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Wednesday, December 01, 2004

NZ Series Averages 

Here's the batting breakdown from the two tests against Australia (with averages followed by number of innings, and any not outs).

Specialist Batsmen
Richardson 12 (4)
Sinclair 17.75 (4)
Fleming 24.25 (4)
Styris 14.75 (4)
Astle 31.5 (4)
McMillan 16 (2)

Batting Allrounders
Oram 62 (4, 1no)
McCullum 16 (4)

Specialist Bowlers
Vettori 25.5 (4)
Mills 16.5 (2, 1no)
Martin 4 (4, 1no)
Wiseman 26 (2, 1no)
Franklin 10 (2)

I think this confirms what we all knew - the top order failed the team, and although Astle largely redeemed himself in the second test, he couldn't push on, and allowed himself to be dismissed by swatting at a part-timer in the second innings. Richardson is a class player out of form, but I think we can forgive him for that. Sinclair is a mess, as Yamis notes below. Fleming isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread, contrary to what the media will tell you, McMillan is a chocolate teapot, and yet again Sytris failed to contribute much.

The batting allrounder category tells an interesting story - Oram was the only Black Cap to score a century in the series, while McCullum was badly, badly cheated by the umpires in both innings of the first test. I won't hold that average against him, especially since he kept bloody well.

The specialist bowlers (and I include Vettori, since he is selected on the basis of his bowling, but just like Glenn McGrath, he can hold a bat) did nothing remarkable, although Vettori, Wiseman and Mills all helped out a bit.

Now to the bowling. New Zealand succeeded in capturing the grand total of 20 wickets, or basically half as many as you typically need to win. Hmm, a telling statistic that. However, Australia only batted 3 times, so the maximum number of wickets available was 30 (of course, a stellar bowling effort in the 2nd innings of the first test would have required Australia to bat again, but nevermind).

Of the 20 wickets we took, Vettori took 10 (for 341), indicating that he was pulling his weight. If the rest had shouldered as much responsibility, we might have had a hope.

In order of declining usefulness, then.

Vettori 10/341 (avg 34.1) (3 innings)
Wiseman 4/175 (avg 43.75) (2 innings)
Martin 5/281 (avg 56.2) (3 innings)
Mills 1/99 (avg. 99) (1 innings)

Franklin 0/120 (2 innings)
Oram 0/188 (3 innings)
Styris 0/33 (1 innings)
McMillan 0/23 (1 innings)


Well that should sort out some averages artificially reduced by the Bangladesh series. I must say Oram was unlucky in the second test though. He bowled accurately and menacingly but without luck.




Comments:
I think Mills averages twice as much with the bat as he hit 28 in 1 innings and was only dismissed once.

Anyway, those stats basically sum the whole debacle up and now I hear Richardson is thinking about retirement partly because he wasn't up for it against the aussies.
 

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