Since it's the end of another decade for cricket , I thought why not reminisce about they great decade of cricket we had. I would focus on team India as it's the team of which I can claim to have followed the majority of the matches.
2011-12
The first year of the decade , Indian team was the No: 1 test side since 2009 , dominating at home and being extremely competitive abroad winning in NZ , Eng, drawing in SA and fighting well with Ponting's Australia down under all in a span of 3-4 years. To add cherry on top of that winning the World Cup meant this was the peak of Indian cricket and given where we were at the turn of the century it was one heck of an achievement to reach this position.
Note that Ishant Sharma was still pretty shit.
2012-13
As big as the highs were , who knew the lows were going to be just as deep. The no 1 test team team crashed and burned in incredible fashion and got white washed in two consecutive series in Eng and Aus , tons of legends had to retire and if that wasn't enough the nail to the coffin was hit by Sir Alistair Cook and his men when they beat India in their own fortress after 28 years when Panesar and Swann taught Indians how to bowl spin and I think at this point the stumps , bails , bat and ball basically anything to do with cricket should have been burnt and sent to England at that point. Funnily this series was my introduction to cricket as a 11 year old who despite being in india didn't know the name of a single cricketer other than Sachin Tendulkar.
Phew, Anyways the horror show ends here, or does it..? Though it doesn't feel like much now , but at that time when Pakistan was visiting for the first time after the terrorist attack and beat India in an odi series in India , it felt like a huge deal, I guess it was the series where we discovered Bhuvi, and during those days he used to swing like a banana albiet a bit slower, his wickets of the first balls on debut where fucking ridiculous. Regardless we did fine in ODi compared to our standards back then when we never used to win odi series in SENA , and Virat Kohli's thrashing in Hobart stands out even to this day , and to think that his 183 is still his highest after 43 fucking hundreds is a miracle.
Anyways the redemption in test cricket came when Australia visited India. We didn't know at the time , but in retrospect the worst Australian side I have ever seen play test cricket and poor bastards thought they could sneak a victory against this depleted indian side and they rightfully got demolished due their pathetic attitude towards homework and trust me Nathan Lyon back then was so bad that it felt like he was a club bowler , didn't know the dude would develop into the beast he is now. Luckily wade was shit then and now , the loud mouth's constant though.
That 4-0 victory over the fake team which tried to convince us that they were thev real Aussies is what I consider to be the beginning of our journey in becoming one of the best test teams in the world again, though is was not to happen any time soon , still this is where I can trace it all back , this is where Ashwin and Jadeja showed a glimpse of what they were going to do to the poor visiters for the rest of the decade , plus by this point Pujara and Rahane where abvious standouts in the middle order , along with Kohli, even Murli Vijay who a lot of people don't like , which goes over my head as he is unironically the best test opener for us this decade and yeah we were never able to find him a proper opening partner , and by the time he went completely shit , we had zero openers performing well for us in any conditions other than home.
Also who can forget Shikhar Dhawan's debut test century and Dhoni's double century.
Note that Ishant Sharma was still shit.
2013-2014
Now this was the year where we won our last ICC trophy of any kind, it's a shame they scrapped champions trophy after this year.Who knew Rohit Sharma's move to the opening spot would give us one of the finest batsmen in coloured clothing the world has ever seen. By that point even with his ridiculous talent™, it seemed like the final days of him getting anymore chances , if he had failed miserably there.
There was a great odi series against aus at home, Rohit scored the first of his three double hundreds, poor Ishant have away 30 runs off an over to end his loi career forever.
Faulkner was a good cricketer during this time who was supposed to achieve big things , he batted and bowled pretty well in this series.
Sachin played his last series , at the time it was quite a relief , and also very emotional , never seen a test match as jam packed as that in India , maybe the pink ball test against Bangladesh was close. Shami was the revelation of the series , and his reverse swing exploits in his debut match is still the best spell of reverse swing I have seen by any Indian this decade.
Now as the winner of champions trophy which basically means we where the champions among champions at a time when we ourself where the world champions , we went with all our super sayen power to tour South Africa.
This was my first away tour as a fan to any country let alone the land where Steyn breathes fire.
First odi of the match , SA comes wearing pink , I laugh and make a few cringey pink = girly jokes. My first introduction to Steyn on Live telly and bruh the talented Rohit Sharma didn't touch the ball for his first 30 deliveries. I dunno how one can miss so many consecutive edges, maybe the balls where too good to get an edge , in that match Virat scored a four of Steyn with a straight drive when Rohit was being treated as if he was a drunk no 11 , and to this day that reminds me of how Virat is a cut a above Rohit regardless of how many mental gymnastics the mentally challenged brohit fans do to claim otherwise. Anyways we lost 3-0 in that series as expected but during those days even ODIs felt like impossible to win in SA for us. Also de dock announced himself with three centuries in all the matches that series.
That test series was Kohli's first in SA and he had a lot to prove back in those days , and he did and iirc so did Pujara. The second test is what everyone would remember where SA almost chased down the world record total, god the bowling was pathetic then.
During this time an awkward young kid with an even more awkward bowling action bowled for MI on debut , and it didn't seems like much at the time , just that he was awkward.
Note that Ishant Sharma was still pretty shit.
2014- 15
Then we go to New Zealand and baz scores a triple century and makes us fuck off.
The t20 worldcup was pretty good for us we went into the finals , Sri Lanka bowled really good at the death, basically every ball was a wide yorker and this was the beginning of a long stretch of losing on the finals or semi-finals for us in the decade.
Now comes the groups first test series in England , I meant just in essence , dhoni and Ishant had played their before but still this was the India in transition, the first test was a draw all I remember is Murli Vijay had a great knock . The next match at lords is one of the most important matches for us this decade , before this I guess we hadn't won a test match in SENA countries since I guess 2008 when we won in NZ 1-0 , I mean come on , I guess we all should be glad things aren't that bad now and we do win atleast a test in most places we play and other teams have to, lots of the times , work there asses of to win against us in their own backyard. Now Rahane scored probably the Indian test century of the decade according to me , and also his favorite century as claimed by the man himself after his exploits in the Boxing Day test recently.
Now hear me out , Ishant got his career best figures in the second innings here , but this is still a time when he was pretty mediocre, and even though I don't want to take any credit away from him , a lot has to do with a collective brain fade from England while playing the short balls from Ishant. Anyways we won and it was a great day, sweet victory in SENA after a long time after two matches we led the series 1-0 , and tbh if we were Sri Lanka or Pakistan we would be going on home after avenging our home test series loss, but no the big boys have to play 5 test matches FFS, nothing much to say here Bhuvneshwar Kumar was our best batsman and bowler that series , we got fucked really fucking bad by Anderson and yeah 3-1.
But even more than that the series would be known as Virat Kohli's lowest point in his test career [ yet (๑•﹏•)]. The world found out that he is no Tendulkar and does have a severe flaw in his technique playing the out swinger. And to be honest we all know that to some extent he still has that flaw , unlike Williamson and Smith who basically have no major flaws in their technique. Yet I would say he is the second best test batsman of the generation after Smith.
Atleast back in the day England used to be a piss poor odi side who played like it was the 70s , and we won that series , but it was not sweet enough to compensate for the thrashing in tests.
Now next we move on to the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Aus, Dhoni called it quits as a test cricketer and Virat takes the helm ,it was basically a run fest, Virat and Smith both scored tons of runs , and we almost won a test in Adelaide , but it could have been worse given how Mitchell Johnson blew England away and South Africa too, but the pitches maybe weren't that conducive or he declined a bit or both , anyways it was basically chat shit get banged for him that series anyways. We lost 2-0 , but this was a series where we could say we played respectable cricket.
Note that Ishant Sharma was still quite shit.
2015 - 2016
We weren't in great form as an odi side around the time of the world cup as we lost a series pretty badly to Australia , who where eventually the champions , Starc was breathing fire back then.
But we won every match in the group stages , and finally lost to Australia in the semi-finals. Fuck Starc , he's too good. No problem we'll win in 2019.
Now in the test world we have had lots of back to back tough series , all the players where new , but by now lots of them where quite experienced and settled in the squad.
Now many people like to say that Indian wins in Sri Lanka shouldn't be counted as away wins and it's still the sub continent etc etc , but before 2015, the last and only time india beat Sri Lanka in Lanka was in the early nineties. Now during this time Sri Lanka was still a great team especially at home they still had Sangakara , Herath both at their best and on top of that they had Karunaratne , Thirimanne and Chandimal. Also remember the time when Angelo Mathews was one of the best test batsman in the world? Yeah he was the captain. The first test match went to them after a second innings collapse from India , that would be the last test Sri Lanka wins against India and they played 8 more tests after this. Anyways India came back triumphantly to win the next two tests to get only their second ever test series victory in the supposedly easy land Sri Lanka and this was to be the beginning of a very dominant period of test cricket for India after which, eventually they'd become the country with the second most number of months as world no 1 in test cricket after Australia since 2003 when the icc ranking begun.
This was the first series where Ishant Sharma started to show some improvement.
Next , South Africa visits India for a test series. Now South Africa has drawn their last two test series in India and I would even go on as far as to say they were even better than the legendary Australia when it came to test cricket in India. Virat Kohli at this time wanted to get really spin friendly wickets as according to him many teams around the world create green wickets and all to get home advantage , there was lots of complaining from faf , but any ways they got thumped 3-0 for the first time ever in India and that was the beginning of a very dominant home stretch.
One highlight was the blockathon from ABD -Amla and also twin centuries from Rahane in that test which where the only centuries in the whole series iirc.
Now India goes to west Indies and get a convincing test series victory, now WI us still a good test team at home , they have beaten good sides like England and Pakistan but they always fail to show up against India, so that's that.
Note than Ishant was still a bit shit.
2016-2017
Next New Zealand visits India , and get ravaged 3-0 with huge margins , India used to always be a dominant side at home , but this was starting to get scary, Ashwin and Jadeja were unplayable literally every match.
Next comes England , the winners of the last series between the two in India. Oh the revenge was cold and sweet , the way we destroyed them was something else , huge scores , losing after scoring almost 500 runs multiple times , triple hundreds , who can forget the hundred from jayant yadav. This was a massacre, and it was due since a long time.
Now as you know Kohli and Shastri were quite cocky by this time, so were the fans and I mean can you blame us? Australia came after a lot of preparation, fuckers where praising Ashwin as the Bradman of bowling to jinx him. The Pune test was a shock, this was before Steve Smith's redemption in the Ashes and as an Indian fan the only other time I really saw him scoring lots of runs it wasn't really tough conditions and on top of that it was at home. This Pune test changed that, I think I have seen the best test batsman of the generation , and maybe even for the next 30 years. Kohli went fishing for that series , and we were again in the backfoot after the first innings of the second test. But then as Ashwin had warned Aussies didn't get a considerable lead , and Ashwin had them for soup . The last test was again won by India to finish a well fought test series.
We all know what happened in the t20 world cup, we reached the semi , and WI thumped us. Who can forget the Ashwin no ball , atleast I mean maybe it's just an anomaly surely an Indian bowler can't bowl a no ball in another major icc knockout match right? Right?
Note that Ishant is very very slightly shit
2017-2018
Okay I have a confession to make. I may have lied about something , ok I admit there was a champions trophy in 2017. And yeah we got thumped so bad , that idk what to say, fairytale stuff for pakistan though , tbh I don't remember them beating us in any other match since 2013 , but probs to them they won the second most important match between us this decade , after the icc wc semi final.
Atleast after the champions trophy we decided to bring in Kuldeep and Chahal and with the rise of Bumrah and even Shami we started to actually become a good bowling side in one day internationals.
We started to not only win at home in loi but in SA , NZ , Aus and that too convincingly, the only loss I remember during this time was probably against the future worldcup champions England at their home , but then again they are probably the greatest odi side probably only second to the legendary Aussie side.
Now we tour Sri Lanka again and by this time Sri Lanka has detoriated quite a bit , they aren't their previous self and don't have Sanga , Herath and Mathew is not his former self. They get thumped 3-0 at home and it's probably our first overseas whitewash.
Next they tour us and we are arrogant enough to act as if this is practice for upcoming overseas tour and make green pitches and all. I remember the Delhi test with pollution and yeah two matches where drawn rather surprisingly still India won 1-0.
By this time you can see that Ishant is slowly improving and his performances are becoming much better.
Now India visits SA and this time India is an experienced side , they are still not a world class bowling line up , but that was going to change , and that happened here when Bumrah was given his test cap. There were lots of questions about this , people where saying that he cannot get swing or seam and his action was not meant for test cricket etc etc, anyways it didn't even take much time tbh , he was an instant success just like he was in loi and took decent amount of wickets every innings , India lost the first two test matches , but all those matches were close , popular consensus is that ABD was the diffrence , India won the last test match which was on a green mamba of a picth, and Bumrah takes his first fifier in the last test match and rest is history. It's too early , but still he is easily the best fast bowler India has ever had, greatest not yet solely due to the fact that some others have more years of service.
Note that Ishant is finally bowling as one of the best bowlers.
2018-2019
Now we go back to England , all eyes were on Kohli , I think he played one of his best innings that match playing with the tail to keep India in the game. Yeah India was in the game a lot of the times infact , yes the scoreline was 4-1 , but this series was well fought , still England were the better team , but India got one famous victory in Nottingham and yeah that's that.
Pretty disappointing , a similar result was predicted down under. Who knew Warner and Steve Smith had diffrent plans , they did their noble deed and we're kicked out of the sport for an year , and yeah this did play a part in giving India a huge advantage.
So yeah we visited down under and as we all know we thumped Australia , should have been 3-1 if not for the rain in Sydney , it was a historic series win , the bowling we faced was still the best in the world. Pujara played the series of his life , and Indian bowling was as good if not better.
In ODIs we are doing really well but still haven't found a good middle order. And yeah we never found that before the world cup.
Note that Ishant Sharma is one of the best bowlers in the world.
2019-2020
Back to back odi series against Australia , both win one of the series at the opposition's home , but we beat them in the WC. We again reach the semi finals and again just like last time lose in the semi's , at this point if we didn't have a decently stacked trophy cabinet we would be the chokers of the decade.
We visit west indies and I think I see Bumrah bowling the best he ever has , he was literally unplayable before getting a stress fracture , which gave real scares to all of us.
Next South Africa visits India again and if last time was a thumping , this time was a complete annihilation , even the pitches where pretty balanced and our pacer out bowled their pacers , tbh it wasn't even a contest , they looked like club cricketers , except faf, he was the lone warrior. 3-0 , but we all know SA is going through a crisis, so nothing surprising.
Bangladesh visit India for 2 tests and again if SA had one batsman doing well , Bangladesh had zero. The day-night test was the most fun test match in terms of crowd participation since Tendulkar's farewell series. But in terms of cricket it was completely one sided.
Note thatIshant is one of the best bowlers in the world
2020
By this time we have been the world no 1 test side for 4 consecutive years , and rightly so according to me , we haven't been world dominators or something , but we where still the best of the lot.
But the biggest disappointment atleast for me in the decade after the England series in 2012 , came when we toured NZ , yeah Ishant Sharma wasn't available , but the way we got rolled over in both the tests after making so much progress in all these years was very disappointing , but we can consider it of as only 2 off tests but still it was very disappointing.
On top of that being white washed in odi series was also pretty humiliating and one concern has to be the ineffectiveness of the odi bowling side recently. But one thing is the middle order is doing slightly better plus the world cup is in India , so bowling won't be that much of a problem I hope. It's still a long way.
We white wash them 5-0 is a T20 series with two of them in super overs and that was very satisfying.
Then Covid hits and the world goes into a frenzy.
We visit Australia again in 2 years , and start by very poorly losing the first two ODIs , the bowling looks problematic.
We redeem ourself in the t20s though and since the next two world cups are t20s I guess that's good that we are consistently winning.
And at the fag end of the decade we play the first test in Adelaide , we start well considering Ishant isn't available again , we get them quite cheaply getting a handy lead , at the end of day two we where thinking of scoring another 200 runs atleast to get a good enough lead to win the test match. In probably the worst session of cricket India has ever played in their 88 years of playing this game , we get all out for 36 , and rightly everyone starts prediction a 4-0 whitewash , I mean who wouldn't.
I guess one of the best test match victories for the country not just in this decade but in our entire history came as the last test match of the decade.. Coming back from an all time low , not having Kohli , Ishant , Bhuvi , Shami and Umesh getting injured mid game , with two debutants India makes a great comeback coming back from a historic low.
That's that, it has been a great decade , certainly India's best decade in terms of win rates and results and all and even icc trophies , not getting atleast one ICC trophy in the later end of the decade dampens the fun a bit , let's hope that changes in the future. The biggest thing to happen is certainly getting good fast bowlers in the second half of the decade.
Exciting times ahead , we probably have more talent coming through every year in domestic than ever before, especially in fast bowling , currently very excited for Kartik Tyagi , and also hope nagarkoti and Mavi don't get lost , Natrajan , Siraj , Saini are all good. As usual lots and lots of batting talent coming through, also a couple of exciting wicket keepers in Rishab and Ishan kishan and even Sanju , if Rahul can keep well , that's the best case scenario for the loi teams.
All through the decade IPL has evolved into a mature league and is only going strength to strength .
One thing which has detoriated a bit I feel is our fielding which was top notch for a long time from champions trophy 2013 untill recently. Lots of catches being dropped and there's no excuses for that.
I think in the first decade of the century we went from a average team to a good team , this decade after a blip early on , we have transitioned easily into a top 3 team irrespective of the format. Without a doubt the most successful decade for Indian cricket in terms of results , the 2000s died for this.
At the end I want to have a word for Ishant Sharma , for the majority of his career he was the most mediocre cricketer I have ever seen , he was statistically the worst fast bowler to play the number of tests he did with a bowling avg of about 38-40 , I don't think anyone except Ishant himself would have ever thought that he would be averaging around 17-18 accross the world over a 3 year span , and I for one never thought I would say that he is one of the best test bowlers in the world. It's one of the greatest cricket career redemptions ever and I for one respect the hell out of the dude. Being mediocre wasn't his fault , he was still the best the country had produced for a long time and that was probably more frustrating, that we had no choice. Regardless he has 3 tests to go to reach 100 tests and I think he is certainly among the Indian greats and without doubt a vital part of the greatest Indian bowling unit ever.

Often any kind of discussion or comparison in sport automatically devolves into the "you can't compare different eras!" conclusion, which in limited overs cricket is probably even more prominent than elsewhere - the climate for a batsman today post-IPL, post-white ball swing, with huge bats and ramp shots and general pandemonium, would be impossible for a batsman in the 70s, 80s, or even the early part of this century to imagine. And the area where these differences are most highlighted is in strike rates, which simply put have risen exponentially. A cursory look at the stats will make you think all batsmen of the past were glorified Boycotts, nudging and prodding without any real flair or power. But that would be stupid. A possible workaround is instead of looking at the raw strike rates, to look at a batsman's strike rate in the context of their contemporaries.
Doing that is easy - You take the batsman's strike rate, you take the overall strike rate over the course of this batsman's career, and you divide the first number by the second. A figure greater than 1 implies they scored more freely than "expected", while a figure less than 1 implies they scored more restrictively than expected. The further away from 1 the more remarkable the strike rate, either positively or negatively.
For convenience and to make things a bit cleaner and slightly less nitpicky, I define a batsman's career as follows:
1 January "first year batting" - 31 December "final year batting"
Furthermore, since the primary motivation of this is for comparisons in all time XIs and such, I've decided to break things up into 3 roles: Openers, 3-4, 5-7. The basis of these designations came from glancing at the overall strike rate trends per individual batting position, but I admit they're crude and maybe even arbitrary. I'll also only consider a batsman's stats in their primary role, eg Tendulkar played all over the place initially but played the best and most significant part of his career as an opener, so only those stats are counted when comparing openers. A batsman can still be considered in more than one role, but the numbers will be accurately divided. The strike rates are of course also calculated according to each role, which helpfully excludes useless tailender data and allows us to see how a batsman plays in relation to the general demands of their position. To filter more, only those who've scored at least 1000 runs in their role are looked at.
To get an intuitive feel for a batsman's overall "effectiveness", I've taken a geometric mean of their batting average (A) and their relative strike rate (RS), ie sqrt(A*RS). Essentially with this metric, below 6 represents a fairly ineffective batsman, 6-7 a good to great batsman, 7-8 a world class batsman, and 8+ a truly special batsman.
The batsmen I've done this for are a mix of the top run scorers, and people who for some reason I thought this would be interesting. Sorting is done in order of the relative strike rate, but not everyone is included so expect to see some big gaps. I've looked at more people in the openers category to show a broad range of numbers representing different eras, and because it's what I looked at first and I got lazier afterwards.
Openers

Player	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	Era Strike Rate	Relative Strike Rate	Rating
Virender Sehwag	7518	36.49	104.72	77.42	1.3526	7.0255
Shahid Afridi	3543	24.6	101.66	75.46	1.3472	5.7568
Adam Gilchrist	9200	36.5	98.02	74.91	1.3085	6.9109
Brendon McCullum	3363	32.97	102.74	79.13	1.2984	6.5427
Jonny Bairstow	2214	51.48	109.06	85.94	1.269	8.0827
Sanath Jayasuriya	12740	34.61	92.48	74.62	1.2393	6.5493
Jason Roy	3381	42.79	107.4	86.73	1.2383	7.2793
Sachin Tendulkar	15310	48.29	88.05	75.41	1.1676	7.5089
Shane Watson	3882	45.13	91.68	78.78	1.1637	7.2471
Saeed Anwar	8156	39.98	79.93	69.74	1.1461	6.7692
Marcus Trescothick	4335	37.37	85.21	74.47	1.1442	6.5391
David Warner	4969	45.58	95.26	83.3	1.1436	7.2197
Quinton de Kock	4823	45.5	95.61	84.59	1.1303	7.1713
Shikhar Dhawan	5518	44.5	94.01	83.4	1.1272	7.0825
Romesh Kaluwitharana	2798	26.14	78.72	70.66	1.1141	5.3965
Chris Gayle	10179	39.45	88.02	79.58	1.1061	6.6056
Rohit Sharma	6977	58.14	92.28	83.68	1.1028	8.0072
Gordon Greenidge	4993	45.39	64.65	58.8	1.0995	7.0644
Herschelle Gibbs	6103	35.69	82.86	75.82	1.0929	6.2453
Tillakaratne Dilshan	7367	46.04	89.08	82.1	1.085	7.0678
Matthew Hayden	5892	44.3	78.7	73.22	1.0748	6.9004
Mark Waugh	5729	44.06	76.74	71.8	1.0688	6.8623
Hashim Amla	8083	49.89	88.65	83.12	1.0665	7.2945
Sunil Gavaskar	2651	35.34	61.5	58	1.0603	6.1215
Martin Guptill	6001	43.8	88.25	83.3	1.0594	6.812
Desmond Haynes	8648	41.37	63.09	59.61	1.0584	6.617
Aaron Finch	4539	40.89	89.52	84.59	1.0583	6.5782
Graeme Smith	6974	38.1	80.94	77.73	1.0413	6.2987
Gary Kirsten	6647	41.8	72.25	71.88	1.0051	6.4819
Sourav Ganguly	9146	41.57	73.59	74.45	0.9884	6.4101
Alastair Cook	3204	36.4	77.13	78.94	0.9771	5.9637
Shai Hope	1349	96.35	82.3	85.75	0.9598	9.6163
Tamim Iqbal	6892	35.52	77.74	82.42	0.9432	5.7882
Michael Atherton	1572	38.34	59.68	67.28	0.887	5.8317
Roshan Mahanama	3283	30.97	57.47	66.14	0.8689	5.1875

Conclusions:

• To no real surprise, players 'ahead of their time' are Sehwag, Afridi, Gilchrist, McCullum, Jayasuriya.
  
  • Aaron Finch is far, far less impressive than I thought he was. Both in terms of scoring rate and size, so many of his peers totally eclipse him: Bairstow, Roy, Watson, Warner, de Kock, Amla, Rohit, Dhawan, Guptill, Dilshan... And the same goes for players before his time, Desmond Haynes for instance.
  • Bairstow may have sacrificed his test technique, but he didn't just do it to become a good or even a great white ball player, he did to become possibly the best one day opener we've ever seen. And no you're not clever for saying Trescothick would actually walk into this England team.
  • Tendulkar stands out as the model of longevity, consistent scoring, and fluent scoring.
  • Shane Watson probably doesn't get enough credit, and is arguably the best one day opener Australia have had.
  • Swashbuckling Ganguly is somewhat of a myth, he actually scores at a slower rate than his peers. Similarly stodgy Gavaskar is also somewhat of a myth, he actually scores at a faster rate than his peers, by a decent distance too.
  • Gary Kirsten was the player most in line with the scoring trends of his era.
  • Among 'older' players, Gordon Greenidge is certainly the standout.
  • Mahanama worst ODI opener to have played this much?

3-4

Player	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	Era Strike Rate	Relative Strike Rate	Rating
Viv Richards	5791	52.17	91.19	68.94	1.3227	8.3071
AB de Villiers	6457	53.8	100.98	78.19	1.2915	8.3355
Eoin Morgan	3780	45.54	94.42	78.9	1.1967	7.3823
Virat Kohli	11260	62.2	93.8	80	1.1725	8.5399
Aravinda de Silva	7801	36.45	81.62	70.12	1.164	6.5137
Brian Lara	6962	40.47	81.69	71.54	1.1419	6.7979
Kevin Pietersen	3131	35.57	83.78	75.92	1.1035	6.2652
Ricky Ponting	13308	42.51	80.49	73.29	1.0982	6.8327
Faf du Plessis	4761	52.9	88.44	81.67	1.0829	7.5687
Steve Smith	3384	47.66	85.88	80.91	1.0614	7.1125
Kumar Sangakkara	12234	44	79.97	75.86	1.0542	6.8106
Joe Root	5633	50.29	86.52	82.16	1.0531	7.2773
Ross Taylor	8213	48.59	82.79	78.9	1.0493	7.1404
Babar Azam	3271	54.51	87.01	83.07	1.0474	7.5562
Mahela Jayawardene	8325	34.97	77.98	74.88	1.0414	6.0347
Kane Williamson	5601	48.7	81.5	80.21	1.0161	7.0344
Jonathan Trott	2611	49.26	77.77	76.64	1.0147	7.0701
Allan Border	3781	31.77	69.5	68.67	1.0121	5.6704
Jacques Kallis	10484	45.78	73.35	73.97	0.9916	6.7377
Michael Clarke	5073	45.29	75.42	76.84	0.9815	6.6673
Younis Khan	4871	31.22	73.34	75.43	0.9723	5.5095
Rahul Dravid	7301	37.63	70.18	73.18	0.959	6.0073
Sanjay Manjrekar	1165	34.26	61.25	69.55	0.8807	5.4929

Conclusions:

• Before doing this, I expected AB, Viv, and Kohli to come out most impressively, and that's pretty much exactly what's happened. Viv's numbers are just astounding, the way he scored so much more prolifically and so much more freely than his peers borders on incomprehensible.
  
• I'm realising I've really romanticised Jayawardene as a one day player in my head, despite his numbers being really unremarkable. Might not even qualify for an all time Sri Lanka ODI team.
  
• Kallis looks like the most 'of his time' player as far as scoring rate is concerned.
  
• I've got my issues with Faf as a test player, but we shouldn't forget just how incredible he is in white ball cricket, the numbers make him one of the absolute best ODI batsman of all time. Eoin Morgan similarly seems to get pigeonholed as some kind of specialist captain recently, but his batting is up there amongst the greats.
  

5-7

Player	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	Era Strike Rate	Relative Strike Rate	Rating
Shahid Afridi	3141	23.26	129.63	78.23	1.657	6.2083
Glenn Maxwell	2443	33.01	118.07	87.05	1.3563	6.6913
Jos Buttler	3396	39.95	116.26	87.05	1.3356	7.3045
AB de Villiers	2075	79.8	109.15	82.6	1.3214	10.2689
Lance Klusener	1068	35.6	94.42	73.43	1.2859	6.7658
Andrew Symonds	4315	40.7	92.83	76.47	1.2139	7.029
Jonty Rhodes	4744	35.66	82.26	72.94	1.1278	6.3416
Michael Hussey	4211	47.31	88.95	79.43	1.1199	7.2788
Suresh Raina	4355	34.56	92.43	82.57	1.1194	6.2199
Ben Stokes	2400	43.63	95.16	86.35	1.102	6.934
Yuvraj Singh	4870	38.34	86.73	80.31	1.0799	6.4347
Steve Waugh	5797	34.3	77.39	73.37	1.0548	6.0149
Michael Bevan	4510	51.25	77.3	73.4	1.0531	7.3466
Arjuna Ranatunga	6041	35.12	76.88	73.02	1.0529	6.0808
MS Dhoni	8273	48.09	85.73	82.75	1.036	7.0585
Angelo Mathews	5367	42.25	83.33	84.2	0.9897	6.4663
Shivnarine Chanderpaul	2845	40.64	73.4	76.08	0.9648	6.2617

Conclusions:

• Afridi stands out here with by far the highest relative strike rate of any player in any role. Maybe if he were a few years younger, and subsequently his pretend age also a few years younger, while also not being as much of a prick, he could have been a more appreciated cricketer.
  
• For current players, no surprise to see Buttler and Maxwell so high.
  
• Not a huge sample size, but AB's numbers here are insane.
  
• Andrew Symonds was too good a cricketer in all formats to have faded out the way he did.
  

So with that in mind, and also using some personal judgement, here's my rough attempt at an all time ODI top 7, not considering bowling and the balance of the side:
Jonny Bairstow (Tendulkar if you have a sample size issue)
Rohit Sharma
Virat Kohli
Viv Richards
AB de Villiers
Jos Buttler (wk)
Michael Bevan (Ben Stokes/Andrew Symonds if you want a more enthusiastic allrounder)
Problems:

• The central assumption of relative strike rate is that scoring faster is desirable for all batsmen of all eras, which is a simplistic way of looking at things. With ODI sides for a long time just being copies of test sides, there wasn't necessarily that onus to play more aggressively, it's an issue of capability but also an issue of intention. So even with this adjustment older players are disadvantaged.
  
• I've also not made any adjustments to averages over time, I've assumed that any batsman goes out with the intention of scoring as much as possible. However as we all know team scores have risen and so obviously individual scores have risen, batsmen now score more than their predecessors. So perhaps an adjustment is needed there.
  
• The geometric mean method is very basic, unsophisticated. It's good for basic intuition, but still I think it's heavily biased towards bigger averages, so it depends in part on how each of us value one day batsmen. Would you rather have a Shai Hope or a Virender Sehwag? A Chanderpaul or a Maxwell?
  
• My system also disadvantages players who are systematically promoted up the order in certain match situations, which is quite a frequent occurrence these days. Jos Buttler for instance has some of his best, most destructive numbers when playing in the top 4, yet those aren't counted.
  
• The usual "big game" issue - none of this tells us about performances in world cup knockouts, home and away, against the biggest rivals, in front of the biggest crowds...
  
• The ODI landscape has changed a lot through time, does the emergence of associate and other weaker nations distort things? Or is a hungry Afghanistan side in 2019 a bigger challenge than a bored test leftover England side in 1980? And not necessarily just when these weaker teams are opponents, more in how their results against each other would impact the era strike rates.
  
• As I said before the 1-2/3-4/5-7 designations are far from perfect. In fact looking at the numbers, I found that while openers, 3-4, and 6-7 can be pretty much grouped together at least in the modern era, 5 stands out. But talking about a specialist number 5 still feels very odd to me, and I thought grouping it made more sense.
  
• Another unaccounted for issue is the strength of a batsman's team. For instance it's easy to look at Tamim Iqbal's numbers and call him a poor opener, but he's required to put a higher price on his wicket than say Jason Roy is.
  
• Players with stop-start career paths are given an unfair advantage. For instance someone who plays a random one off ODI in 2005 as a teenager, but then returns to play consistently from 2015-2020 will have their career calculated as 2005-2020 instead of 2015-2020, which will artificially inflate their relative strike rate.
  

The idea of a World Cup of test cricket analogous to the tournaments for the two white ball formats has been an idea that I've had in my head for a while. Impractical? Probably. Sacrilege? Possibly. But with this lockdown I decided to play around with a few formats to see how feasible such a tournament would be.
This tournament will take the format of two double round robin groups of four from which the top two of each group qualify for the semi finals. I selected the eight teams based off the most recent Test World Rankings and decided eight would be a good number as it would prevent the tournament from being too long while also reducing the number of overly one sided thrashings sides like Ireland and Afghanistan may suffer. A double round robin reduces the impact of having a match rain affected and having a tournament of 15 matches was just too brief.
The teams were split into two pots (for rank 1-4, and rank 5-8) and two teams were chosen from each pot to be placed into each group. The groups were chosen by a random draw after the ICC had ensured to give the Indian and Pakistani balls a light toasting in the oven.
Groups
This tournament will take place in England as I am English and therefore I'm most familiar with their venues (India or Australia may be the most suitable hosts). Eight venues were chosen to give grounds one week on and one week off.
The group stage used the point system from the English County Championship.
Each team brought a squad of 15 which was mainly based off their most recent test XI with some inclusions from recent teams to complete their squad. I'm sure there will be many disagreements about these selections, the simulated captain is free to choose from these players how he pleases (in practice most teams used 12 or 13 players across the tournament).
Squad Lists
This tournament will be simulated by this Python program. I'm not sure whether this is the most accurate simulator.
Group Stage
Results of the first 3 rounds
The groups had begun to shape up well after three rounds. In Group A the hosts, England, had a torrid start by losing all three matches while India had Mohammed Shami's 8fer to thank for beating Pakistan in an all-time classic as they maintained a 100% record across the first three matches. In Group B South Africa held a 100% record and showed they were not a team to underestimate. The match of the first half of the group stage was definitely Australia vs New Zealand where Australia lost their fourth match after enforcing a follow on due to an inspired second innings batting performance, particularly by Henry Nichols (194) and Colin de Grandhomme (157), in a game reminiscent of Eden Gardens 2001.
Results of rounds 4 and 5
England were all but eliminated after a tight draw against India while the West Indies were eliminated in the following round by England. The West Indies were not expected to do much in this tournament while England were embarrassed to be out so early in a tournament that they had hosted. India and Pakistan played out another classic with Ashwin's 12 wickets grabbing him a deserved man of the match award in a tight Indian victory. Group B hotted up as leaders South Africa lost consecutive games to Sri Lanka and Australia, Australia got revenge against their Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand in an innings victory after bullishly enforcing the follow on. Sri Lanka were eliminated after defeat to New Zealand but had shown they weren't pushovers in their inspired victory over South Africa. Group B was very tight coming into the final round of fixtures with all of the top three knowing victory would guarantee progression to the next round. Group B after 5 rounds
Results of round 6
England rounded out their poor campaign in humiliating fashion with an innings defeat to Pakistan. Old Trafford jeered the sombre Englishmen as they departed the field for the final time. Meanwhile India recorded a routine victory over the West Indies to top the group.
"We'll have a bowl thanks" - Steve Smith, 2020
Australia, in need of a win against Sri Lanka put their opponents into bat and lived to regret it as Sri Lanka put up both the highest team and individual scores of the tournament as they departed with their heads held high and a famous innings victory over Australia. Meanwhile a poor first innings performance doomed New Zealand to defeat against South Africa.
Final Table
India and Pakistan progressed from Group A to face Australia and South Africa respectively in the semi finals. The eliminated sides were ordered by their points totals.
Semi Finals
Results of the Semi Finals
India's crushing first innings total and the threatening bowling of Jasprit Bumrah meant that they had to chase a paltry target of 41 which they eased through with no loss. This eliminated Australia in 4th place, the Aussies will be disappointed to not make the final however the better team won on the day.
Meanwhile South Africa barely got past Pakistan who collapsed from 126-5 to 145 all out in chase of 149 thanks to an incredible spell of bowling from Dale Steyn. Pakistan will undoubtedly be disappointed to be eliminated by such fine margins however they will look back proudly on their run and their 3rd place finish.
Final
Result of the Final
It looked to be South Africa's final after the Proteas put on almost 70 runs more than India in the first innings however a second innings fightback lead by Cheteshwar Pujara allowed India to set a very defendable target of 308. South Africa fell to 37-3 however du Plessis and Amla fought back as South Africa finished day 4 on 185-4. South Africa survived the morning session of the final day to post 248-4 at lunch as du Plessis reached his ton, the Proteas looked as if they were walking it in. However the loss of Rassie van der Dussen two balls after lunch started a collapse which ended in South Africa falling 31 runs short of their target. Ravindra Jadeja aided in their downfall when he took a triple-wicket maiden which included the wicket of danger man Faf du Plessis.
India win the Test World Cup
Individual Awards
A selection of individual awards were given out for performances across the tournament.
Individual Awards
Leading Individual Statistics
The top 10 individual run scorers and wicket takers of the tournament
Kane Williamson finished with highest batting average while Dale Steyn finished with the lowest bowling average.
I hope you enjoyed this read and have any comments about the format.

On the back of the drawn Ashes, NZ loss and dominant series win in South Africa, there seems to be reason for a bit of optimism, with the emergence of a few young players, specifically ones who are specializing in the Test arena. Looking forward, I would place guess the ECB's priorities as

1. Win Ashes 21/22 in Australia
2. Make test Championship final
3. Have a competitive series in India

Below I have listed all the players that currently would be in the picture for these goals. I started with the current test team and then worked down through players who recently have been capped or have toured. There are obviously players who will emerge in County Cricket over the next few seasons, but predicting that is an exercise on its own (with apologies to Ben Coad)
Batsmen

	Sri Lanka/English Summer Outlook	India 21/Ashes 21 outlook
Dom Sibley	Has been consistent and impressive so far, but his technique looks a bit shaky and open for exposure against a really good side. Potentially needs a great Summer of 6 tests. Would like to see him improve at the rate Burns did	probably tours India but vulnerable to being dropped. Young enough to come back from that
Zack Crawley	Probably the odd man out the opening picture, but could bat at 3 if that position looks open after Sri Lanka.	Will definitely tour India and is young enough to be dropped and come back. With Sibley, Touring Australia with Lions which will serve as an audition for Ashes
Rory Burns	Think he walks back into the Test team unless he completely melts down in the early CC season ala Haseeb Hamed	likely opens through 21 Ashes
Joe Denly	Looks to be dropped for Sri Lanka and fairly to be frank. Big fan of his but results just are not there. Still would like to see him given the summer so long as England are winning	If he doesn't play in Summer '20, unlikely to make either based on age and those ahead of him
Joe Root	Captain	First Choice selection. Wonder if he will make it through these 2 series as captain
Jonny Bairstow	Seemingly getting picked for Sri Lanka. Bad series in Sri Lanka may be the death knell for YJB after 2019 Summer results (only 2 50s)	One more bad series/season in SL or England will probably be the end for the forseeable future. ODI and T20 options could be enticing
Ollie Pope	Has become first pick and won't likely be facing any pressure at/for the 6 position	key player for both

All-Arounders

	Sri Lanka/English Summer Outlook	India 21/Ashes 21 outlook
Jos Buttler	Likely to be dropped and will not get a chance to get back in during the Summer at a minimum	Realistically, unless he is willing to cut back on his schedule, will have to focus on White Ball Career, where he will become the England captain and would be the favorites for 2023 WC.
Moeen Ali	Personally would like nothing more for him to get a recall and shine as he once did. Think he will get this chance, just based on how selection has worked with Ed Smith.	I feel the Jos Buttler path is the best to go down, despite him being my favorite player. Cannot see him being terribly effective in India nor touring down under in 21 based on the past mental issues
Ben Stokes	first choice until he breaks down	may have to cut back on schedule otherwise young and no reason to think he won't be an all-timer
Sam Curran	interesting player who always seems to be in the mix, despite lack of pace and no FC 100's.	Probably only stays in the picture with Smith as selector and Root as captain. Regardless, think he will continue to play about 60% of the tests, as older players phase out and/if England keep winning when he plays. Needs to improve batting no matter what
Ben Foakes	One would think if he gets back for Sri Lanka, he stays in the team for all of 2020, no matter what	May go back and forth with Bairstow on gloves. Main danger to future would be a possible Sam Billings uprising.

Bowlers

	Sri Lanka/English Summer Outlook	India 21/Ashes 21 outlook
Jimmy Anderson	Believe he still has plenty to offer in England, but I feel his best play would be to go out ala Cook on a Summer Series high note	Might want that last opportunity to prove a point in both places, but England might need to take a hard line if injuries don't
Stuart Broad	Since being dropped, I believe he has been one of England's most consistent and best bowlers. Also has been relatively injury free. Should skip SL and then a few tests this Summer	Has a lot of mileage on the wheels so should be cared for but taken to Australia in '21. I think he still has the fire, skill and pace to play Test cricket, albeit not 100% of tests between now and 21/22 Ashes
Chris Woakes	Believe he will be the odd man out at home, especially under Anderson and Broad (and Curran (!)). Did impress in 1 SA test. I feel should play in some home tests and has been unlucky quite often on selection	Not sure he has much to offer in either of these series, based on last 2 times he toured these countries.
Jofra Archer	First Choice until further notice	Big chances to become a global superstar in both of these Series
Mark Wood	Should sit out SL and then if healthy, should play only Pakistan or WI series. Overwork + white ball games will break him down. Durham have 6 games before the first Summer test. Would think he needs to play in at least 2 of them.	Only play in India if absolutely required. Essential to any chance in Ashes. Alternatively, may risk too much overall to try to stay in the test picture. Might be better suited taking the T20/White Ball option.
Jack Leach	Should be picked for Sri Lanka but has had a lot of bad luck with injuries and illness. I feel a risky pick with these factors and probably hasn't banged down the door to permanently usurp Moeen	Will de facto tour India but needs to be effective to continue test career (possibly unfair but reality).
Dom Bess	Could take #1 spinner role if he performs in SL	Probably tours India off the strength of only SA. Hard to see him being more effective than past similar bowlers. Could really push case with good Lions tour

On the Fringes

	Sri Lanka/English Summer Outlook	India 21/Ashes 21 outlook
Matt Parkinson	the Test window has in all likelihood temporarily closed	A good Championship season would probably get him on the plane to India. A good performance there would probably get him to Australia
Saqib Mahmood	seems odd man out at this stage but still young	I would imagine he plays in the first Ashes test if not before then
Keaton Jennings/James Vince/Dawid Malan	I group these 3 together because I believe they are all in a bat-off this CC season for effectively the same position; any top 6 batting hole that may arise this Summer.	If Jennings goes to SL, then he may tour India as well. Otherwise unlikely that we see any of these 3 again in a Test shirt. Big fan of all 3 though
Jason Roy	no realistic chance of getting back in Test side. Should focus on white ball dominance	probably seen his last test cap after his performance and the performances of others in the same position. Only shot would be multiple blazing white ball series + Ollie Pope moving to 3 + no one better being available at 6
Ben Duckett	N/A	average of 27 with only one 100 and two 50s in 2019 wont get him back in the picture. Seems to have a stain of the Perth incident as well. Age on his side
Tom Banton	N/A	Very young and career could progress in a lot of different directions. Would wager that he tours Australia if Ed Smith is still the selector, even if uncapped
Mason Crane	N/A	probably a victim of an eccentric Ed Smith selection. Might have ruined his test career but young enough to return. Not even on the Lions FC tour, which is a bad sign
Tom Curran	N/A	has emerged primarily as a standout white ball bowler and may try to replace some of the 2019 WC winning bowlers to force his way into the consistent ODI picture. Do not see a test future with his pace and skills
Toby Roland-Jones	I believe he deserves another chance in the test team, if he can stay healthy	Probably limited to English tests and behind Chris Woakes at that
Craig Overton	only going to play with injuries	Young and showed some resolve in last Ashes but pace isn't there and only seems to get mentioned as a replacement or fill-in
Jamie Porter	might be in the Summer squad but unlikely to play unless Anderson and Broad both are absent	Probably should have a test cap already but young and probably in the mix with TRJ and Woakes
Olly Stone	could spell Wood this summer with his pace if healthy.	Odds-on the Mark Wood/Australia replacement. If he does get a few opportunities and shines; with Archer and Wood as a trio, could be devastating down under
Lewis Gregory	the player off all these that I know the least about, but throw him in the medium-fast seamers bucket	youth would be biggest benefit to tour Australia.

and last but not least, some names to throw out there, half-jokingly: Gary Ballance, Steven Finn, Adil Rashid, Simon Harmer, Liam Dawson
This is by no means authoritative, but I hope to spark some longer term discussion and predictions. My guiding principal for predictions, based on the last 12 months, is that England to be successful in Tests, need to pick Test players. The Bayliss era had ups and downs, but the Silverwood era looks to be off to a good start, not just from results, but the way they are now winning matches. It will be interesting as well to see if the chasm grows further between white and red ball with the Hundred starting in 2020 AND the 2020 T20 World Cup.

Following is the list of posts on Cricket statistics which I have submitted on Cricket. Creating this compilation for easy retrieval in the future. I'll keep updating it.
Dec 2020
Performance of teams in Test cricket at home since 2010
T20I performance of visiting teams in Australia
Highest individual scores in ODIs without hitting a boundary
Oct 2020
Fastest Hundreds by Balls Faced in T20 Matches
[IPL All Rounders Stats] - Players Scoring 50 and Taking 3 Wickets in the Same Match
Record of most consecutive wins in Test Cricket
Mar 2020
Highest total in the match's first innings in a losing cause
Average number of balls faced per dismissal by players in overseas tests (post 2015)
Feb 2020
Highest individual test score by a visiting batsman in each country
Highest individual scores at each batting position in tests
Test Bowlers with Highest Percentage of Wickets of their Total Team Wickets
Test Cricketers with Highest Percentage of Run Contribution to their Team's Total
Most Sixes in a T20I Match
Highest Individual Score in Tests - Progression of the Record
Fastest ODI Fifties by New Zealand Players
Highest individual score in ODIs - Historical progression of the record
Most Runs in ODI career - Progression of Record
Winning percentages of teams in ODIs when they post 300+ scores in the first innings.
Progression of the Highest Team Totals in ODIs
Ross Taylor has the second best average in ODIs in last five years.
Most runs in Under-19 ODIs Career
An interesting pair of stats after India's semi-final victory yesterday in the U-19 World Cup
Ross Taylor is one of the best players New Zealand and the Cricket world will ever see.
Most runs in sequence without being dismissed in first-class Cricket. Sarfaraz Khan reached a new milestone today.
Players who have taken five-wicket hauls in all three international formats of Cricket
Players who scored a century and took a fifer in a Test match more than once. Ian Botham in a league of his own.
Michael Hussey averaged 246.50 against Leg spinners in Test Cricket. No one has more average than him after 2000.
Most runs off an over in T20Is
Jan 2020
Highest score in first-class Cricket in next innings after scoring 300. Sarfaraz Khan makes a new record and is right next to Bradman.
Players with Highest Percentage of Team's Runs over T20I Career
International Men's Cricket fixtures of the next four months
Batsman dismissed most times by a bowler in Tests (Bowlers and their bunnies)
Most Wickets in Test career – Progression of Record
Today was only the 6th instance when none of the players of the home team were able to score a hundred in a 4+ match series.
Most Successful ODI Captains in terms of Winning Percentage
Most Wicketkeeping Dismissals in Test Career
Highest number of triple centuries in First-Class Cricket career
Australia's victory today against India is the second highest successful chase in ODIs without losing a wicket
Bapu Nadkarni holds the record of most consecutive number of maiden overs bowled in test cricket
The players who faced the most number of balls per innings in Test Cricket
Best and Worst Conversion Rates in Test Cricket
Most ODI Runs in a Calendar Year (2000-2019)
Most Test Runs in a Calendar Year (2000-2019)
Australia's whitewash victories at home and the respective winning margins. Today was the first time New Zealand got whitewashed in Australia in a 3-Match series.
Sri Lanka last won a bilateral series against India in 2008 (across formats)
Most five-wicket hauls in test cricket by pace bowlers
Summary of test match results since 1877. Maximum matches are now ending up in results. Since late 80s, the proportion of draw tests each year has been decreasing gradually and has now reached to mere 10% in 2019.
Winners of ICC Test Championship since 2001
2019's top contributors to the team runs in ODIs
Dec 2019
Highest Percentage of Team Runs in Test Cricket in 2019
Nov 2019
[Niche Stats] Highest average runs scored per wicket by a team in a bilateral T20I series
Oct 2019
International ODIs & T20Is Schedule till Oct 2020
Cricketers with most run out dismissals in ODIs
Highest individual not out scores by openers in test cricket
Worst Bowling Averages in a Test Series
Number of whitewash (series) victories by each test playing team. So far, Australia remains the only team which has whitewashed each opponent at least once. New Zealand and Zimbabwe are at the bottom with zero whitewash victories.
Players who have scored centuries in both the innings of a test match while scoring a total of 300+ runs in the match.
Ishant 2.0: The turnaround of Ishant Sharma's career
Sep 2019
Bunny for the test series
Top Players of The Ashes Series 1970-2019
The cumulative bowling averages of all-time top test bowlers by average (Minimum 300 wickets)
Most successful test captains in terms of percent of matches won
Aug 2019
International Test Cricket schedule till February 2021
Players who scored 50+ in their first three innings of debut Ashes series
Usman Khawaja's last 8 dismissals vs England. It's a love affair with Bairstow.
ODI Win Percentage vs Decade for the top ODI teams
The cumulative batting averages of top test batsmen post 1980
[OC] Countries which are playing T20 International Cricket as of today with number of matches played so far
Out of 20 reviews taken in 1st Ashes Test 2019, 10 were overturned. 8 out of those were by umpire Joel Wilson. That equals the record shared by the umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Sundaram Ravi.
Batting averages of Australian players for away test series in last 5 years
Jul 2019
Strange Facts on the Cricket World Cup
Seven instances of a team losing all ten wickets in the first session on the first day of a Test match
Jun 2019
[OC] Bangladesh's ODI performance since 1990

Last season, Royal Challengers Bangalore lost seven out of their first eight matches. At a time when most teams contending for a playoff spot were beginning to ascend, RCB were barely finding their footing. The faint ray of hope generated from wins in their next three matches was quickly shut out by a defeat against Delhi Capitals. A batting order that found different ways to come short and a bowling lineup that was just far too expensive, they almost let MS Dhoni chase down 28 in the last over at M Chinnaswamy.
In light of their sorry recent history, hiring former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson as Director of Cricket could turn out to be their most important move ahead of IPL 2020. Hesson, who guided New Zealand to their first World Cup final appearance in 2015 and built the framework for a repeat in 2019, made his name as an astute judge of talent. It fits almost seamlessly into RCB’s biggest mission ahead of the auction and next summer’s IPL – build a strong and sustainable team around Kohli and de Villiers.
At a press conference, Hesson spoke about the importance of smart recruitment. “There will be a big focus on recruitment. Once the auction gets completed, the work starts then, not a week before the tournament starts. We would have clarity in the roles we want the players to perform.”
This autumn, Hesson spent a lot of time in Surat, Gujarat, watching India’s domestic T20 tournament, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. “During Vijay Hazare and Mushtaq Ali Trophy, we would like to see players we want to fit in. It’s more about finding out how players build context around performance, conditions and pressure situations.”
A lot of Hesson’s attention has been drawn towards Devdutt Padikkal, a name that is now on the lips of everyone interested in Indian cricket. The 19-year-old left-hander, playing in a Karnataka team with established international batsmen like KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, and Manish Pandey, was the highest run-scorer in both the Vijay Hazare (50 over) and Syed Mushtaq Ali tournaments. At the Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he scored 580 runs at a remarkable average of 64.44 and a strike-rate of 175.

IPL 2020 Trade window

▪Transfers: None
▪Players released: Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetymer, Akshdeep Nath, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Colin De Grandhomme, Prayas Ray Barman, Tim Southee, Kulwant Khejroliya, Himmat Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Chama Milind, Dale Steyn.
▪How they shape up: Rs 27.9 cr available, twelve slots to fill (six overseas).

In a major cleanout last month, Royal Challengers Bangalore released as many as 12 players, including Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, and Colin de Grandhomme. RCB pinned a lot of hopes on Hetmyer last season and will be disappointed with how he could never really find his form. When someone like Hetmyer gets going, as he did in their last league game, he propels the whole team forward. If Hetmyer can hit some sort of groove in the current series against India, Hesson will be tempted to at least look at him as a middle-order option, given they have six overseas slots to fill.
The team management seems to have a lot of faith in Shivam Dube, and given his attributes, it is understandable why they let go of similar all-rounders in Stoinis and De Grandhomme. Washington Sundar and Moeen Ali have been retained too, so Hesson may be looking to build the lower-order all-round core around those three.
The 12 available slots open up enough space for Hesson to rebuild the entire team one year before the 2021 auction, where many currently retained players – across all teams – will be placed for auction again.

Major holes to plug

Middle order

A big chunk of their spending at December's auction will have to be on top and middle-order batting. Their recent releases mean that only four main batsmen –Kohli, AB, Padikkal, and Parthiv remain on their roster. The middle-order has been RCB’s biggest aching joint over the years, and their two match-winners in Kohli and de Villiers often bat with the pressure of finding very little backup if they get out early. RCB will, without doubt, look at both Indian and overseas options, so expect them to chase a lot of experience, because a good middle order will go a long way in stabilising their batting.

Seam bowling

Seam bowling is another area RCB need to strengthen. Between Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj, they have a solid Indian core, but the release of Dale Steyn, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Tim Southee have left enough overseas gaps to fill. They will have their eyes on players like Antrich Nortje, Alzarri Joseph, and Beuran Hendricks, all of whom should come at reasonable prices.

The Virat-sized problem

Between now and the beginning of IPL 2020, the RCB team management has its task cut out. They will not only have to set up a team which can support and complement the talents of Virat and AB, but also bring those two back to their best, because, in recent years, they have been slightly below par.
At IPL 2019, Kohli and De Villiers, as is the norm, ended up as the highest run-scorers for RCB, but a deeper look revealed a problem. Between both, they could only muster eight scores above 50 over 27 innings. At the 2018 edition, their aggregate was 10 in 25 innings. Compared to their glorious summer of 2016, when they crossed a half-century 18 times in 32 combined innings, their recent numbers paint a bleak picture given that they are the two batting mainstays of the team. Bending in further with the magnifying glass, there is an even more worrisome statistic that will look new coach Simon Katich in the eye: across the last two seasons, Kohli has crossed fifty a mere seven times in 28 innings.
It isn’t every day that we talk of a Kohli statistic and the numbers don’t put him on top of some mountain. His run aggregates, average, and strike-rate over these two seasons are still very healthy, but healthy, purely in the context of run-making, isn’t enough for Virat. He will know it better than most that 30s and 40s, especially at the strike-rates he operates at, aren’t enough. Simply put, RCB need to find a way for Kohli to become the run-machine that he is for India. If Virat plays well, RCB will too.

On the radar

Chris Lynn

The bidding war for Maxwell is one of the most fascinating sights at an IPL auction. His numbers in the IPL are middling at best, disappointing if you consider his stature and ability, but still, year after year, many franchises have spent good money on him just in the hope to see his true self.
Maxwell is returning from a voluntary break from cricket and will be raring to get back to the sport he has often lit up. He is in good form too. The last time he batted in a T20, against Sri Lanka at Adelaide this October, he scored 62 off 28 balls. A veteran of 251 T20s, his ability to change the course of the game in the blink of an eye will not be lost on a team that is desperately looking for match-winners. He is an ODI World Cup winner for Australia, and RCB could use his leadership in a team that has often looked bereft of ideas. This auction, Maxwell’s IPL record and potential price might not align, but he could just be a risk worth taking.

Yashasvi Jaiswal

The latest pearl from the grounds of Mumbai is a 17 year-old left-hander who already has a domestic double century. In this October's Vijay Hazare Trophy, Jaiswal opened the batting for Mumbai and scored hundreds against Kerala and Goa within a week, before rounding off his golden run with a 203 against Jharkand. In only the six matches that he played in the tournament, Jaiswal hit 25 sixes, the second highest in the entire tournament.
Jaiswal is a certainty to open the batting for India at the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa next year, and between him and Padikkal, RCB could land themselves a really young and dynamic Indian opening partnership, which will also free up overseas slots for other areas.

Adam Milne

Keeping with this pattern of left-field choices, Milne is likely to fly under the radar for most IPL franchises. He hasn’t played international or first class cricket in a year, through injuries, but his spell with Kent and performances in this year’s Vitality Blast will encourage Hesson, who has previously worked with him for New Zealand. Milne is an proven T20 bowler with a career average of only 22.32 and economy of 7.65 runs an over across 96 matches.
Death bowling at Chinnaswamy can be a challenge, and with the releases of Steyn and Southee, RCB will desperately be looking at overseas options. Milne will likely not cost RCB much, and if they can land him, he will allow them to rotate between Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, and Mohammed Siraj.
Given a strong, well-rounded team that is built to excel in different conditions, there is no reason why a lineup with Virat, AB, Moeen and Yuzvendra Chahal should not succeed, but then, Royal Challengers Bangalore will be familiar with a question like this. It is about time they break the pattern and bring success to the Chinnaswamy, much like the Karnataka cricket team have done this year.

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One of the things that are regularly talked about the ethics of the game happens to be walking off after the batsman nicks one off. Nowadays due to the popularity of the sport there has grown so much so that people come in large numbers to watch the game. The World Cup final at the MCG in 2015 was attended by 93k+ fans and the Women’s world t20 final in 2020 was attended by 86k+ fans. This makes it harder and harder for the umpires to hear the edges with so much hooting, music, and cheer at the stadium. So it's often difficult to catch a faint nick by a batsman without much deflection. Therefore here comes the part of ethics. Umpire does not notice you nicked, the opposition is not sure about it ,and only you (not even your partner at non-striker) know about it. Most people have different views about. It could have been violating Deontology theory had the rule been that batsman are supposed to walk off when you have nicked it, else if found evidence of cheating there shall be some level of punishment given, but here’s the catch there are no rules regarding this so technically batsman does not break any rules, if he does not go. Now comes the virtue theory, which is the quest to understand and live life of a moral character. Mahela Jayawardene(Former Sri Lankan Captain) was indeed a big supporter of this. He claims that if you have nicked and you are aware of it then you must stand in your grounds and leave the pitch. You play fair with a good moral character and earn respect from the opposition. At last the utilitarianism that determines the right from wrong by focusing on the outcomes. So far we have been discussing the laws and the moral character of the game. But we have neglected one thing here. The game as a profession. The batsman, the players are one in eleven from the nation. They are given a responsibility to perform and are being paid to perform as their jobs more than the average individual. People come to stadiums to watch good cricket and see their team winning. It can’t be taken lightly. So when a batsman knows he is supposed to be out he must consider one thing his team has sent him to do a job, his nation, fans and him himself has been sent out there to do a job and he failed. Most of them do not even get a chance to perform and such opportunities should be used to maximize the profit. When a wicket falls off the team not only loses one batsman, they also lose momentum, a very important aspect of the game. A new batsman when arrives at the crease needs time to settle and get himself in to get going. Moreover the opposition will sense an opportunity to set tight fields, get more attacking bowlers and diminish the scoring for the team . So walking off collectively isn’t such a good thing if you consider the final outcome. There’s one last aspect of the game the umpires( most advanced authority on the field). They are the ones who will make decisions and go according to the rule book. But they are humans too. They will make mistakes as well. In the 2019 World Cup Semi-final between Australia and England, Jason Roy swung his bat blocking the contact between bat and ball. The ball swung and the umpire thought the batsman nicked it. He gave him out though the replay and technology showed there was no contact between bat and ball. In contrast to this Michael Hussey( former Australian Batsman) has a pretty interesting say to this, you go by the umpire’s decision, which can sometimes go your way and sometimes not, though this itself violates the Deontology theory. In all this remains to be a very large topic of discussion getting all the Ethics theories involved in it.
Secondly the thing that has raised a lot of eyebrows and has happened more recently is the mankading incident that took place in the 4th Match of Indian Premier League on March 25th, 2019. What happened was that Jos Buttler was playing very well during the run chase between Punjab and Rajasthan. During the 13th over the bowler, the captain Ravichandran Ashwin saw him backing up too far and inflicted the bails off. Now since Butler was out of his crease this had to be given as per the rules of the game which states that “Non-striker leaving his/her ground early, Whether the attempt is successful or not, the ball shall not count as one in the over. If the bowler fails in an attempt to run out the non-striker, the umpire shall call and signal Dead ball as soon as possible.” This sparked a lot of debate from the cricketing world. Cricket is considered to be a game between a bat and ball. This was not cricket. It violated the virtue theory because this was not considered moral behavior. When you play the sport you expect skills to win you matches, not this. This had put a scar on the mythical spirit of the game. As a result of this incident the Punjab captain received a lot of abuse on twitter from many cricket celebrities. But Punjab went on to win that match. Here’s where utilitarianism theory comes in. The Punjab players, the captain stepped on the field to win the match for his franchise. After all that’s what his profession was and that’s what his franchise had been paying him for. To win matches for the team. However there was one more ethical support to the Punjab captain, the deontology theory. This was a law written in the law book. He did not violate it. He used it by being more aware and clever in the situation. This issue was again raised when Noor Ahmad mankaded out Mohammad Huraira in the quarter-final between Afghanistan and Pakistan at the U-19 Cricket World Cup. This continues to be a discussion whether there shall be change in the laws and on the spirit of the game. Highlighting both Deontology and Virtue Theory for the matter.

Tomorrow and Friday's WCLC matches are probably the highest stakes games of cricket that have ever been played. Interest from the cricket media is pretty close to zero. Near as I can tell nobody was even aware that they are on. I quite literally could not give this preview away, so here it is - gratis and for nothing - for the edification you fine people.

WCLC	M	W	L	N/R	pts	NRR
NED	12	8	2	0	18	0.976
PNG	12	8	4	0	16	-0.241
SCO	12	6	3	0	15	0.354
HKG	12	6	4	0	14	1.064
KNY	12	6	6	0	12	-0.147
NEP	12	4	7	0	9	-0.364
NAM	12	3	9	0	6	-0.547
UAE	12	3	9	0	6	-0.595

 
“Context” is something that Associates cricket has always done better. Promotion, relegation, qualification or competitive exile are almost always at play when the game's lesser nations face off, but as the top eight Associate sides convene in the United Arab Emirates for the final, simultaneous round of the World Cricket League Championship, for some, the stakes are close to existential.
The ICC’s premiere 50-over competition for Associate countries serves, as ever, as a qualification pathway for the World Cup Qualifier, with four teams progressing directly to join West Indies, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Ireland at the tournament, slated to be held in Zimbabwe next March. The bottom four teams face relegation to World Cricket League Division 2, to be held in Windhoek in February, where they will compete with Canada and Oman to claim the final two berths.
But in this edition of the Championship, which has been running since 2015, there is also a still more significant prize on offer. Following its meeting in October, the ICC announced that a new 13-team league structure starting from 2020 had been agreed in principle, and confirmed that the 13th spot would go to the winner of the WCLC. For that winner the prospect of participation in the league, promising as many as 24 ODI fixtures against Full Member opposition over the course of two years, is potentially transformative; the prospects of those excluded, deeply uncertain.
For the four teams still in contention for the title; the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong and Scotland, the coming two games are thus potentially the most important in their history, and given the financial ramifications arguably the highest-stakes games of cricket that have ever been played, period.
 

Netherlands vs Namibia at ICC academy 2 - 6 & 8 Dec

The Netherlands are currently in pole position, two points clear of PNG at the top of the table, though the tournament’s preference for total wins rather than net run rate means they will need to win both of their remaining matches to be sure of claiming the title.
Despite the headline-grabbing return of Ryan ten Doeschate to Dutch colours after a six-year absence, the front-runners will not be at full strength for the decisive round, with Tom Cooper, Logan van Beek and this WCLC’s lead wicket-taker – left arm wrist-spinner Michael Rippon – all absent due to domestic commitments. Adding injury to insult, left-armer Fred Klaassen, who looked the best of the quicks during the warm-ups, broke his bowling arm in training last week.
Nonetheless the Dutch have strength in depth at least in terms of fast-bowling, and with the return of ten Doeschate and Somerset spinning all-rounder Roelof van der Merwe in fine form they remain favourites to take the honours.
 
They will nonetheless be wary of already-relegated Namibia, who have won two of their last three encounters with the Dutch. Sarel Burger’s side won’t be at full strength either, with Christi Viljoen and Jean Bredenkamp missing out owing to Otago commitments and an unfinished naturalisation process respectively, yet despite the absence of arguably their best two all-rounders they remain a threat, as Scotland discovered earlier in the tournament.
Young opener Stephan Baard struck an assured century against the Dutch in last week’s Intercontinental Cup match, and despite sliding to a heavy defeat in that match they remain a dangerous batting outfit in white ball cricket, with batsmen capable and ready to clear the ropes deep into the lower order. With nothing to lose but plenty to prove, are unlikely to be intimidated by their more-fancied opponents.
 

Papua New Guinea vs Kong Kong at ICC Academy 1 - 6 & 8 Dec

Leading the chase to unseat the Dutch are second-placed Papua New Guinea, who need just one more win than the Dutch to cap off a remarkable rise from regional tournaments to the top of the World Cricket League in the space of a decade. They face a familiar opponent in their decisive matches, having played 5 of their 12 ODIs against Hong Kong and won three of them, but their consecutive losses against Scotland in the warm-ups and an innings defeat to Hong Kong in the four-dayer may have dented their confidence somewhat.
Despite boasting a fiery top order, PNG’s batting remains suspect – they have passed 250 only once in the tournament – though largely owing to their discipline and energy in the field they have seldom had to. Much will depend on how well spinning all-rounders Mahuru Dai and Assad Vala can contain the Hong Kong batsmen.
 
Third-placed Hong Kong’s skipper Babar Hayat’s maiden double century in the aforementioned four-dayer will doubtless be playing on Papuan minds, as will the danger posed by the 19 year old batting prodigy Anshuman Rath. Still more of a concern, however, will be how to deal with the left-right spin combination of Nadeem Ahmed and Ehsan Khan, who rolled them for just 82 in the final innings. The relocation to the ICC Academy 1st ground – where the match is slated to be played on Australian rather than Asian turf – will doubtless do some way toward alleviating that worry, however.
Despite Hong Kong’s WCLC campaign has been bedevilled by both weather and player availability issues, they have kept just about within reach of the top spot, trailing the Dutch by two wins with two games to go. They will need everything to go their way if they are to take the title - superior net run rate would see them pass the Dutch should they catch up on points.
 

Scotland vs Kenya at Sharjah - 6 & 8 Dec

Likewise still in contention are third-placed Scotland despite having had less luck with the weather than Hong Kong, having had three games washed out over the course of the campaign, and almost as much trouble with player availability. Former skipper Preston Mommsen took early retirement mid-way through, and the Scots’ county-contracted players have only featured occasionally in the competition, and indeed the new ICC eligibility criteria coupled with the ECB’s PRP incentives to counties threatened to deprive Scotland of their services again, only for the ICC to issue a last-minute reversal.
Nonetheless Kyle Coetzer’s side have undeniably under-performed against their fellow associates, stumbling at the final turn to drop two of their last three matches. Those defeats to Namibia and PNG, together with an earlier loss to Hong Kong, means that they too will need every result to go their way if they are to claim the coveted 13th spot.
Coetzer’s own form (together with Dutch inconsistency) is their greatest source of hope. The Scottish Skipper and opener has had a phenomenal season, averaging 57.5 over his last 8 ODIs including back-to-back centuries against Namibia and Zimbabwe.
 
Fifth-placed Kenya will need to contrive a way to remove him early if they are to keep their hopes of a top-four finish alive, Rakep Patel’s men needing either two wins or one and Hong Kong losing twice to PNG if they are to make the cut. Their recent form does not bode well for them, however, struggling against the USA in the warm-ups and sinking to defeat against a Nepal side who were resting senior players.
Though in elegant keeper-bat Irfan Karim and the evergreen Collins Obuya, together with promising youngsters such as Dhiren Gondaria and Gurdeep Singh they have players capable of running the Scots hard, they head into the matches as clear outsiders.
 

UAE vs Nepal at Dubai International Stadium - 6 & 8 Dec

The final match of the round is something of a rarity in Associates cricket - dead-rubber - as neither current wooden-spooners and hosts UAE nor their opponents sixth-placed Nepal can hope for a top-four finish. The UAE are nonetheless showing signs of a turnaround, at least with the white ball, having just completed a 5-0 whitewash of a strong Zimbabwe A side.
The continued development of Chirag Suri, who struck a measured 81 against Afghanistan last week, is especially encouraging, as are the successes of newcomers Aamer Hayat and Ashfaq Ahmed. Having unarguably under-performed thus far, UAE will be looking to finish the competition on a high and carrying some momentum into Division 2.
 
Nepal’s continued woes both on and off the field are a source of immeasurable frustration to their innumerable fans, but there are nonetheless some small, belated signs of rejuvenation in in the increasingly stale-looking side. Often accused of being resistant to change, Nepal ran out two fairly experimental sides in their warm-up matches against the USA and Kenya, though of the long-awaited next generation only DS Airee has really laid a strong claim to a permanent spot.
It will be interesting to see whether Nepal take advantage of a rare opportunity to blood young players with the pressure off, but it’s likely that back home a promising display from a new face would be welcomed as much if not more than a couple of extra points as they look to Windhoek.