All Ten Test Cricket Nations Playing Bilateral Series

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Achettup on Twitter noticed this:

Here is what is going on:

  • England in India
  • Australia in South Africa
  • West Indies in Bangladesh
  • New Zealand in Zimbabwe
  • Pakistan v Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates

It is pretty amazing. For one thing, no cricket fan needs to complain about lack of matches because there is a rest day. For another, does October have the best weather for cricket matches both in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres? Strangely, the Northern Hemisphere teams are playing against each other, while the Southern teams have not crossed the Equator. Finally, this could only happen because Zimbabwe just rejoined the family of Test-playing nations.

Mumbai Indians and Cheating

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Ducking Beamers links to this controversy about Suryakumar Yadav, who apparently forgot the script and went and scored a big unbeaten century days after he was removed from the Mumbai Indians team because of injury. It looks pretty silly for the Mumbai Indians, but I think there are better explanations than the Mumbai management trying to cheat to win the Champions League.

The more innocent explanation is that the Mumbai Indians had a higher standard for playing in the tournament. Very likely to some extent since we are talking about an international club tournament. If Yadav had been out of shape, he may have failed a fitness test. Also a batsman selected for one of the top IPL teams in the country would obviously have some talent. Playing in an under-22 tournament would be easy pickings for him. I remember when we used to play street cricket and if an “older brother” came along and asked to allow him to play, we would ask him to play left-handed or give the other team extra batsmen so that there was no unfair advantage.

Another explanation is that the business people felt that Suryakumar Yadav was one of the more dispensable members of the team and they would want someone who had a more recognizable name. I am not sure that the current team fielded by the Mumbai Indians does achieve more pull, but maybe that was their thinking.

In any case, I don’t think that Mumbai cheated to gain an advantage. To gain one extra player would not have been enough. Also, the lack of complaining by the other teams shows that this was not a big deal in their opinion.

The Problem with Michael Hussey’s Statistics

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Mahek has a post “Michael Hussey and the Myth of Padding Averages” where he uses Hussey’s average statistics to demonstrate how good he is at different forms of the game and suggests that Hussey’s not outs are not a problem.

The argument used against most batsmen who bat in the lower middle order is that they pad their averages by virtue of remaining not out. It is one of the most cliched excuses given against batsmen who time and again show the skill and composure to score quickly at the end of an innings and yet remain unbeaten. Historically, as well as since Hussey’s debut, batsmen in the top 4 have averaged more than those batting from 5 to 7.

The simple riposte to this argument is to look at No. 1 and No. 3 in the all-time ODI batting averages. They are Michael Bevan and M S Dhoni, both of whom have typically batted down the order. Dhoni’s case is a little blurred by the fact that he has better averages up the order, but it needs to be noted that he has often (somewhat controversially) promoted himself up the order when the openers or top order had set up a good foundation. But Michael Bevan is the key example. Compare their stats:

What you note is the very similar percentage of not outs, the similar highest scores, the averages. Even though Bevan has a lower strike rate, remember the era in which he played when ODI scores were typically lower and they had fewer Powerplays. Importantly, Hussey succeeded Bevan in the same team. He managed to fit the exact mold for Australia and contribute in the same vein. Take a quick glance at the cumulative statistics after each game for Hussey and run through the average column. You will find that Hussey did not even have an average until his 7th match and he had 12 not outs in his first 16 innings. Whether it is his skill or he trying to stay not out, difficult to say without seeing those matches individually. At any rate, he had an average of 229 once which is now down to 50.53.

Take a look at all of Hussey’s stats (career summary and cumulative averages). He had a spectacular couple of years at the beginning of his career followed by a big slump. Since then, he has been average, some good scores, some poor ones, but enough to keep him in the team. The last two Test series has been awesome stuff from him, though.

Finally, if you compare Hussey with players with other teams, keep in mind that they did not have to play against the Australian bowlers (Warne, McGrath) during the same time period. The opposition also counts. Which is why a person like Samaraweera who has a better average than Hussey during the same time period is now out of the Sri Lankan team.

What Happens When Jayawardene Is Not Trying to Score Off Each Ball

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Mahela Jayawardene talks to Daniel Brettig:

When we went to bat in the second innings we wanted to be more aggressive and try to put pressure on the Australians. We knew the wicket was going to be tough, but the only way we were going to have a chance of getting close to that target was by being positive and getting runs on the board. If you get runs on the board then they’ll be thinking as well. [...]

My focus was on how I’m going to bat and how I’m going to score runs off every ball. If it’s not there then I’ll let it go and look for the next ball to score runs off. I was taking each ball and just hoping I wouldn’t get one of those nasty ones coming my way. I had a few but I managed to fend them off. As soon as that happens you have to forget that moment and look to the next ball and say, “This is another opportunity to score.”

So far, so good. Except the actual innings: 105 off 231 balls. The fifty came off 110 balls. If you take the 4s and 6s and assume he only took singles off the remaining balls, he only scored runs off 55 balls.

Of course, later in the interview, he does talk about controlling his strokes and riding out a few overs. Which essentially means that he approached the innings like he would or should in a Test match and this time was successful. But you can make up all the stories you want after the fact to say that you did something special.

Too Many Close Matches at the Champions League Twenty20

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So here are the results of the matches played so far:

  • Warriors won by 3 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)
  • Cape Cobras won by 7 wickets (with 16 balls remaining)
  • Mumbai Indians won by 3 wickets (with 1 ball remaining)
  • Warriors won by 50 runs
  • Somerset won by 5 wickets (with 2 balls remaining)
  • Mumbai Indians won by 1 wicket (with 0 balls remaining)
  • South Australia won by 19 runs
  • Match tied (New South Wales won the one-over eliminator)
  • Chennai Super Kings won by 4 wickets (with 2 balls remaining)

Out of 9 matches so far, 6 matches have gone to the wire with the match being decided with 2 balls or less remaining and one match even going to the Super Over. What the heck is going on? A few theories:

  • Unlike national teams (Australia v Bangladesh), players of the same level of skills are not playing on the same team, so teams are more evenly matched.
  • Twenty20 is a format that allows teams to come back from the dead. So the chasing team can attempt a dying burst of crazy strokes after being placed in an impossible position and still come back to win.
  • There is massive fraud happening so that the organizers can make this a more meaningful tournament.

I am more inclined towards the last theory, but I cannot see how you can get so many people to play along without any rumors leaking out. Still the whole thing makes little sense statistically.

Dhoni’s Misfortune Continues

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I was not intending to post much on the Champions League. For some reason, it doesn’t seem as compelling as the IPL. But they had a few interesting games, especially the one between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, where the latter seemed all at sea until some lusty hitting by Lasith Malinga in the last few overs took Mumbai past the finish line.

When the tour from hell ended for India in England where they failed to win every single international match, I thought the nightmare was over for Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It was the only major aberration in a spectacularly successful captaincy career. So perhaps he would get back to India and then captain CSK to the Champions League trophy and set everything back on track again. And then beat England in the return ODI series and so on.

But things don’t seem to be going according to plan back in heaven. Chennai lost their first home game of the season. And Dhoni missed a stumping of the eventual match-winner Malinga at a crucial time in the match. In the England series, there were times when India had the upper hand, but failed to take advantage. The story seems to be repeating.

Hopefully, this is not the start of a trend. CSK did show good form throughout the match and they should be able to take it and win the next few to reach the semis. Mike Hussey has been able to carry on the good form in the Sri Lanka test series to the Twenty20 match. As long as Chennai can win the next few, …

Kolkata Qualify for Champions League Next Phase, Huh?

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What a strange qualifying tournament for the Champions League! You have 6 teams, only 3 of which will advance to the next round. And what do the organizers do? They create two groups of three teams in which the group toppers advance, but then the 2nd placed teams are compared to obtain the 3rd qualifier.

Weren’t there other alternatives such as:

  • Have a single group of 6 teams and the top three go on to the next stage.
  • Have the 2nd placed teams play an extra match against each other.
  • Let all the teams into the main tournament and increase the number of groups.

Why have these meaningless 6 matches in the first place? Well, the real reason is so that there are 4 Indian teams out of 10 playing in the tournament which is hosted in India. So in the initial stages, 14 of the 20 matches will feature an Indian team and that will increase the viewer ratings (hopefully).

But Kolkata needed to qualify to fit the organizer’s plans. They needed to win at least one match and only lose the other by a small margin or so. They managed to just barely win the first match and in the second, they knew how much they needed to score (if they lost) to make the cut off. Whereas if there was an actual playoff, maybe they wouldn’t have fared so well.

Pitiable and one reason why Twenty20 continues to earn little respect.

The Nasser Hussain Interview

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Cricinfo has a good interview with the former England captain, Nasser Hussain. See Part I and Part II. Here are a couple of good excerpts:

On England’s lack of success in one-dayers:

historically England have produced good, solid technical batsmen, but you wouldn’t say they have produced massive hitters of the ball or people who can be innovative with the bat, or have weird actions with the ball, spin it both ways or reverse-swing it. We’ve been a little bit too English, if you like, a little bit too orthodox. I think what wins you one-day games is a little bit of the unorthodox, and some individual brilliance. We’ve always lacked that, and Test match cricket is a little more of a team game.

On loyalty and team members complaining in the back:

When we were going through bad times, that’s when the team really start to chat properly. They won’t tell you things in team meetings or hotel rooms, but when they get away from it that’s when the niggly things come out. Why are we practising tomorrow? Why are we training tomorrow? Why is Hussain doing this, why is Fletcher doing that? Why is he still in charge? He hasn’t got any runs for two months. That’s when you need all your lieutenants out there, who will just quash that immediately.

Read the whole thing.

Cricket Humor for the Day

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From Doosra:

GG: But who am I? All I know is that I’m concussed.
Doctor: You are Gautam..

GG: Gautama? Gautama Buddha? Well, Buddha hoga tera baap.
Doctor: You are Gautam Gambhir. Indian cricketer.

GG: Oh yes, it all coming back to me.
Doctor: I’m relieved. Hey Viru, come here. Gautam, you know Viru?

GG: Yes. I know Viru…but he was not bald. Viru… he loves Basanti but mausi doesn’t like him.

Read the whole thing. Nice one, though you might need a few references to help you out if you are not Indian. See Sholay, Suresh, Sachin, Rahul, and another Rahul. I am assuming you already know the Buddha, Kevin Spacey and Dhoni.

Robots at Cricinfo

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Looks like there is a new technology in town:

The Big Ten Network, a joint venture of the Big Ten Conference and Fox Networks, began using the technology in the spring of 2010 for short recaps of baseball and softball games. They were posted on the network’s Web site within a minute or two of the end of each game; box scores and play-by-play data were used to generate the brief articles. (Previously, the network relied on online summaries provided by university sports offices.) As the spring sports season progressed, the computer-generated articles improved, helped by suggestions from editors on the network’s staff, says Michael Calderon, vice president for digital and interactive media at the Big Ten Network.

In the past, I suspected Cricinfo of using the same kind of technology, but my suspicion was more down to earth, meaning the commentary was the kind of mundane stuff like “FOUR. Cover drive”. However, Will Luke, a commentator at Cricinfo, said that they didn’t use anything like that and actually had to type everything.

At that time, I praised him & Cricinfo for such attention to quality, but I think now if they still actually do that, the folks at Cricinfo are truly nuts. You could have a simple addition to the scoring system to generate the necessary boilerplate. And then the commentators could add more interesting stuff like emails from fans.

Having said that, I think the quality of commentary at Cricinfo has been very depressing of late. I am not sure if the ESPN acquisition has contributed to it, but something’s not quite right. If England is playing, I tune into the Guardian over-by-over commentary which is far more worth reading. I suppose having some robots at Cricinfo may even make a positive difference.