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Test scoring rates - an analysis

Ananth Narayanan

(Covering all matches including the fifth Ashes Test)

The idea for this analysis came to me when I was watching the last day's play in the fourth Ashes Test match. I was amazed at the very high rate of scoring in this series. Surprisingly, both the teams scored quickly and the Tests finished with fairly high scores despite innumerable weather-related interruptions. In my mind, I had visions of concluding that the '90s produced lots of quick scoring Tests and the Australians were far ahead of the others.

When I completed the analysis, I realized with shock that numbers and statistics are great levelers, and the variances were not that pronounced when one considers a reasonable number of Test cases. However, I could derive many conclusions from the analysis of the Tests as groups (decade, country, ground, etc) and individual ones. Certainly, some of the results open our eyes to the first 50 years of Test cricket.

I was amazed that Australia lost the fourth Ashes Test (okay, they made the declaration) after scoring at the rate of 4.47 runs in the match. I was interested in knowing whether this was some sort of a record. It turned out to be. It is indeed the highest scoring rate by a team, which lost the match.

First, I suggest everyone remembers the following number. It is the single defining number based on which these analyses have been made. It is the average RPO for the 1558 Tests (played upto and including the last Ashes Test which concluded on Monday, August 27). All normalizing for 4, 5 and 8 ball overs has been done.

2.69

All Test summary
Total runs: 3303688
Total balls: 1482878
Total extras: 85757
Rate 1: 2.69 (Team)
Rate 2: 2.54 (Bat/Bow)

A. Scoring rates - by decades
 

           Tests     Balls          Runs      Rate
1870-1879     3       4759          1965      2.48
1880-1889    29      48320         18553      2.30
1890-1899    32      62045         27299      2.64
1900-1909    41      73940         34825      2.83
1910-1919    29      51950         26145      3.02
1920-1929    51     114614         50970      2.67
1930-1939    89     189316         85652      2.71
1940-1949    44     104426         45682      2.62
1950-1959   165     376958        144825      2.31
1960-1969   186     448076        186512      2.50
1970-1979   197     444993        199777      2.69
1980-1989   267     530056        253310      2.87
1990-1999   347     700085        334318      2.87
2000-2009    78     154150         73045      2.84
                   3303688       1482878
The best decade has been the one just before World War I. But this has to be discounted by the fact that very few Tests were played. The 50s have seen the most defensive attitudes ever. The trend over the past three decades is very encouraging. I also feel that, with the increase in number of Tests and the introduction into Test cricket of the weaker teams, we will not see 3.00 reached for a year, leave alone for a decade.

B. Scoring rates - by period
 

             Tests     Balls        Runs      Rate
Pre WW 1      134     241014      108787      2.71
Bradman era   140     303930      136622      2.70
Post WW 2     209     481384      190507      2.37
70s/80s       383     893069      386289      2.60
90s/200x      692    1384291      660673      2.86
                     3303688     1482878

Surprise here is that the two Pre World War II eras have had almost identical scoring rates, uncovered pitches and Bradman notwithstanding. The pre World War I period is a revelation. A significant factor, the relevance of which is not very clear, is that before Waorld War II, an average of 110 overs were bowled during a six-hour day. Today, teams find it difficult to bowl 90 overs. The period after the World War II up to 1960 has been the defensive dominated period. The 90s/200x shows a growing awareness of the need to score quickly.

C. Scoring rates - by country
 

             Tests     Balls        Runs      Rate
West Indies    376    380473      187129      2.95
Sri Lanka      113    107486       51053      2.85
Australia      619    668621      309481      2.78
Pakistan       278    280330      129525      2.77
India          343    361474      163928      2.72
England        786    853361      370403      2.60
Zimbabwe        54     56440       24389      2.59
South Africa   256    279832      119021      2.55
Bangladesh       3      3424        1436      2.52
New Zealand    288    312247      126513      2.43
                     3303688     1482878
No surprises here. I would have expected West Indies to break the 3.00 barrier. Probably, the recent falling off has contributed to a scoring rate of 2.97 going down to 2.95 rather than increasing to 3.00. India and Pakistan have improved its scoring rates over the past 20 years. Bangladesh is likely to drop very sharply, considering that they have played only 3 Tests. New Zealand is not likely to remain in the last position for long.

D. Scoring rates - by grounds
 

             Tests     Balls        Runs      Rate
Sri Lanka       53    104357       48440      2.79
West Indies    167    370169      170669      2.77
Pakistan       118    239447      110562      2.77
England        401    813425      368046      2.71
Australia      317    724116      324747      2.69
India          182    393701      174771      2.66
New Zealand    139    286980      125851      2.63
Zimbabwe        29     53290       23304      2.62
South Africa   142    298592      129166      2.60
Bangladesh      10     19611        7322      2.24
                     3303688     1482878
Note: Bangladesh includes the Tests played when it was in Pakistan.

Surprise here is certainly the position of Sri Lankan grounds. Surprise that the average scoring rate in Sri Lankan grounds is higher than West Indian grounds.

E. Scoring rates - on or after 1980
 

     Tests   Balls      Runs    Rate
1980  25     46212     21980    2.85
1981  24     48659     22139    2.73
1982  28     55844     27935    3.00
1983  30     57726     28821    3.00
1984  32     63661     30840    2.91
1985  28     57588     27709    2.89
1986  30     55999     26656    2.86
1987  25     50142     22396    2.68
1988  24     47710     22147    2.79
1989  21     46515     22687    2.93
1990  26     50117     24569    2.94
1991  21     41877     20774    2.98
1992  26     55480     25292    2.74
1993  36     73818     34021    2.77
1994  38     81035     38777    2.87
1995  40     75704     36398    2.88
1996  28     57291     27454    2.88
1997  44     86904     42696    2.95
1998  45     91606     43127    2.82
1999  43     86253     41210    2.87
2000  46     89606     41158    2.76
2001  32     64544     31887    2.96
           1384291    660673
Nothing much to comment here other than the pre-eminent position of 1982-83. Maybe, Sri Lanka brought in the buccaneering spirit with them. Another big surprise is the big drop from 1991 to 1992. I have analyzed the Tests and the reason is the re-introduction of South Africa, which played 3 Tests with India and the match scoring rates were 2.21, 2.18 and 2.39. India had three innings around 2.00. 1993 was a similar case.

Having seen the group analysis, let us now turn to the individual matches, which show lot more variations and far more interesting.

F. Top 25 Fast scoring teams
 

MtNo Year Team         Runs Balls Rate Result

 1. 0075 1902 Australia     668  774  5.18 Draw
 2. 1531 2001 Australia     396  482  4.93 Australia won
 3. 0111 1910 Australia     528  658  4.81 Australia won
 4. 0780 1976 West Indies   646  841  4.61 West Indies won
 5. 0765 1975 West Indies   585  764  4.59 West Indies won
 6. 0146 1921 Australia     457  597  4.59 Draw
 7. 0945 1983 Pakistan      662  869  4.57 Pakistan won
 8. 1266 1994 England       509  675  4.52 England won
 9. 0154 1924 England       531  708  4.50 England won
10. 1493 2000 Australia     464  620  4.49 Australia won
11. 0990 1984 West Indies   589  791  4.47 West Indies won
12. 1556 2001 Australia     623  838  4.46 ENGLAND WON
13. 1021 1985 England       595  804  4.44 England won
14. 1550 2001 Australia     576  778  4.44 Australia won
15. 0934 1982 India         701  954  4.41 Draw
16. 1221 1993 West Indies   484  662  4.39 West Indies won
17. 0583 1965 India         538  737  4.38 India
18. 1489 2000 Sri Lanka     455  625  4.37 PAKISTAN WON
19. 0832 1978 Pakistan      667  922  4.34 Pakistan won
20. 0076 1902 South Africa  325  450  4.33 AUSTRALIA WON
21. 1028 1985 Pakistan      393  550  4.29 Pakistan won
22. 0237 1934 Australia    1028 1439  4.29 Australia won
23. 0770 1976 West Indies   486  680  4.29 AUSTRALIA WON
24. 1148 1990 England       925 1298  4.28 England won
25. 0976 1984 New Zealand   307  433  4.25 New Zealand
This proves conclusively (if a proof was indeed needed) that the quicker scoring teams win the matches. Out of the top 25 quick scoring teams, 18 have won matches, 3 have drawn and 4 have lost the matches. More interesting is the potted scorecards, given below, of teams which have outscored their opponents and yet lost the matches. It is worth noting that 5 of these 25 matches have been played during the past 18 months.

Match No 1557
Australia 447 in 100.1 overs (Ponting 144, Martyn 118, Gough 5/103)
England 309 in 94.2 overs (Stewart 76*, McGrath 7/76)
Australia 176/3 in 39.3 overs - Overconfident declaration ??? (Ponting 72)
England 315/4 in 73.2 overs - Shades of Calcutta/Kandy (Butcher 173*, Nasser Hussain 55)

Match No 1489
Pakistan 256 in 85.5 overs (Afridi 74, Inzamam 86, Muralitharan 4/89)
Sri Lanka 227 in 58.1 overs (Shoaib Akhtar 3/52)
Pakistan 421 in 133.5 overs (Inzamam 138, Pushpakumara 4/66, Muralitharan 4/107)
Sri Lanka 228 in 46 overs - going down with guns blazing (Afridi 8-1-50-3).

Match No 76
Australia 175 in 55.1 overs (Llewellyn 5/43)
South Africa 240 in 53.0 overs (Trumper 3/60, Noble 3/75)
Australia 309 in 81.4 overs (Armstrong 159* - opening the batting, (23rd in the Wisden-100 list) Llewellyn 5/73)
South Africa 85 in 22 overs (Saunders 7/34).

Match No 770
Australia 351 in 90.2 overs (Redpath 101)
West Indies 160 in 30.3 overs (Lillee 11.3-0-63-5, Gilmour 5/33)
Australia 300/3 in 68.0 overs (McCosker 109)
West Indies 326 in 54.5 overs (Richards 98, Lloyd 91, Thomson 12.5-0-80-4, Lillee 18-1-112-3)

G. 5 Slow scoring teams - still winning
 

MtNo Year Team         Runs Balls Rate Result

0438 1957 South Africa  298 1343  1.33 South Africa
0035 1892 Australia     476 2058  1.39 Australia
0019 1885 Australia     346 1298  1.60 Australia
0412 1955 England       355 1280  1.66 England
0424 1956 New Zealand   412 1481  1.67 New Zealand
Given above is the list of the teams with very low scoring rates, which have won the matches. One score is given.

Match no 438 (8 ball overs converted to 6 ball for uniformity)
South Africa 164 in 129.2 overs (Endean 70)
England 110 in 81.5 overs (Heine 4/22, Adcock 4/20)
South Africa 134 in 107.5 overs (Tyson 6/40)
England 130 in 77.5 overs (Tayfield 6/78)

H. Top 10 fast scoring matches
 


MtNo Year  Rate Team 1        Team 2         Result

0075 1902  4.78 South Africa  Australia      Draw
1550 2001  4.36 England       Australia      Australia
0934 1982  4.14 India         Sri Lanka      Draw
1148 1990  4.08 England       India          England
0945 1983  4.06 Pakistan      India          Pakistan
1556 2001  4.06 England       Australia      England
1266 1994  3.98 England       South Africa   England
0114 1911  3.95 Australia     South Africa   Australia
0765 1975  3.94 Australia     West Indies    West Indies
0821 1978  3.88 West Indies   Australia      West Indies
This is the list of the 10 matches with the highest match scoring rates, taking into account both teams. Again what is striking is that there are only 2 draws.

The author runs Hallmark Software, which provides Wisden Online with a range of cricket related services, prominent of which are ratings related. He can be contacted at hallmark@vsnl.in.

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