The Age Debate !!

[smash84]

good work CTD

 

[Hurricane]

I looked into this some time ago - attached is a plot of what I discovered. It shows the varying batting average for players at various ages; I separated them out for top and middle order as it's batsmen I was interested in, and added a trend line for each.

It tends to be queered by the fact that only the very best last to "old age", e.g. the very high figures over 40 are largely Hobbs. This is because there are fewer and better batsmen playing later on, though it does suggest a peak in the 30s.

It might be better to look at each batsman in turn and determine their peak then summarise that, though that would require a great deal of work - and of course, require a definition of what peak is.

I think the best method, given the limitations you have listed is to do the following

Define a peak as a one year period where the batsman's career average peaked. Provided he had played more than 20 games at that point.

Then take the mean peak age of about 30 different good batsman who played until they were 35 at least.

I don't think we really care when a no hoper batsman peaks so it is ok to exclude them completely from the analysis.

If I have time I will take a look at this tomorrow (In between viewing Ikki's videos)

Cheers

 

[Hurricane]

Another way of defining peak - is the year in which they got their High score. I may go with this - as it is arguably as good a method as any - and you have to be in good form to get your high score.

 

[Hurricane]

Ok here is my analysis - the average age for someone's highest score was approx 29. I only included them if they had one of the top scores ever, only if they were retired, and only if played more than 20 innings. n=30

There was no satisfactory method of saying what age someone was at that their peak at least not by number crunching. Primarily because the number of tests played in any one year can be quite low to effect sample sizes. So I am making an argument that you have to be at the peak of your powers to get your highest score.

Player	Runs			Start Date	Date of Birth	Age at score		
BC Lara*(WI)		400*	10/04/2004	2/05/1969	34.96438356		
ML Hayden*(Aus)		380	9/10/2003	29/10/1971	31.96712329		
BC Lara*(WI)		375	16/04/1994				
DPMD Jayawardene*(SL)	374	27/07/2006				
GS Sobers*(WI)		365*	26/02/1958	28/07/1936	21.59726027		
L Hutton*(Eng)		364	20/08/1938	23/06/1916	22.17260274		
ST Jayasuriya*(SL)	340	2/08/1997	30/06/1969	28.10958904		
Hanif Mohammad*(Pak)	337	17/01/1958	21/12/1934	23.09041096		
WR Hammond*(Eng)	336*	31/03/1933	19/06/1903	29.80273973		
MA Taylor*(Aus)		334*	15/10/1998	27/10/1964	33.9890411		
DG Bradman*(Aus)	334	11/07/1930	27/08/1908	21.88493151		
GA Gooch*(Eng)		333	26/07/1990	23/07/1953	37.03287671		
CH Gayle*(WI)		333	15/11/2010				
MJ Clarke*(Aus)		329*	3/01/2012				
Inzamam-ul-Haq*(Pak)	329	1/05/2002	3/03/1970	32.18356164		
A Sandham*(Eng)		325	3/04/1930				
V Sehwag*(India)	319	26/03/2008				
CH Gayle*(WI)		317	29/04/2005				
Younis Khan*(Pak)	313	21/02/2009				
RB Simpson*(Aus)	311	23/07/1964	3/02/1936	28.48767123		
JH Edrich*(Eng)		310*	8/07/1965	21/06/1937	28.06575342		
V Sehwag*(India)	309	28/03/2004				
RM Cowper*(Aus)		307	11/02/1966	5/10/1940	25.36986301		
DG Bradman*(Aus)	304	20/07/1934				
LG Rowe*(WI)		302	6/03/1974	8/01/1949	25.17260274		
DG Bradman*(Aus)	299*	29/01/1932				
MD Crowe*(NZ)		299	31/01/1991	22/09/1962	28.37808219		
AN Cook*(Eng)		294	10/08/2011				
V Sehwag*(India)	293	2/12/2009				
IVA Richards*(WI)	291	12/08/1976	7/03/1952	24.44931507		
RR Sarwan*(WI)		291	26/02/2009				
RE Foster*(Eng)		287	11/12/1903				
KC Sangakkara*(SL)	287	27/07/2006				
PBH May*(Eng)		285*	30/05/1957	31/12/1929	27.43013699		
VVS Laxman*(India)	281	11/03/2001				
Javed Miandad*(Pak)	280*	14/01/1983	12/06/1957	25.60821918		
AB de Villiers*(SA)	278*	20/11/2010				
DCS Compton*(Eng)	278	1/07/1954	23/05/1918	36.13150685		
BC Lara*(WI)		277	2/01/1993				
GC Smith*(SA)		277	24/07/2003				
DJ Cullinan*(SA)	275*	27/02/1999	4/03/1967	32.00821918		
G Kirsten*(SA)		275	26/12/1999	23/12/1967	32.03013699		
DPMD Jayawardene*(SL)	275	16/11/2009				
SP Fleming*(NZ)		274*	25/04/2003	1/04/1973	30.08493151		
RG Pollock*(SA)		274	5/02/1970	27/02/1944	25.95890411		
Zaheer Abbas*(Pak)	274	3/06/1971	24/07/1947	23.87671233		
Javed Miandad*(Pak)	271	24/02/1989				
GA Headley*(WI)		270*	14/03/1935	30/05/1909	25.80547945		
DG Bradman*(Aus)	270	1/01/1937				
R Dravid*(India)	270	13/04/2004	11/01/1973	31.2739726		
KC Sangakkara*(SL)	270	14/05/2004				
GN Yallop*(Aus)		268	26/12/1983	7/10/1952	31.23835616		
BA Young*(NZ)		267*	7/03/1997	3/11/1964	32.36164384		
PA de Silva*(SL)	267	31/01/1991	17/10/1965	25.30684932		
			Average	28.52776256

 

[smash84]

good work mate