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Calendar Year 2009 : AJ Strauss’s distinction – Only captain to aggregate 1000 plus runs in 2009

With 1172 runs from 14 tests, AJ Strauss became the only captain in 2009 to aggregate 1000 plus runs. His feat provides the 20^th occasion of a captain compiling 1000 runs in a calendar year in the annals of test cricket.

AJ Strauss became the third England captain after GA Gooch and MA Atherton to total 1000 runs in a calendar year, while his feat of 1172 runs in 2009 provide the fifth occasion. GA Gooch and MA Atherton aggregated 1000 runs in two separate calendar years.

Don Bradman was the captain to aggregate 1000 runs in calendar year. He achieved the feat in 1948 with 1025 runs to his credit in eight tests. His eight tests remains as the record for least number of tests in which a batsman completed 1000 runs.

RT Ponting oF Australia remains the only captain to aggregate 1500 runs in a calendar year. His aggregate of 1544 runs in 2005 from 15 tests remains a record for most runs in calendar year by a captain in the annals of test cricket. The following table lists out the twenty occasions.

Calender Year 2009 : MG Johnson and GP Swann aggregate 50 plus wickets

MG Johnson of Australia and GP Swann of England aggregated 50 plus wickets in the calendar year 2009. MG Johnson captured 63 wickets while GP Swann aggregated 54 wickets. These are the only two bowlers who aggregated 50 plus wickets in 2009. The performances of these two bowlers inning-wise is furnished below

Calendar Year 2009 : Performances with the willow and the leather

As many as six batsmen have an aggregate of 1000 plus run in the calendar year 2009 in one day games. MS Dhoni of India and RT Ponting of Australia, have an identical aggregate 1198 runs. Both batsmen played 29 one day games and scored two hundreds and nine half centuries. MS Dhoni has an average of 70.47 runs per innings, while RT Ponting has an average of 42.78 runs per innings.  MEK Hussey of Australia {1166}, H Masakadza of Zimbabwe (1087}, SR Watson of Australia {1013} and TM Dilshan of Sri Lanka {1000} are the other four batsmen who aggregated 1000 runs in 2009.

In the longer version of the game, that is tests, as many as seven batsmen aggregated 1000 runs in 2009. TT Samaraweera of Sri Lanka totaled most runs – 1234. There were four Sri Lankans in the eight member list. DPMD Jayawardene {1194}, TM Dilshan {1097}, and KC Sangakkara {1083} are the others. SM Katich {1111} and MJ Clarke {1042} are the  two Australians while AJ Strauss {1172} remains the only England batsman in this seven member list

TM Dilshan remains the only batsman to aggregate 1000 runs in both of the game in 2009. In tests he compiled 1097 runs while in one day game he aggregated exact 1000 runs

Ten bowlers have captured 30 plus wickets in one day games in 2009. MG Johnson of Australia leads the table with 46 wickets, closely followed by RW Price of Zimbabwe who finished the calendar year 2009 with 44 wickets.

On the test front, only two bowlers aggregated 50 plus wickets – MG Johnson {63} and GP Swann {54}. SJC Braod {47}, PM Siddle {45} and JM Anderson {40} are the other three bowlers who captured 40 plus wickets in 2009

Australia and Pakistan Test series : NM Hauritz performs all round feat of scoring a fifty and capturing five wickets at Melbourne

NM Hauritz’s all round performance of 75 with the willow in the first innings and 5 for 101 with the leather in the second innings at Melbourne against Pakistan in the first test of 2009-10 series provides the 39^th occasion of Australian all rounder scoring a fifty and capturing five wickets in an innings of a test match.

The list includes AK Davidson who scored 80 runs and captured five wickets haul in both innings {5 for 135 and 6 for 87} against West Indies at Brisbane in Dec 1960.

It is interesting to note the N Hauritz became the first bowler to score a fifty and capture five wickets in an innings against Pakistan. All the 39 occasions are listed below

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C Kelleway, KR Miller, JM Gregory and R Benuad are the four Australian all rounders who have scored a hundred and captured five or more wickets in an innings. The performance of these four cricketers are tabulated below

AE Trott and H Trumble are the only two bowlers who have captured eight wickets in an innings coupled with a fifty in a test match

B Lee, H Trumble, KR Miller and R Benuad are the four Australian all rounders who have scored a fifty and captured five or more wickets in a test match on three separate occasions. Their performance is listed below

South Africa vs England test series : England’s innings victories

England won the Durban test against South Africa by an innings and 98 runs providing the 90^th occasion of England winning a test by an innings margin. The following table furnishes all the 90 occasions of England's innings victores in the descending order of runs.

England won the Durban test against South Africa by an innings and 98 runs providing the 15^th occasion of England winning a test by an innings margin against South Africa.  It is interesting to note that the gap between the previous innings win and present innings win is 45 years and the venue on both occasions was Durban. England’s previous innings win against South Africa was at Durban in Dec 1964

Shane Bond – A Tribute

Bharat Raj, who writes exclusive articles for the visitors of crickick.com, authors another article on Shane Bond who has announced his retirement from Test Cricket and gives an account of ups and downs that this genuine quick has faced in his international career. Read on .........................

To start with it has been a sad day for test cricket as one of the champion fast bowlers of recent times,

Shane Bond has retired from test cricket. As a fast bowler  he was a thoroughbred and is one of the few cricketers I would pay to watch on a cricket field.

The lion-hearted fast bowler from Canterbury was first spotted by Dayle Hadlee. Shane Bond  made his first class debut in 1997 for Canterbury. He made his test debut against Australia at Hobart in 2001-02. He did not have much success in his first three test innings which saw him taking a wicket each. His first four wicket haul {4 for 47} was against Bangladesh at Hamilton in Dec 2001 in his fourth test innings. He captured his first five wicket haul {5 for 78} against West Indies at Bridgetown in Jun 2002. It was the first of his five wicket hauls.

His contemporary pace bowlers were CJ Drum, JEC Franklin, IG Butler, AR Adams.  New Zealand always looked for support bowlers to the likes of  Dian Nash, Chris Cairns and Danny Morrison.

Actually Bond's cricket career looked to be in jeopardy when he joined the New Zealand’s police force in 1999 and found little time to play first class cricket. He did come back to play first class cricket and made a fine impression in 2000/01 and it seemed like his cricket career was back on track.

For Shane Bond. it all changed in 2001/02 season, when he was selected to play for the New Zealand A team. He toured India and played a few tournaments like the Moin-ud-Dowlah Tournament at Hyderabad. The great Sir Richard Hadlee is said to have helped him with his bowling during that time. At that time New Zealand were touring Australia, but were hit by injuries to key bowlers like Dion Nash which made New Zealand to go for Shane Bond as he could bowl quick was the very reason behind the selectors was plumping for Bond.  It all did not go as per plan for Bond. In his first series in Australia he could capture only three wickets at 96.33.

But he impressed every one by his pace and the ability to swing it back sharply. I still remember him troubling the tenacious Steve Waugh with those huge inswingers at Hobart. Bond had Steve Waugh dismissed leg before wicket in this test. It was a series in which the New Zealand played well and they even came close to winning the series at Perth but only for a couple of close decisions not going their way. Nevertheless, Shane Bond showed in this series that he had lots of potential and announced his arrival on the International Cricket arena.  He had a successful time against  Bangladesh in 2001/02 and after winning that series against Bangladesh, New Zealand returned  to Australia to complete the one day series of their tour. It was a tri-series played between South Africa, New Zealand and of course the hosts, Australia. It was in that series in which Bond really made his mark as he took 21 wickets at 16.38. In his first match itself at Melbourne he troubled the likes of Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh, Ponting and company. as he took 3 wickets to help New Zealand defeat Australia in a low scoring match.  One could never forget his superb spell at Adelaide in which he took a five wicket haul. He bowled with fire and venom on a flat track and the inswinging yorker he bowled to Adam Gilchrist was a gem as it swung so late to uproot the stumps. All Australian batsmen were at sea against the quick and accurate Bond. Bond was instrumental in New Zealand win as they won the game by 77 runs. It can be said that Bond was the main factor behind New Zealand reaching the finals of that tournament. He could not repeat the magic in the finals against South Africa as he was hampered by a knee injury but there was no doubting the fact that the New Zealand had suddenly unearthed a fiery and pacy strike bowler they so desperately needed.

As I briefly said in my last paragraph that he was troubled by an knee problem in the tri-series in Australia and that prevented him from playing England at home and touring Pakistan in 2002 though after that bomb which exploded near the hotel in which the New Zealand were staying in Pakistan, Bond may have thought to himself that he was lucky to miss the tour of Pakistan and that tour as expected was immediately cancelled because of that bomb explosion.

Anyway he came back to play in the Caribbean as Fleming lead the New Zealand to their first ever series triumph over the West Indies in West Indies.  Stephen Fleming surely has to thank his number one speedster, Shane Bond for that as he took seven wickets in the first test at Barbados to help New Zealand script a famous victory. The New Zealand were able to draw the second test and hence they were able  to win the two test series 1-0. In this series Bond showed his class by troubling none other than the great man Brian Charle Lara.

As 2002 came to an end the New Zealand met India at home and on some spicy wickets, New Zealand were able to easily defeat India in both tests and onedayers. The pitches in that series may have offered too much sideways movement for the quicker bowlers but no one can take away the credit from Bond as he constantly troubled the likes of Tendulkar, Sehwag and Dravid with those huge inswingers and the odd delivery that straightened. I still remember the cracking inswinger he bowled to Dravid at Wellington in the first test as he found a little gap between Dravid’s bat and pad to send the stumps cart-wheeling. It has never been easy to find any flaw in Dravid’s tight technique but Bond with his sheer pace and swing undid Rahul Dravid

He had a great time in the 2003 world cup as he took 17 wickets at 17.94. His spell at Port Elizabeth against Australia was a top drawer for sure as he took a six wicket haul. Gilchrist, Hayden, Ponting, Martyn, Hogg, and Harvey were his six vicitms at the cost of 23 runs in 10 overs of which two were non overs. It was one of the sustained bowling spells ever seen in any World cup game. It looked like the New Zealand would crush the Aussies but again their brittle batting line up was a let down against the bowling of pace bowling of McGrath {3 for 29} and B Lee {5 for 42}. New Zealand were dismissed for 112 and Australia which had totaled 208 runs in their innings won the game convincingly by 96 runs. Shane Bond's 6 for 23 ranks the second best bowling figures in a losing cause in the history of one day games, the best being Imran Khan's 6 for 14 against India at Sharjah on 22.03.85.

Actually leaving the round robin match against South Africa, the New Zealand’s batting line up just flopped in that tournament as they were ousted at the super six stage itself by India at Centurion. It was match in which their brittle batting lineup couldn’t stand up to India’s disciplined bowling and though Bond made a few early breakthroughs, Dravid steadied the ship to help India defeat the New Zealand and with that the hopes of New Zealand progressing further in that tournament went up in smoke.

At that time it looked like the New Zealand had last found a bowler who could carry their bowling attack like Hadlee did in 1980’s but Shane Bond is a bowler who seems to put  lots of pressure on his back and ankle. When he New Zealand toured Lanka in 2003 the disaster struck for Bond as he was diagnosed with a stress fracture on his back. He tried hard to make a successful come back and was in the squad that toured England in 2004. He was sent back home in the middle of this tour with the recurrence of back problem

Ranji Trophy Knock out matches – Karnataka and Punjab Quarter Finals – Statistical highlights

We are pleased to bring another master piece from Indian domestic Champion Cricket Statistician Sri C Keshava Murthy on Karnataka and Punjab Quarter Finals played at Mysore during the last week. He pens that Sunil Joshi of Karnataka became the third highest wicket taker in Ranji Trophy while Pankaj Dharmani of Punjab became the fifth highest run getter in Ranji Trophy. Read on......

This was Karnataka’s 355th match and Punjab’s 250th match.  Results at the end of this match:

Head to Head count between Karnataka and Punjab read thus : Played- 5; Won by Karnataka - 3, Drawn- 2

Punjab, playing in 250th match, managed to clinch a draw, and failed to open a win account against Karnataka – despite playing in 5 matches.

Punjab registered its highest total against Karnataka by scoring 367-6 decl in its second innings, surpassing the previous best of 332 at Mohali in 1994/95.

Manish Pandey became the second Karnataka batsman after VS Thilak Naidu (125 at Bangalore in 1981/82) to score a century against Punjab when he scored 115 in this game.

Manish Pandey scored  his third century of the  season when he made 115 in this game. His other two hundreds are - 194 against UP at Meerut and 110 vs Baroda at Vadodara. He has now scored 668 runs from seven matches at 66.80 and stands third in the top run getters during 2009/10. Only Ajinkya Rahane of Mumbai (761 in 7 matches) and Parthiv Patel of Gujarat (727 in 7 matches) are ahead of him.

KB Pawan who had an aggregate of 486 runs prior to this match, completed 500 runs during this season. He is the second Karnataka batsman to aggregate 500 plus after Manish Pandey {668}.

Pawan became the 23rd Karnataka batsman to score 500 or more runs in a season. Pawan's feat provides the 46th occasion of a Karnataka player performing such a feat. Pawan became the 20th player to aggregate 500 or more runs in this season

U Kaul of Punjab (582 in 8 matches) also completed 500 runs during this season when he scored four during his second innings knock of 86. He became the first Punjab player to accomplish this feat. U Kaul had also the distinction of crossing the milestone of 2000 runs in the Ranji Trophy career when he was on 56 during his second innings score of 86. He has now aggregated 2030 runs in his 30th match.

With his 68 and 86 in this match, Kaul became the 45th batsman to register half centuries in both innings of a match against Karnataka.

RV Uthappa who scored 91 of 118 balls, registered his second ninety in his Ranji career – the first occasion was against Maharashtra at Bangalore in 2005/06 when he scored 96.

Uthappa’s 91 in this game was his 21st fifty in his 40th match with a highest of 162 against MP at Bangalore in 2004/05.

Vinaykumar scored 51 not out in 94 balls which is his maiden half century in Ranji Trophy. He had scored 48 twice in earlier - against Haryana at Mysore in 2006/07 and against Saurashtra at Mumbai in 2008/09. This was his 42nd match.

Sunil Joshi by taking five wickets in this match became the third highest wicket taker in Ranji Trophy. At the end of this game he has an aggregate of 444 wickets in 107 matches. Only R Goel (637) and S Venkataraghavan (530) have taken more wickets than Sunil Joshi in Ranji Trophy

During the course of his first innings knock of 29,  Pankaj Dharmani surpassed Ashok Malhotra’s run aggregate of 7274 runs to become the fifth highest run getter in Ranji Trophy. At the end of this game Pankaj Dharmani has an aggregate of 7298 runs.

Amol Muzumdar of Bombay (7929), Amarjit Kaypee of Haryana (7623), Ajay Sharma of Delhi (7438) and Jacob Martin of Baroda (7329) are the four batsmen who have scored more than Pankaj Dharmani.

South Africa and England Test series : AN Cook scores hundred in his 50th test

Alistair Cook of England earned the distinction of scoring a hundred in his 50^th test when he scored 118 against South Africa in the ongoing test at Durban. His feat provides the 29^th occasion of a batsman registering a hundred in his 50^th test in the annals of test cricket.

Alistair Cook is the third batsman after Javed Miandad of Pakistan, GR Viswanath of India to register a hundred in his debut test and his 50^th test. Alistair Cook had scored 104 not out in the second innings against India at Nagpur in Mar 2006 on his test debut

The following table lists out all the 29 occasions of batsmen scoring hundreds in their 50^th test.

Alistair Cook became the ninth England batsman to register a hundred in his 50^th test. He is the first England batsman to register a hundred in his debut test and 50^th test. The nine occasions are listed below

AN Cook is the third batsman after MA Taylor of Australia and CH Gayle of West Indies to score a hundred in 50^th test

The following are the other statistical observations on the feat of batsmen scoring hundreds in their 50^th test.

Javed Miandad scored hundreds in his debut test, 50^th test and 100^th test. He is the only batsman in the annals of test cricket to earn the distinction. Javed Miandad of Pakistan, GR Viswanath of India and AN Cook of England registered hundreds in his debut test and in his 50^th test. TM Dilshan is the only batsman to register hundreds in both innings of his 50^th test. He is the 25^th batsman to earn the distinction of scoring hundred in 50^th test. G Kirsten scored zero and 134 in his 50^th test. CH Gayle {317} remains the only batsman to register 300 plus runs in his 50^th test. KF Barrington {256} is credited with the distinction of becoming the first batsman to score a double hundred in his 50^th test. GR Viswanath-SM Gavaskar {brother-in-laws} are the only related cricketers in this elite list.

Australia vs Pakistan Test series : Teams declaring in both innings of a test match

Australia declared its innings in both innings at Melbourne against Pakistan in the ongoing test providing the 73^rd occasion of a team declaring its innings in both innings of a test match in the annals of test cricket. All the 73 occasions are listed below

Australia declared its innings in both innings at Melbourne against Pakistan in the ongoing test providing the 17th occasion of a Australia declaring its innings in both innings of a test match in the annals of test cricket. All the 17 occasions are listed below

Australia declared its innings in both innings at Melbourne against Pakistan in the ongoing test providing the third occasion of a team declaring its innings in both innings of a test match against Pakistan. All the three occasions are listed below

Australia vs Pakistan Test series : Hundred and a ninety in a test match : SR Watson joins the select band

SR Watson scored 93 and 120 not out at Melbourne against Pakistan in the ongoing first test providing the 42^nd occasion of a batsman scoring a hundred and a ninety in the annals of test cricket. All the 42 occasions are listed below

SR Watson became the eighth Australian batsman to accomplish the feat of scoring a hundred and a ninety in a test match. All the eight occasions are furnished below

SR Watson became the sixth batsman to score a hundred and a ninety in a test match against Pakistan, after MA Taylor of Australia, JL Langer of Australia, S Chanderpaul of West Indies and SC Ganguly of India.  The performance of these six batsmen are enumerated below

SR Watson with his 93 and 120* became the 19^th opening batsman in the annals of test cricket to score a ninety and a hundred in a test match. All the 19 instances are detailed in the following table.

SR Watson is the third Aussie opening batsman to register a hundred and a ninety against Pakistan after MA Taylor and JL Langer. Interesting enough, these are the only three opening batsmen to have scored a hundred and a ninety in a test against Pakistan

S Chanderpaul of West Indies remains the only batsman in the annals of test cricket to have scored a ninety and a hundred on two occasions.

AR Border of Australia and S Chanderpaul of West Indies are the only two batsmen in the annals of test cricket to register unbeaten hundred and a unbeaten ninety in a test match

MA Taylor of Australia and SC Ganguly of India are the only two batsmen in the annals of test cricket to have scored 200 plus runs and a ninety in a test match. Both these batsmen chose Pakistan as their opposition is another interesting fact

The following is the list of batsmen who have scored 150 plus runs and and a ninety in a test match. The first batsman to achieve this feat was none other than Garfield Sobers who scored 152 and 95 not out against England at Georgetown in Mar 1968. MA Taylor of Australia remains the only batsman in this elite list to score a triple hundred and a ninety – 334* and 92 against Pakistan at Peshawar in Oct 98.