Vaas's batting heroics, and Aussie dominance
Chaminda Vaas's credentials as an allrounder, and Australia's dominance of Test cricket over the last six years
S Rajesh
15-Jul-2005
Perhaps numbers never do reveal the full story, but they tell a large part of it. Every Friday, The Numbers Game will take a look at statistics from the present and the past, busting myths and revealing hidden truths:
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Talk about the leading allrounders in the game today, and the usual suspects crop up - Shaun Pollock, Andy Flintoff, Jacques Kallis (though he's hardly much of a force as a bowler these days). Not many would mention Chaminda Vaas in the list - he's had his moments with the bat, the reasoning would go, but he hasn't been consistent enough to merit a place among the Pollocks and the Flintoffs.
Perhaps it's time to revisit that theory. Vaas's 49 in the first Test in Colombo against West Indies was only the latest of a number of instances when Vaas has pulled his weight with the bat when his team has needed him to. The most famous instance occurred last year against Australia at Kandy - after bundling out the Australians for a mere 120 in the first innings, the Sri Lankans were themselves staring down the barrel at 67 for 6 when Vaas walked out. When the last wicket finally fell, Sri Lanka's total had lifted to 211, and Vaas was undefeated on 68, easily the highest score of the innings - the second-highest score was 43 by Muttiah Muralitharan, with whom Vaas added 79 for the tenth wicket. (Clearly, Murali brings out the best in Vaas: in the ongoing Test against West Indies, the two put together 66.) Australia recovered and finally went on to win the match, but it wasn't Vaas's fault - in the second innings, he made 45, taking his match contribution to 113 runs and five wickets.
Vaas's career average as a Test batsman is only 21, but since 2003 that figure is a far more respectable 27.30. Vaas has surely lost some pace and zip as a bowler, but he has more than made up for it with a greater focus on his batting. As the table below shows, the numbers compare quite favourably with another player who is supposedly on his last legs as a bowler. Pollock averages a shade under 27 with the bat, though his better bowling stats ensure that his batting minus bowling average - that sacred figure by which allrounders are judged - remains in the positive.
Matches | Runs/ Batting ave | Wkts/ Bowling ave | Bat ave - bowl ave | |
Andy Flintoff | 26 | 1596/ 44.33 | 86/ 28.02 | 16.31 |
Shaun Pollock | 27 | 727/ 26.93 | 104/ 25.45 | 1.48 |
Daniel Vettori | 18 | 802/ 38.19 | 57/ 40.04 | -1.85 |
Chaminda Vaas | 20 | 628/ 27.30 | 71/ 29.18 | -1.88 |
Jason Gillespie | 28 | 508/ 20.32 | 104/ 25.94 | -5.62 |
Aussie dominance and England's chances
England might feel they have a realistic chance in this summer's Ashes, but the Australians have built an awesome legacy over the last few years, and it's unlikely they will let go of it in a hurry. The table below shows just complete the Australian domination has been in the last six years - since September 1999, they have a 53-9 win-loss record - that's very nearly six wins per loss. The West Indian side of the 1980s is often taken as a benchmark to measure domination, but even they didn't have it so good, with a marginally lower ratio.
England might feel they have a realistic chance in this summer's Ashes, but the Australians have built an awesome legacy over the last few years, and it's unlikely they will let go of it in a hurry. The table below shows just complete the Australian domination has been in the last six years - since September 1999, they have a 53-9 win-loss record - that's very nearly six wins per loss. The West Indian side of the 1980s is often taken as a benchmark to measure domination, but even they didn't have it so good, with a marginally lower ratio.
Matches | W/ L/ D | Win-loss ratio | |
West Indies (1980-89) | 82 | 43/ 8/ 31 | 5.38 |
Australia (Sept 1999-) | 72 | 53/ 9/ 10 | 5.89 |
But over the last 18 months, England have shown that they can run with the big boys too: since 2004, they have a win-loss ratio slightly better than Australia's during the corresponding period. Their dominance can also be gleaned by the difference between their batting and bowling averages during this period - it's nearly 15, even higher than the figure for Australia. Little wonder, then, that England are so upbeat about their prospects this time.
Since 2004 | Matches | W/ L/ D | Win % | Bat ave - bowl ave |
Australia | 18 | 13/ 1/ 4 | 72.22 | 14.4 |
England | 18 | 14/ 1/ 3 | 77.78 | 14.9 |
S Rajesh is assistant editor of Cricinfo. For some of the data, he was helped by Arun Gopalakrishnan, the operations manager in Cricinfo's Chennai office.