smith (SA)	48.52	50.56	49.52
Mohammad Hafeez (Pak)	45.9	52.5	48.24
AN Petersen (SA)	47	43.06	45.09
TM Dilshan (SL)	40.13	42	40.67
DA Warner (Aus)	43.77	28.5	39.96

Numbers 3-5: Marlon Samuels, Michael Clarke and Shivnarine Chanderpaul

Michael Clarke has been amazing in Australia, but his away form was so poor that he was almost pipped for the spot by Amla.

Name	Overall Average	Away Average	Weighted average
S Chanderpaul (WI)	109.55	196	131.17
MN Samuels (WI)	86.6	94.71	89.94
MJ Clarke (Aus)	106.33	31.33	84.9
HM Amla (SA)	70.93	74.85	72.83
JH Kallis (SA)	70	56	63.3
Azhar Ali (Pak)	55.1	60	56.73
MEK Hussey (Aus)	61.61	36.5	53.68
AB de Villiers (SA)	58.21	46.78	52.5
Asad Shafiq (Pak)	47.11	64.25	52.38

All Rounder: Jacques Kallis.

While Samuels came out as the best all-rounder for the year, he is already in the team for his batting (and there’s also a chance he won’t be allowed to bowl). Kallis has had a much improved year with the ball, his averages were similar to Dale Steyn for the year.

Name	Batting	Bowling	Difference
MN Samuels (WI)	89.94	42.8	47.14
JH Kallis (SA)	63.3	30.89	32.41
Mohammad Hafeez (Pak)	48.24	28.36	19.88
KS Williamson (NZ)	30.52	41.67	-11.15
MEK Hussey (Aus)	56.73	73	-16.27
SR Watson (Aus)	31.7	48	-16.3

Keeper: AB de Villiers

De Villiers almost made the team as a batsman alone. Ramdin recovered well from having calls for his head at the start of the year.

Name	Overall Average	Away Average	Weighted average
AB de Villiers (SA)	48.55	48.55	48.56
D Ramdin (WI)	42.87	54.16	47.71
MJ Prior (Eng)	38.85	39.62	39.07
MS Wade (Aus)	36.27	39.6	37.31
MS Dhoni (India)	40.63	24.33	37.14
Adnan Akmal (Pak)	25.25	37.66	28.64

Bowlers: Tino Best, Tim Southee, Narsingh Deonarine and Vernon Philander

This was the big surprise for me. Where is Dale Steyn? Where is James Anderson? Probably the best two bowlers in the world and they don’t even feature. Likewise Saeed Ajmal just gets pipped. These are not the bowlers that I would pick if I were selecting a team other than on stats.

bowler	overall average	away average	weighted average
TL Best (WI)	16.27	14.92	15.69
TG Southee (NZ)	22.64	17.3	20.08
N Deonarine (WI)	19	-	20.27
VD Philander (SA)	21.11	21.83	21.45
BW Hilfenhaus (Aus)	21.67	20.8	21.49
Junaid Khan (Pak)	24.14	21.78	22.96
Saeed Ajmal (Pak)	20.56	29.93	23.17
PM Siddle (Aus)	23.09	38.33	24.14
KAJ Roach (WI)	22.25	34.25	24.3
MA Starc (Aus)	25.05	27.5	25.27
Abdur Rehman (Pak)	22.64	41.33	26.26
HMRKB Herath (SL)	23.61	62.16	27.12
MS Panesar (Eng)	26.03	29.31	27.23
GP Swann (Eng)	29.93	23.61	27.54
PP Ojha (India)	25.96	-	27.7
JM Anderson (Eng)	29.5	26.61	28.62
TA Boult (NZ)	30.77	27.05	29.1
DW Steyn (SA)	29.71	29.08	29.41

1000 test runs in a year.

Michael Clarke had a fantastic year in 2012. He scored 1596 runs at an average over 100. It brought up the question, how often do players score 1000 runs in a calendar year, and who has done it the most?

So I put together some data for all you trivia buffs out there

First the batsmen who have done it the most:

We can see that most of the players are from the modern era. The only players who are in this list who didn't play post 2000 are Taylor (retired '99), Border (retired '94) and Gavaskar (retired '87).

Interestingly Hayden managed the feat in 5 consecutive years, from 2001 to 2005, which is particularly impressive consistency. Mark Taylor is also quite impressive, because he only played test cricket in 11 years, so to score 1000 runs 3 times is outstanding.

The top few names are as we would expect for this sort of statistic. Tendulkar at the top, then Lara, Kallis, Hayden and Ponting. For me they are/were 5 of the 6 best batsmen of this era (along with Sangakkara).

The next list to look at is what countries have done the best.

Some countries play a lot more test matches than others. Of the 128 times that a player has scored 1000 runs in a year, only 11 times did that player play less than 10 test matches, and never less than 8. England have played 10 or more tests in a year 40 times, while Bangladesh have never played 10 tests in a year, so we would expect more English batsmen to have achieved the feat more often than Bangladeshi batsmen.

We would also expect batsmen from countries with easier conditions to do it more often than players who play half their matches on bowler friendly pitches. Since 1990, there have been more than 1.95 hundreds per match in India, Australia, England and Pakistan, but less than 1.7 in New Zealand, South Africa and Zimbabwe. As a result it's fair to expect there to be less South Africans, New Zealanders and Zimbabweans in the list than players from the India, Pakistan, Australia or England.

The surprise is that there are so many South Africans on the list. It is a clear example of their outstanding batting strength in recent years. Andy Flower managed it against the odds, having to play half of his cricket in Zimbabwe, and his team only playing 9 matches in 2000 when he achieved it. He was also keeping wickets that year, making him the only keeper to achieve the feat. He also lies second on the list for most runs in a year as keeper, with 899 in 2001, when he also only payed 9 matches.

The final thing to look at is how many times 1000 runs has been scored in any particular decade.

The trend towards bigger bats, shorter boundaries (except in the West Indies and New Zealand where cricket is being played more on single purpose stadia rather than rectangular ones) and more tests should lead to more players scoring 1000 runs in a year, and it has.

When Clem Hill scored 1060 runs in 1902 it was remarkable. Then Compton and Bradman joined the club in 1947 and 1948 respectively, with amazing years. However I don't think that Jonathan Trott scoring 1005 runs in 15 tests at 38.65 this year is quite as impressive an achievement.

It is another record who's significance has diminished somewhat in the age of the batsman, but that does not diminish from Michael Clarke's achievement. By any standard he has had a fantastic year.

Mini-session Analysis 2nd test, Australia vs South Africa, Adelaide 2012/13

Here is the final mini-session analysis for the second test between Australia and South Africa at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, 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	Australia 44/2 off 12	South Africa
1-1b	Australia 58/1 off 13	Australia
1-2a	Australia 108/1 off 12.2	Australia
1-2b	Australia 70/0 off 13.4	Australia
1-3a	Australia 98/0 off 17	Australia
1-3b	Australia 104/1 off 18.5	Australia
2-1a	Australia 22/4 off 13.1	South Africa
2-1b	Australia 46/1 off 7.2	Australia
	South Africa 3/0 off 4
2-2a	South Africa 57/0 off 16	South Africa
2-2b	South Africa 57/0 off 15	South Africa
2-3a	South Africa 46/1 off 14	South Africa
2-3b	South Africa 54/1 off 18	South Africa
3-1a	South Africa 28/3 off 14	Australia
3-1b	South Africa 28/2 off 14	Australia
3-2a	South Africa 58/0 off 17	South Africa
3-2b	South Africa 7/3 off 12.3	Australia
3-3a	Australia 73/0 off 15	Australia
3-3b	Australia 38/5 off 17	South Africa
4-1a	Australia 43/0 off 12	Australia
4-1b	Australia 52/2 off 14	South Africa
4-2a	Australia 61/1 off 12	Australia
4-2b	South Africa 40/2 off 13	Australia
4-3a	South Africa 27/2 off 22	Australia
4-3b	South Africa 10/0 off 15	Australia
5-1a	South Africa 24/0 off 17	South Africa
5-1b	South Africa 25/0 off 18	South Africa
5-2a	South Africa 45/1 off 15	draw
5-2b	South Africa 41/0 off 17	South Africa
5-3a	South Africa 21/1 off 14	Australia
5-3b	South Africa 15/2 off 17	South Africa

Latest update, click here

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

Warner and Cowan started off with a hiss and a roar, but Kallis and Morkel made two quick break-throughs to take the first hour. Kallis has held his pace back a little bit, and managed to take the wicket of Cowan in his first over.

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

A great first session. Lots of runs and lots of wickets. Often when 3 quick wickets fall the batting side go into their shells. Not Clarke and Warner. These two just came out swinging. Almost 4 an over after the fall of the 3rd wicket. Outstanding. However the biggest moment in this hour was when Kallis limped off. Losing him makes a big gap in the South African line-up. They will be sweating on his hamstring strain being just something minor.

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

Another hour of attack from Australia. There was some pressure on David Warner coming into this match. There is likely to be a little less pressure after that effort. It was a sensational innings. Clarke is looking solid again, he has just been sensational since taking over as captain.

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

This might be the start of another big Clarke - Hussey partnership. They have made it to a 50 partnership more than once every 4 times they have batted together, and to 100 roughly once in 7. While they haven't scored quite as quickly as Warner, but they are still going at a ridiculous 5 an over.

Final drinks, Day 1: Australia lead the mini-session count 4-1

Hussey and Clarke are relentless. South Africa went into this series with a bowling line-up that was rated as the best in the world, and possibly the best ever. But they are looking like they have been deflated at the moment.

Stumps, Day 1: Australia lead the mini-session count 5-1

What a day of cricket. South Africa are in some serious trouble here. In all likelyhood they are going to be chasing leather for a while again tomorrow, then will be batting without Jacques Kallis in their top 6. The only glimmer of hope for South Africa is that they have a new ball, a new batsman to the crease, and the bowlers will be fresh(er) tomorrow morning. If they can clean up the tail quickly they can potentially get themselves back into the match very quickly as a swing in momentum could play big psychological tricks on the Australians.

Tea, Day 2: Australia lead the mini-session count 6-4

People are describing this as a good pitch. I'm not so sure. I like an even contest between bat and ball, and this pitch seems too even, with too little grass. There is some bounce, but that isn't likely to bother either of these sides. There is not much movement off the seam, not much spin and a lush outfield, so there's not likely to be any reverse swing. The first day, and first morning of the second day should provide more of a test for the batsmen than this pitch has.

Final drinks, Day 2: Australia lead the mini-session count 6-5

As a junior cricket coach I have seen some appaling runing between wickets. However I can honestly say that Petersen just produced the worst piece of running I've seen this season. The batsman should normally run down the other side of the wicket to the non-striker. The batsman should never assume the ball is going to be thrown to the keeper. Finally the batsman should slide his bat, rather than plonking it over the line. For a close run a dive is also a good idea. Petersen broke almost every rule of good running. Sometimes a run out is a sign of positive intent. This was not one of those run outs. It may also prove to be a vital moment. The Australians had started to drop their heads, and Petersen gave them back some energy.

Stumps, Day 2: The mini-session count is tied up, 6-6

South Africa probably finish the day slightly in the lead, which, after the first day, is almost miraculous. It started with Morne Morkel, then Petersen and Smith and finally Rudolph. I still think that this pitch isn't very good in terms of getting a result, but it has produced an even contest.

Stumps, Day 3: Australia lead the mini-session count 10-8

Cricinfo proclaimed this as Australia's day. They won 4 mini-sessions, but I think that South Africa are actually slightly in the lead. The late wickets have put South Africa in a position where they may end up chasing 350 with a day and a half to do it, and Australia down one of their strike bowlers. Game on.

First drinks, Day 4: Australia lead the mini-session count 11-8

Michael Hussey has batted very well this morning. South Africa's bowlers, however (with the exception of Morkel) have looked toothless. Tahir in particular has looked awful. His strategy of bowling round the wikcet to Michael Clarke looks as sensible as open windows in a submarine.

Lunch, Day 4: Australia lead the mini-session count 11-9

South Africa struck back, but it's feels like too little too late. South Africa is going to need a fantastic effort to come back from this.

Middle drinks, Day 4: Australia lead the mini-session count 12-9

Australia are now in firm control of this match. They had the audacity to declare, as South Africa had taken too long to bowl them out. In the process Imran Tahir has claimed a record that has stood for over 50 years, the player who has conceded the most runs without taking a wicket. 430 will be a phenomenal chase, but South Africa are a team who has a history of unrealistic chases against Australia.

Tea, Day 4: Australia lead the mini-session count 13-9

South Africa are in significant trouble now.

Stumps, Day 4: Australia lead the mini-session count 15-9

The race is now on between Australia and the draw. The idea of South Africa winning is starting to fade. The thing that they do have in their favour is that they will get to use the roller in the morning, and the pitch will settle down for a while. The only issue is that it won't stay flat for ever. Unless de Villiers and du Plessis pull out something remarkable, South Africa are at distinct risk of finishing second in this match.

Stumps, Day 5: Australia win the mini-session count 16-13

Such a dramatic finish. It's the first time that a team has scored 2/15 off 17 overs, and been awarded the mini-session. Faf du Plessis has done very well to keep the wolves at bay, and carry South Africa to a historic draw. He was cramping up, and getting treatment regularly, but batted on bravely and now has a place in South African cricketing folk-lore. In amongst the action, Nathan Lyon managed to bowl a spell of 11 overs, 11 maidens, 1 wicket for 0 runs. That's a very impressive set of numbers, but perhaps giving away a few runs to get an extra wicket might have been a better idea.

Some records from Day 1 Australia vs South Africa in Adeliade 2012/13

Here are some stats/records/trivia that I've noticed from day one of the test between Australia and South Africa.  In no way is this exhaustive, as there has been a lot of things happen on this day.

It is the second highest score by a team on the first day of a test, narrowly behind Australia's 494 against South Africa in Sydney in 1910/11

Clarke became the first person to score 4 double centuries in a calendar year.

Three players hit centuries on the first day of a test. I know that there has never been 4 players hit centuries, and haven't been able to find any other incident of a third century being completed on the first day.

Other interesting trivia:

It was Clarke and Hussey's fourth double century partnership, and second in succession.

Two South African bowlers (Morkel and Tahir) also got (less desired) centuries.

Two South African bowlers (Kallis and Steyn) had to leave the field with an injury mid-over. This is the first incident I could find of this happening twice in a day.

Preview - Aus Ind 3rd Test Perth 11/12

The WACA.

Possibly the ground with the most intense legend surrounding it.

The bouncy track. The ball whistling past the batsman's ears. The Fremantle Doctor.

One part fact, one part fiction.

There was a time where the WACA was the fastest, bounciest and scariest pitch in the world. That title is long gone. The WACA is now a great place to be a batsman. Even the 10th wicket has an average partnership of 16 in the last 5 years. And yet every match in the last 5 years has provided a result. The runs come quickly, but so do the wickets.

There are a couple of things I am looking for in this match.

1. The team that bats first normally wins. There is a small sample size, but teams are advised to bat first. This has been a good ground for openers, and if they can survive the opening hour or so they can really pile on the runs.

2. How will Michael Clarke go? I took a sample of 300's (I didn't have time to look at them all) and looked at the next innings for each batsman. The median score was 31. Will Clarke fall below this, or will he back up with another big score. Hes scored 251 in his last 4 matches at this ground, which is not bad, but also not setting the world on fire.

3. Zaheer Khan. The most effective bowlers at the WACA recently have been left arm swing bowlers. India have an outstanding exponent of this art. He will need support, but he could be very dangerous, particularly in the second innings.

4. How will the spinners go? This ground has not been friendly for spinners, and it will be interesting to see how Lyon and Ashwin go. Both players are in doubt for the match, and it will be interesting to see if they make the line-ups and if so, how they will go.

Betting tips.

1. Player Performance Michael Clarke under 100 $1.83. I would expect the probability of him getting under 100 to be about 0.7

2. Player Performance Sachin Tendulkar 85 & over $1.83. He is hardly ever scoring under 40 at the moment. His attacking style is suited to this ground.

3. Top India bowler Zaheer Khan $3. This seems too good to be true. I was expecting Khan to be at about $2.20

4. India to win (draw no bet) $2.75. This game may end up a draw, but if not, this could be India's chance to strike back.

Where the Ponting-Clarke partnership fits in

Here are some tables that the Ponting-Clarke partnership fits into.

4th Wicket partnerships in Australia.

Partners	Runs	Opposition	Ground	Year
VVS Laxman, SR Tendulkar (India)	353	v Australia	Sydney	2004
MJ Clarke, RT Ponting (Aus)	352	v Pakistan	Hobart	2010
WM Lawry, KD Walters (Aus)	336	v West Indies	Sydney	1969
PD Collingwood, KP Pietersen (Eng)	310	v Australia	Adelaide	2006
MJ Clarke, RT Ponting (Aus)	288	v India	Sydney	2012
DS Lehmann, SR Waugh (Aus)	250	v Bangladesh	Cairns	2003
MJ Clarke, MEK Hussey (Aus)	245	v Sri Lanka	Brisbane	2007
AL Hassett, KR Miller (Aus)	235	v West Indies	Sydney	1951

4th wicket partnership for Australia

Partners	Runs	Opposition	Ground	Year
DG Bradman, WH Ponsford	388	v England	Leeds	1934
MJ Clarke, RT Ponting	352	v Pakistan	Hobart	2010
WM Lawry, KD Walters	336	v West Indies	Sydney	1969
JN Gillespie, MEK Hussey	320	v Bangladesh	Chittagong	2006
MJ Clarke, RT Ponting	288	v India	Sydney	2012
MEK Hussey, SE Marsh	258	v Sri Lanka	Pallekele	2011
CS Serjeant, GM Wood	251	v West Indies	Georgetown	1978
DS Lehmann, SR Waugh	250	v Bangladesh	Cairns	2003
MJ Clarke, MEK Hussey	245	v Sri Lanka	Brisbane	2007

4th Wicket partnership vs India

Partners	Runs	Ground	Year
MJ Clarke, RT Ponting (Aus)	288	Sydney	2012
Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas (Pak)	287	Faisalabad	1983
JD Ryder, LRPL Taylor (NZ)	271	Napier	2009
GE Gomez, CL Walcott (WI)	267	Delhi	1948
WR Hammond, TS Worthington (Eng)	266	The Oval	1936
Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas (Pak)	255	Faisalabad	1978
G Boycott, BL D'Oliveira (Eng)	252	Leeds	1967
Javed Miandad, Shoaib Mohammad (Pak)	246	Lahore	1989
HA Gomes, CH Lloyd (WI)	237	Port of Spain	1983
IVA Richards, RB Richardson (WI)	235	Kingston	1989

4th Wicket for Australia vs India

Partners	Runs	Ground	Year
MJ Clarke, RT Ponting	288	Sydney	2012
MJ Clarke, RT Ponting	210	Adelaide	2008
AR Border, DM Jones	178	Chennai	1986
DM Jones, TM Moody	173	Perth	1992
RN Harvey, SJE Loxton	159	Melbourne	1948
PJP Burge, NC O'Neill	150	Kolkata	1960

For Australia vs India for any wicket

Partners	Runs	Wkt	Ground	Year
MJ Clarke, RT Ponting	288	4	Sydney	2012
RT Ponting, SR Waugh	239	5	Adelaide	1999
SG Barnes, DG Bradman	236	2	Adelaide	1948
ML Hayden, RT Ponting	234	2	Melbourne	2003
DG Bradman, AR Morris	223*	5	Melbourne	1948
AR Border, KJ Hughes	222	3	Chennai	1979
DC Boon, MA Taylor	221	2	Adelaide	1992

At the SCG for any wicket

Partners	Runs	Wkt	Opposition	Year
SG Barnes, DG Bradman (Aus)	405	5	v England	1946
VVS Laxman, SR Tendulkar (India)	353	4	v Australia	2004
WM Lawry, KD Walters (Aus)	336	4	v West Indies	1969
BC Lara, RB Richardson (WI)	293	3	v Australia	1993
MJ Clarke, RT Ponting (Aus)	288	4	v India	2012
AL Hassett, KR Miller (Aus)	235	4	v West Indies	1951
RW Barber, G Boycott (Eng)	234	1	v Australia	1966

Rescue Partnerships (3rd wicket fell before 40)

Partners	Runs	Wkt	Opposition	Ground	year
DG Bradman, WH Ponsford (Aus)	388	4	v England	Leeds	1934
MJ Clarke, RT Ponting (Aus)	288	4	v India	Sydney	2012
A Flower, MW Goodwin (Zim)	277*	5	v Pakistan	Bulawayo	1998
JD Ryder, LRPL Taylor (NZ)	271	4	v India	Napier	2009
GE Gomez, CL Walcott (WI)	267	4	v India	Delhi	1948
CS Serjeant, GM Wood (Aus)	251	4	v West Indies	Georgetown	1978
HA Gomes, CH Lloyd (WI)	237	4	v India	Port of Spain	1983
DG Bradman, AR Morris (Aus)	223*	5	v India	Melbourne	1948
WR Hammond, E Paynter (Eng)	222	4	v Australia	Lord's	1938
RL Dias, LRD Mendis (SL)	216	4	v India	Kandy	1985
HG Deane, HW Taylor (SA)	214	4	v England	The Oval	1929
IR Redpath, KD Walters (Aus)	210	4	v West Indies	Sydney	1969
DL Amiss, AW Greig (Eng)	210	5	v New Zealand	Nottingham	1973
Abdul Razzaq, Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak)	206	6	v West Indies	Georgetown	2000

Preview - Aus Ind 2nd Test Sydney 11/12

After the fairly comprehensive ending to the first test it is easy to forget that the game was neck and neck at the start of what turned out to be the final day.

Australia will go into this test as favourites again, but looking at the weather forecast I think that this could be a damp squib instead. With rain forecast for each of the last 3 days, $3.75 on a draw looks like very good odds.

If there is play it is likely to be interrupted play, which plays into the hands of swing bowlers. I like the look of Ben Hilfenhaus at $3.50 to be Australia's top bowler.

The curator has said that he feels this pitch is like the '50s and '60s pitches, where bowlers like Joe Partridge and Alan Davidson took truckloads of wickets by bowling full and allowing the ball to swing. Often they were backed up by a fast bowler at the other end, keeping the batsmen on the back foot. As a result the Yadav-Khan partnership could be worth watching. In some ways It could be a case of the better Yadav bowls in this test, the more wickets will fall at the other end.

Dravid is possibly going to be the key for India. On tricky pitches he has been outstanding, scoring 50 or more in 6 of the last 14 times that India have been bowled out for 300 or less. He goes well when India's backs are against the wall. (forgive the pun).

However the SCG has traditionally favoured batsmen who go for their shots. Keith Miller averaged in the 60's there, and Doug Walters, averaged over 100 at the start of his career when he was still playing shots willy-nilly. Sobers also loved the ground. Given that record it will be interesting to see how Warner and Sehwag fare here. Their attacking instincts may hold them in good stead.

No statistical analysis of this game could be complete without mentioning one important number. 221.33. Sachin Tendalkur's average at the SCG. It is the second highest average by one player at one ground Falling between Miandad's 330.5 at Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad and the Don's 192.6 at Heddingly in Leeds. (min. 4 matches played). However those runs were scored on the lower, dryer, spinnier SCG of the last 20 years, rather than the traditional green, bouncy one.

Another thing to look for is Ashwin in the first innings. He looks to me like he could become a great first innings spinner, ala Daniel Vettori. He manages to get under the bat, and bowls fuller than most spin bowlers in the longer form.

Key bets

1. Draw, $3.75 - possibly only going to be a 3 day test
2. Dravid to run scorer for India, $5 - likely to be tricky conditions, his specialty.
3. Zaheer Khan top Indian bowler, $3.25 - swing is his friend.
4. Hilfenhaus top Australian bowler, $3.50 - swing + interruptions.
5. Ponting to score more than Clarke, $1.80 - Ponting averages 64 in Sydney, while Clarke averages 28.

ODI team of the year

Well, it wouldn't be the end of the year, without people naming a team of the year.

Here is my attempt at ODI team of the year:

Method:
For batsmen I broke down the players into openers, top order and lower/middle order players.
I then looked at all batsmen's results batting in these positions throughout the year, giving a bonus for world cup matches and for games against harder opposition. I created a points system that took in account their runs scored, their wickets lost and their deliveries faced. The higher the score the better.

Openers:

Sehwag & Watson

Name	Matches	Runs	Average	Strike rate	Points
V Sehwag	12	645	53.75	122.58	133.432
SR Watson	22	1124	59.15	92.35	108.154
SR Tendulkar	11	513	46.63	91.98	99.282
HM Amla	15	632	45.14	87.67	73.667
MJ Guptill	16	650	54.16	68.58	73.338

Somewhat unsurprising, given that they have both dominated this year. Tendulkar was a close 3rd.

Top Order

de Villiers, Clark & Taylor

Name	Matches	Runs	Average	Strike rate	Points
AB de Villiers	10	467	51.88	108.28	113.889
LRPL Taylor	17	561	51.00	87.09	86.13
MJ Clarke	24	900	56.25	91.01	81.247
Yuvraj Singh	11	381	42.33	89.78	80.421
IJL Trott	28	1246	51.91	80.84	77.224
V Kohli	31	1349	49.96	81.49	76.953
KC Sangakkara	26	1127	51.22	83.78	75.762
G Gambhir	15	562	40.14	85.09	74.575
JP Duminy	13	523	47.54	87.61	70.696

This was a little more interesting. I was quite surprised bu Clarke's numbers, as I hadn't remembered him having such a good season. By the same token Kohli had an amazing season, but missed out.

Lower/Middle order

Dhoni & Duminy

Name	Matches	Runs	Average	Strike rate	Points
MS Dhoni	23	759	63.25	81.69	100.227
JP Duminy	11	451	50.11	100.00	79.152
KJ O'Brien	12	324	29.45	125.31	77.566
Umar Akmal	28	785	41.31	86.95	62.378
Misbah-ul-Haq	20	545	45.41	73.80	61.635
DJ Hussey	16	342	38.00	152.94	61.583
KA Pollard	20	528	31.05	151.26	57.963
YK Pathan	12	271	27.10	121.15	53.221
MEK Hussey	14	347	38.55	93.24	51.55
EJG Morgan	15	384	29.53	85.71	51.297
F du Plessis	13	288	28.80	84.12	50.829

Initally I was going to have this and wicket-keeper as separate sections, but given that Dhoni came first as a batsman and there is not a lot of point in having two wicket keepers, it's better to take an extra batsman. JP Duminy just edges out Kevin O'Brien, but O'Brien is an obvious choice for 12th man, as he can contribute with the bat or the ball. And because I like his style of play.

Bowlers.

Quantifying the records for bowlers is not as easy as batsmen. I again created a measure that valued dot balls and wickets, and put a higher value on performances in the World Cup and in matches against good teams. The lower the points the better.

Name	Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy	Points
DW Steyn	14	25	18.50	4.41	19.78
RJ Peterson	9	18	21.15	4.74	20.51
M Morkel	14	26	17.73	4.41	21.26
Shahid Afridi	27	45	25.65	4.35	21.76
Wahab Riaz	13	23	20.77	5.32	22.51
TG Southee	13	25	22.85	5.00	22.56
JDP Oram	12	23	23.88	4.71	23.13
SL Malinga	24	48	23.13	4.89	23.46
B Lee	19	33	23.03	4.62	23.47
Z Khan	14	30	23.75	5.08	23.64
M Muralitharan	11	17	22.35	4.22	23.81
BAW Mendis	14	17	24.13	4.46	25.15
HK Bennett	10	17	26.61	5.73	26.09
Mohammad Hafeez	32	32	24.06	3.43	26.64

There are a couple of interesting names here. Mohammad Hafeez misses out due to not taking many wickets in the World Cup. Perhaps this is a weakness in my system, as he was really one of the outstanding bowlers of the year. Peterson likewise only played 2 games outside the world cup, and went at about 6 an over in those matches. But he had a fantastic World Cup and it is fair that a player gets a bonus for performing at the highest stage.

The final team:

Sehwag
Watson
de Villiers
Taylor
Clarke
Duminy
Dhoni
Shahid Afridi
Peterson
Morkel
Steyn

12th man O'Brien

How does your team look?

A different kind of hundred partnership

In a test match if a pair of batsmen put on a hundred partnership, it generally increases the teams score by that number of runs. This seems fairly obvious. The exception comes when a team is trying to put together some quick runs before declaring. In this case the team are often going to declare at a certain score regardless of how many wickets have fallen. In this case if a team is 220/3 or 220/7 they will still get 220. A 2nd wicket partnership of 100 if the team declares at 220 has not necessarily added 100 because the team may have got to that total even if that partnership had been 0. Likewise if a team is chasing a winning total the same thing applies.

A similar situation happens in one day cricket. A team has two resources that they have to convert into runs, wickets and balls. If a team that has 1 over left and 7 wickets in hand, the wickets are completely irrelevant. But at the start of an innings the wickets are very important. A slow 100 run partnership at the end of a match can actually cost a team runs that they should have got. There are famous stories of this happening, including one where Ian Botham deliberately ran out Geoffrey Boycott because he felt Boycott was scoring too slowly.

Fortunately Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis developed a system of describing the number of resources left to a team at various combinations of overs and wickets. While their system was designed solely to help find fair targets/decisions in rain affected matches, it is a useful tool for analysing progress throughout games.

I used their basic version to look at all the partnerships over 70 in ODI's this year. The key things I was looking at were the predicted score then they came to the wicket, and then the predicted score when their partnership ended. I already used this technique once in an earlier post Duckworth Lewis as a prediction tool

The problem came with opening partnerships, as there was no data to use for the inital prediction. As the Duckworth-Lewis system was based on the idea of 250 being the expected score for a team, I used this as my starting point.

Using this system I generated this list of the top partnerships:

Batsmen Names	Score	Start	End	DL Difference
MJ Guptill, JD Ryder	84	-	84/1, 10.0 Overs	282
SM Davies, AJ Strauss	90	-	90/1, 12.1 Overs	245
BJ Haddin, SR Watson	110	-	110/1, 19.4 Overs	147
HM Amla, MN van Wyk	97	16/1, 2.3 Overs	113/2, 22.2 Overs	133
SE Marsh, CL White	100	33/4, 12.3 Overs	133/5, 32.6 Overs	128

Haddin and Watson scored 26 more than Ryder and Guptill, but because they took 9.4 overs more to do it, their partnership is not rated as highly. The biggest problem with this way of measuring partnerships is that it penalises a pair if someone else did particularly well. For example, when Haddin got out, Michael Clarke came in an added 103 with Watson, in 19.1 overs at 5.37 which is not a bad effort in the middle overs. However the DL predicted score when Clarke arrived was 397, and it reduced to 322 by the time he departed, giving them a score of -75. However the team were chasing 295, so effectively they are being penalised for the good start, and for them pacing the innings appropriately.

I'll do an update of this table at the end of the group stage of the World Cup and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.