Eclipse
International Debutant
Here is some research from zscore
Relying on Luck, More or Less
Some batsmen seem luckier than others. Luck is not an easy quantity to measure, but one way to get an indication of it is to look at dropped catches. It is possible, for the last few years anyway, to answer the question, which batsmen have benefited the most from dropped catches?
Taking the period from January 2004 to the end of the Ashes series, the batsmen dropped most times were
MP Vaughan 12 times (1395 runs)
MJ Clarke 11 (1004 runs)
V Sehwag 11 (1685 runs)
JA Rudolph 10 (1080 runs)
ML Hayden 10 (1648 runs)
Michael Vaughan leads the way, but newcomer Michael Clarke finished fast, being dropped 11 times in 26 innings. (Clarke did not often make great use of his chances, and only twice added more than 50 runs after being dropped.) At the other extreme, three batsmen were dropped only once in this period, the most successful being Daniel Vettori who scored 606 runs.
It is probably more interesting to look at the effect of these dropped catches on runs scored, and averages. Some misses are much more expensive than others: KC Sangakkara was dropped on 0 in his innings of 270 against Zimbabwe. Over a whole career, one might expect these to even out for most batsmen, but in a 20-month period, some batsmen definitely benefit more. If you recalculate averages assuming that every dropped catch had been taken, the averages most heavily affected are
V Sehwag 28.3 runs lost (70.2 Average would have been 41.9)
SR Tendulkar 24.9 runs lost (78.0 Average would have been 53.1)
KP Pietersen 21.0 runs lost (52.6 Average would have been 31.6)
RWT Key 20.8 runs lost (44.3 Average would have been 23.5)
RR Sarwan 19.7 runs lost (47.3 Average would have been 27.6)
The luckiest Australian was Darren Lehmann, who would have lost 17 runs off his average if all the chances he gave had been taken.
Sehwag leads thanks to chances he gave during his biggest innings: dropped at 68 on the way to 309, at 43 in an innings of 201, and at 15 in an innings of 173. Sehwag gained 679 runs in total thanks to missed chances, ahead of Sarwan (551), Sangakkara (506), Vaughan (488) and Justin Langer (487).
At the other end of the scale, Habibul Bashar of Bangladesh gained only 9 runs in all. He was dropped three times, but each time was dismissed very quickly thereafter.
Another way of looking at changed averages is in terms of ratio: who would have lost the greatest chunk of their average, in percentage terms, if all chances had been taken?
WW Hinds 48% 39.9 Average would have been 20.6
RWT Key 47% 44.3 Average would have been 23.5
Mohammad Ashraful 43% 28.2 Average would have been 16.0
DS Lehmann 42% 40.2 Average would have been 23.2
Shahid Afridi 42% 41.8 Average would have been 24.3
Statistical note: minimum 400 runs scored between Jan 2004 and Sep 2005. Results should be considered indicative only: the definition of a missed chance is sometimes subjective. Results depend on detailed report, which may not be absolutely complete for some Tests.
Relying on Luck, More or Less
Some batsmen seem luckier than others. Luck is not an easy quantity to measure, but one way to get an indication of it is to look at dropped catches. It is possible, for the last few years anyway, to answer the question, which batsmen have benefited the most from dropped catches?
Taking the period from January 2004 to the end of the Ashes series, the batsmen dropped most times were
MP Vaughan 12 times (1395 runs)
MJ Clarke 11 (1004 runs)
V Sehwag 11 (1685 runs)
JA Rudolph 10 (1080 runs)
ML Hayden 10 (1648 runs)
Michael Vaughan leads the way, but newcomer Michael Clarke finished fast, being dropped 11 times in 26 innings. (Clarke did not often make great use of his chances, and only twice added more than 50 runs after being dropped.) At the other extreme, three batsmen were dropped only once in this period, the most successful being Daniel Vettori who scored 606 runs.
It is probably more interesting to look at the effect of these dropped catches on runs scored, and averages. Some misses are much more expensive than others: KC Sangakkara was dropped on 0 in his innings of 270 against Zimbabwe. Over a whole career, one might expect these to even out for most batsmen, but in a 20-month period, some batsmen definitely benefit more. If you recalculate averages assuming that every dropped catch had been taken, the averages most heavily affected are
V Sehwag 28.3 runs lost (70.2 Average would have been 41.9)
SR Tendulkar 24.9 runs lost (78.0 Average would have been 53.1)
KP Pietersen 21.0 runs lost (52.6 Average would have been 31.6)
RWT Key 20.8 runs lost (44.3 Average would have been 23.5)
RR Sarwan 19.7 runs lost (47.3 Average would have been 27.6)
The luckiest Australian was Darren Lehmann, who would have lost 17 runs off his average if all the chances he gave had been taken.
Sehwag leads thanks to chances he gave during his biggest innings: dropped at 68 on the way to 309, at 43 in an innings of 201, and at 15 in an innings of 173. Sehwag gained 679 runs in total thanks to missed chances, ahead of Sarwan (551), Sangakkara (506), Vaughan (488) and Justin Langer (487).
At the other end of the scale, Habibul Bashar of Bangladesh gained only 9 runs in all. He was dropped three times, but each time was dismissed very quickly thereafter.
Another way of looking at changed averages is in terms of ratio: who would have lost the greatest chunk of their average, in percentage terms, if all chances had been taken?
WW Hinds 48% 39.9 Average would have been 20.6
RWT Key 47% 44.3 Average would have been 23.5
Mohammad Ashraful 43% 28.2 Average would have been 16.0
DS Lehmann 42% 40.2 Average would have been 23.2
Shahid Afridi 42% 41.8 Average would have been 24.3
Statistical note: minimum 400 runs scored between Jan 2004 and Sep 2005. Results should be considered indicative only: the definition of a missed chance is sometimes subjective. Results depend on detailed report, which may not be absolutely complete for some Tests.
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