(Revised on 22/05/11)

This article is a logical conclusion to the previous three articles. In these articles I looked at two teams which dominated the periods 1976-1995 and 1989-2008. I also looked at the batsmen who faced up these two outstanding sets of bowlers effectively. There was a discussion amongst the readers on the batsmen who faced up to strong bowling attacks, across years, effectively. It was also agreed that a composite single number indicating the weighted average bowling quality faced by a batsman across the career hides many truths.

Then Arjun Hemnani came out with a suggestion that I classify all bowling attacks into four groups and develop batting tables based on these groups. It seemed to be an excellent idea and I have created this article based on this idea. This is a quasi-rating work based on the most important of parameters, viz., the Bowling quality. I may do a similar exercise based on the Pitch conditions. Again some really tough work but at the end worthwhile.

I have summarized all relevant facts related to this analysis. First let me emphasize that this is not a Test innings Ratings analysis. There are many other relevant factors which would have to be considered in such an analysis. I have not done so in this analysis which is centred on Bowler quality. I would appreciate if the readers do not keep on repeating again and again that other relevant factors such as Pitch type, Innings status at entry, Result, Series status, Bowler recent form, Innings target et al, have not been included. That would be counter-productive.

1. As I have done in the Team strength calculations, I have considered only Tests played after 1900. It is impossible to fit in the Tests before 1900 because of uncovered pitches and many sub-20 averages. However we lose only 64 Tests.

2. The Bowling quality index (BQI) is based on Career-to-date values. This is the most dependable and accurate of the bowling measures. There is no situation where the Career-to-date figure is not the appropriate one. A bowler like Lee with a great start and tapering off towards the end or Muralitharan who had a poor start and wonderful finish will be taken care of equally well.

3. The BQI is based on the actual bowlers who bowled in the particular innings. This is very important. There is a Sri Lankan innings in which Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis bowled 14 overs each. That is all. This would have been a terrifying situation for the batsmen. Contrast this with an innings in which Akram and Younis bowled 50% of the overs.

4. The BQI is determined using the modified reciprocal method suggested by Arjun Hemnani which irons out the imbalance created by weak fifth bowlers. The career strike rate and career rpo are computed separately to arrive at the final BQI.

5. The BQI is determined for each innings. However in order to reduce wild variations, I will apply the BQI of the first innings to the second innings also in case the number of balls bowled in the second innings is less than 60. This is commonsense. This is explained through an example. Readers should know that this would not have much of an impact since no batsman is likely to score even 25 within the 10 overs.

Test # 1962: Win 231, Saf 346 (Win BQI 41.68), Win 161, Saf 49/3 in 8.4 overs (Win BQI 50.67).
In the above Test, the Saf second innings will be evaluated at 41.68 since fewer than 10 overs were bowled.

6. The BQI is reduced by 5% for Home games and increased by 5% for away games. Reader should remember that the lower the BQI, the more potent the attack is. There have been suggestions on increasing this quantum and on making this dependent on the specific country. I feel 5% either way is ample and the later requires some tricky work since I am not sure how to make it work. So that is for a later day. In general this concept is fine and works well in most cases.

It is possible that the visiting team has the right bowlers and can exploit the "away" bowling conditions. However there is no denying that, in most cases, the home bowlers would have the advantage of familiarity with and knowledge of local conditions.

The following italicised points are to be ignored in the current version.

7. The BQI is based on the Bowling average. However in order to recognize the importance of Strike rates in Test cricket is a special adjustment based on Strike rate. These concepts are explained in the examples.

8. The BQI is further modified by the Period related factor. The concerned table is given below. If the period average is lower than the all-time average of 31.76, it is a bowler-friendly age and the bowler/team averages are adjusted upwards. On the other hand, if the period average is higher than the all-time average of 31.76, it is a batsmen-friendly age and the bowler/team averages are adjusted downwards. I have adjusted the factor at a bowler level than spin/pace level since the later would have required a completely different way of working, at a player level. Even checking of results would have become very cumbersome and difficult. I also do not think that there is that much of a change.

Bowling average adjustment:  AMF - Average multiplying factor
Period       BowAvg     AMF
1877-1899     22.20    1.431
1900-1914     25.69    1.236
WW1-WW2       32.56    0.976
40s-50s       29.96    1.060
1960s         32.11    0.989
1970s         31.94    0.995
1980s         32.07    0.990
1990s         31.51    1.008
2000-2004     33.56    0.946
2005-2011     34.94    0.909
All Tests     31.76    1.000

Finally the bowling attacks are classified into 5 groups, as described below. The fifth group was necessary to separate the REALLY weak bowling attacks.

With the idea of short innings being tagged with the first innings, there have been 6837 qualifying innings until the West Indies - Pakistan Test which finished recently. The first cut-off has been fixed at 30 to have around 20% of the total innings into the top group. There may be a subjective element in this part of the exercise but that cannot be avoided. The basis on which we have decided that 30 will be the first cut-off point is not subjective. In fact Arjun's assertion that 20% means in a loose manner that at any time there are 2 really good bowling attacks makes eminent sense. The other cut-offs follow logically. The group cut-off details are given below.

Group  B Q I        # of Inns   % (out of 6837)

  5    19.03-29.99:   1353     19.8% Very good bowling attack. (Prev: 19.2%)
  4    30.00-34.99:   1703     24.9% Good bowling attack.      (Prev: 23.9%)
  3    35.00-39.99:   1753     25.6% Average bowling attack.   (Prev: 21.3%)
  2    40.00-44.99:   1095     16.0% Passable bowling attack.  (Prev: 23.4%) 
  1    45.00+:         933     13.6% Very poor bowling attack. (Prev: 12.2%) 

Note: In group 5 only three innings were below 20.00.
Test 327: Australia (18.94).
    Lindwall (19.19), Johnston (18.24) and Miller (22.00) bowled 19 overs. 
Test 347: England   (19.31). 
    Lindwall (21.08), Johnston (19.25) and Miller (21.49) bowled 39 overs.
Test 104: England   (19.66). 
    Barnes (20.14) and Blythe (19.20) bowled 47 of the 54 overs.

A note on the revised groupings. The S/R adjustments and the Period adjustments have been removed. The less-than-50-ctd-wickets situation has been ironed out. Established bowlers are assigned a better strike rate/rpos in line with their career averages. Only bowlers who did not even get 50 wickets in their careers are treated a bit roughly. All this has has resulted in some softening of the Bowling group allocations. The first two groups together have 2% of additional innings associated with them. However 4% more innings have come into the third group. This means that a total of over 70% of the innings now find place in the acceptable groups and below 30% in the two weaker groups. This contrasts with the 64-36% in the previous version. This has resulted in a better distribution of batsman performances.

In fact Arjun questioned the necessity to have the last group. He felt that the last two could be combined into one. However I strongly feel it is essential for the reason cited below. Let us look at the following two bowling attacks.

Test 1833, Bangladesh, Mortaza/Rafique/Shakib/Rasel/Sharif, BQI value is 41.45.
Test 226, Nzl (Hammond's 336), 4 "bowlers" had a ctd total of 26 wkts and a career total of 36 wkts, BQI value is 53.21.

There is no way I am going to put these into the same group. One is a good Test level attack and the other is barely at the level of a First Class side. So the last group is necessary.

The average BQI for this huge sample is 36.56 (37.13) and the median is at 35.93 (37.13). This indicates a fairly balanced distribution of values. The Standard Deviation is 7.30 (7.67). I have explained the whole concept of determining the BQI with the following examples.

First is MatchId 1267 between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, played at Kandy during 1994. In the first innings Wasim Akram (ctd 22.9) bowled 14.2 overs and Waqar Younis (ctd 19.3) bowled 14 overs and dismissed Sri Lanka for 71. The weighted BQI starts life at 20.81. This is multiplied by 1.05 (this being away Test for Pakistan). The final BQI value is 21.85 which puts this attack as a very potent one. Any runs scored in this particular innings, say A de Silva's 7 will get into the highest classification.

The second is MatchId 1844 between Pakistan and South Africa, played during 2007. These were Steyn's early years. As everyone knows he had a fairly average start to his career. Steyn bowled 12 overs, Ntini 8 overs, Kallis 7 overs, Harris 20 overs and Nel 16 overs. The base BQI is 30.77. The separation of strike rate and rpo in the reciprocal BQI calculation has benefited this attack because of Steyn's strike rate. This is multiplied by 1.05 (this being away Test for South Africa). The final BQI value is 32.31 which puts this attack as a fair one. Any runs scored in this particular innings, say Mohammed Yousuf's 25 will get into the second classification.

I have got into details here so as to give the readers a clear idea of the calculations.

There is so much data available that even the organization of the article is getting into trouble. I can only present in the article a certain amount of data. The serious reader should download the complete files and read the same. I have given below what I would be presenting within the article.

1. Top 20 batsmen for group 5, the top one. Ordered by batting average.
2. Top 20 batsmen for group 4, the second best one. Ordered by batting average.
3. Top 10 batsmen for groups 3-2-1. Ordered by batting average.
4. Top 10 batsmen for groups 5-1, the top one. Ordered by runs scored.
5. For selected batsman, their group-wise distribution of runs scored.

For all the above, complete files are available for downloading/viewing.

Let us look at the tables. First the Group tables based on Batting average. The batsman should have scored a minimum of 500 runs to be included. Otherwise we will have funny numbers.

Batsman              Cty Inns N Runs Grp  Avge

Hunte C.C            Win   6  1  586  5 117.20
Bradman D.G          Aus  15  0 1159  5  77.27 
Sobers G.St.A        Win  22  2 1328  5  66.40 
Hutton L             Eng  21  5  949  5  59.31 
Wessels K.C          Saf  14  1  763  5  58.69 
Graveney T.W         Eng  18  2  922  5  57.62 
Hobbs J.B            Eng  16  1  837  5  55.80 
Lawry W.M            Aus  14  3  613  5  55.73
Shoaib Mohammad      Pak  11  1  539  5  53.90 
Richards I.V.A       Win  44  0 2338  5  53.14 
Sangakkara K.C       Slk  23  2 1045  5  49.76 
Ponting R.T          Aus  39  2 1794  5  48.49 
Edrich J.H           Eng  21  1  968  5  48.40 
Martyn D.R           Aus  24  2 1061  5  48.23 
Lloyd C.H            Win  39  2 1748  5  47.24 
O'Neill N.C          Aus  15  3  560  5  46.67 
Cook A.N             Eng  24  2 1017  5  46.23 
Gomes H.A            Win  21  3  830  5  46.11 
Sehwag V             Ind  33  2 1428  5  46.06 
Amarnath M           Ind  18  0  829  5  46.06 

Hunte, by virtue of his huge unbeaten double century, has moved to the top with 117.20, but only 586 runs. Bradman's is the more significant performance since he has a 77+ average with over 1100 runs. Sobers, again buoyed by the 365*, has 1300+ runs at 66. Wessels is a surprise entrant as also Graveney. There is a complete churning of players with the result that Lara and Tendulkar have moved out of the top-20. The recent bowling attacks have lost their edge because of the removal of both s/r and period adjustments. Only Sangakkara, Ponting and Sehwag remain.

Bradman D.G          Aus  15  2 1275  4  98.08
Walcott C.L          Win  15  1 1067  4  76.21
Chappell G.S         Aus  49 10 2723  4  69.82
Sutcliffe H          Eng   9  0  617  4  68.56 
McCabe S.J           Aus  16  1  986  4  65.73 
Richards I.V.A       Win  54  9 2917  4  64.82 
Wasim Raja           Pak  23  7 1019  4  63.69 
Younis Khan          Pak  40  3 2352  4  63.57 
Mohsin Khan          Pak  13  1  761  4  63.42 
Hobbs J.B            Eng  15  2  758  4  58.31 
Tendulkar S.R        Ind  85 10 4345  4  57.93 
Crowe M.D            Nzl  34  5 1671  4  57.62 
Smith G.C            Saf  53  4 2754  4  56.20 
Walters K.D          Aus  46  6 2243  4  56.08 
Border A.R           Aus  86 15 3935  4  55.42 
Taylor R.L           Nzl  13  1  659  4  54.92 
Richardson M.H       Nzl  18  0  977  4  54.28 
Javed Miandad        Pak  44  4 2164  4  54.10 
Kallicharran A.I     Win  26  4 1176  4  53.45 
Gilchrist A.C        Aus  38  6 1701  4  53.16 

Here we see 20 batsmen exceeding average of 50. Bradman has a near-career average of 98+ with a decent amount of runs. Walcott and Chappell come in next with 70+ and 70- averages. Sutcliffe and, nice to say McCabe, are next. Probably the most significant is Richards who has scored over 2900 runs at nearly 65. Quite a few modern batsmen have plenty of runs at 55+ averages. Mark Richardson is a surprise at the top, way above his career average of 44.77. He has done well against Pakistan and India.

Bradman D.G          Aus  17  3 1479  3 105.64
Sutcliffe H          Eng  22  5 1498  3  88.12 
Zaheer Abbas         Pak  19  2 1495  3  87.94 
EdeC Weekes          Win  15  1 1071  3  76.50 
Amiss D.L            Eng  25  2 1744  3  75.83 
Flower A             Zim  33  7 1940  3  74.62 
Lara B.C             Win  52  2 3674  3  73.48 
Compton D.C.S        Eng  14  3  808  3  73.45 
Barrington K.F       Eng  34  4 2131  3  71.03 
Walcott C.L          Win  14  1  912  3  70.15 

Kallis J.H           Saf  30  8 2333  2 106.05
Mohammad Yousuf      Pak  16  1 1506  2 100.40
Headley G.A          Win  12  3  890  2  98.89
Pietersen K.P        Eng  11  2  851  2  94.56
Worrell F.M.M        Win  14  2 1133  2  94.42
Woodfull W.M         Aus   6  0  545  2  90.83
Prince A.G           Saf  10  4  515  2  85.83
Shastri R.J          Ind  15  4  932  2  84.73
Kirsten G            Saf  16  3 1067  2  82.08
Vengsarkar D.B       Ind  23  6 1389  2  81.71

Adams J.C            Win   8  4  658  1 164.50
Bell I.R             Eng   6  1  531  1 106.20
Mohammad Yousuf      Pak  11  4  703  1 100.43
Dravid R             Ind  14  4  987  1  98.70
Sehwag V             Ind   9  2  672  1  96.00
Waugh S.R            Aus  20  6 1268  1  90.57
Bradman D.G          Aus  17  2 1342  1  89.47
de Villiers A.B      Saf  12  4  713  1  89.12
Kallis J.H           Saf  21  7 1228  1  87.71
Prince A.G           Saf  12  5  614  1  87.71

Quite a few 100+ averages at the lower bowling quality levels. Kallis has a 100+ average against group 4, as so does Yousuf. Do not forget that group 3 is still a fair bowling attack.

Batsman              Cty Inns N Runs Grp  Avge

Stewart A.J          Eng  97  8 3311  5  37.20
Lara B.C             Win  76  1 3270  5  43.60
Atherton M.A         Eng  98  1 2581  5  26.61
Gooch G.A            Eng  73  1 2573  5  35.74
Tendulkar S.R        Ind  63  2 2396  5  39.28
Richards I.V.A       Win  44  0 2338  5  53.14
Dravid R             Ind  65  3 2288  5  36.90
Border A.R           Aus  70 10 2191  5  36.52
Chanderpaul S        Win  67  9 2135  5  36.81
Hussain N            Eng  66  6 2048  5  34.13

Tendulkar S.R        Ind  85 10 4345  4  57.93
Border A.R           Aus  86 15 3935  4  55.42
Dravid R             Ind  75 10 3410  4  52.46
Kallis J.H           Saf  85 10 3302  4  44.03
Waugh S.R            Aus  76 10 3291  4  49.86
Lara B.C             Win  70  1 3286  4  47.62
Richards I.V.A       Win  54  9 2917  4  64.82
Atherton M.A         Eng  66  2 2875  4  44.92
Inzamam-ul-Haq       Pak  59  5 2791  4  51.69
Smith G.C            Saf  53  4 2754  4  56.20

Ponting R.T          Aus  97 13 5146  3  61.26
Kallis J.H           Saf  79  9 3941  3  56.30
Lara B.C             Win  52  2 3674  3  73.48
Jayawardene D.P.M.D  Slk  55  1 3579  3  66.28
Tendulkar S.R        Ind  69  7 3505  3  56.53
Hayden M.L           Aus  67  5 3474  3  56.03
Dravid R             Ind  64  6 3307  3  57.02
Gower D.I            Eng  61  4 3063  3  53.74
Border A.R           Aus  62 11 2993  3  58.69
Gavaskar S.M         Ind  60  5 2940  3  53.45

Tendulkar S.R        Ind  49  7 2982  2  71.00
Kallis J.H           Saf  30  8 2333  2 106.05
Javed Miandad        Pak  39  4 2242  2  64.06
Ponting R.T          Aus  46  9 2181  2  58.95
Dravid R             Ind  41  6 2071  2  59.17
Edrich J.H           Eng  43  5 1894  2  49.84
Hammond W.R          Eng  35  5 1890  2  63.00
Barrington K.F       Eng  32  6 1860  2  71.54
Sangakkara K.C       Slk  31  2 1820  2  62.76
Jayawardene D.P.M.D  Slk  37  5 1813  2  56.66

Hammond W.R          Eng  66  8 4133  1  71.26
Hutton L             Eng  68  7 3599  1  59.00
Compton D.C.S        Eng  47  5 2456  1  58.48
Harvey R.N           Aus  35  2 2180  1  66.06
Sutcliffe H          Eng  35  4 1897  1  61.19
Gavaskar S.M         Ind  30  2 1882  1  67.21
Cowdrey M.C          Eng  39  4 1761  1  50.31
Graveney T.W         Eng  32  4 1704  1  60.86
Javed Miandad        Pak  30  6 1660  1  69.17
Barrington K.F       Eng  29  3 1624  1  62.46

The above tables are ordered on runs scored against the bowling groups. Stewart and Tendulkar lead the top two groups with 3311 and 4345 runs. Lara also has over 3000 runs against each of the top groups. Almost the same with Tendulkar indicating that, on balance, they faced better quality of bowling. The modern batsmen, led by Tendulkar top the middle group table. Tendulkar and quite a few current batsmen top the weaker group 2. Finally look at Hammond. Nearly 60% of his runs have come against the weakest of attacks, albeit, at no great an average. It must be accepted that when batsmen play 100+ tests, they are likely to figure in both groups 5 and 1 prominently. Hammond, Hutton and Compton are the surprises since they had career runs of 7000 and just above or below.

Now for the group-wise runs and % of career runs for selected 20 odd batsmen. The complete file is available for downloading.

Batsman              Cty Inns N  Runs    %  Grp  Avge

Hobbs J.B            Eng  16  1   837  15.5  5  55.80
Hobbs J.B            Eng  15  2   758  14.0  4  58.31
Hobbs J.B            Eng  29  2  1642  30.4  3  60.81
Hobbs J.B            Eng  20  1   854  15.8  2  44.95
Hobbs J.B            Eng  22  1  1319  24.4  1  62.81

Sutcliffe H          Eng   6  0   110   2.4  5  18.33
Sutcliffe H          Eng   9  0   617  13.5  4  68.56
Sutcliffe H          Eng  22  5  1498  32.9  3  88.12
Sutcliffe H          Eng  12  0   433   9.5  2  36.08
Sutcliffe H          Eng  35  4  1897  41.6  1  61.19

Hammond W.R          Eng   4  0   124   1.7  5  31.00
Hammond W.R          Eng  11  1   397   5.5  4  39.70
Hammond W.R          Eng  24  2   705   9.7  3  32.05
Hammond W.R          Eng  35  5  1890  26.1  2  63.00
Hammond W.R          Eng  66  8  4133  57.0  1  71.26

Bradman D.G          Aus  15  0  1159  16.6  5  77.27
Bradman D.G          Aus  15  2  1275  18.2  4  98.08
Bradman D.G          Aus  17  3  1479  21.1  3 105.64
Bradman D.G          Aus  16  3  1741  24.9  2 133.92
Bradman D.G          Aus  17  2  1342  19.2  1  89.47

Hutton L             Eng  21  5   949  13.6  5  59.31
Hutton L             Eng  21  0   884  12.7  4  42.10
Hutton L             Eng  12  1   530   7.6  3  48.18
Hutton L             Eng  16  2  1009  14.5  2  72.07
Hutton L             Eng  68  7  3599  51.6  1  59.00

Sobers G.St.A        Win  22  2  1328  16.5  5  66.40
Sobers G.St.A        Win  47  4  2169  27.0  4  50.44
Sobers G.St.A        Win  43  6  2060  25.6  3  55.68
Sobers G.St.A        Win  26  4  1626  20.2  2  73.91
Sobers G.St.A        Win  22  5   849  10.6  1  49.94

Lloyd C.H            Win  39  2  1748  23.3  5  47.24
Lloyd C.H            Win  40  3  1688  22.5  4  45.62
Lloyd C.H            Win  54  5  2068  27.5  3  42.20
Lloyd C.H            Win  35  4  1712  22.8  2  55.23
Lloyd C.H            Win   7  0   299   4.0  1  42.71

Chappell G.S         Aus  42  2  1490  21.0  5  37.25
Chappell G.S         Aus  49 10  2723  38.3  4  69.82
Chappell G.S         Aus  30  3  1465  20.6  3  54.26
Chappell G.S         Aus  20  2   918  12.9  2  51.00
Chappell G.S         Aus  10  2   514   7.2  1  64.25

Gavaskar S.M         Ind  47  2  1604  15.8  5  35.64
Gavaskar S.M         Ind  42  1  2122  21.0  4  51.76
Gavaskar S.M         Ind  60  5  2940  29.0  3  53.45
Gavaskar S.M         Ind  35  6  1574  15.6  2  54.28
Gavaskar S.M         Ind  30  2  1882  18.6  1  67.21

Richards I.V.A       Win  44  0  2338  27.4  5  53.14
Richards I.V.A       Win  54  9  2917  34.2  4  64.82
Richards I.V.A       Win  48  1  1795  21.0  3  38.19
Richards I.V.A       Win  32  2  1439  16.9  2  47.97
Richards I.V.A       Win   4  0    51   0.6  1  12.75

Gooch G.A            Eng  73  1  2573  28.9  5  35.74
Gooch G.A            Eng  53  2  2409  27.1  4  47.24
Gooch G.A            Eng  52  1  2010  22.6  3  39.41
Gooch G.A            Eng  26  2  1269  14.3  2  52.88
Gooch G.A            Eng  11  0   639   7.2  1  58.09

Javed Miandad        Pak  39  0  1434  16.2  5  36.77
Javed Miandad        Pak  44  4  2164  24.5  4  54.10
Javed Miandad        Pak  37  7  1332  15.1  3  44.40
Javed Miandad        Pak  39  4  2242  25.4  2  64.06
Javed Miandad        Pak  30  6  1660  18.8  1  69.17

Border A.R           Aus  70 10  2191  19.6  5  36.52
Border A.R           Aus  86 15  3935  35.2  4  55.42
Border A.R           Aus  62 11  2993  26.8  3  58.69
Border A.R           Aus  30  6  1038   9.3  2  43.25
Border A.R           Aus  17  2  1017   9.1  1  67.80

Waugh S.R            Aus  43  5  1643  15.0  5  43.24
Waugh S.R            Aus  76 10  3291  30.1  4  49.86
Waugh S.R            Aus  82 17  2920  26.7  3  44.92
Waugh S.R            Aus  39  8  1805  16.5  2  58.23
Waugh S.R            Aus  20  6  1268  11.6  1  90.57

Atherton M.A         Eng  98  1  2581  33.4  5  26.61
Atherton M.A         Eng  66  2  2875  37.2  4  44.92
Atherton M.A         Eng  34  2  1534  19.8  3  47.94
Atherton M.A         Eng   9  1   371   4.8  2  46.38
Atherton M.A         Eng   5  1   367   4.7  1  91.75

Tendulkar S.R        Ind  63  2  2396  16.3  5  39.28
Tendulkar S.R        Ind  85 10  4345  29.6  4  57.93
Tendulkar S.R        Ind  69  7  3505  23.9  3  56.53
Tendulkar S.R        Ind  49  7  2982  20.3  2  71.00
Tendulkar S.R        Ind  24  6  1464  10.0  1  81.33

Stewart A.J          Eng  97  8  3311  39.1  5  37.20
Stewart A.J          Eng  69  6  2240  26.5  4  35.56
Stewart A.J          Eng  35  3  1628  19.2  3  50.88
Stewart A.J          Eng  25  3   845  10.0  2  38.41
Stewart A.J          Eng   9  1   441   5.2  1  55.12

Lara B.C             Win  76  1  3270  27.4  5  43.60
Lara B.C             Win  70  1  3286  27.5  4  47.62
Lara B.C             Win  52  2  3674  30.7  3  73.48
Lara B.C             Win  22  2   979   8.2  2  48.95
Lara B.C             Win  12  0   744   6.2  1  62.00

Inzamam-ul-Haq       Pak  40  1  1347  15.3  5  34.54
Inzamam-ul-Haq       Pak  59  5  2791  31.6  4  51.69
Inzamam-ul-Haq       Pak  52  7  2409  27.3  3  53.53
Inzamam-ul-Haq       Pak  30  5  1474  16.7  2  58.96
Inzamam-ul-Haq       Pak  19  4   809   9.2  1  53.93

Fleming S.P          Nzl  50  2  1459  20.3  5  30.40
Fleming S.P          Nzl  47  5  2093  29.2  4  49.83
Fleming S.P          Nzl  55  2  1906  26.6  3  35.96
Fleming S.P          Nzl  25  1  1147  16.0  2  47.79
Fleming S.P          Nzl  12  0   567   7.9  1  47.25

Ponting R.T          Aus  39  2  1794  14.5  5  48.49
Ponting R.T          Aus  65  3  2751  22.3  4  44.37
Ponting R.T          Aus  97 13  5146  41.6  3  61.26
Ponting R.T          Aus  46  9  2181  17.6  2  58.95
Ponting R.T          Aus  12  1   487   3.9  1  44.27

Kallis J.H           Saf  31  4  1143   9.6  5  42.33
Kallis J.H           Saf  85 10  3302  27.6  4  44.03
Kallis J.H           Saf  79  9  3941  33.0  3  56.30
Kallis J.H           Saf  30  8  2333  19.5  2 106.05
Kallis J.H           Saf  21  7  1228  10.3  1  87.71

Dravid R             Ind  65  3  2288  19.0  5  36.90
Dravid R             Ind  75 10  3410  28.3  4  52.46
Dravid R             Ind  64  6  3307  27.4  3  57.02
Dravid R             Ind  41  6  2071  17.2  2  59.17
Dravid R             Ind  14  4   987   8.2  1  98.70

Laxman V.V.S         Ind  52  4  1876  23.7  5  39.08
Laxman V.V.S         Ind  61  7  2480  31.4  4  45.93
Laxman V.V.S         Ind  46 12  1709  21.6  3  50.26
Laxman V.V.S         Ind  29  8  1591  20.1  2  75.76
Laxman V.V.S         Ind  10  0   247   3.1  1  24.70

Jayawardene D.P.M.D  Slk  29  1  1124  11.8  5  40.14
Jayawardene D.P.M.D  Slk  44  4  1639  17.2  4  40.97
Jayawardene D.P.M.D  Slk  55  1  3579  37.6  3  66.28
Jayawardene D.P.M.D  Slk  37  5  1813  19.0  2  56.66
Jayawardene D.P.M.D  Slk  25  2  1375  14.4  1  59.78

Sehwag V             Ind  33  2  1428  18.6  5  46.06
Sehwag V             Ind  46  0  2239  29.1  4  48.67
Sehwag V             Ind  33  0  1760  22.9  3  53.33
Sehwag V             Ind  29  2  1595  20.7  2  59.07
Sehwag V             Ind   9  2   672   8.7  1  96.00

Sangakkara K.C       Slk  23  2  1045  12.7  5  49.76
Sangakkara K.C       Slk  36  4  1655  20.1  4  51.72
Sangakkara K.C       Slk  43  0  2178  26.4  3  50.65
Sangakkara K.C       Slk  31  2  1820  22.1  2  62.76
Sangakkara K.C       Slk  23  4  1546  18.8  1  81.37

Hobbs, Sutcliffe and Hammond have made very few runs against top group, mainly indicating that there were very few top group bowling attacks during these 50 years. Lloyd, Chappell, Laxman and Fleming all have around 20-25% against the top bowling group. However the real numbers are for Stewart with 39%, Atherton with 33.4%, Richards with 27.4%, Gooch with 28.9% and Lara with 27.4%.

Looking at the other end of the tables, Hammond has scored 57% of career runs against the weakest of attacks. Hutton stands at 51% and Sutcliffe at 41%. Ponting, Laxman, Lloyd and Stewart have only 3-5% against these weak attacks. But the amazing number is for Richards, who in his cricketing life has almost faced no group 5 bowling attack (0.6%). That says something about the sign of the period 1970s-90s.

Group table - by Batting average: please click/right-click here.
Group table - by Runs scored: please click/right-click here.
Batsman table - by Group (for all 2000+ batsmen): please click/right-click here.
Batsman table - all Group 5 performances (for all 5000+ batsmen): please click/right-click here.
BQI table - ordered by BQI (for all 6827 innings): please click/right-click here.

Er-Sr calculations: please click/right-click here.
Weighted bowling quality table - ordered by WtBowQty value (gt 4000 runs): please click/right-click here.

I would like to inform the readers that we are away on holiday between June 2 and 25 and I will be taking the month of June off. I will be back in July. I am confident that most of the comments on this article, and I expect plenty, to be in before June 1.

The last two articles on the two wonderful golden periods of West Indian and Australian domination were received very well and elicited over 300 comments. This blog almost became a forum for discussion amongst the interested readers. It is obvious that the bowlers were the key players during these periods of domination, more for the West Indies teams than the Australian ones. A number of readers also commented and initiated discussions on the batsmen who did well against these bowlers. So I have decided to complete this informative series of articles by doing an analysis on the teams and batsmen who performed well against the West Indian and Australian bowlers.

The cut-off Tests are more or less similar. For the West Indians, I have tweaked the cut-offs to start with Test # 764 (1975) in which Holding made his debut. This ensures that at least two of the selected bowlers are there. Similarly I have since modified the the cut-off at the end to Test # 1371 (1997), the one just before the 3-0 whitewash in Pakistan. In other words I have excluded those last few Tests in which only Walsh played.

The Australian cut-off starts with Test # 1121 (1989), the first Ashes Test. The last match is Test # 1879, during 2008, against West Indies. I have excluded those last Tests in which Johnson was the leading bowler.

I have weighted the runs scored by the batsmen with two relevant measures. The first is the Test venue, home/away as far as the batting team is concerned.

However more important, I have weighted the runs scored by the weighted bowling quality. This is an important adjustment and the relevant points are explained below.

- This is based on career-to-date figures.
- I have also used reciprocal method suggested by Arjun Hemnani, so as to reduce the impact of the weaker fifth bowler.
- The adjustment factor is based all-tests bowling average during the respective cut-off years.
- This works to 29.96 for the West Indian bowlers and 30.74 for the Australian bowlers.

The weighting with bowler quality is essential since the West Indian and Australian attacks have had 4, 3, 2, 1 and even 0 bowler out of the top bowlers. The last instances occurred during the World Series Tests.

Given below are examples of how these calculations have been done. I have presented these examples since these are quite compilcated and readers might be interested in knowing the workings.

Against West Indies

Test Year Batsman       Loc H/A-Idx BowQty BQ-Idx  Runs  Adj-Runs

0862 1979 G.S.Chappell  Aus   0.95   25.47  1.18    74     82.9
0835 1978 S.M.Gavaskar  Ind   0.95   39.67  0.76   205    148.0

1142 1990 G.A.Gooch     Win   1.05   34.56  0.87    84     76.7
1171 1991 G.A.Gooch     Eng   0.95   24.78  1.21   154    177.0

BQ-Idx = 29.96/BowQty.

Against Australia

Test Year Batsman       Loc H/A-Idx BowQty BQ-Idx  Runs  Adj-Runs

1405 1998 S.R.Tendulkar Ind   0.95   33.32  0.92   155    136.1
1479 1999 S.R.Tendulkar Aus   1.05   27.67  1.11   116    135.2

1208 1993 B.C.Lara      Aus   1.05   37.79  0.82   277    238.5
1453 1999 B.C.Lara      Win   0.95   24.06  1.28   153    186.0

BQ-Idx = 30.74/BowQty.

Finally I have also done an analysis on the teams which did very well against the two concerned teams. The methodology is similar to the one used for individual batsmen. The runs scored are weighted by home/away factor and bowling quality.

To get a reasonable number of batsmen into the table I have set 800 runs as the cut-off value for batsmen against West Indies and 1000 runs for batsmen against Australia. Readers can ask for the figures of other batsmen.

First the batsmen who have done well against the 1975-2000 West Indies' bowlers.

Cty Batsman        Career  M I No   Runs-Avge   Runs -  Avge   % to
                     Avge         (Unadjusted)   (Adjusted)   CarAvg

Aus Chappell G.S    53.86 12 23 5 (1058-58.78) 1020.4 - 56.69 109.1%
Eng Gooch G.A       42.58 26 51 2 (2197-44.84) 2465.5 - 50.32 105.3%
Eng Smith R.A       43.67 19 35 5 (1333-44.43) 1469.1 - 48.97 101.7%
Ind Gavaskar S.M    51.12 21 36 3 (1867-56.58) 1594.3 - 48.31 110.7%
Aus Waugh M.E       41.82 19 32 2 (1317-43.90) 1407.8 - 46.93 105.0%
Aus Waugh S.R       51.06 20 33 4 (1208-41.66) 1303.5 - 44.95  81.6%
Eng Stewart A.J     39.56 13 24 2 ( 829-37.68)  935.6 - 42.53  95.3%
Aus Border A.R      50.56 31 59 7 (2052-39.46) 2205.4 - 42.41  78.0%
Aus Boon D.C        43.66 22 40 4 (1437-39.92) 1518.1 - 42.17  91.4%
Ind Vengsarkar D.B  42.13 24 40 4 (1596-44.33) 1470.4 - 40.84 105.2%
Eng Atherton M.A    37.70 16 30 0 (1077-35.90) 1194.1 - 39.80  95.2%
Eng Gower D.I       44.25 19 38 3 (1149-32.83) 1324.4 - 37.84  74.2%
Eng Lamb A.J        36.09 22 42 3 (1342-34.41) 1452.5 - 37.24  95.3%
Ind Amarnath M      42.50 17 30 2 (1076-38.43) 1028.2 - 36.72  90.4%
Aus Wood G.M        31.83 17 33 1 (1077-33.66) 1075.5 - 33.61 105.7%
Aus Taylor M.A      43.50 20 37 2 ( 984-28.11) 1065.8 - 30.45  64.6%
Ind Shastri R.J     35.79 18 33 5 ( 847-30.25)  847.5 - 30.27  84.5%
Pak Javed Miandad   52.57 16 28 0 ( 834-29.79)  832.8 - 29.74  56.7%
Ind Kapil Dev N     31.05 23 39 4 (1079-30.83) 1011.4 - 28.90  99.3%
Aus Healy I.A       27.40 24 40 5 ( 907-25.91)  997.2 - 28.49  94.6%
Ind Gaekwad A.D     30.08 19 32 1 ( 812-26.19)  709.4 - 22.88  87.1%

Greg Chappell leads the table comfortably from Gooch. His raw average is 58.78 and is slightly reduced with adjustments to 56.69. Interestingly, during this period, Greg Chappell never travelled to West Indies. Gooch has been truly outstanding against West Indies. He averages 44.43 but scored many of these runs against very tough and fearsome West Indian attacks (a la 154 (out of 252) at Headingley). These adjustments have boosted his average to 50.32. These two being the only two to exceed 50. R A Smith is in third place. Gavaskar's high average of 56 is reduced considerably because a number of these innings were against below-par West Indian attacks. His average is 48.31. Mark Waugh averages 46.93 and is slightly ahead of Steve.

The adjusted averages of the first four batsmen are higher than their career batting averages. Vengsarkar and Wood are the only other batsmen to have a better batting average against the powerful West Indian bowlers than their career batting averages.

Now for the Team analysis.

Australia      658  50 20605 33.89
India          420  36 12189 31.74
England        657  39 18782 30.39
New Zealand    178  15  4863 29.83
South Africa    14   0   410 29.29
Sri Lanka       39   4   935 26.71
Pakistan       273  17  6653 25.99

Australia have done the best against West Indies with an overall average, for the top 7 batsmen, of 33.89. India follows with 31.74. England is the only other team with an average exceeding 30.

Let us now see how the top batsmen fared against Australia between 1985 and 2008.

Cty Batsman        Career  M I No   Runs-Avge   Runs -  Avge   % to
                     Avge         (Unadjusted)   (Adjusted)   CarAvg

Ind Tendulkar S.R   56.95 25 47 5 (2352-56.00) 2379.2 - 56.65  98.3%
Ind Sehwag V        53.43 11 22 1 (1132-53.90) 1171.5 - 55.79 100.9%
Win Lara B.C        52.89 31 58 2 (2856-51.00) 3074.6 - 54.90  96.4%
Ind Laxman V.V.S    47.32 20 37 1 (1823-50.64) 1933.8 - 53.72 107.0%
Win Chanderpaul S   48.99 15 29 4 (1210-48.40) 1271.5 - 50.86  98.8%
Eng Thorpe G.P      44.66 16 31 4 (1235-45.74) 1275.1 - 47.22 102.4%
Ind Dravid R        52.45 23 43 5 (1740-45.79) 1779.2 - 46.82  87.3%
Win Richardson R.B  44.40 14 24 2 (1084-49.27)  977.6 - 44.44 111.0%
Saf Kallis J.H      57.44 18 35 4 (1188-38.32) 1334.1 - 43.04  66.7%
Eng Hussain N       37.19 23 45 4 (1581-38.56) 1749.3 - 42.67 103.7%
Eng Trescothick M.E 43.76 15 30 0 (1013-33.77) 1175.9 - 39.20  77.2%
Eng Butcher M.A     34.58 20 40 1 (1287-33.00) 1506.2 - 38.62  95.4%
Eng Gooch G.A       42.58 20 39 0 (1527-39.15) 1480.9 - 37.97  91.9%
Saf Kirsten G       45.27 18 34 1 (1134-34.36) 1228.6 - 37.23  75.9%
Eng Smith R.A       43.67 15 30 3 (1074-39.78) 1004.4 - 37.20  91.1%
Eng Stewart A.J     39.56 33 65 6 (1810-30.68) 2008.3 - 34.04  77.6%
Ind Ganguly S.C     42.18 20 36 2 (1079-31.74) 1099.5 - 32.34  75.2%
Eng Atherton M.A    37.70 33 66 2 (1900-29.69) 1975.2 - 30.86  78.8%

As expected, Indian batsmen dominate the table of performances against Australia. Tendulkar is on top with a base average of 56.00 and improves this slightly through the adjustments. Sehwag clocks in next with an average of over 55. Then comes Lara, who has scored the maximum runs of 2856 against Australians at 54.72. Laxman is in fourth position, again with an adjusted average over 53. Chanderpaul rounds off this table with an average exceeding 50. These five batsmen are the only ones to go past 50. The interesting thing is that the top four batsmen also average over 50 in the unadjusted measure. Richie Richardson averages 52 but loses out heavily on the adjustments.

Laxman has outperformed against Australia considerably. Note also how Izaz Ahmad has outperformed against Australia by 25%.

And the Team analysis, the average of the top 7 batsmen.

India          350  23 11791 36.06
Sri Lanka      221  14  7026 33.94
England        725  41 23134 33.82
West Indies    486  35 14986 33.23
South Africa   318  18  9677 32.26
Pakistan       280  10  8493 31.46
New Zealand    294  15  8748 31.35
Bangladesh      56   1  1569 28.53
Zimbabwe        42   0  1018 24.24

It would have been a surprise if India had not been on top in the team table since, during the 2000s, India have been the most successful team against Australia. They average a huge 36.06 per top-order wicket and are ahead of the next team, Sri Lanka, by nearly 10%. England, buoyed by their twin Ashes triumphs during this period, is next. West Indies also averages over 33. Note the number of teams which have averaged over 30.

To view/down-load the file containing the list of Test matches against West Indies which have been included in this analysis, and the details of players who have scored over 500 runs against West Indies, please click/right-click here.

To view/down-load the file containing the list of Test matches against Australians have been included in this analysis, and the details of players who have scored over 500 runs against West Indies, please click/right-click here.

This is a special request by Yogesh I have done an analysis of his hard classification. Really looking only at the peak years. The cut-offs are given below.

Australia:  1463(1975) to 1879(1990) (100 tests). 76 wins/13 draws - 82.5%
West Indies: 764(1999) to 1158(2008) (122 tests) 

No major change against West Indies. Wasim Raja is second and Gooch has slipped a bit.

England has gained a lot against Australia. They are the best side and Pietersen is the best batsman. Michael Vaughan is also right on top there.

To view/down-load the file containing the special tables, and the details of players who have scored over 750 runs against West Indies, please click/right-click here.

To view/down-load the file containing the special tables, and the details of players who have scored over 750 runs against Australia, please click/right-click here.