Test players' performances - an analytical review Part II

This is a true indication of the attacking skills of bowlers. Lohmann's strike rate is the best, followed by SF Barnes. It is not surprising that Waqar Younis, despite a recent slump, is in third position. In fact, he was in the second position until last year. His attacking skills are legendary. He never bowls to a defensive line and always tries to take a wicket. Wasim Akram finds a place in the top 20, amongst other expected modern bowlers such as Pollock, Donald and McGrath.

8. Top 20 Bowlers - By Wickets/Test
Bowler	Mat	Wkts	W/T
Barnes S.F	27	189	7.00
Lohmann G.A	18	112	6.22
Turner C.T.B	17	101	5.94
Grimmett C.V	37	216	5.84
O'Reilly W.J	27	144	5.33
Blythe C	19	100	5.26
Muralitharan M	57	291	5.11**
Peel R	20	102	5.10
Lillee D.K	70	355	5.07
Hadlee R.J	86	431	5.01
Donald A.A	62	297	4.79**
McGrath G.D	62	288	4.65**
Marshall M.D	81	376	4.64
Bedser A.V	51	236	4.63
Croft C.E.H	27	125	4.63
Waqar Younis	67	308	4.60**
Tayfield H.J	37	170	4.59
Trueman F.S	67	307	4.58
Kumble A	61	276	4.52**
Garner J	58	259	4.47

The purpose of this analysis, as against the strike rate, is to give due recognition to the spinners who tend to bowl longer spells to take wickets. Sidney Barnes, probably the best seam bowler who ever bowled, leads with 7 wickets per test, followed by Lohmann with 6.22 wickets per test.
Of the moderns, only Lillee and Hadlee finished with over 5 wickets per test.
Of the current pack of bowlers, Muralitharan is the only bowler to take more than 5 wickets per test. This is an outstanding achievement. One should not foget that he has to do the work of a sock bowler also. There is no doubt that Murali and Hadlee have benefited from the lack of wicket taking skills of the other bowlers. But then they have provided wonderful service to their countries. Since it is unlikely that Murali will suddenly fall off, he is expected to maintain this average of 5 wickets per test.

7. Top 20 Bowlers - By Strike Rate
Bowler	Mat	Overs	Wkts	StRt
Lohmann G.A	18	636.5	112	34.1
Barnes S.F	27	1312.1	189	41.7
Waqar Younis	67	2161.0	308	42.1**
Briggs J	33	888.4	118	45.2
Blythe C	19	757.4	100	45.5
Donald A.A	62	2260.4	297	45.7**
Marshall M.D	81	2930.4	376	46.8
Croft C.E.H	27	1027.3	125	49.3
Trueman F.S	67	2529.4	307	49.4
Garner J	58	2195.5	259	50.9
Hadlee R.J	86	3653.0	431	50.9
Holding M.A	60	2113.2	249	50.9
Peel R	20	869.2	102	51.1
Turner C.T.B	17	863.1	101	51.3
McGrath G.D	62	2477.1	288	51.6**
Lillee D.K	70	3077.5	355	52.0
Bishop I.R	43	1402.1	161	52.3
Thomson J.R	51	1755.5	200	52.7
Pollock S.M	45	1639.5	186	52.9**
Wasim Akram	98	3603.3	407	53.1**

This is a true indication of the attacking skills of bowlers. Lohmann's strike rate is the best, followed by SF Barnes. It is not surprising that Waqar Younis, despite a recent slump, is in third position. In fact, he was in the second position until last year. His attacking skills are legendary. He never bowls to a defensive line and always tries to take a wicket. Wasim Akram finds a place in the top 20, amongst other expected modern bowlers such as Pollock, Donald and McGrath.

8. Top 20 Bowlers - By RPO (Criteria - 100 wkts/1500 overs)
Bowler	Mat	Overs	Mdn	Runs	RPO
Goddard T.L	41	1956.0	706	3226	1.65
Nadkarni R.G	41	1527.3	665	2559	1.68
Verity H	40	1862.1	604	3510	1.88
Wardle J.H	28	1099.3	403	2080	1.89
Lohmann G.A	18	636.5	364	1205	1.89
Illingworth R	61	1989.0	715	3807	1.91
Turner C.T.B	17	863.1	457	1670	1.93
Tate M.W	39	2087.1	5.81	4055	1.94
Valentine A.L	36	2158.5	789	4215	1.95
Tayfield H.J	37	2261.2	6.02	4405	1.95
O'Reilly W.J	27	1670.4	585	3254	1.95
Titmus F.J	53	2519.4	777	4931	1.96
Ramadhin S	43	2323.1	813	4579	1.97
Peel R	20	869.2	444	1715	1.97
Davidson A.K	44	1931.1	431	3819	1.98
Gibbs L.R	79	4519.1	1313	8989	1.99
Allen D.A	39	1882.5	685	3779	2.01
Lock G.A.R	49	2191.1	819	4451	2.03
Laker J.C	46	2004.3	674	4101	2.05
Adcock N.A.T	26	1065.1	218	2195	2.06

This is a bowling accuracy table. Goddard leads the list. It is not surprising that the top four bowlers are spinners.

This is the only list in which no currently active bowler figures. Possibly because the batsmen today are more attacking minded and the bowlers also tend to try and take wickets and the captains look for wins. The currently active bowlers with the best RPO figures are

41. Ambrose C.E.L 96 3613.0 982 8384 2.32
42. Pollock S.M       45 1639.5 491 3805 2.32

No surprise about Ambrose. It is remarkable that a very attacking bowler such as Shaun Pollock is also the most accurate bowler bowling today.

There are no major conclusions to be derived from these sets of analysis, other than to remind one of Bradman's way-out position, Lara and Tendulkar's top batting positions in today's Test cricket, Muralitharan's well-known bowling skills, Shaun Pollock's not so well-known bowling skills and finally the enormity of Walsh's achievements.

New ways to evaluate Batsmen

Ananth Narayanan

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