The Test and ODI Championship

[Owzat]

Just been looking at Pakistan's recent Test series record, thought I'd analyse how all Test nations are doing in Tests, who really is "top dog" and maybe even do it for ODIs.

Test Series 09/10-2013*

1. England : P15 W10 D3 L2 (Won 66.67%)
2. South Africa : P12 W7 D5 L0 (Won 58.33%)
3. India : P14 W8 D3 L3 (Won 57.14%)
4. Australia : P15 W7 D3 L5 (Won 46.67%)

5. Pakistan : P15 W5 D5 L5 (Won 33.33%)
6. West Indies : P13 W4 D2 L7 (Won 30.77%)
7. Sri Lanka : P14 W4 D4 L6 (Won 28.57%)

8. New Zealand : P16 W3 D4 L8 (Won 18.75%)
9. Zimbabwe : P7 W1 D2 L4 (Won 14.29%)
10. Bangladesh : P11 W1 D1 L9 (Won 9.09%)

Tests 09/10-2013*

1. England : P49 W26 D13 L10 (Won 53.06%)
2. South Africa : P33 W17 D11 L5 (Won 51.52%)
3. India : P42 W20 D9 L13 (Won 47.62%)
4. Australia : P46 W21 D9 L16 (Won 45.65%)

5. Pakistan : P38 W13 D9 L16 (Won 34.21%)
6. Zimbabwe : P10 W3 D0 L7 (Won 30.00%)
7. Sri Lanka : P38 W10 D15 L13 (Won 26.32%)
8. West Indies : P33 W8 D11 L14 (Won 24.24%)

9. New Zealand : P33 W6 D9 L18 (Won 18.18%)
10. Bangladesh : P20 W3 D2 L15 (Won 15.00%)


*to present series, includes ZIM vs PAK



India lost two series 4-0, away to England then Australia, then inflicted a 4-0 defeat on Australia. Five of their 10 series wins were over West Indies, Bangladesh or New Zealand.

Zimbabwe have not drawn a single Test since their return to Tests in 2011. All but three of those Tests have come against New Zealand, West Indies and Bangladesh and the other three against Pakistan. Bangladesh's series win was over a weakened West Indies, their series draw against Zimbabwe.

South Africa have amazingly lost no series in their last 12, losing the one just before that a home 1-2 to Australia, and losing only five of their last 33 Tests is pretty special. Sure they've played West Indies once and New Zealand twice, but nine series against decent sides and no series defeat and all five Test defeats to those top sides in nine series pretty outstanding.

West Indies have four series wins, two over Bangladesh, one each over Zimbabwe and New Zealand. Against the rest they've registered one Test win and two series draws, against Pakistan (1-1) and Sri Lanka (0-0).

Five of England's 15 series have come against Bangladesh (2), West Indies and New Zealand (2). Against the better sides their record is P10 W6 D2 L2 (Won 60.00%) so still reasonably strong.


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So Australia have dropped from their perch down to 4th, still better it seems than most of the rest but maybe now the top four are upside down to what they were.

 

[Owzat]

ODI Series 09/10-2013*

1. India : P14 W10 D0 L4 (Won 71.43%)
2. England : P19 W13 D1 L5 (Won 68.42%)
3. Australia : P19 W12 D3 L4 (Won 63.16%)
4. South Africa : P14 W8 D1 L5 (Won 57.14%)
5. Pakistan : P19 W10 D0 L9 (Won 52.63%)
6= Sri Lanka : P14 W6 D2 L6 (Won 42.86%)
6= New Zealand : P14 W6 D0 L8 (Won 42.86%)

8. Bangladesh : P16 W6 D2 L8 (Won 37.50%)
9. West Indies : P17 W5 D1 L11 (Won 29.41%)
10. Zimbabwe : P15 W3 D0 L12 (Won 20.00%)

11. Ireland : P10 W0 D2 L8 (Won 0.00%)

EDITED to include ENG 1-2 AUS

ODIs 09/10-2013*

1. India : P66 W40 D6 L20 (Won 60.61%)
2. Australia : P81 W47 D10 L24 (Won 58.02%)
3. South Africa : P57 W32 D3 L22 (Won 56.14%
4. England : P78 W40 D9 L29 (Won 51.28%)
5. Pakistan : P76 W37 D3 L36 (Won 48.68%)
6. Bangladesh : P59 W28 D3 L28 (Won 47.46%)
7. Sri Lanka : P63 W29 D6 L28 (Won 46.03%)

8. New Zealand : P55 W20 D4 L31 (Won 36.36%)
9. West Indies : P71 W24 D5 L42 (Won 33.80%)
10. Zimbabwe : P56 W13 D1 L42 (Won 23.21%)

11. Ireland : P15 W2 D2 L11 (Won 13.33%)

*now includes ENG vs AUS as the series is complete, excludes non-head to head tournaments from list. Only series against teams listed are included, so no Afghanistan, Holland or Scotland. A draw ( ?D?) in the records of ODIs is a no result or tie, but just consider it neither won nor lost to keep it simple.


Ireland beat Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, although they will feel tournaments should be included as do I, but I?m not fiddling around to extract those results so anyone who is that upset at their exclusion can add them in themselves. Only four of their 10 ?series? were more than one-off ODIs.

Most of Zimbabwe?s wins were over Bangladesh or Ireland (10/13), as were all their series wins. Bangladesh chalked up three series wins over Bangladesh, two over West Indies and one over New Zealand, hence their decent series and ODI record ? 26/28 wins against Ireland, Zimbabwe, West Indies or New Zealand, the other two against Sri Lanka (1-1) and England (1-2)

England?s amazing record seems unreal, it includes three 3-2 wins over Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia, and six series wins over Ireland, New Zealand, Bangladesh and West Indies. Against the better sides it reads P11 W7 D1 L3 which includes said aforementioned three 3-2 wins and a 2-1 win over South Africa. Perhaps the better reflection lay in England?s 53% ODI win record.

India have also played six other competitions involving more than one other team outside of the World Cup and ICC Champions Trophy. Sri Lanka have also played a lot of other ODI competitions, nine.

West Indies have only beaten Zimbabwe, Ireland, Bangladesh and New Zealand in ODI series. New Zealand have registered some good series wins, over England, Pakistan and South Africa.


Those who call for Ireland?s call up to Tests should appreciate ODIs are a lot closer, even sides like Bangladesh, New Zealand and West Indies fare better in ODIs, yet Ireland struggle to win many. The odd ?upset? and competitive match doesn?t make them Test quality, sorry but they?d be where they are in the above ranking and it wouldn?t help them any. What they need is tiers to come in, not tears to be shed as they become the new Bangladesh.

 

[sifter132]

So the 'big 4' are the top 4 in all 4 tables...makes sense. Was surprised the ODI tables weren't closer, because in my mind the teams have compressed to all be pretty close to each other in ability in that format.

 

[cricket_icon]

So the 'big 4' are the top 4 in all 4 tables...makes sense. Was surprised the ODI tables weren't closer, because in my mind the teams have compressed to all be pretty close to each other in ability in that format.

I agree on the point of ODIs, almost all the top 5 or 6 teams can beat each other on any given day. it really is that close.

In terms of the Test championship which will start by 2016/17 (I think) it is paramount, in my opinion to have a two tiered table. The top 5 and the bottom 5. It's pretty obvious that the top 5 will consist of SA, Eng, Ind, Aus and Pak, who have in recent times, provided each other with competitive cricket.

Looking through the stats, it's heartening to see that the field is so wide open in all formats of the game, there is no one team that is truly dominant, gone are the days of "yeah, Australia's going to win everything" and that is good for cricket.

 

[Owzat]

Just because sides can beat each other, you will still get disparity between results.

One side may just win more 50-50s than others, it's like two similarly skilled people playing each other in a series of games, be it darts, snooker, crib, golf etc. You don't expect it to be drawn or 4-3, 7-6 or whatever so there is scope for difference. Sometimes conditions may just favour one side over another, the toss, a bit of exceptional bowling and you end up with it not evening out.

Toss a coin 10, 20, 30 times, see if it comes down even amounts. You may find it just comes down heads or tails nowhere near half. Same principle, the probability may be 0.5 but it doesn't mean you'll end up with an even number of heads and tails. If cricket is the equivalent even probability then again you won't find that many times it will be even in terms of results.

I don't think the ODI records are as surprising as you two are suggesting, I did wonder if New Zealand and West Indies weren't a bit more of a force than suggested, but then that might just be subjective/a question of perception rather than fact.

Tests should be more reliable, other than choosing who to play and how often. ODIs are so close.

I'll update the ODI table to include the now finished Australian 2-1 win over England.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

well, bangla in the ODIs were a surprise to me. I have been trumpeting their rise in ODI cricket but I didn't realise it was as decent as 6th and not really far off 5th.

suppose what's disappointing is that they must be either winning dead rubbers more often or losing deciders as the return in series wins is a lot lower in comparison.


I really should negative karma you for this atrocious pun though.

What they need is tiers to come in, not tears to be shed as they become the new Bangladesh.