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Meaningless and stupid cricket statistics

Starfighter

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
This thread seems to have become ‘quirky statistics’ recently
Yeah its for stats that are presented as insightful but are actually vapid and meaningless (like comparing van der Dussen's record with Tendulkars after x innings, or batting averages when you remove all of a batsman's good innings).

'Most wickets without a five for' is just a bit of trivia.
 

Coronis

International Coach
Yeah its for stats that are presented as insightful but are actually vapid and meaningless (like comparing van der Dussen's record with Tendulkars after x innings, or batting averages when you remove all of a batsman's good innings).

'Most wickets without a five for' is just a bit of trivia.
I mean its a statistic, it doesn’t really have much meaning?

Is this really bothering people? I don’t want to have to create a new thread for statistical quirks I come across
 

Coronis

International Coach
That used to be Sanga off Ajmal followed by Hobbs off Mailey I believe. When did Smith overtake them and who's the bowler?
Pujara off Lyon (570) was the most, according to a Charles Davis article from April 2023.
Not sure of the exact match, but now according to Davis it changed during the Ashes. Smith, with 577 off Broad. (11 dismissals)

Pujara has 571 off Lyon (13 dismissals), with Kohli at 529 off Lyon (7 dismissals).

Some other notables regarding this stat. Bradman makes the list at 493 with Hammond, being dismissed by him 3 times. Bradman also scored 243 runs off Mankad in a series without being dismissed by him - Viv Richards scored 298 runs against Emburey without being dismissed. Grimmett bowled the most balls to a single player - 1748 (equivalent to 291 overs and 2 balls) to Sutcliffe conceding 515 runs for 7 dismissals. Almost 400 more balls than any other bat/bowl combo.

Smith bowled one ball in his career to Tendulkar and got him out. Noice.
 

Brook's side

International Regular
Chris Cairns has a lower bowling strike rate than Wasim Akram, and had also hit the most 6s per match in test match cricket.
 

reyrey

U19 Captain
Paul Strang averages just under 30 with the ball when bowling 1st/2nd innings and averages 67 when bowling 3rd/4th innings

Pretty incredible considering he was a spinner.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Not sure of the exact match, but now according to Davis it changed during the Ashes. Smith, with 577 off Broad. (11 dismissals)

Pujara has 571 off Lyon (13 dismissals), with Kohli at 529 off Lyon (7 dismissals).

Some other notables regarding this stat. Bradman makes the list at 493 with Hammond, being dismissed by him 3 times. Bradman also scored 243 runs off Mankad in a series without being dismissed by him - Viv Richards scored 298 runs against Emburey without being dismissed. Grimmett bowled the most balls to a single player - 1748 (equivalent to 291 overs and 2 balls) to Sutcliffe conceding 515 runs for 7 dismissals. Almost 400 more balls than any other bat/bowl combo.

Smith bowled one ball in his career to Tendulkar and got him out. Noice.
Where are you getting these stats?
 

TheJediBrah

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Paul Strang averages just under 30 with the ball when bowling 1st/2nd innings and averages 67 when bowling 3rd/4th innings

Pretty incredible considering he was a spinner.
I would imagine playing for Zimbabwe he wouldn't have gotten as much 3rd/4th innings bowling because opposition would often either only have to bat once or the 2nd innings would be relatively short? Still doesn't fully explain it

Looking at the stats themselves it's not exactly a lot of games/wickets so it's probably just a sample size issue
 
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Coronis

International Coach
Yeah its for stats that are presented as insightful but are actually vapid and meaningless
I used to think smith didn’t suck but then I looked at his third and fourth innings record.
PC may have been joking here but people have tried to use stats like this as a criticism so I’ll have some fun.

1st and 2nd innings vs 3rd and 4th (min 20 1st/2nd innings) for some notable batsmen


Higher in 1/2

Weekes 71.43 vs 36.64
Brook 70.47 vs 41.25
S. Smith 69.68 vs 37.64
Headley 66.26 vs 54.76
Barrington 65.83 vs 44.53
Hutton 65.40 vs 43.04
Pollock 64.60 vs 55.00
Hammond 64.17 vs 48.42
Lara 63.94 vs 38.18
Hobbs 63.55 vs 46.11
Sehwag 62.50 vs 30.25
Worrell 61.80 vs 31.78
Sangakkara 61.17 vs 51.92
Waugh 60.69 vs 32.45
Jayawardene 60.13 vs 33.64
Tendulkar 60.10 vs 42.78
Yousuf 60.03 vs 41.45
Sobers 59.40 vs 55.15
Walcott 59.23 vs 52.12
Dravid 59.12 vs 41.83
Chappell 58.42 vs 46.38
Chanderpaul 58.31 vs 41.43
Ponting 57.49 vs 42.16
de Villiers 57.18 vs 40.60
Williamson 57.15 vs 51.51
Miandad 56.55 vs 43.92
Younis 54.86 vs 48.13
Root 54.73 vs 45.93
Kohli 52.57 vs 38.11
Richards 50.79 vs 48.92
Compton 50.49 vs 49.26
G. Smith 49.63 vs 46.19

Higher in 3/4
Bradman 104.50 vs 97.85
Sutcliffe 64.20 vs 59.09
Mitchell 57.03 vs 43.26
Nourse 56.82 vs 51.65
Flower 56.34 vs 48.65
Kallis 56.26 vs 54.89
Border 54.63 vs 48.24
May 52.79 vs 43.52
Hayden 51.82 vs 50.02
Gavaskar 51.46 vs 50.90
Boycott 51.06 vs 45.66
Greenidge 47.14 vs 43.31
Hill 40.70 vs 37.95
Trumper 39.36 vs 38.76

Closest to a balanced player that I saw

McCabe 48.26 vs 48.10

Obviously means nothing overall.

Makes sense the second list is dominated by openers, due to declarations in the third innings and completed chases for lower totals in the 4th. Which btw makes Border’s ridiculously impressive.

Takeaways: Sehwag sucks ass, Sutcliffe is always great.

Players who average 50+ in both:

Bradman, Pollock, Sutcliffe, Sobers, Sangakkara, Walcott, Kallis, Williamson Nourse, Gavaskar, Hayden

Interesting on Pollock btw, averages 55 over 3rd/4th innings with 0 centuries. All 7 came in the 1st/2nd, but 9 of his 11 fifties came in the latter half of matches.
 

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