I never realised Brett Lee has no 10 fers till now. Some bowlers have better ODI records than test records but Lee takes the cake lol! Regardless of whether or not one backs SA they MUST be a Dale Steyn fan. Any self respecting cricket fan at least. I think that his performance in the 1st test confirmed that he is the best fast bowler of his generation and even if he does not take another wicket for the rest of his career, he is already touching the status of legend in my opinion. Well at least he must be in the conversation. He is a breath of fresh air to the game and his timing is brilliant since the game has just lost Shane Bond.

I'm pitching this up, despatch with it what punditry you will:
Do Many
Stain
Prints
'Ntiny
Colours

Nicely summed up - though the trouble with stats is that they can be manipulated pretty much any way you want. Remeber some years back when a few surfers were bitten by a couple of rogue sharks?

Not surprisingly they all drove Kombi's, and the conclusion? Yep, you got it - don't drive a Kombi because....

Be nice if you would apply that incisive mind of yours to comparing some stats on our opening pair, it has been a while since we saw a decent opening stand.

Keep the faith.

Sir,

Very good analysis and article too.

Amit Arora

Nicely summed up - though the trouble with stats is that they can be manipulated pretty much any way you want. Remeber some years back when a few surfers were bitten by a couple of rogue sharks?

Not surprisingly they all drove Kombi's, and the conclusion? Yep, you got it - don't drive a Kombi because....

Be nice if you would apply that incisive mind of yours to comparing some stats on our opening pair, it has been a while since we saw a decent opening stand.

Keep the faith.

Now, in the list of average of bowlers who have taken 20 or more wickets in India, lie the two best known exponents of spin Shane Warne and Muralitharan at the very bottom.

Conclusion:
1) Cricket is weird, playing in India is more weird.
2) Ravi Shastri is such a better bowler than Warne, and given his good voice, looks and womanising ways, he should be made the captain of Rajsthan Royals.
3) Good pace bowlers are better bet in India against India than even the best spin bowlers, except only if you are Hirwani, Shastri or Raju.
4) India is bad for pacemen, is a conspiracy for saving Indian batsmen.
5) That has been helped by Englishmen to save their skin after the disastrous tours in 90s.

Poor Rajesh, are u trying to do him out of a job? If so, you are making solid progress. Hilarious article. Come on Murali, twirl that freakish shoulder one last time in the WC and get more strange records.

Finally, some good prose to go with the cricket. Witty and crisp. I look forward to reading your articles.

is it indias bowling effort or sa team taking things for granted and still in the hangover of the batting performance of first test. but once this indian team given a chance iam sure would grab it with both hands and i have a feeling sa is continuing their performace(?) in the critical stages like world cup semis, etc and can they gift india a chance of test win and no.1 spot in test cricket.

Where have you been bro? Never heard you before. Nicely said, fun to read. Keep it gets going.

From
Sydney, Australia

The best was Murali's whamies are better than Gooch's? i would n't be suprised if Sujith Somasundar has better first class bowling average than Courtney Walsh !!!

I love test match!
I love test match!
I love test match!
I love test match!
I love test match!
I love test match!
I love test match!

love your column...and i guess this post is the best till now...so funny amazing true facts...

U dig out some simply stunning stats dude. murali has REALLY hit more sixes than gooch and hammond. he probably has the highest percentage of runs in sixes (this may be sumthing for u to ponder about in the future and come up with a few more inaccurate conclusions). I assume waqar's stat as the first turned out correct, and that is equally unbelievable.

Yes dale steyn is certainly on the path to greatness. its sad that he started his career a bit late in life, else he would have had great stats in terms of magnitudes as well, to go with averages.

one other man had it in him to be the man steyn is - shane bond. it is really tragic that he has squandered everything after promising so much. same goes for asif. i hate to see good talent go waste and still cry in my sleep over the unfulfilled dreams of vinod kambli ruling the world :P

Nothing to take away from Steyn, but not many else at the top of that list got to play against Bangladesh and take 14 wickets at 12.57 :)

btw, I was referring to the list of "top fast bowling stats in Asia"

Good implication. There isn't such a thing as a Jacques Kallis fan. Not even his kid sister.

"Ex Essex exocet?" That has to be the finest tongue-twister since "Iqaqa laziqikaqika kwaze kwaqhawaka uqhoqhoqha" (which, as we all know, means "The skunk rolled down the hill and ruptured its larynx").

Is it patented, or can we all use it?

HILARIOUS--stats + humor, a deadly combination, the stats like bullets and humor the gunpowder... And I agree with Anthony, ha ha, poor S Rajesh--but keep it coming, Andy, S Rajesh can take it, and so can we.

New slogan, after me everyone: "An-dee Stats! We want more An-dee Stats!"

Love the Kiwi flavours. Especially the Jacob Oram gag

Oh, I forgot, Andy's got a chant going already: "Zalt-stat! Zalt-stat! Bring it on, Zalt-stat!"

witty and classy, keep it going mate!

" 3: Kallis is an inferior cricketer to both Guy Whittall and Chris Pringle. "

That just killed me, it did!! lol you are awesome man!!

Andy - Kolkata Test is going to be India's - Net result - SA played win - But we remain number-1

Good analysis.Againt India any ordinary team looks like extra-ordinary when India having bad day in the office !!!!

Kallis is not even as good as Wasim Akram, who too has a double (275*) to his name :)

Bl**dy Funny - well written. However, ask any bowler in the world whether they would like to bowl to Kallis or not - especially an ozzie? That 200 will haunt him I am afraid. Steyn - pure class!! Keep it going

Anti-Stats man!

No wonder that the comedy shows of western media sucks nowadays i mean when people in the western part of the globe seem to find such pathetic attempt to be sarcastic funny what else can you expect from them

@Baldy Zaltzman
with every passing days your columns are becoming quite booris do yourself a favour and retire from here maybe Jerry Seinfeld or Jay Leno would write better articles on cricket than you

you ar so true in ur predictions.steyn jst got some sehwagging at kolkatta.but i still doubt your 0 for 350 will be true also

Hey how about this one? Sehwag has called Bangladesh "ordinary" more often than the champion of "mental disintegration", Steve Waugh or his successor, Ricky Ponting.

Ah well, Ponting gets even because he called playing with USA as "waste of time" more often than Sehwag.

Fantastic stuff as usual. Hilarious and insightful ... good job Andy!

Kallis is classy player he never need to prove his test that too only by hitting double century.
He is not playing for the country which depends mainly on batting but not on bowlers much, He is playing for very balanced team and he never need 200 too. In many tough tough conditions and situation he recovered SAF with his special classy awesome batting ability and his allrounder skill in test matches. It shame for those who compare his batting ability with Whittal or wasim akram or jaffer.

Ho Ho Ho....Follow up required after Steyn's 115 runs conceded in the last (2nd) test for how many....1!!! And that too in the first innings...

Steyn is maybe the first real fast bowler who focuses on line and lenght than anything else. And Kallis has as many centuries as some of the greasts of the game EVER. True, Akram has a 275* to his name but he hasnt scored half the runs that Kallis has.

Wonderful compilation Zalty

Steyn is soo cool. I reckon murali is the most awsm person to bowl spin from the Indian subcontinent.

Bond > Steyn