Building a 'Peak XI'

[subshakerz]

Yes, my point is that peaks can be a very limited way of measuring actual comparative quality of cricketers due to careers not following strict patterns wherein a cricketer's best cricket comes in one extended unbroken chain. Unbroken peaks as an interesting exercise within cricket discussion is obviously still fine.

Ok, this exercise is not to evaluate the cricketer but to evaluate how 'peaky' the peaks are.

 

[subshakerz]

Hayden
Sehwag
Ponting
Richards
Sobers
Gilchrist
Botham
Imran
Waqar
Murali

What would be Sehwag's peak, 2002-2006?

 

[subshakerz]

Imran was a fairly fit bowler in normal circumstances, his shin injury was an unusually bad one that stopped him from bowling for two years.

I am genuinely curious how Imran missed out 28 tests in that period, even with his two year absence.

Just to point out, his two year absence he missed around 16 tests. In 1987, he declared retirement and missed 3 tests in that period against England. In 1988, he refused to play against Australia in protest and missed another 3 tests.

Point being, Imran didn't regularly break down due to injuries in his playing days, but like Lillee's back away back in 1972, had an unusually bad injury that cost him two years.

 

[Teja.]

Just to point out, his two year absence he missed around 16 tests. In 1987, he declared retirement and missed 3 tests in that period against England. In 1988, he refused to play against Australia in protest and missed another 3 tests.

Point being, Imran didn't regularly break down due to injuries in his playing days, but like Lillee's back away back in 1972, had an unusually bad injury that cost him two years.

In 8 out of those 10 years, he missed tests though. It's almost unusual to find Imran piecing together a streak of 5-7 tests without a rest in those peak years which is very different from your Steyns/Ambrose let alone Hadlee, Kapil, Walsh etc.

Injuries don't affect my point that Imran's '10 year peak' is more like a 6-7 year peak due to the limited amount of bowling he did in the period. To give an example, Shoaib who is considered a bowler ravaged by injuries played around 50% of Pakistan's tests over a decade between 1998-2007. Imran was more available than that but the difference between Imran's availability and Kapil or Ambrose's availability is significantly more than the difference of availability between Shoaib and Imran.

 

[The Sean]

In this exercise, rather than select them based on being ATGs, we select an XI based on those who scaled the highest of peak performances in cricket, with a minimum cut off period of 33 tests (based on the article: https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1057899/the-best-stats-measure).

I am amazed that Ponting isn't on that Zaltzman list for the best 33-Test period. He had a 61-Test run where he averaged 73, so for him not to make that list seems like a mistake. The highest aggregate I can find for him over a 33-Test streak is 3,587, during which time he averaged 70.33 - which is enough for him to make that top ten. I can find several other 33-Test runs where he made slightly fewer runs (still around three-and-a-half thousand!) but averaged more.

 

[The Sean]

I am amazed that Ponting isn't on that Zaltzman list for the best 33-Test period. He had a 61-Test run where he averaged 73, so for him not to make that list seems like a mistake. The highest aggregate I can find for him over a 33-Test streak is 3,587, during which time he averaged 70.33 - which is enough for him to make that top ten. I can find several other 33-Test runs where he made slightly fewer runs (still around three-and-a-half thousand!) but averaged more.

Don't mind me, I've found the problem. Ponting actually had a 33-Test streak where he batted twice a lot more often and so made 3,708 runs - but averaged "only" 69.96.

 

[The Sean]

In terms of the original question, in terms of sustained peaks during my lifetime Ponting and Smith must be the top two - I was alive for some of Richards' 76-81 peak but didn't really see any of it.

 

[Teja.]

33 test peaks since that list:

Player	Team	Start Date	Runs	Average	100s	50s
Virat Kohli	Ind	2016-11-01	3500 (exactly)	70	13	10
Steve Smith	Aus	2014-12-01	3671	75.22	16	12
Kane Williamson	NZ	2013-10-09	3422	65.8	12	17
Joe Root	Eng	2014-06-14	3148	61.72	8	19

Kohli would squeak into that table while Smith would be second.

 

[Teja.]

Kohli's peak is quite underrated because Smith was even better in the period.

 

[The Sean]

Yeah, Kohli was sensational for those few years - his ability to go big really set him apart. Six Test double tons in two years was a ridiculous return.

 

[ankitj]

Looks like COVID has impacted Kohli's batting

 

[_00_deathscar]

Looks like COVID has impacted Kohli's batting

Going vegetarian*

 

[_00_deathscar]

View attachment 29641

33 test peaks since that list:

Player	Team	Start Date	Runs	Average	100s	50s
Virat Kohli	Ind	2016-11-01	3500 (exactly)	70	13	10
Steve Smith	Aus	2014-12-01	3671	75.22	16	12
Kane Williamson	NZ	2013-10-09	3422	65.8	12	17
Joe Root	Eng	2014-06-14	3148	61.72	8	19

Kohli would squeak into that table while Smith would be second.

Didn’t realise Sachin’s peak was that good. Most runs and centuries in that table too…guess he just didn’t go huge.

 

[The Sean]

Didn’t realise Sachin’s peak was that good. Most runs and centuries in that table too…guess he just didn’t go huge.

Jaywardene made more runs, though not more centuries (Bradman made more of both, but he doesn't count).

Speaking of Jayawardene, Sangakkara is another one I'm a little surprised isn't on that list.

 

[Teja.]

Jaywardene made more runs, though not more centuries (Bradman made more of both, but he doesn't count).

Speaking of Jayawardene, Sangakkara is another one I'm a little surprised isn't on that list.

 

[The Sean]

Jaywardene made more runs, though not more centuries (Bradman made more of both, but he doesn't count).

Speaking of Jayawardene, Sangakkara is another one I'm a little surprised isn't on that list.

Ah, Sanga is another one where his best aggregate isn't his best average. He made 3,816 runs in a 33-Test period but averaged a mere 65.79.

During another 33 Tests, he made 3,788 runs (which would still be the second highest aggregate on that list) and averaged 77.31 - which would be the second highest average, too.

 

[Teja.]

Ah, Sanga is another one where his best aggregate isn't his best average. He made 3,816 runs in a 33-Test period but averaged a mere 65.79.

During another 33 Tests, he made 3,788 runs (which would still be the second highest aggregate on that list) and averaged 77.31 - which would be the second highest average, too.

You would think this defeats the point of creating a list with the highest averages!

 

[The Sean]

I don't know if it counts as a peak or just sustained awesomeness, but in 90 Tests from May 2004 to August 2014, Sangakkara made 9,498 runs at 65.05.

In 67 Tests from from July 2006 to August 2014, he made 7,451 runs at 69.64 (let's just call it 70).

That's fairly ridiculous.

 

[h_hurricane]

Imran played slightly less than 2/3rd (55/83) of Pakistan's tests in that period. Missing a test for every two you play in a peak decade is a pretty huge variation from most of the other players in the list and is very notable IMO.

The average ATG fast bowler plays around 85% of the tests in their prime decade while guys like Hadlee and Walsh in that list played over 90% of the tests in the years mentioned. Even McGrath and Steyn played 83-84% of their tests despite those notorious injuries, for example.

If I have to pick someone as a pure pace bowler in a team to play for an entire decade, I think it's better to pick someone like Hadlee who will play nearly every test as opposed to Imran who won't be there a third of the time.

Only Lillee fares worse than Imran in the department of tests missed with pretty much everyone else a few miles ahead.

It is interesting to compare the bowling workload of the 4 great allrounders of 70s-80s.
Below are the balls bowled per year through the tenure of their test career. Imran not playing much test cricket in the initial part of his career may have played a part, but his divergence from others is interesting.

Imran Khan - 945
Richard Hadlee - 1258
Ian Botham - 1462
Kapil Dev - 1799

 

[The Sean]

It is interesting to compare the bowling workload of the 4 great allrounders of 70s-80s.
Below are the balls bowled per year through the tenure of their test career. Imran not playing much test cricket in the initial part of his career may have played a part, but his divergence from others is interesting.

Imran Khan - 945
Richard Hadlee - 1258
Ian Botham - 1462
Kapil Dev - 1799

Kapil really was a workhorse wasn't he?

Do those numbers just take their total balls bowled and divide by the length of their Test career, whether or not they were playing every year?

EDIT - yes, it appears that they do. In which case yeah, Imran is certainly hurt by the fact he didn't play any Test cricket in 1972, 1973 or 1975, and didn't bowl a ball in anger in 1984. Taking this into consideration, his average number would still be behind the others, but not by quite as much.

It's an indication of Botham's massive workload during his peak in the late '70s and early '80s that he didn't play any Test cricket in 1988 or 1990, and hardly bowled in his final couple of years after that either, and yet his average is still so high.