Ashes 2013 II: Pre-preview

Wednesday, November 20, 2013 2013 ashes, stats

Because I can't be bothered to write yet another Ashes preview, and the fact that my previous attempt at an Ashes piece didn't even get past the bullet points stage, here's a fun infographic outlining everything you need to know ahead of the first (or is it sixth?) test. Seriously, everything.

Writing a preview when there exists a Mitchell Johnson-sized variable factor is a pointless exercise, anyway.


Infographic brought to you by Spreadex, leading provider of Spread Betting in the UK.
Click here for the full size image (1598 x 16205 px).

The Mumbai Indians win the CLT20: stats and other stuff

Monday, October 10, 2011 2011, champions league t20, clt20, cricket, david warner, kieron pollard, lasith malinga, mumbai indians, rishabh bablani, stats No Comments

For the first time in the T20 Champions League's rich, three-year-old history, a team that didn't win its domestic competition has been crowned the champion of champions. Just in case you doubt the accuracy of that fact, I've compiled a list of all the winners. Please take your time to go through it, however long and tedious it may seem.

Year	CLT20 Champions	Domestic Champions
2009	New South Wales	Yes
2010	Chennai Super Kings	Yes
2011	Mumbai Indians	No

                                                                                  Source: Brain

Sarcasm aside, this is actually a half-decent achievement for the Indians (Mumbai Indians, that is... I will never get over how stupid a name that is for the franchise). I would have taken any sort of win after, you know, that series. A pretty exciting CLT20 was exactly the sort of thing most Indian (Team India, not Mumbai) fans needed after being battered in Tests and ODIs. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that it was... actually, I'm not going to say it at all, I'll have someone do it for me.

Thanks, Cliche Correspondent Ravi Shastri.

Nope, not until you've perfected faking laryngitis. (terrible execution of dark humor here)

Anyway, it was a good tournament, mostly because I only tuned in towards the latter stages - my first game was RCB's record chase. It's quite the underdog story for Mumbai, actually, once all the talk about flouting the rules or whatever has been extinguished. No, Somerset, you weren't the underdogs, because you really should have been the favorites to beat Mumbai. I know it's a hard pill to swallow, but you've gotta accept that, despite having a well settled team, you really did lose to an IPL side missing half its regular XI.

The India-England ODI's are a few days away, which is another post for another day. I'll leave you with some stats relating to Mumbai's CLT20 performance.

• Mumbai took the idea of T20 being a batsman's game, and bitchslapped it into unconsciousness. Their highest run scorer was Kieron Pollard, who scored 123 runs at 20.5, just over one-third the number of runs scored by David Warner, the top-scorer (328).
• Pollard also scored one of Mumbai's two fifties, the other one coming from Aiden Blizzard.
• Among those who actually made runs, Lasith Malinga had the second-highest strike rate (183.78) in the CLT20, with the highest being Kevon Cooper's 191.17.
• Lasith Malinga made exactly as many runs (68) as Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina, in the same number of innings.
• Mumbai's bowling stats, on the other hand, are pretty impressive. Malinga (10) and Abu Nechim Ahmed (8) are both among the top five wicket takers, and Harbhajan (7) sits just outside that.
• In that top five wicket takers' list, though, Malinga (20) and Ahmed (17.4) are the only ones not to bowl 24 overs.
• This has nothing to do with Mumbai, but Trinidad's spin duo of Badree and Narine have a combined economy rate of 4.46 rpo in the 48 overs they bowled. Wow.

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Mendis falls off the Mystery Machine

Friday, November 27, 2009 ajantha mendis, cricket, india, rishabh bablani, sri lanka, stats No Comments

I'm not one to gloat, but India won today. Their 100th Test win. And not just won, won convincingly - against a contender for the number one spot. India's got themselves to a position from which a win in their next test match will propel them to the top of the rankings. Definitely gloatworthy!

But there's another picture... Sri Lanka picked three spinners for this match - Muralitharan, Herath, and Mendis - three spinners of the calibre that England, Australia, South Africa and the West Indies yearn to possess today. India handled them with such ease that they looked like club cricketers who'd struggle to outdo my legspin. Ajantha Mendis, in particular, was given no respect. He was relentlessly attacked by Sehwag and Gambhir - quite enough to demoralize any bowler, even one who had the same team on the mat in his debut series.

So has his magic faded? His mystery been solved? His mojo been stolen by a Fat Scotsman?

Here are the stats (using Cricinfo's Statsguru) of Ajantha Mendis' bowling career:

In his first three matches (all against India), he took 26 wickets at 18.38, and at an economy of 2.92, with a best of 6/117.

In his next three matches, the corresponding stats are 8 wickets, avg 38.25, econ 2.78, best 4-71.

The next three matches, he took 8 wickets again, but at an average of 44, an economy of 2.93 and a best of 3-20.

Then comes the Kanpur test. 2 wickets for 162, average 81, economy of 4.26.

It seems like the teams have figured him out - but keep in mind that he is still only 10 tests old, and has only played India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand. He may still do well, if given a chance, against the (other) bigwigs, Australia and South Africa, and definitely against West Indies. With Herath breathing down his neck though (figuratively, I've no idea what goes on in the Lankan camp), Mendis may have limited opportunities. He is certain to be dropped for the third test at Mumbai, since Herath was better at Kanpur and had a mystery ball of his own. He's probably hoping Mumbai will be a dustbowl, which is a possibility if the curator is an ass.

Unless Mendis steps up his game and invents a ball that swings away, breaks in and keeps swirling until it avoids the bat, he'll probably remain on the sidelines. But I'm not complaining - anyone who plays for KKR is subject to some suffering.

Mendis' latest ploy - learning telekinesis