Thursday 20 February 2014

Meet the first ever triple centurions...


Triple centuries – it took more than 53 years for someone to register the first of its kind whereas we have seen 2 in the last fortnight.  28 triple centuries in 2120 tests & 136 years; i.e. roughly one triple century every 76 tests & in almost 5 years. Among every 133 centuries, only one is converted to a triple century. That is how rare a phenomenon it is. In the Wellington test against India, Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum became the 24th player and the first from his country to score a triple century (28th 300 by the way). In this edition we will have a statistical insight to the first ever triple centurions from all cricketing nations and some interesting facts regarding 300s.


England – Andy Sandham

325 vs WI at Sabina Park, Kingston (600 mins, 640 balls, 28 X 4, 0 X 6)

On 4th April 1930, Andy Sandham became the first man ever to score a 300 in tests thereby helping England to achieve their highest team total then of 849. That total still remains the highest by any team away from home. At 39 years and 272 days, he remains test cricket’s oldest triple centurion. However he didn’t play another test for his country. His innings contained a seven and a five. He batted at #7 in the 2nd innings, his last ever, and scored 50. His aggregate of 375 runs was the highest in a test till Greg Chappell beat it at Wellington 44 years & 543 tests later.

Australia – Sir Donald Bradman

334 vs Eng at Leeds, Headingly (383 mins, 448 balls, 46 X 4, 0 X 6)

It was only appropriate that the best batsman the country ever produced scored the country’s maiden triple when Don Bradman scored 334 vs England in Leeds in 1930. He thereby broke Sandham’s record of the highest individual score of 325 in just over 4 months. The next highest in the innings was Alan Kippax’s 77, which underlines the dominance of that knock. In this innings Bradman reached 100 before lunch on Day 1 and scored 309 runs in the first day’s play - still the most ever in a day’s play. His 334 was preceded by 254 at Lord’s and followed by 232 two tests later at the Oval.




Pakistan – Hanif Mohammad

337 vs WI at Bridgetown, Barbados (970 mins, 24 X 4, 0 X 6)

It took Pakistan just 5 years & 99 days and 19 tests to register a triple century - the least in terms of both time and no. of tests. “The Little Master” Hanif Mohammad scripted one of the greatest rescue acts in the history of the game after being asked to follow on and became the first player to score a 300 in the 2nd innings of a match. His marathon innings lasted 970 minutes, which still stands unbroken. He followed it up a year later with then the highest FC score of 499. It is also the highest score by a player outside his home.




West Indies – Sir Garfield Sobers

365* vs Pakistan at Sabina Park, Kingston (614 mins, 38 X 4, 0 X 6)

Against a depleted Pakistan bowling line up, Gary Sobers took most of the opportunity and scored his first test century and converted it to the then highest individual score of 365*, thereby surpassing Sir Len Hutton’s 364 against Australia in 1938. His record stood for 36 long years until his fellow country man Brian Lara broke it in the year 1994. He became the youngest test triple centurion at 21 years & 213 days. It is also the highest score by anyone on their maiden century.





Sri Lanka – Sanath Jayasuriya

340 vs India at Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo (799 mins, 578 balls, 36 X 4, 2 X 6)

It took nearly 40 years for the next team to join the list. By the fifth and final morning of the test, Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama had batted together for two complete days and put on an unbroken stand of 548 runs. Jayasuriya became the first Sri Lankan to score a 300 and was in touching distance of Brian Lara’s 375 only to fall short of it by 35 runs. The pair registered the then highest partnership for any wicket (576) and Sri Lanka’s total of 952/6 dec. was and still is the highest score in test history. Jayasuriya’s magnum opus ran for 799 minutes, the 3rd longest in history.




India – Virender Sehwag

309 vs Pakistan at Multan Cricket Stadium (531 mins, 375 balls, 39 X 4, 6 X 6)

India were playing a test in the Pakistani soil for the first time in 15 years and it was the turn of ‘Nawab of Najafgarh’ to be the ‘Sultan of Multan’. In an astonishing display of stroke play he scored the second fastest 300 ever (in 364 balls), a record which he later made his own (off 278 balls vs SA in Chennai, 2008). He reached his century and triple century with a six and thereby becoming the first player to reach 300 with a six, a feat later emulated by Kumar Sangakkara in 2014.





South Africa – Hashim Amla

311* vs England at The Oval, London (790 mins, 529 balls, 35 X 4, 0 X 6)

South Africa were always tagged as chokers. 5 South Africans managed to reach 270 in tests but none of them went past 280 and reach a triple ton. At 123 years & 112 days SA took the longest in terms of time to join the club. And aptly it was their icy cool #3 batsman Hashim Amla’s turn to register the first triple century for his country in test cricket. SA’s 637/2 dec. is the highest total by a team losing 2 or fewer wickets in a completed innings.



New Zealand – Brendon McCullum

302 vs India at Basin reserve, Wellington (775 mins, 559 balls, 32 X 4, 4 X 6)

It took 391 tests and 84 years for NZ to join the list. 23 years ago Martin Crowe missed the milestone by just one run at the same venue. McCullum became the second batsman to score a 300 in the 2nd inngs and he was the 3rd player to score it batting from #5 or lower. NZ scored 680/8 dec. which is the highest for any team in the 3rd innings of a test. He shared a 352 run partnership with WK BJ Watling - the highest by a captain and WK in tests. These two batted for 738 balls - the 3rd longest in test history.


Time taken by each team to register their first triple century

Team
Player
Score
Date
Tests taken
Time taken
England
Andy Sandham
325
4 Apr 1930
180
53 y 20 d
Australia
Don Bradman
334
11 Jul 1930
137
53y 118 d
Pakistan
Hanif Mohammad
337
23 Jan 1958
19
5 y 99 d
West Indies
Gary Sobers
365*
1 Mar 1958
69
59 y 251 d
Sri Lanka
Sanath Jayasuriya
340
5 Aug 1997
75
15 y 169 d
India
Virender Sehwag
309
29 Mar 2004
372
71 y 277 d
South Africa
Hashim Amla
311*
22 Jul 2012
367
123 y 112 d
New Zealand
Brendon McCullum
302
18 Feb 2014
391
84 y 39 d

 The highest scores for other teams are:
Zimbabawe – 266 by Dave Hoghton vs SL, Bulawayo, 1994
Bangladesh – 200 by Mushfiqur Rahim vs SL, Galle, 2013
ICC World XI – 76 by Virender Sehwag vs Aus, Sydney, 2005


Decade wise distribution of triple centuries

Decade        
# of 300s
1877 – 1929
0
1930s
5
1940s
0
1950s
2
1960s
3
1970s
1
1980s
0
1990s
4
2000s
8
2010s
5


Other records related to triple centuries

Most runs scored – 400* by Brian Lara vs Eng, St John’s, 2004

Most balls faced – 847 balls by Len Hutton vs Aus, The Oval, 1938

Most minutes batted – 970 minutes by Hanif Mohammad, Bridgetown, 1958

Most fours hit – 52 by John Edrich vs NZ, Leeds, 1965

Most sixes hit – 11 by Matthew hayden vs Zim, Perth, 2003

Fastest to reach 300 – 278 balls by Virender Sehwag vs SA, Chennai, 2008

Most 300s scored – 7 by Australia

Fewest 300s scored – none by Zimbabwe & Bangladesh

Most 300s conceded – 8 by England

Fewest 300s conceded – 1 each by Australia, Zimbabwe & Bangladesh

Country where most 300s have been scored – 7 each in West Indies & England

Country where fewest 300s have been scored – none in South Africa & Zimbabwe

Venue where most 300s have been scored – 3 each at Antigua Recreation Ground, St John’s / Headingly, Leeds

Players with most 300s – 2 each for Don Bradman, Brian Lara, Virender Sehwag & Chris Gayle




 Brian Lara - the master of daddy 300s


TAIL ENDER

Sir Donald Bradman was once left stranded on 299 against SA at Adelaide in 1932. In his attempt to reach his 300th run he ran his partner Put Thurlow out. All together there are 6 scores on 290s in test cricket.


Sunday 2 February 2014

All about Ranji Trophy 2013/14 season in numbers


The 80th season of the premier first class tournament in India - the Ranji Trophy has been concluded at Hyderabad today. After 98 days & 115 games of highly competitive cricket Karnataka overcame a defiant Maharashtra in the grand finale. It is the 7th time Karnataka has won the competition which makes them joint second in most Ranji Trophy titles alongside Delhi. Mumbai is day light ahead of the rest in terms of titles with 40, which is exactly half the number of total times the tournament is played. The last time Karnataka won the Ranji trophy was in 1998/99 season under the captaincy of Sunil Joshi when they beat Madhya Pradesh by 96 runs at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. In this season Karnataka also became the first team to win outright 6 consecutive matches in Ranji Trophy.

Most Ranji Trophy Victories
Team
Wins
Finals
Win %
Last Win
Mumbai/Bombay
40
44
90.70
2012/13
Karnataka/Mysore
7
13
53.84
2013/14
Delhi
7
14
50.00
2007/08
Baroda
5
8
62.50
2000/01
Madhya Pradesh/Holkar
4
11
36.40
1952/53

* Bengal, Tamil Nadu (Madras), Rajasthan, Hyderabad, Maharashtra, Railways, Saurashtra (Western India/Nawanagar) have won Ranji Trophy twice each while Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have done it once each.

Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy victories                                                         
Season
Captain
Outright Wins
Runners Up
Victory Margin in Final
1973/74
EAS Prasanna
4
Rajasthan
185 runs
1977/78
EAS Prasanna
5
Uttar Pradesh
Inngs & 193 runs
1982/83
Brijesh Patel
4
Bombay
Draw
1995/96
Anil Kumble
7
Tamil Nadu
Draw
1997/98
Rahul Dravid
6
Uttar Pradesh
Draw
1999/99
Sunil Joshi
7
Madhya Pradesh
96 runs
2013/14
R Vinay Kumar
7
Maharashtra
7 wickets

      * The captain in the final has been listed in the above table.

The victorious Karnataka team with the trophy

As expected the batting charts of the season is topped by players from two finalists - Maharashtra & Karnataka. This is the first time 3 players have crossed the 1000 run mark in the same season – Kedar Jadhav (1223), H Khadiwale (1004) and Lokesh Rahul (1033). There are 4 seasons in which 2 batsmen have crossed the 1000 runs mark – 1996/97, 1998/99, 1999/00 and 2008/09. Kedar Jadhav and H Khadiwale of Maharashtra - both scored over 1000 runs for Maharshtra, which is the third time 2 batsman of the same side scoring over 1000 runs in the same season. Other occasions are Ajay Sharma & Raman Lamba for Delhi in 1996/97 and Wasim Jaffer & Ajinkya Rahane for Mumbai in 2008/09. Kedhar Jadhav scored 6 centuries this season, which is the second most number of hundreds in a season. VVS Laxman holds the record for the most with 8 centuries in the 1999/00 season. Not just Jadhav was among the runs but he scored them at a terrific pace. He scored at a strike rate of 80.30 with all but one of  his centuries coming at a strike rate of above 80, slowest being 76.40 in his double century against Hyderabad. Among batsmen with 500+ runs only Laxmi Ratan Shukla (83.17) and Parveez Rasool (82.05) scored at higher rate. Rahul Dewan of Haryana hit the highest score of the season with his 273 against Odisha at Bhubaneshwar.

Most runs in Ranji Trophy 2013/14
Player
Mat
Inngs
Runs
Avg
SR
HS
100/50
4s/6s
Kedar Jadhav (Mah)
11
17
1223
87.35
80.30
204
6/2
159/15
Lokesh Rahul (Kar)
10
17
1033
68.86
49.12
158
3/4
132/5
H Khadiwale (Mah)
11
20
1004
59.05
55.68
262
3/4
132/4
Saurabh Tiwary (Jhar)
7
14
854
65.69
56.29
238
1/6
92/22
Faiz Fazal (Vid)
8
14
845
65.00
43.31
147
2/6
120/0
Hanumana Vihari (Hyd)
8
11
841
93.44
46.85
201*
3/4
105/4
Yogesh Takawale (Tri)
8
15
839
59.92
51.37
212
3/3
91/18
Naman Ojha (MP)
7
13
835
69.58
56.30
211
4/1
95/21
Mahesh Rawat (Rail)
9
13
820
68.33
67.21
188
3/5
112/7
Jiwanjot Singh (Pun)
10
17
802
47.17
54.66
200
2/4
117/0


Higest Indiviual scores in Ranji Trophy 2013/14
Player
Runs
Team
Opposition
Venue
Rahul Dewan
273
Haryana
Odisha
Bhubaneshwar
Cheteshwar Pujara
269
Saurashta
Tamil Nadu
Chennai
H Khadiwale
262
Maharashta
Goa
Pune
S Badrinath
248
Tamil Nadu
MP
Indore
Abhivnav Mukund
240
Tamil Nadu
Saurashta
Indore

Kedar Jadhav - batted with dominance rarely seen in Ranji games 

Unlike the batting charts bowling charts are not topped by players from the Last Four. Himachal Pradesh all-rounder Rishi Dhawan leads the pack with one short of 50 wickets. Since 2000, only Ranadeb Bose of Bengal (57 wkts in 2006/07) crossed the 50-wicket landmark. 7 out of the top 10 wicket takers are pace bowlers which indicate the change in nature of the wickets in India. In the last four seasons only one spinner were present in the top 5 wicket takers list – a new face every time. The spinners have now become a more or less stop gap arrangement to provide rest to the fast bowlers and an option for containing runs rather than taking wickets. As Aakash Chopra said, “The only time spinners made an impact in this Ranji season was on dust bowls in the last round of league matches in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat,". The only hat trick of the season came from Rakesh Dhurve of Gujrat against Vidarbha at Nagpur.

Most wickets in Ranji Trophy 2013/14
Player
Mat
Inngs
Wkts
Avg
BBI
BBM
5 wkts
Rishi Dhawan (HP)
8
16
49
20.30
5/29
10/87
6
Anureet Singh (Rail)
8
14
44
17.56
5/52
9/160
5
Abimanyu Mithun (Kar)
10
17
41
24.00
6/52
11/110
2
Ashoke Dinda  (Bengal)
9
15
40
25.97
7/82
10/157
2
Pankaj Singh (Raj)
8
14
39
22.46
5/30
8/112
3
Vishal Dhabolkar (Mum)
9
18
39
26.76
6/38
10/125
1
Jaspreet Bumrah (Guj)
8
15
38
21.15
5/52
8/106
2
Amit Yadav (Goa)
7
13
37
20.51
7/68
9/88
3
Sandeep Sharma (Pun)
8
15
36
23.58
6/50
9/111
2
Jalaj Saxena (MP)
8
12
35
19.68
7/82
13/124
3


Best bowling figures in an innings in Ranji Trophy 2013/14
Player
Figures
Team
Opposition
Venue
Ranjitkumar Mali
8/48
Railways
Baroda
Vadodara
Ishwar Pandey
8/84
MP
Railways
Indore
CP Shahid
7/45
Kerala
Tripura
Kannur
J Syed Mohammed
7/50
Assam
Maharashtra
Guwahati
Sachin Chaudhari
7/52
Maharashtra
Tripura
Pune


Best bowling figures in a match in Ranji Trophy 2013/14
Player
Figures
Team
Opposition
Venue
Jalaj Saxena
13/124
MP
Baroda
Vadodara
Iqbal Abdulla
11/86
Mumbai
Gujrat
Valsad
Sachin Chaudhari
11/96
Maharashtra
Tripura
Pune
Harshal Patel
11/96
Haryana
Karnataka
Rohtak
A Mithun
11/110
Karnataka
Odisha
Cuttack

Rishi Dhawan - Does he have it in him what it takes to be the all rounder that India is looking for?

The most dismissals in a Ranji Trophy for a particular season were by Uday Kaul of Punjab and Aditya Tare of Mumbai, both coming last year with 41 dismissals each. This was overtaken this season by CM Gautam of Karnataka with 43 dismissals followed by Maharashta skipper Rohit Motwani with 42 dismissals.

Most dismissals in Ranji Trophy 2013/14 – Wicket Keeper
Player
Mat
Inngs
Dismissals
Catches
Stumpings
Max dis inngs
CM Gautam (Kar)
11
19
43
40
3
5 (5 c + 0 s)
Rohit Motwani (Mah)
11
20
42
38
4
4 (4 c + 0 s)
Srikar Bharat
8
14
35
28
7
6 (5c + 1s)
Aditya Tare
9
18
32
29
3
5 (5 c + 0 s)
Mahesh Rawat
9
15
29
29
0
4 (4 c + 0 s)


Most catches in Ranji Trophy 2013/14 – Fielders
Player
Mat
Inngs
Catches
Max in an inngs
Prashant Chopra (HP)
8
16
18
3
Manish Pandey (Kar)
11
19
16
3
Ravikant Shukla (Goa)
7
13
15
3
Kedar jadhav (Mah)
11
20
15
3
SamitGohel (Guj) / Chirag Khurrana (Mah)
8
15
14
3

 
Best All-rounders in Ranji Trophy 2013/14 (min 300 runs & 25 wkts)
Players
Matches
Runs
Avg
100s/50s
Wkts
Avg
5 wkts
Jalaj Saxena (MP)
8
545
41.92
1/2
35
19.68
3
Rishi Dhawan (HP)
8
435
39.54
0/5
49
20.30
6
Syed Mohammad (Assam)
8
420
38.18
1/2
26
28.69
1
Akshar Patel (Guj)
7
369
46.12
0/3
29
23.58
2
V Manoharan (Ker)
7
354
35.40
0/2
27
22.07
1
Samiullah Beigh (J & K)
9
353
27.15
0/3
35
29.54
2
Parvez Rasool (J & K)
9
663
51.00
2/3
27
31.40
2
Vinoop Manoharan (Ker)
7
354
35.40
2/2
27
22.07
1
·         Yusuf Pathan narrowly missed the above list (373 runs @ 33.90 + 24 wkts @ 14.66).


Highest Partnerships in Ranji Trophy 2013/14
Players
Runs
Wkt
For
Against
Venue
Cheteshwar Pujara, Jaydev Shah
353
4th
Saurashtra
Tamil Nadu
Chennai
Arindham Ghosh, Mahesh Rawat
317
5th
Railways
UP
Lucknow
Rahul Dewan, Sachin Rana
311
3rd
Haryana
Odisha
Bhubaneshwar
Jalaj Saxena, Naman Ojha
307
2nd
MP
Saurashtra
Indore
Taruwar Kohli, Mandeep Singh
282
3rd
Punjab
Odisha
Mohali
Jiwanjot Singh, Uday Kaul
270
2nd
Punjab
Vidarbha
Mohali
Aditya Tare, Ajinkya Rahane
260
2nd
Mumbai
Vidarbha
Mumbai
Bhargav Merai, Venugopala Rao
256
5th
Gujrat
Haryana
Ahmedabad
Akshath Reddy, Ravi Teja
250
2nd
Hyderabad
Tripura
Hyderabad
S Badrinath, Baba Aparajith
240
3rd
Tamil Nadu
MP
Indore


Highest Team Totals in Ranji Trophy 2013/14
Team
Score
Overs
Innings
Opposition
Venue
Tripura
650/8 d
190.3
1
Hyderabad
Hyderabad
Maharashtra
635
153.4
1
Goa
Pune
Saurashtra
632/7 d
189.5
1
UP
Rajkot
Haryana
626/4 d
149.0
2
Odisha
Bhubaneshwar
MP
619/8 d
154.0
1
Saurashtra
Indore


Lowest Team Totals in Ranji Trophy 2013/14
Team
Score
Overs
Innings
Opposition
Venue
Services
31
20
3
Baroda
Vadodara
MP
60
27.2
2
Baroda
Vadodara
Services
72
21.4
1
Saurashtra
Rajkot
Punjab
74
26.4
1
Delhi
Delhi
Assam
81
32.5
1
HP
Dharamsala

Parveez Rasool - first J & K player to be selected to play for India; had another excellent season with both bat & ball
The dark horse of the season has definitely been Jammu & Kashmir. A side which won a mere 16 games till the start of the season made it to the last eight. They unearthed some excellent players in Parveez Rasool, Samiullah Beigh, Mohammed Mudhasir, Ram Dayal and Adil Reshi among others. The 2 teams which was promoted last year - Services and Jharkhand - flattered to deceive and failed miserably and ended up as the wooden spoon holders of respective groups. Services were dismissed for 31 against Baroda which was their lowest ever score in the Ranji Trophy history.

This was the season in which many Ranji legends were absent for the first time. The list includes Aakash Chopra, Sanjay Bangar, Sairaj Bahutule and Ajit Agarkar. The latter three bid farewell to the game while Chopra was busy with his Television assignments with Star Sports. Sachin Tendulkar played his last First Class game for Mumbai against Haryana at Rohtak. He started his career in the 1988/89 season with a century against Gujrat in his debut innings and finished his career with a match winning 79*. Another Indian First Class giant Shitanshu Kotak hung his boots after playing for Saurashtra for 22 long years. He is the one who has made most Ranji appearences (121) without ever winning the trophy once. He came close last season but Saurashtra eventually lost in the finals to Mumbai.

It was a season where young talents like the Jadhavs, the Rasools and the Dhawans made it one step closer to Indian Team while stalwarts like Sehwag (234 runs at 19.50 with one fifty) and  Yuvraj (208 runs at 26.00 with a highest of 42) faded into the twilight. Let’s hope these young shoulders are capable enough to carry their domestic form to international arena if and when selected for the tours of England and Australia later this year.






TAILENDER

In the Quarter Final game between Karnataka & UP the 1st innings scorecard of top 6 of Karnataka read as:
Robin Uthappa……………100
KL Rahul………………....100
R Samarth ………………..0
Manish Pandey …………...0
Karun Nair …………...…..0
CM Gautam………....……100

This is the lowest team score in any FC match with 3 or more individual hundreds in it.