I’m going to start with honesty, it’s been well over a week since I did part one of this and I can’t really remember what happened...if you, like me, need a memory jog, part one can be found here.
So let’s crack on with the Super 8s or, judging by how things are going these days, the actual format of the 2027 World Cup...
For England, the Group stage, whilst having its issues off the field ran relatively smoothly or at least they beat the minnows and lost to New Zealand...which we really shouldn’t take for granted going forward...(Netherlands and Ireland say hello from future world cups...)
Before England’s first game we have the Aussies taking no mercy on West Indies and South Africa almost choking, 4 to win, 6 wickets in hand, enter Malinga with 4 in 4 a thick edge through the slips Stuart Broad would’ve been proud of takes SA home, Follow that with the WIndies losing again to New Zealand and finally we get too..
Game 1: Ireland.
Collingwoods 90 gets England to 266, Flintoff somewhat rattled through Ireland despite Niall O’Briens 66 to win by 48 runs...semi finals on here boys....
Game 2: Sri Lanka.
Saw literally no wickets in the Sri Lanka innings but they only made 235 which implies England did alright I guess. Michael Vaughan falls early again in replied, followed by Ian Bell with the unlucky tip off the bowlers finger run out and Kevin Pietersen being shit against left arm spin.
Soon though there’s beer flying in the stands(we’re a classy bunch) as Ravi Bopara smashes it every where to get us to needing 5 from 3...and then he gets bowled and we lose...might’ve been premature in that semi final shout...
Mohammed Ashraful’s a little bloke isn’t he...anyway South Africa go from almost choking to actually choking against Bangladesh...
Game 3: Australia.
Bell and Pietersen put on 140 early doors before the middle order collapse, I assume we didn’t put an imposing total on the board and 83 from Ricky Ponting sends Australia over the line...they really didn’t spend any time on that game at all so I’m guessing it was a canter for the Aussies...
Ireland lose to NZ with the O’Brien Brothers doing a solid reenactment of me and my brothers running between the wickets in 3rd team club cricket...that is running each other out and I assume the younger brother being blamed for it in the dressing room afterwards...
Game 4: Bangladesh.
England go into this one yet to beat a test playing nation, the bowlers do alright to bowl Bangladesh out for 143, including Michael Vaughan dropping the simplest catch anyone had seen until that Joe Denly one in New Zealand last year but still managing a run out in the process...
Top order batting was horrendous again but Collingwood and Nixon get them just about over the line. Semi final hopes still just about alive....
Australia were annoyingly good weren’t they. Also that Ireland side featured a lot of players who played their first test in 2018(19? I’ve lost track of years...) should’ve gotten test status so much earlier.
Game 5: South Africa.
Effectively a quarter final apparently, they literally showed none of this game really, Hall took 5-18c South Africa cantered home and into the semis, England are out and so is Duncan ‘I knew Sam Curran would be an international cricketer when he was 8’ Fletcher...Vaughanys giving him an emotional farewell and a strong statement of support to Peter Moore’s who’ll take over(that went well..), Flintoffs doing his best to come up with some bullshit about liking him...but there’s still another game.
Game 6: West Indies.
Both teams already out and a farewell to the legend of Brian Lara. I could do weeks on how much I love watching Brian Lara bat, but I won’t I’ll focus on the game.
Lara gets a well deserved guard of honour on the way to the crease and then the whole occasion is rather ruined as Marlon Samuels unceremoniously runs out Lara...shocking call from Mr Sextillion 7th power or whatever his shit perfumes called...
Samuels goes on to get a half century along with Gayle and Devon Smith, England need 301 to win.
Michael Vaughan gets England off to a good start with his first half century in 15 innings, then things fall apart a bit as always but KP scored his second century of the tournament before a young Stuart Broad shows early intentions of his shithousing skills by absolutely not timing a hoik and it dropping safe to run two and take England over the line with one ball to spare.
Already out so it didn’t matter but we were oddly good at chasing down 300 when we were shit, couldn’t chase 200-250 but give us 300+ and you’ll be sorry...
So England succumb to being crap once again, join me again when I’ll subject myself to the 2015 World Cup...should be a short one that, every game being ‘England were shit and they lost.’

My top 5:
5 - Sachin's straight drive to long off/fence. So classically perfect.
4 - King Viv's "fuck you, peasant" mow to or above the square leg boundary
3 - Brian Lara's bat moving at the speed of light to go high up behind his back and then slashing its way to the ball to send it to the cover boundary like a tracer bullet ™^Bewda
2 - VVS dancing down the pitch to spin, and somehow caressing it to the extra cover boundary.

1. Mark Waugh, with right leg slightly raised, as he nonchalantly flicks the ball behind square leg, while looking like Louis XIV surveying his domain. My favourite batsman to watch.

Edit: To enthusiasts of sexual acts between nocturnal upside down hanging mammals - move along, nothing to see here. This is a different kind of BatPorn

Here i've tried to compare a very good list of ODI Batsmen to their Teammates. For the comparison i've selected a list of Batsmen who have scored over 4000 Runs and and average 40+ against the Top 8 ODI Teams.
For Comparison i've considered the matches where the Said player was playing and compared his Average and Strike Rate to the Rest of the Team's Average and Strike Rate.
List of 30 Batsmen make the Criteria Cut of 4000 Runs and 40+ Average vs the Top 8 Teams.
Following is the list sorted by how better they Averaged compared to their Teammates.

S.No	Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50	Team's Avg	Team's SR	% Avg	%SR
1	MG Bevan (AUS)	1994-2004	203	174	58	6200	108*	53.44	73.56	6	40	30.46	77.59	75.44%	-5.18%
2	AB de Villiers (SA)	2005-2018	191	184	35	8093	162*	54.31	99.75	20	46	31.3	83.57	73.51%	19.36%
3	V Kohli (INDIA)	2008-2020	225	219	33	10917	183	58.69	93.17	39	55	34.43	89.15	70.46%	4.51%
4	DM Jones (AUS)	1984-1994	160	157	24	5935	145	44.62	72.56	7	44	26.33	66.81	69.46%	8.61%
5	Javed Miandad (PAK)	1975-1996	223	212	40	7103	119*	41.29	66.76	8	47	25.12	67.15	64.37%	-0.58%
6	BC Lara	1990-2007	257	250	26	8970	169	40.04	77.5	16	55	24.38	69	64.23%	12.32%
7	IVA Richards (WI)	1975-1991	185	166	24	6705	189*	47.21	90.14	11	45	28.86	65.9	63.58%	36.78%
8	KS Williamson (NZ)	2010-2020	127	123	8	5189	148	45.12	81.58	11	33	28	87.1	61.14%	-6.34%
9	KP Pietersen (ENG/ICC)	2005-2013	118	111	13	4038	130	41.2	87.15	9	22	26.15	77.12	60.11%	13.19%
10	LRPL Taylor (NZ)	2006-2020	192	181	29	6860	181*	45.13	81.72	17	37	28.5	86.4	58.35%	-5.42%
11	SR Tendulkar (INDIA)	1989-2012	399	391	31	15495	200*	43.04	85.23	38	85	27.67	74.75	55.55%	14.02%
12	KC Sangakkara (ICC/SL)	2000-2015	333	316	29	11695	169	40.74	77.99	18	79	26.59	76.96	53.03%	1.20%
13	AD Mathews (SL)	2009-2020	180	156	40	4852	139*	41.82	83.46	3	34	27.53	81.73	51.91%	2.12%
14	JE Root (ENG)	2013-2020	138	130	19	5515	125	49.68	86.06	15	31	33.09	94.84	50.14%	-9.26%
15	MS Dhoni (INDIA)	2005-2019	310	267	74	9595	183*	49.71	87.11	7	68	33.17	85.91	49.86%	1.40%
16	CG Greenidge (WI)	1975-1991	127	126	12	5029	133*	44.11	64.79	10	31	29.52	71.17	49.42%	-8.96%
17	HM Amla (SA)	2008-2019	153	151	10	6616	154	46.92	87.79	20	34	32.38	88.29	44.90%	-0.57%
18	DL Haynes (WI)	1978-1994	235	234	27	8483	152*	40.98	62.94	17	55	28.47	70.23	43.94%	-10.38%
19	RG Sharma (INDIA)	2007-2020	197	191	27	8039	264	49.01	89.18	25	38	34.4	88.48	42.47%	0.79%
20	DA Warner (AUS)	2009-2020	118	117	3	4805	179	42.14	93.6	16	21	29.88	86.25	41.03%	8.52%
21	MEK Hussey (AUS)	2004-2012	162	141	38	4812	109*	46.71	86.56	2	35	33.19	82.86	40.74%	4.47%
22	JH Kallis (ICC/SA)	1996-2014	288	281	45	10071	139	42.67	71.89	15	74	30.91	78.95	39.53%	-8.75%
23	SPD Smith (AUS)	2010-2020	113	102	9	4127	164	44.37	88.73	11	23	32.09	90.08	38.27%	-1.50%
24	F du Plessis (SA)	2011-2019	122	117	16	4631	185	45.85	87.92	10	28	34.67	89.89	32.25%	-2.19%
25	MJ Clarke (AUS)	2003-2015	208	193	35	6865	130	43.44	79.08	6	50	33.52	84.31	29.59%	-6.20%
26	RT Ponting (AUS)	1995-2012	323	320	33	11843	164	41.26	80.37	26	72	32.47	80.83	27.07%	-0.57%
27	AJ Finch (AUS)	2013-2020	124	120	3	4844	153*	41.4	87.02	16	26	33.54	92.37	23.43%	-5.79%
28	Q de Kock (SA)	2013-2020	104	104	5	4334	178	43.77	94.5	14	19	35.53	89.97	23.19%	5.04%
29	ML Hayden (AUS)	1993-2008	136	133	10	5291	181*	43.01	78.01	10	30	36.34	82.66	18.35%	-5.63%
30	S Dhawan (INDIA)	2010-2020	122	119	7	4977	143	44.43	94.11	14	27	39.15	90.99	13.49%	3.43%

Here the % Avg and % SR indicate how better they did compared to their teammates. While Team's Avg and Team's SR are the Averages and Strike Rates of the Teammates in those matches.
P.S A -ve value indicates that the Player was that much worse than their team's Avg or SR.
Now the Same list Sorted by %SR

S.No	Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50	Team's Avg	Team's SR	% Avg	%SR
1	IVA Richards (WI)	1975-1991	185	166	24	6705	189*	47.21	90.14	11	45	28.86	65.9	63.58%	36.78%
2	AB de Villiers (SA)	2005-2018	191	184	35	8093	162*	54.31	99.75	20	46	31.3	83.57	73.51%	19.36%
3	SR Tendulkar (INDIA)	1989-2012	399	391	31	15495	200*	43.04	85.23	38	85	27.67	74.75	55.55%	14.02%
4	KP Pietersen (ENG/ICC)	2005-2013	118	111	13	4038	130	41.2	87.15	9	22	26.15	77.12	60.11%	13.19%
5	BC Lara	1990-2007	257	250	26	8970	169	40.04	77.5	16	55	24.38	69	64.23%	12.32%
6	DM Jones (AUS)	1984-1994	160	157	24	5935	145	44.62	72.56	7	44	26.33	66.81	69.46%	8.61%
7	DA Warner (AUS)	2009-2020	118	117	3	4805	179	42.14	93.6	16	21	29.88	86.25	41.03%	8.52%
8	Q de Kock (SA)	2013-2020	104	104	5	4334	178	43.77	94.5	14	19	35.53	89.97	23.19%	5.04%
9	V Kohli (INDIA)	2008-2020	225	219	33	10917	183	58.69	93.17	39	55	34.43	89.15	70.46%	4.51%
10	MEK Hussey (AUS)	2004-2012	162	141	38	4812	109*	46.71	86.56	2	35	33.19	82.86	40.74%	4.47%
11	S Dhawan (INDIA)	2010-2020	122	119	7	4977	143	44.43	94.11	14	27	39.15	90.99	13.49%	3.43%
12	AD Mathews (SL)	2009-2020	180	156	40	4852	139*	41.82	83.46	3	34	27.53	81.73	51.91%	2.12%
13	MS Dhoni (INDIA)	2005-2019	310	267	74	9595	183*	49.71	87.11	7	68	33.17	85.91	49.86%	1.40%
14	KC Sangakkara (ICC/SL)	2000-2015	333	316	29	11695	169	40.74	77.99	18	79	26.59	76.96	53.03%	1.20%
15	RG Sharma (INDIA)	2007-2020	197	191	27	8039	264	49.01	89.18	25	38	34.4	88.48	42.47%	0.79%
16	HM Amla (SA)	2008-2019	153	151	10	6616	154	46.92	87.79	20	34	32.38	88.29	44.90%	-0.57%
17	RT Ponting (AUS)	1995-2012	323	320	33	11843	164	41.26	80.37	26	72	32.47	80.83	27.07%	-0.57%
18	Javed Miandad (PAK)	1975-1996	223	212	40	7103	119*	41.29	66.76	8	47	25.12	67.15	64.37%	-0.58%
19	SPD Smith (AUS)	2010-2020	113	102	9	4127	164	44.37	88.73	11	23	32.09	90.08	38.27%	-1.50%
20	F du Plessis (SA)	2011-2019	122	117	16	4631	185	45.85	87.92	10	28	34.67	89.89	32.25%	-2.19%
21	MG Bevan (AUS)	1994-2004	203	174	58	6200	108*	53.44	73.56	6	40	30.46	77.59	75.44%	-5.18%
22	LRPL Taylor (NZ)	2006-2020	192	181	29	6860	181*	45.13	81.72	17	37	28.5	86.4	58.35%	-5.42%
23	ML Hayden (AUS)	1993-2008	136	133	10	5291	181*	43.01	78.01	10	30	36.34	82.66	18.35%	-5.63%
24	AJ Finch (AUS)	2013-2020	124	120	3	4844	153*	41.4	87.02	16	26	33.54	92.37	23.43%	-5.79%
25	MJ Clarke (AUS)	2003-2015	208	193	35	6865	130	43.44	79.08	6	50	33.52	84.31	29.59%	-6.20%
26	KS Williamson (NZ)	2010-2020	127	123	8	5189	148	45.12	81.58	11	33	28	87.1	61.14%	-6.34%
27	JH Kallis (ICC/SA)	1996-2014	288	281	45	10071	139	42.67	71.89	15	74	30.91	78.95	39.53%	-8.75%
28	CG Greenidge (WI)	1975-1991	127	126	12	5029	133*	44.11	64.79	10	31	29.52	71.17	49.42%	-8.96%
29	JE Root (ENG)	2013-2020	138	130	19	5515	125	49.68	86.06	15	31	33.09	94.84	50.14%	-9.26%
30	DL Haynes (WI)	1978-1994	235	234	27	8483	152*	40.98	62.94	17	55	28.47	70.23	43.94%	-10.38%

This Gives a clear picture of some players being a level above the others in terms of both Average and Strike Rate. However it's still not truly fair to look at this directly. Because the Average and Strike Rate Differential for openers is visibly less as compared to the Middle order batsmen. So a more accurate way of judging them would be sorting them by the Position they predominantly batted in.
So I divided the list into No 1-2, No 3 and No 4-7. A happy coincidence that all the three lists have exactly 10 Batsmen each.
No 1-2 sorted by %Avg

S.No	Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50	Team's Avg	Team's SR	% Avg	%SR
1	SR Tendulkar (INDIA)	1989-2012	399	391	31	15495	200*	43.04	85.23	38	85	27.67	74.75	55.55%	14.02%
2	CG Greenidge (WI)	1975-1991	127	126	12	5029	133*	44.11	64.79	10	31	29.52	71.17	49.42%	-8.96%
3	HM Amla (SA)	2008-2019	153	151	10	6616	154	46.92	87.79	20	34	32.38	88.29	44.90%	-0.57%
4	DL Haynes (WI)	1978-1994	235	234	27	8483	152*	40.98	62.94	17	55	28.47	70.23	43.94%	-10.38%
5	RG Sharma (INDIA)	2007-2020	197	191	27	8039	264	49.01	89.18	25	38	34.4	88.48	42.47%	0.79%
6	DA Warner (AUS)	2009-2020	118	117	3	4805	179	42.14	93.6	16	21	29.88	86.25	41.03%	8.52%
7	AJ Finch (AUS)	2013-2020	124	120	3	4844	153*	41.4	87.02	16	26	33.54	92.37	23.43%	-5.79%
8	Q de Kock (SA)	2013-2020	104	104	5	4334	178	43.77	94.5	14	19	35.53	89.97	23.19%	5.04%
9	ML Hayden (AUS)	1993-2008	136	133	10	5291	181*	43.01	78.01	10	30	36.34	82.66	18.35%	-5.63%
10	S Dhawan (INDIA)	2010-2020	122	119	7	4977	143	44.43	94.11	14	27	39.15	90.99	13.49%	3.43%

No 1-2 Sorted by %SR

S.No	Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50	Team's Avg	Team's SR	% Avg	%SR
1	SR Tendulkar (INDIA)	1989-2012	399	391	31	15495	200*	43.04	85.23	38	85	27.67	74.75	55.55%	14.02%
2	DA Warner (AUS)	2009-2020	118	117	3	4805	179	42.14	93.6	16	21	29.88	86.25	41.03%	8.52%
3	Q de Kock (SA)	2013-2020	104	104	5	4334	178	43.77	94.5	14	19	35.53	89.97	23.19%	5.04%
4	S Dhawan (INDIA)	2010-2020	122	119	7	4977	143	44.43	94.11	14	27	39.15	90.99	13.49%	3.43%
5	RG Sharma (INDIA)	2007-2020	197	191	27	8039	264	49.01	89.18	25	38	34.4	88.48	42.47%	0.79%
6	HM Amla (SA)	2008-2019	153	151	10	6616	154	46.92	87.79	20	34	32.38	88.29	44.90%	-0.57%
7	ML Hayden (AUS)	1993-2008	136	133	10	5291	181*	43.01	78.01	10	30	36.34	82.66	18.35%	-5.63%
8	AJ Finch (AUS)	2013-2020	124	120	3	4844	153*	41.4	87.02	16	26	33.54	92.37	23.43%	-5.79%
9	CG Greenidge (WI)	1975-1991	127	126	12	5029	133*	44.11	64.79	10	31	29.52	71.17	49.42%	-8.96%
10	DL Haynes (WI)	1978-1994	235	234	27	8483	152*	40.98	62.94	17	55	28.47	70.23	43.94%	-10.38%

No 3 Sorted by %Avg

S.No	Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50	Team's Avg	Team's SR	% Avg	%SR
1	V Kohli (INDIA)	2008-2020	225	219	33	10917	183	58.69	93.17	39	55	34.43	89.15	70.46%	4.51%
2	DM Jones (AUS)	1984-1994	160	157	24	5935	145	44.62	72.56	7	44	26.33	66.81	69.46%	8.61%
3	BC Lara	1990-2007	257	250	26	8970	169	40.04	77.5	16	55	24.38	69	64.23%	12.32%
4	KS Williamson (NZ)	2010-2020	127	123	8	5189	148	45.12	81.58	11	33	28	87.1	61.14%	-6.34%
5	KC Sangakkara (SL)	2000-2015	333	316	29	11695	169	40.74	77.99	18	79	26.59	76.96	53.03%	1.20%
6	JE Root (ENG)	2013-2020	138	130	19	5515	125	49.68	86.06	15	31	33.09	94.84	50.14%	-9.26%
7	JH Kallis (SA)	1996-2014	288	281	45	10071	139	42.67	71.89	15	74	30.91	78.95	39.53%	-8.75%
8	SPD Smith (AUS)	2010-2020	113	102	9	4127	164	44.37	88.73	11	23	32.09	90.08	38.27%	-1.50%
9	F du Plessis (SA)	2011-2019	122	117	16	4631	185	45.85	87.92	10	28	34.67	89.89	32.25%	-2.19%
10	RT Ponting (AUS)	1995-2012	323	320	33	11843	164	41.26	80.37	26	72	32.47	80.83	27.07%	-0.57%

No 3 Sorted by % SR

S.No	Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50	Team's Avg	Team's SR	% Avg	%SR
1	BC Lara	1990-2007	257	250	26	8970	169	40.04	77.5	16	55	24.38	69	64.23%	12.32%
2	DM Jones (AUS)	1984-1994	160	157	24	5935	145	44.62	72.56	7	44	26.33	66.81	69.46%	8.61%
3	V Kohli (INDIA)	2008-2020	225	219	33	10917	183	58.69	93.17	39	55	34.43	89.15	70.46%	4.51%
4	KC Sangakkara (SL)	2000-2015	333	316	29	11695	169	40.74	77.99	18	79	26.59	76.96	53.03%	1.20%
5	RT Ponting (AUS)	1995-2012	323	320	33	11843	164	41.26	80.37	26	72	32.47	80.83	27.07%	-0.57%
6	SPD Smith (AUS)	2010-2020	113	102	9	4127	164	44.37	88.73	11	23	32.09	90.08	38.27%	-1.50%
7	F du Plessis (SA)	2011-2019	122	117	16	4631	185	45.85	87.92	10	28	34.67	89.89	32.25%	-2.19%
8	KS Williamson (NZ)	2010-2020	127	123	8	5189	148	45.12	81.58	11	33	28	87.1	61.14%	-6.34%
9	JH Kallis (SA)	1996-2014	288	281	45	10071	139	42.67	71.89	15	74	30.91	78.95	39.53%	-8.75%
10	JE Root (ENG)	2013-2020	138	130	19	5515	125	49.68	86.06	15	31	33.09	94.84	50.14%	-9.26%

No 4-7 sorted by %Avg

S.No	Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50	Team's Avg	Team's SR	% Avg	%SR
1	MG Bevan (AUS)	1994-2004	203	174	58	6200	108*	53.44	73.56	6	40	30.46	77.59	75.44%	-5.18%
2	AB de Villiers (SA)	2005-2018	191	184	35	8093	162*	54.31	99.75	20	46	31.3	83.57	73.51%	19.36%
3	Javed Miandad (PAK)	1975-1996	223	212	40	7103	119*	41.29	66.76	8	47	25.12	67.15	64.37%	-0.58%
4	IVA Richards (WI)	1975-1991	185	166	24	6705	189*	47.21	90.14	11	45	28.86	65.9	63.58%	36.78%
5	KP Pietersen (ENG)	2005-2013	118	111	13	4038	130	41.2	87.15	9	22	26.15	77.12	60.11%	13.19%
6	LRPL Taylor (NZ)	2006-2020	192	181	29	6860	181*	45.13	81.72	17	37	28.5	86.4	58.35%	-5.42%
7	AD Mathews (SL)	2009-2020	180	156	40	4852	139*	41.82	83.46	3	34	27.53	81.73	51.91%	2.12%
8	MS Dhoni (INDIA)	2005-2019	310	267	74	9595	183*	49.71	87.11	7	68	33.17	85.91	49.86%	1.40%
9	MEK Hussey (AUS)	2004-2012	162	141	38	4812	109*	46.71	86.56	2	35	33.19	82.86	40.74%	4.47%
10	MJ Clarke (AUS)	2003-2015	208	193	35	6865	130	43.44	79.08	6	50	33.52	84.31	29.59%	-6.20%

No 4-7 Sorted by %SR

S.No	Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50	Team's Avg	Team's SR	% Avg	%SR
1	IVA Richards (WI)	1975-1991	185	166	24	6705	189*	47.21	90.14	11	45	28.86	65.9	63.58%	36.78%
2	AB de Villiers (SA)	2005-2018	191	184	35	8093	162*	54.31	99.75	20	46	31.3	83.57	73.51%	19.36%
3	KP Pietersen (ENG)	2005-2013	118	111	13	4038	130	41.2	87.15	9	22	26.15	77.12	60.11%	13.19%
4	MEK Hussey (AUS)	2004-2012	162	141	38	4812	109*	46.71	86.56	2	35	33.19	82.86	40.74%	4.47%
5	AD Mathews (SL)	2009-2020	180	156	40	4852	139*	41.82	83.46	3	34	27.53	81.73	51.91%	2.12%
6	MS Dhoni (INDIA)	2005-2019	310	267	74	9595	183*	49.71	87.11	7	68	33.17	85.91	49.86%	1.40%
7	Javed Miandad (PAK)	1975-1996	223	212	40	7103	119*	41.29	66.76	8	47	25.12	67.15	64.37%	-0.58%
8	MG Bevan (AUS)	1994-2004	203	174	58	6200	108*	53.44	73.56	6	40	30.46	77.59	75.44%	-5.18%
9	LRPL Taylor (NZ)	2006-2020	192	181	29	6860	181*	45.13	81.72	17	37	28.5	86.4	58.35%	-5.42%
10	MJ Clarke (AUS)	2003-2015	208	193	35	6865	130	43.44	79.08	6	50	33.52	84.31	29.59%	-6.20%

Talking about the Openers, They have a slightly less Average and Strike Rate differential as they have less notouts and generally take time to settle and therefore score at a lower Strike Rate than the Rest of the Team. But Sachin Tendulkar is just on another level. Considering the team he played in he had a considerably Better Average and Strike Rate as compared to his Teammates. David Warner is also underrated. He has been overshadowed because of Rohit Sharma and Hashim Amla but definitely a great opener. Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes didn't really cared about scoring quick. Probably because they had a beast to follow them (More about him later), but were pretty consistent. Shikhar Dhawan and Quinton de Kock are the Modern Batsmen. They are showing the Trend that Openers are not conservative at the Top anymore and are sacrifising a little bit of consistency for quick scoring. A trend started by Jayasuriya, Sehwag and Gilchrist. Matthew Hayden is a weird one. He just played in too good a team to perform significantly better than them.
N0 3 is the most vital position in the Team generally. They generally are the most significant scorers so a lesser Strike Rate Differential shouldn't be criticized that highly. That being said Brian Lara, Dean Jones and Virat Kohli scored fairly quickly with a great average differential too. Brian Lara and Dean Jones are pretty underrated as ODI Batsmen. Statistically speaking they did significantly better than their team mates. Kumar Sangakkara also had better Average and Strike Rate differentials than their teammates. Ricky Ponting despite having a phenomenal career doesn't has as impressive differentials as some other greats. He just had a damn great team. The clique about Jacques Kallis is true. He did score at a lesser rate but was fairly consistent, Joe Root probably plays in the ideal Batting Lineup. He has a set defined role of scoring runs without worrying about the Scoring Rate and he does that perfectly. Kane Williamson's team heavily depends on him for scoring runs and he does that very well. Du Plessis and Smith has decent numbers too.
No 4-7 does nopt have a set defined rule and need to be adaptable according to team's need. Need to Build Partnerships some day, need to score quickly the other. Michael Bevan has the Best Average Differential. He was the OG Finisher and there's a reason why people rate him very highly. Sir Viv Richards has the best average Strike Rate differential and it's fucking filthy!!!. To put into context if he batted in today's English Lineup he would strike at 127!!!. He Really is the Goat. Ab de Villiers's is 2nd on both the Avg and SR Differentials. He has a better Avg Differential than Virat Kohli while having an unbelievable SR Differential. Ideal No 4-5 for any team. Kevin Pietersen is really underrated as a ODI Batsman. He has a phenomenal record compared to his teammates. Him being in all time XIs is not a bad proposition. Michael Clarke just like his teammates suffers from playing in a great team. Mike Hussey and MS Dhoni managed very impressive numbers despite playing in good batting lineups. Javed Miandad was also very consistent and scoring rate was also decent. Taylor and Mathews also have good numbers and they value Consistency over scoring quickly.
These are my thoughts. You can share your views on what you found impressive or not about the comparison. At the end of the day it's only a statistical comparison.
Also if anyone was wondering here is the player's performance in the World Cups(Restricted to vs Top 8 Teams only)

S.No	Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50
1	SR Tendulkar (INDIA)	1992-2011	31	30	1	1397	137	48.17	85.02	3	10
2	RT Ponting (AUS)	1996-2011	30	29	3	1352	140*	52	80.09	4	6
3	IVA Richards (WI)	1975-1987	21	20	5	997	181	66.46	84.63	3	5
4	Javed Miandad (PAK)	1975-1996	29	29	5	994	103	41.41	66.35	1	7
5	KC Sangakkara (SL)	2003-2015	24	23	4	980	117*	51.57	76.62	3	4
6	AB de Villiers (SA)	2007-2015	15	14	3	848	162*	77.09	118.6	3	4
7	BC Lara (WI)	1992-2007	23	23	1	846	116	38.45	82.61	2	5
8	JH Kallis (SA)	1996-2011	22	22	3	770	96	40.52	70.77	0	7
9	DL Haynes (WI)	1979-1992	23	23	1	764	105	34.72	56.84	1	2
10	SPD Smith (AUS)	2011-2019	17	15	1	692	105	49.42	88.15	1	7
11	KS Williamson (NZ)	2011-2019	17	16	4	686	148	57.16	78.57	2	2
12	ML Hayden (AUS)	2003-2007	14	14	1	676	158	52	92.6	3	0
13	V Kohli (INDIA)	2011-2019	17	17	1	673	107	42.06	83.81	1	5
14	F du Plessis (SA)	2011-2019	16	15	4	650	100	59.09	82.17	1	5
15	AJ Finch (AUS)	2015-2019	14	14	0	644	153	46	94.42	3	2
16	LRPL Taylor (NZ)	2007-2019	24	23	2	624	131*	29.71	68.72	1	2
17	JE Root (ENG)	2015-2019	12	12	2	619	121	61.9	88.42	3	2
18	RG Sharma (INDIA)	2015-2019	11	11	1	599	140	59.9	92.29	4	1
19	MJ Clarke (AUS)	2007-2015	16	15	4	566	92	51.45	88.57	0	5
20	MS Dhoni (INDIA)	2007-2019	18	17	5	544	91*	45.33	94.28	0	4
21	DA Warner (AUS)	2015-2019	14	14	0	538	122	38.42	88.05	2	2
22	CG Greenidge (WI)	1975-1983	14	14	1	486	106*	37.38	57.04	1	4
23	DM Jones (AUS)	1987-1992	13	13	1	476	90	39.66	72.56	0	3
24	MG Bevan (AUS)	1996-2003	18	14	4	460	74*	46	62.92	0	5
25	HM Amla (SA)	2011-2019	15	15	1	437	80*	31.21	79.02	0	4
26	AD Mathews (SL)	2011-2019	15	12	3	417	113	46.33	83.4	1	1
27	S Dhawan (INDIA)	2015-2019	6	6	0	389	137	64.83	97.73	2	1
28	KP Pietersen (ENG)	2007-2011	7	7	0	358	104	51.14	84.23	2	2
29	Q de Kock (SA)	2015-2019	12	12	2	325	78*	32.5	91.03	0	3
30	MEK Hussey (AUS)	2007-2011	9	5	0	66	37	13.2	68.75	0	0

Welcome to the final part of this series! Don't forget to read Parts One and Two first!

No-Balls

Remember how Virat Kohli took a wicket with his zeroth ball in T20Is? Has there ever been a situation in which a bowler has finished an innings with figures of 0-0-1-1? Unfortunately, no. It's possible, however, with the most likely circumstance being that a bowler dismisses the No. 11 with a legside stumping. Theoretically, a bowler could finish with career figures of 0-0-1-1, which would give them a strike rate of 0; now that would be truly unusual!
Nonetheless, the question remains: What is more unusual than bowling one ball in an innings? Why, bowling zero balls in an innings while still conceding runs, of course! Now it is time to consider those bowlers who have bowled in an innings while still maintaining a '0' on the first column of their figures.
In Tests, this has occurred thrice. Firstly, we have Allan Lamb. During a 1986 Test against the West Indies, England were absolutely dominated, and the Windies required just five runs to win in their second innings. Desmond Haynes hit a four off of Greg Thomas' bowling in the first over, meaning that the West Indies required just one more run for victory. Utterly defeated, England sent in Allan Lamb to roll his arm, but his first delivery was a no-ball, which gave the West Indies the victory. Lamb finished with figures of 0-0-1-0. FWIW, this is often regarded as one of England's worst tours, and you can read all about it here.
Later that same year, David Gower achieved this same feat. In the final innings of a 1986 Test between England and New Zealand, he finished with figures of 0-0-4-0. How? I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. Based on the scorecard, he bowled one delivery (which was a no-ball) for four runs, so I presume it must have been a no-ball which was struck for three. That was apparently enough for New Zealand to win as Gower didn't bowl again after that.
More recently, we have Sri Lanka's Dhammika Prasad. The Lions toured South Africa in 2011-12, but they didn't do too well in the third Test. Prasad took 2/154 in SA's first innings at an economy rate of 5.13, and he wasn't even the worst of the Sri Lankan bowlers. The Sri Lankans batted the next two innings as they were forced to follow-on, and the Saffers were left with a target of two runs. The first delivery of the first over by Prasad was a no-ball which was hit for a single by Alviro Petersen, resulting in figures of 0-0-2-0 for Prasad.
This feat has supposedly been achieved four times in ODIs, though I have by doubts. I mean, it's being claimed by Cricinfo that Pakistan's Mansoor Akhtar ended up with innings figures of 0-0-1-0 in a 1984 ODI against the West Indies, but it's also claiming that he didn't bowl a no-ball or a wide, so where did that run come from? HowStat is instead claiming that Akhtar finished with figures of 0.1-0-1-0, which would make more sense. I think this is just a scorecard error on Cricinfo's part, like the 1*(0) I mentioned in my last post.
The first actual case of this feat occurring in ODIs came in 2000, with the West Indies facing Zimbabwe. The Windies had managed a score of 232/7, but Zimbabwe found itself at 232/4 after 45 overs. For some bizarre reason, the West Indian captain, Jimmy Adams, chose not to bowl himself until 45 overs had passed, although considering his sole delivery was a wide which granted Zimbabwe the victory, the decision becomes a little more understandable.
The next case occurred in a 2006 ODI between Bangladesh and Kenya. Although Kenya fell for 184 in their innings, they had Bangladesh at 180/8 after 46 overs with two tailenders at the crease, so the match certainly hung in the balance. They entrusted all-rounder Collins Obuya with securing the win, but unfortunately, his first delivery of the match was a no-ball which was smacked for four, leaving him with figures of 0-0-5-0.
Now, this last one is very unusual indeed. Notice how in the previous section, the most I ever talked about was 0.1-0-6-0? Some of you may be wondering if it's theoretically possible to concede more than six runs from one ball, and the answer is yes, thanks to no-balls and wides resulting in runs being conceded despite not counting as 'balls'. However, the reason I never mentioned this was because it has never occurred in international cricket, ever. 0.1-0-7-0, 0.1-0-8-0, 0.1-0-9-0 etc. have never happened in any international innings, at least not yet. Heck, thanks to Kohli's zeroth-ball wicket, we know that even figures of 0-0-8-1 are possible (a no-ball which is hit for six, followed by a wide which dismisses the last batsman; note that this can only occur in Tests due to the 'free hit' rule in white-ball cricket). That has unfortunately never happened, but man, it'd be hilarious to see a bowler concede runs and take a wicket while still not technically bowling any balls!
Anyway, you know what the truly strange thing is? 0.1-0-8-0 has never happened, yet 0-0-8-0 has. Yes, there has been precisely one bowler in the history of international cricket who has conceded more than six runs in an innings despite not bowling a legal delivery. His name? Abdur Rehman.
It was the 2014 Asia Cup, and Pakistan were facing Bangladesh. To provide a rest to seamer Junaid Khan, Pakistan drafted in left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman to take his place. As you can tell from his bowling figures, it didn't go well. However, unless you already know about this match, Rehman's innings was even more bizarre than you may think.
Pakistan's captain Misbah-ul-Haq brought Rehman on in the eleventh over, and he began by bowling a beamer (a waist-high full toss) to Imrul Kayes (yes, a beamer from a spinner!). This resulted in a warning, of course, and nothing was thought of it. The very next delivery...another beamer. Imrul Kayes decided for whatever reason that it was worth playing at this delivery, and he ended up hitting the ball straight to deep midwicket. However, since it was a no-ball, he got away with it, and even scored a single in the process. Under ICC rules at the time, two beamers was enough for a bowler to be sent off, even a spin bowler. However, umpire Johan Cloete showed some leniency and allowed Rehman to continue.
Now, you'd think that Rehman would be more careful from here on out. After all, he had somehow managed to bowl two consecutive beamers despite being a spin bowler, and by the letter of the law, he should have been off. The fact that he was still bowling was due purely to an act of generosity from the umpire, who really should have told Misbah to replace him with another bowler. Rehman got more chances than he ought to have had, so surely, he'd thank his lucky stars and go on to bowl a fantastic spell?
Nope. His next delivery was yet another beamer, which was hit for four by Anamul Haque. The umpire clearly had enough and finally told Misbah to take Rehman out of the attack and bring someone else on; Fawad Alam bowled the rest of the over. This would be Rehman's final ODI, and it was probably the worst ever way to end his career. All-in-all, Rehman conceded one run from his first delivery, two from his second and five from his third; he had failed to bowl a single legal delivery. No other bowler in international cricket has been able to match this feat. In all honesty, I feel sorry for him; you do not want to be known as the guy who once finished with figures of 0-0-8-0. Of course it's difficult to deny that there is something funny about the whole situation, but I can only hope that this incident hasn't affected him too badly.
Incidentally, Bangladesh scored 326/3 in their innings; Pakistan had never chased down such a large total in ODIs before and had only reached such a total in their second innings once. At one point during the chase, they were on 225/5 and required 102 runs from 52 balls to win. However, talented 15-year-old Shahid 'Boom Boom' Afridi arrived and smashed what was at the time the second-fastest fifty in ODIs (18 balls), finishing on 59(25). He probably would have made more had he not been injured during his innings, which eventually resulted in his run-out (he apparently asked the umpires for a runner before being reminded that they had since been abolished in international cricket!). Afridi is a bit of a meme nowadays, but when he was on it, he was an absolute delight to watch.
Despite Afridi's ridiculous knock, Pakistan were still left needing 33 runs from 19 balls to win, with just four wickets remaining. Fawad Alam and Umar Akmal did a fantastic job accelerating the innings, and by the final over, Pakistan required just three runs to win with Alam and Akmal still at the crease; they had put together a partnership of 30 runs from just 13 balls faced. Al-Amin Hossain was to bowl the final over with Akmal on strike, and it seemed as if Bangladesh had blown it. However, there was more drama yet to come.
First ball: A dot. 3 from 5 required. Pakistan still on top.
Second ball: Another dot. 3 from 4 now. Akmal went for a six but failed to connect. Alam reminded him that with just three required, he didn't need to take such risks.
Third ball: A single. 2 from 3, Fawad Alam on strike. Surely, Pakistan can't lose it from here, can they?
Fourth ball: WICKET! Alam run out, Umar Akmal on strike, 2 from 2 required. Alam went for the ramp shot but failed to connect properly. Pakistan were lucky that Umar Gul (the next batsman in) wasn't on strike, else Bangladesh would have been at a clear advantage going into the final two deliveries. As it stood, the match was evenly poised with Pakistan close to choking after all the hard work put in by Afridi, Alam and Akmal.
Fifth ball: FOUR! Akmal kept his nerve and slogged the penultimate delivery to the midwicket boundary, thus giving Pakistan the victory by the barest of margins. Absolute ecstasy for Pakistan; agony, agony for Bangladesh! Shahid Afridi of course received the man-of-the-match award, but damn, now I regret not watching this live! What a match!
Anyway, I don't know how surprising this fact will seem to you, but never in the history of T20I cricket has a bowler conceded runs without bowling a legal delivery, or at least they've never maintained that throughout an innings. I was sure there'd be at least one example, but apparently not. Looks like this record is still up for grabs, so be sure to keep an eye out for it!
​

Keeping All-Rounders

Traditionally, an all-rounder is a player who is adept with both the bat and the ball. I happen to subscribe to this narrow definition. However, in recent years, I've seen people refer to players who are good at both batting and keeping as 'all-rounders' (e.g. Adam Gilchrist), though I prefer to call them 'wicket-keeper-batsmen'. A few have even considered fielding in addition to batting or bowling, which is just pushing it too far in my opinion. With all this in mind, why are people ignoring players who are adept at both keeping and bowling?
Yes, I'm serious. There have been thirty-seven instances in Tests where the designated wicket-keeper has bowled. MS Dhoni has done it the most at seven times (good batsman, good wicket-keeper, good fielder, good captain and now good bowler; Dhoni is truly the all-round cricketer). Of course, in such cases, someone else has to take charge behind the stumps temporarily (for example, against New Zealand in 2014, Dhoni bowled himself for one over, with Kohli taking the gloves). Shockingly, in ten instances, the wicket-keeper has actually taken a wicket! If you look at wicket-keepers who have bowled in Tests, however, one name stands out above the rest.
Go back to 1884 and England are leading Australia 1-0 in the Ashes, requiring only a draw in the third Test to win the series. Back then, Tests in England were only three days long and declarations weren't allowed, so teams who wanted enough time to bowl the opposition out had to slog at everything and hope to be dismissed (obviously, this occasionally led to the bowling team not even trying to take wickets). Australia, who were on 532/6 on the second day, had no choice but to use this strategy to stand a chance at tying the series. What happened next was almost farcical.
Before that, however, I must introduce the Honourable Alfred Lyttelton. One of England's best amateur sportsmen of the Victorian era, he was adept not just at cricket but also at football, rackets (a British variant of squash), real tennis and the hammer throw; in fact, he was the first man to play both football and cricket for England. Despite his obvious talent, he considered himself more of a politician than an athlete, and retired from all sports at the age of 28 to pursue a political career (later becoming an MP and even the Colonial Secretary). At the time, most wicket-keepers didn't stand up to the stumps without a long stop in place, but Lyttelton was so talented that he went without.
Anyway, on the first day, with Australia cruising, the England captain brought on Lyttelton (who had never taken a first-class wicket at the time) to bowl military mediums which, by all accounts, were pretty terrible deliveries. On the second day, with Australia trying to get out, the captain once again brought on Lyttelton, who learned from the previous day and decided instead to bowl some underarm lobs. Amusingly, he gave his gloves to W. G. Grace (yes, the W. G. Grace) while keeping his pads on, which must have been quite the image.
To the surprise of everyone, Lyttelton took a wicket with his first underarm delivery when the ball lodged in the wicket-keeper's gloves, though questions were asked (including by Grace) regarding whether the batsman had actually made contact. He went on to take 4/19 in the innings, easily the best bowling performance by a designated wicket-keeper in Tests (as well the best bowling performance of all the England bowlers used in that innings). He was one wicket away from being the only wicket-keeper to take a 5fer in a Test match! Those four wickets would be the only first-class wickets that Lyttelton ever took! Despite Australia enforcing the follow-on, the match ended up being a draw, with England's second innings lasting a little over an hour.
Designated wicket-keepers have bowled in ODIs eight times (taking wickets on three occasions) and in T20Is three times (Thailand's Md Shafiqul Haque being the only one of those to take a wicket, doing so in a 2019 T20I against the Maldives). That said, none of them have reached the prowess of Alfred Lyttelton, unfortunately. We still have to wait for a designated wicket-keeper to take a 5fer in international cricket.
Finally, there have been four instances in international cricket in which all eleven players have bowled in an innings, with all of these cases happening in Tests. Never before has it happened in ODIs or T20Is, so we're still waiting for that one.
The first such instance happened in 1884, in the same Test where Lyttelton took a 4fer as wicket-keeper. That's two unusual bowling feats for the price of one!
The second instance occurred in 1980, when Australia toured Pakistan. Having scored 617 in their first innings, Australia went on to bowl all eleven of their players against Pakistan. Despite this, only one Australian bowler (Geoff Dymock) took a wicket. The match ended as a draw.
The third occasion was in a 2002 Test between India and the West Indies. On a flat deck (1,142 runs were scored for the loss of just eighteen wickets), India used eleven bowlers in the West Indies' first innings to no avail. This match was most notable, however, for Anil Kumble bowling fourteen consecutive overs (and dismissing Brian Lara in the process) with a broken jaw after being struck by Merv Dillon while batting; as Cricinfo slyly notes, Kumble 'became the first bowler to dismiss Brian Lara while bowling with a broken jaw', which I suppose counts as an unusual bowling feat in itself.
The most recent instance of all eleven bowlers being used came in 2005, during the South African tour of the West Indies. As you might have guessed, this was yet another instance where the pitch was flatter than a motorway; Cricinfo writes that '[Graeme] Smith gave everyone a bowl, perhaps in an effort to stop someone wandering off to the local rum shop in search of a more interesting way of spending the final afternoon of the series'. Mark Boucher, who had never bowled in Tests before, gave the gloves to AB de Villiers and managed to dismiss Dwayne Bravo. This time, 1,462 runs were scored in the match for the loss of just seventeen wickets, and as you can imagine, numerous individual and partnership batting records were broken (not that the spectators would have been paying enough attention to notice).
You know what's sad about this whole thing? Wicket-keepers have bowled forty-eight times in international cricket, yet on only four occasions have all eleven players bowled. That means that on forty-four occasions, the wicket-keeper bowled ahead of some of the batsmen. Just how awful do you have to be at bowling that the captain would rather trust the bloody wicket-keeper with the ball over you? Granted, on some of these occasions, the captain was the wicket-keeper, but it must be pretty embarrassing nonetheless.
​

Bonus

I've generally restricted myself to international cricket, but this is too hilarious not to include. What is the highest number of runs conceded in one over? 36, of course; just ask Stuart Broad. 36 is not the maximum possible, however; no-balls and wides can ensure that more than 36 runs are scored off one one over. This has never ever happened in international cricket, but domestic cricket is a different matter.
In List A cricket, the highest total off one over is 43. This occurred in a 2018 Ford Trophy match between Northern Districts and Central Districts (the former won by 25 runs, so they must have been dancing in the streets of Northern Districts that night). The Central Districts' Willem Ludick was the unlucky bowler on this occasion: His first delivery went for four; the next two were no-balls which were both hit for six; the second ball (fourth delivery) also went for six; the third ball went for a single; and the last three all went for six. Solid effort there.
However, that's not what I wanted to talk about. The most runs conceded off one over in first-class cricket is...well, let me explain. Firstly, no, this isn't the match where two batsmen supposedly ran between the wickets 286 times after the ball got stuck in a tree (the veracity of this urban myth is questionable, and in any case, the supposed match in which this happened didn't even have FC status; see this article for more details). Now on to the actual record.
This incident happened in a 1990 Shell Trophy match between Wellington and Canterbury. Wellington needed a win to secure the title (though a draw would have been enough if other results went their way), but there was a problem: Although Canterbury required 291 runs from 59 overs (a more-than-doable chase), they found themselves at 108/8 and so decided to shut up shop and hold out for the draw. This was inconvenient for Wellington as they wanted the win, and so once Canterbury were on 196/8, Wellington's captain Erv McSweeney hatched a truly unusual plan.
The strategy was thus: Send in batsman Bert Vance to lob numerous no-ball full tosses, which Canterbury would of course put away with ease. Once they approached the target, Canterbury would begin to go for the win, and then at that point, Wellington would begin to bowl normally and go for the win themselves. It was a high-risk, high-reward strategy, and when one thinks about it, it was a genius plan. It was unironically 4D chess, and it was brilliant.
Of Vance's first seventeen deliveries, only one was legitimate. He ended up conceding 77 runs off the over, which is now the record by quite a margin. Amusingly, the scorers were so confused by the chaos that they resorted to asking the spectators to keep track of the score, and the scoreboard was left in a frenzy. Even more amusingly, Vance only actually bowled five legitimate deliveries in the over, 'owing to the umpire's understandable miscalculation' as Cricinfo puts it.
The mathematical among you will have noticed that since Canterbury started the over at 196/8, since they scored 77 runs off it and since the target was 291, they required just 18 runs off the final over for victory. However, in a truly farcical turn of events, the scoreboard operators had given up trying to keep score at that point, so neither team knew of this fact! The Canterbury batsmen scored 17 runs from the first five balls of the final over (since Wellington did not realise that their opponents were so close to the target, they left an incredibly leaky field), but unaware that they thus needed to score just one more run for victory, they blocked the last delivery of the match!
This series began with an instance where the bowler blatantly violated the spirit of the game, and so it has ended with another such instance. Needless to say, once the situation had finally been understood, Canterbury were furious at this stunt and demanded that points be docked from Wellington. Not only did that not end up happening, but results elsewhere meant that Wellington ended up winning the championship regardless. Fortune favouring the bold, or cheats getting away with it? I'll leave that up to you, but I have to say, there's no need for urban myths such as '286 runs off one ball' when real life already provides plenty of unusual stories, as this post has hopefully shown.
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That's it from me! Man, that was much longer than I expected; I really wanted all this to be one post, but there was too much here to cut down (the initial draft was over twice the length of the character count!), so I had little choice but to cut it into three parts. I hope you enjoyed reading all that; if you guys want, I'd be happy to do one for fielding as well, though understand that it's going to be shorter than the first two as it's much harder to dig up statistics for fielding.

As we approach the end of the first cycle of the new World Test Championship, I wanted to see what would happen if the world championship was decided on a challenge basis, as in combat sports, i.e. to be the champ, you have to beat the champ. I added a caveat: the world title would not be on the line in every series played by the champion. For a team to get a shot at the title, it would have to:

1. Tour the current champions as the #1 contender; or
2. Tour the current champions after beating them at home; or
3. Host the current champions after beating them away.

To be the #1 contender, a team would have to beat the current #1 contender away from home. A team does not lose its #1 contender spot if another team wins the title using rules 2 or 3. However, a team that has earned a title shot through rules 2 and 3 would lose the shot if the title changes hands. A drawn series favours the incumbent, whether champion or #1 contender.
After applying these rules to the existing history of Test cricket, I found that the lineal world championship has been contested 60 times by eight teams. In these posts, I will provide a brief history of these 60 series, spanning 138 years. By recounting this alternative history, I hope to demonstrate the soundness of this model of deciding the world Test champion and to revisit some of the most iconic series of all time, as well as to have something to do during the commercial breaks. (Parts 1, 2 and 3)
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PART FOUR: BLUNDERS DOWN UNDER (1983-2007)
Two dynasties dominated the world championship over four decades: the West Indies and Australia. Both teams held the record for most consecutive Test wins at the height their title reigns and, barring the series when the title changed hands between them, they only lost one Test each while defending the title during this period, in series that form cornerstones of their opponents' Test history: Pakistan's 1987-88 tour of the West Indies, and India's 2003-04 tour of Australia. England, on the other hand, were swept, 5-0, in both their title shots in this era.
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#37: WEST INDIES v INDIA (5 TESTS, 1982-83)
Months before their historic upset in the World Cup final, India took a shot at the West Indies' Test title, having beaten the champions at home, 1-0 after six Tests, in 1978-79. The team that arrived in Jamaica in February 1983, however, had just suffered a 3-0 loss in Pakistan that ended the captaincy of Sunil Gavaskar. The new captain, Kapil Dev, took 4/45 and, along with Ravi Shastri (4/43), kept the Windies first-innings lead to three. But Andy Roberts twice ran through the side, finishing with 9/100 for the match, and Dev's 4/73 in the second innings could not prevent a four-wicket defeat. After Clive Lloyd asked Dev to bat on a rain-affected first day in the Trinidad Test, Malcolm Marshall took 5/39 to bowl India out for 175. Balwinder Sandhu dismissed both openers for ducks and Dev had Viv Richards caught behind for 1, but Lloyd (143) and Larry Gomes (123) added 237 for the fourth wicket and the champions took a 219-run lead. Mohinder Amarnath batted for nearly six hours to score 117 and, once a draw was inevitable, Dev scored a century off 95 balls.
After two days were lost to rain in the drawn Georgetown Test, as was most of the first day at Bridgetown, the Windies pace quartet bundled India out for 209 and, thanks to a 130 by Gus Logie and fifties by Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Richards and Lloyd, the champions piled on 486 by the fourth day. Amarnath (91 and 80) was the only Indian batsman to stand up to the scrutiny of the short ball, as India could only set a target of one run. Having lost the series, the Indian batsmen made the most of an easier pitch at St John's, with Shastri scoring a century, and Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar scoring nineties, in a first-innings total of 457. The Windies openers responded with centuries in a 296-run stand, as did Lloyd and Jeff Dujon in a 207-run sixth-wicket partnership, and the champions took a 93-run lead, while Amarnath scored the game's sixth century to secure a draw.
Result: West Indies retain, 2-0. Player of the Series: Mohinder Amarnath (598 runs @ 66.44)
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#38: WEST INDIES v NEW ZEALAND (4 TESTS, 1984-85)
New Zealand had earned their maiden shot at the world title in a bad-tempered home series in 1980, as the West Indies—jaded after a tough series win in Australia, missing Viv Richards due to a sore back, and incensed by poor umpiring and the refusal of several Kiwi players to walk when they were clearly out at crucial junctures—lost the Dunedin Test by one wicket and could only draw the other two games, while threatening to cancel the tour and go home on multiple occasions.
The title defence was Richards's first series as captain, following the retirement of Clive Lloyd, and he chose to bat first on a Queen's Park Oval pitch that favoured pace bowling. Richard Hadlee dismissed Desmond Haynes and Larry Gomes with the score at 9, but Gordon Greenidge (100) and Richie Richardson (78) added 185 runs for the third wicket and Richards (57) batted with the tail to take the score to 307. Despite a century stand between John Wright and Jeff Crowe, the West Indies took a 45-run first-innings lead. After most of the third day was rained out, Richards scored 78 in 89 balls to set New Zealand 307 on the final day but, although Malcolm Marshall had the Kiwis at 83/5, the challengers escaped with a draw.
Richie Richardson scored 185 on a lifeless pitch at Georgetown, but Martin Crowe responded with 188 in 462 balls to secure another draw. However, despite nearly eight hours of play being lost in the Bridgetown Test, Malcolm Marshall took 4/40 and 7/80 to dismiss the Kiwis for 94 and 248, while Richards scored a century, in a ten-wicket victory to retain the title. Then, in the final Test at Kingston, the champions survived Hadlee's hostile bowling to score 363 before responding in kind to bowl New Zealand out for 138 and 283.
Result: West Indies retain, 2-0. Player of the Series: Malcolm Marshall (27 wickets @ 18.00)
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#39: WEST INDIES v ENGLAND (5 TESTS, 1985-86)
Nearly a decade after Tony Greig infamously promised to make the visiting West Indies grovel, David Gower's England arrived in the Caribbean hoping more to avoid embarrassment than to wrest away the world championship. Since their last title shot, in 1981, England had held on to their #1 contender status by twice beating Australia at home, as well as India, Pakistan and New Zealand, although Sri Lanka managed a draw at Lord's in 1984. On a fast, uneven surface at Kingston, however, they collapsed for 159 and 152, with Patrick Patterson taking 7/74 on debut. Despite a 106-run fourth-wicket partnership between Gower and Allan Lamb at Port of Spain, England could only manage 176 in the first innings, before Richie Richardson's 102 and Malcolm Marshall's 62* took the champions to 399. Gower added 80 runs with Graham Gooch for the second wicket in the second innings, while Lamb and Peter Willey added 81 runs for the fourth, but Marshall's 8/132 for the match kept the target at 93 and the champions won by seven wickets.
Richardson (160) and Desmond Haynes (84) had a 194-run second-wicket partnership in the Barbados Test after Gower chose to field after winning the toss, but England took the final six wickets of the innings for 57 runs to dismiss the West Indies for 418 on the second day. Gooch and Gower then had England at 110/1 at stumps. However, on the third day, the challengers suffered a collapse of 63/9, finishing on 189. Following on, England could only manage 199 and the series was lost. It was 200 and 150 at the second Trinidad Test, and, despite a fighting 90 by Gower in the first innings, 310 and 170 in Antigua. England had been "blackwashed" in its worst ever Test series. No Englishman had managed a century, or even an average of 40, in the tour, while the bowlers took only five second-innings wickets over the five Tests.
Result: West Indies retain, 5-0. Player of the Series: Malcolm Marshall (27 wickets @ 17.85, 153 runs @ 38.25)
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#40: WEST INDIES v PAKISTAN (3 TESTS, 1987-88)
After India took England's #1 contender status with a 2-0 win in 1986, Pakistan took it off them by winning the Bangalore Test of March 1987 by 16 runs, after the first four Tests were drawn. In the opening Test of their first ever title shot, at Georgetown in April 1988, with Viv Richards and Malcolm Marshall out due to injuries, captain and future prime minister Imran Khan took 7/80 to bowl the champions out for 292 on the first day. Javed Miandad scored 114 to get Pakistan to 297/5, before Saleem Yousuf added 62 to secure a 143-run first-innings lead. Khan then took 4/41 to complete the West Indies' first home defeat in nine years.
Richards and Marshall returned for the second Test, at Port of Spain. Khan took 4/38 to dismiss the champions for 174 on the first day, but Marshall had Pakistan at 55/5 by stumps, finishing with 4/55 to keep the Pakistani lead at 20. Richards came in to bat late on the second day, with the West Indies at 66/3 in the second innings. After Richie Richardson was dismissed early the following morning, Richards (123) added 94 runs with Carl Hooper (26) and 97 with Jeff Dujon (106*), who batted with the tail to set Pakistan a target of 372 in 129 overs. Ramiz Raja made an attacking start with 44 but, after three wickets fell for nine runs, Miandad and Saleem Malik dropped anchor, taking Pakistan into the rest day at 107/3. They eventually added 86 for the fourth wicket, before Malik was dismissed for 30 with the score at 153/4. After Khan was dismissed with the score at 169, Miandad and Ijaz Ahmed (43) added 113 for the sixth wicket. Miandad was out just before the final hour, for 102 in 265 balls, with Pakistan needing 84 off 21 overs and the West Indies needing three wickets. Marshall dismissed Wasim Akram with the score at 311, but Yousuf (35 off 59) and Ijaz Faqih (10* off 51) defended into the final over of the match, and Abdul Qadir blocked the final five balls to keep the series lead.
Fifties by Raja and Shoaib Mohammad took Pakistan to 309 on the first day of the final Test, at Bridgetown, as Marshall took 4/79. Pakistan then had the champions at 21/2, before Desmond Haynes (48 off 155) and Carl Hooper (54 off 88) added 79 for the third wicket, and Haynes and Richards (67 off 80) added 98 for the fourth. Mudassar Nazar dismissed Haynes and Gus Logie, Dujon was run out for a duck and Akram dismissed Richards with the West Indies at 201/7. Marshall counter-attacked with 48 off 62, and the Windies ended their innings, early on the third day, just three runs short. Nazar, Mohammad and Miandad added 147 for the second and third wickets but, after losing four wickets for 16 runs, Pakistan ended the day at 177/6. Khan fought back after the rest day, with an unbeaten 43, to set the champions a target of 266 to retain the title. Akram dismissed Haynes with the score at 21, and took four wickets to have the West Indies at 207/8, but Dujon (29 off 92) and Winston Benjamin (40 off 72) got the champions to a two-wicket victory.
Result: West Indies retain, 1-1. Player of the Series: Imran Khan (23 wickets @ 18.08)
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#41: WEST INDIES v PAKISTAN (3 TESTS, 1992-93)
Pakistan returned to the Caribbean in April 1993 as ODI world champions, having preserved their #1 contender status in home series against England, Australia, India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, and drawn two series against the West Indies. No other challengers had emerged in the five years between the two title shots, as Pakistan and England were the only teams to not lose a series against the Windies.
After the champions elected to bat first on a dry pitch with lots of variable bounce, Desmond Haynes and Phil Simmons put on a 63-run opening partnership, before all ten wickets fell for 64 runs. Aamer Sohail scored 55 to get Pakistan to 100/2, but Curtly Ambrose (4/34) and Ian Bishop (5/43) engineered a collapse of 40/8 to keep the Pakistani lead at 13. Haynes (143*) then carried his bat through the second innings, adding 103 with Richie Richardson (68) and 169 with Brian Lara (98) to take the West Indies to 333/3 at stumps on the second day. Wasim Akram (4/75) and Waqar Younis (3/88) ran through the rest of the batsmen to bowl the champions for 382 the following day, but Carl Hooper took 5/40 to win the Test by 204 runs.
Haynes scored 125 at Bridgetown in a first-innings total of 455, before Courtney Walsh took 4/56 to secure a 234-run lead. Following on, Asif Mujtaba (41 off 198 balls) and Javed Miandad (43 off 68) had Pakistan at 113/2, but the rest of the batting could only take the score to 262, allowing the champions to retain their title with a ten-wicket victory. Hooper then scored 178* in Antigua, but Inzamam-ul-Haq's 123 and rain on the final day prevented a sweep.
Result: West Indies retain, 2-0. Player of the Series: Desmond Haynes (402 runs @ 134.00)
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#42: AUSTRALIA v WEST INDIES (c) (5 TESTS, 1996-97)
In May 1995, Mark Taylor's Australia did what had not been done since Ian Chappell's Australia visited the Caribbean, in 1973: they beat the West Indies at home. This entitled them to a title shot when Courtney Walsh's West Indies visited in 1996-97. After Walsh chose to bowl on a damp Gabba pitch, Taylor (43 off 136) and Ricky Ponting (88 off 150) added 126 runs for the second wicket, before Ian Healey, who came in to bat at 196/5, added 142 runs with Steve Waugh (66 off 184), remaining unbeaten on 161 when Australia were finally bowled out for 479. The Windies openers and Brian Lara were dismissed with the score at 77 and, after Carl Hooper (102 off 228) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (82 off 230) batted for most of the third day to add 172 for the fourth wicket, the last seven wickets fell for 28 runs. After choosing not to enforce the follow on, Taylor declared shortly after tea on the fourth day, setting the champions 420 in 119 overs. Sherwin Campbell batted out 54.3 of those overs on his own over seven hours, before being dismissed for 113 by Michael Bevan (3/46) in the final hour of the Test, and Australia won by 123 runs.
Walsh took 5/98 at Sydney, but Australia managed to score 331 in just over four sessions. Campbell (77 off 155) and Robert Samuels (35 off 115) put together a 94-run opening partnership, but McGrath took 4/82 to secure a 27-run lead. Matthew Elliott (78 off 162) and Mark Waugh (67 off 159) then added 77 for the third wicket, before they collided while taking a run and Elliott retired hurt with a knee injury. Bevan (52 off 154) and Greg Blewett (47* off 62) stretched the target to 340. Despite a 117-run fourth-wicket partnership between Hooper (57 off 124) and Chanderpaul (71 off 68), Shane Warne (4/95) mopped up the tail soon after lunch on the fifth day, and Australia won by 124 runs.
Australia collapsed to 27/4 at Melbourne, as Curtly Ambrose took 5/55 to dismiss Australia for 219. McGrath responded with 5/50, and the West Indies could only manage a 36-run lead. Ambrose then took 4/17 in 12 overs to bowl Australia out for 122 and, even though McGrath responded with 3/41, Chanderpaul (40 off 82) and Hooper (27 off 36) added 50 runs for the fourth wicket to secure a six-wicket victory. Bevan, who had been dropped for the third Test, returned at Adelaide to take 10/113 while dismissing the Windies for 130 and 204, while also scoring 85* off 263 to assist Matthew Hayden (125 off 226) and Blewett (99 off 154) in scoring 517 against a bowling attack missing Ambrose due to injury. In the dead rubber at Perth, Ambrose returned to take 7/93 in the match, as Australia were bowled out for 243 and 194, while Lara scored 132 in a first-innings total of 384 to set up a ten-wicket victory.
Result: Australia win, 3-2. Player of the Series: Glenn McGrath (26 wickets @ 17.42)
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#43: AUSTRALIA v INDIA (3 TESTS, 1999-2000)
Having won back the world title after 27 years, and then winning away series against South Africa and England, Australia faltered on its 1997-98 tour of India, losing the first two Tests before winning the third at Bangalore. This provided India their first title shot in 16 years when they returned Down Under in 1999. It was the first world-championship series I ever watched and might have something to do with my aversion to waking up early.
After losing to Queensland and beating a depleted New South Wales side, as well as losing a List A fixture against the Prime Minister's XI at Canberra, India made a promising start to the Adelaide Test, restricting Australia to 52/4 on the first morning. However, Steve Waugh (150 off 323) and Ricky Ponting (125 off 198) batted for the rest of the day to add 239 runs for the fifth wicket, and Shane Warne scored 86 in 100 balls on the second day to get the Australian total to 441. India lost their openers for nine runs and, although VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid added 81 for the third wicket, they were both dismissed shortly before stumps. The Indian captain, Sachin Tendulkar (61 off 133), and his soon-to-be successor, Sourav Ganguly (60 off 133), added 108 runs for the fifth wicket on the third morning, but Warne dismissed both on either side of lunch, taking 4/92 in 42 overs to secure a 156-run lead. The Indian bowlers made scoring difficult on a pitch with uneven bounce, but Greg Blewett scored 88 in 262 balls to set India a target of 396 in just under four sessions. Damien Fleming took 5/30 as, after that lbw decision, India ended the fourth day at 76/5, before being bowled out for 110.
India drew their first-class fixture against Tasmania, who declared their first innings at 548/5. Then, after rain forced the abandonment of the first session of the Boxing Day Test, Javagal Srinath dismissed Blewett and Justin Langer to have Australia at 28/2 in the eleventh over, before Michael Slater (91 off 179) added 95 runs with Mark Waugh and 69 with Steve Waugh. Ponting (67 off 85) and Adam Gilchrist (78 off 119) then added 144 runs in 32 overs for the sixth wicket. Australia were bowled out for 405 on the third morning—the final session of the second day was also rained out—and Brett Lee took 5/47 on debut to bowl India out for 238 in the second over of the fourth day. After Ajit Agarkar had Australia at 32/2, Gilchrist walked in and scored 55 off 73, and the Waughs added 58 in 77 balls before declaring at 208/5 an hour before stumps. Tendulkar, whose 116 off 191 in the first innings had helped avoid the follow-on, scored 52 in 122 balls, but India were bowled out for 195. McGrath took 5/48 and 5/55, while Langer scored 223, in an innings victory at Sydney to complete the whitewash.
Result: Australia retain, 3-0. Player of the Series: Ricky Ponting (375 runs @ 125.00)
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#44: AUSTRALIA v WEST INDIES (5 TESTS, 2000-01)
The West Indies team that returned to Australia in 2000 was a shadow of its previous self, having lost its last five away series amid internecine disputes between the players and their board. And, after losing to Western Australia and Victoria in tour games, Jimmy Adams's side were bowled out for 82 on the first day of the Brisbane Test, with Glenn McGrath taking 6/17 in 20 overs. Michael Slater (54 off 137) and Matthew Hayden (44 off 94) overcame the Windies total in their opening partnership, putting on 101 before Hayden was run out half an hour before stumps. Marlon Black took three quick wickets on the second morning, but the Waughs added 62 in 178 balls to stabilise the innings, while Adam Gilchrist (48 off 66) and Brett Lee (62* off 80) added 61 in 60 balls for the eighth wicket, getting Australia to 332. McGrath then took 4/10 in 13 overs to bowl the challengers out for 132 to seal the innings victory.
The West Indies were at 22/5 after the first ten overs of the Perth Test, but Ridley Jacobs (96* off 151) added 75 runs with Wavell Hinds (50 off 87) and 65 with Mervyn Dillon (27 off 48) to take his team to 196. Hayden (69 off 120) and Mark Waugh (119 off 175) allowed the champions to declare with a 200-run lead shortly before stumps on the second day. Lee then took 5/61 in 15 overs to dismiss the Windies for 173 and complete Australia's twelfth consecutive Test win, breaking a record set by the challengers in 1984-85.
Brian Lara scored a century on the first day of the Adelaide Test, eventually scoring 182 in 235 balls to take his team to 354/5, before the final five wickets fell for 37 runs. Slater (83 off 123) and Hayden (58 off 119) responded with an opening partnership of 156, while Mark Waugh (63 off 142) and Ricky Ponting (92 off 156) added 123 for the fifth wicket, and the champions managed to take a 12-run lead early on the fourth day. Colin Miller, who had taken 5/81 in the first innings, followed up with 5/32 in the second, as the champions retained their title with a five-wicket victory after bowling out the Windies for 140. A century by Steve Waugh and 9/88 by Gillespie won Australia the Boxing Day Test by 352 runs, while Slater scored 96 and 86* to secure a six-wicket win at Sydney.
Result: Australia retain, 5-0. Player of the Series: Glenn McGrath (21 wickets @ 17.09)
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#45: AUSTRALIA v SOUTH AFRICA (3 TESTS, 2001-02)
South Africa had taken over as #1 contenders by beating the West Indies in April 2001 and arrived in Australia later that year for their first title shot since returning to the cricketing fold. In the nine years since they lost their comeback Test in the West Indies, in April 1992, South Africa had lost just three Test series: a home series against Australia, and two away series against India and England. Australia, meanwhile, had seen their run of 16 consecutive victories end in India earlier that year and, despite comprehensively winning the Ashes in England, had failed to beat New Zealand in three home Tests. Steve Waugh said before the Adelaide Test that Australia wanted to prove they were "still a very good cricket side."
Justin Langer, who had been promoted to open the batting with Matthew Hayden during the Ashes, scored 116 in 246 balls on the first day at Adelaide, getting out just before the second new ball was due, with the score at 238/5. His partner at the time, Damien Martyn, went on to score 124* in 210 balls to take Australia to 439. In response, Herschelle Gibbs (78 off 187) and Gary Kirsten (47 off 86) had an 87-run opening partnership, before Neil McKenzie (87 off 168) and Mark Boucher (64 off 149) added 141 for the seventh wicket. Warne polished off the tail to finish with 5/113, and Australia took a first-innings lead of 65. Hayden (131 off 207) then added 181 runs for the third wicket with Mark Waugh (74 off 134) to set South Africa a target of 375 in the final hour of the fourth day. The Australian bowlers had the challengers at 74/8 on the final day, but Jacques Kallis's 65* in 174 balls took South Africa to the relatively respectable total of 128.
After rain delayed the start of the Boxing Day Test, Glenn McGrath dismissed the South African openers with the score on 37. McKenzie (67 off 163) put up some resistance, while Shaun Pollock (42* off 93) and Nantie Hayward (14 off 22) added 44 for the final wicket to get South Africa to 277 by tea on the second day. Langer (85 off 176) and Hayden (138 off 211) got Australia to stumps at 126/0, eventually adding 202 for the first wicket. Steve Waugh's 90 in 156 balls made sure that, even though Australia lost their final five wickets for 25 runs, the champions took a 210-run first-innings lead on the fourth morning. After Kallis was run out on 99, the challengers could only set a target of ten runs. Having retained the title, the Australian openers scored centuries in a 219-run partnership at Sydney, and Kirsten's 153 in 359 balls was the only reason the Test even went into a fourth day.
Result: Australia retain, 3-0. Player of the Series: Matthew Hayden (429 runs @ 107.25)
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#46: AUSTRALIA v INDIA (4 TESTS, 2003-04)
India's historic victory at Eden Gardens, in 2001, stopped the Australian juggernaut in its tracks, and Sourav Ganguly's team secured a title shot on their next tour, which would be Steve Waugh's final Test series. Zaheer Khan took the only two wickets to fall on a rain-affected first day at the Gabba, as Justin Langer (121 off 194) got Australia to 262/2 at stumps. Only 16 overs of play was possible on the second day, but that was enough for Khan (5/95) and Ajit Agarkar (3/90) to get the champions to 323/9. In the 38 balls that were possible on the third, India took the final Aussie wicket, while their openers remained unbeaten on 11. In the absence of Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee, they added 50 more runs on the fourth before three wickets fell in 22 balls, but Ganguly, who had sought Greg Chappell's advice on how to survive in Australian conditions, scored 144 in 196 balls to take India to 329/6, while the tail wagged to get the first-innings total to 409 on the fifth morning. Hayden (99 off 98) and Ponting (50 off 75) then added 140 runs for the second wicket to ensure the draw.
Australia ended the first day of the Adelaide Test at 400/5, with Ponting still batting at 176. He was eventually dismissed for 242 with the score at 556/8, as Kumble took three wickets in the over to prevent any further runs from being scored and finish with 5/154 in 43 overs. A 66-run opening stand was followed by India losing four wickets for 19 runs, but Rahul Dravid added 303 runs with VVS Laxman (148 off 282), before batting with the tail to finish at 233 in 446 balls, with India just 33 runs behind. Agarkar then took 6/41 on the fourth day to bowl Australia out for 196, and Dravid scored 72* in 170 balls on the final day to secure an unlikely four-wicket win. Although Lee returned for the Boxing Day Test, Virender Sehwag scored 195 in 233 balls, adding 141 with Aakash Chopra (48 off 138) and 137 with Dravid (49 off 89), as India finished the first day at 329/4. The challengers could only add 37 runs on the second morning, losing six wickets for 16 runs in seven overs. Hayden (136 off 173) and Ponting (257 off 458) then added 234 runs for the second wicket, and Australia ended their innings on 558 late on the third day. Despite Dravid's 92 in 244 balls in the second innings, India lost their final six wickets for 33 runs to set Australia a 95-run target on the final morning, and the series was tied going into the final Test.
Sachin Tendulkar (241* off 436) and Laxman (178 off 298) added 353 runs for the fourth wicket at the SCG, with India batting for over two days before declaring at 705/7, but, despite Anil Kumble's 8/141 in 46.5 overs, centuries by Langer (117 off 149) and Simon Katich (125 off 166) allowed Australia to bat into the fourth day. Despite being 231 runs ahead, Ganguly chose to rest his bowlers by not enforcing the follow-on, and Dravid scored an attacking 91* in 114 balls, adding 138 runs for the third wicket with Tendulkar (60* off 89), before Ganguly declared half an hour before stumps, giving his team 94 overs to bowl the champions out and win the championship. However, on the final day of his Test career, Steve Waugh (80 off 159) added 142 runs for the fifth wicket with Katich (77* off 96) to save the match and retain the title.
Result: Australia retain, 1-1. Player of the Series: Rahul Dravid (619 runs @ 123.80)
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#47: AUSTRALIA v SRI LANKA (2 TESTS, 2004)
Sri Lanka had an obscure claim to a title shot when they arrived in the winter of 2004 to play two Tests against Australia: they had beaten Pakistan away in 1995-96 to become #1 contenders, but never received a chance to contest the title, either in the West Indies or in Australia, in the next nine years. Their bid to become world champions was dealt a crippling blow after the world's leading wicket-taker, Muttiah Muralitharan, pulled out of the tour for "personal reasons." He had been no-balled for chucking on the previous Test tour, been booed incessantly when Sri Lanka returned for an ODI series and was called a chucker by the Australian prime minister, John Howard. Even a delegation sent by the government of the Northern Territory, which would host the Tests at Darwin and Cairns, failed to convince him to reconsider.
After Marvan Atapattu chose to field first at Darwin, the Australian openers added 72, while Damien Martyn (47 off 84) and Darren Lehmann (57 off 107) added 97 for the fourth wicket. However, after Sanath Jayasuriya dismissed Martyn at the stroke of tea, with the score at 177, Chaminda Vaas (5/31) and debutant Lasith Malinga (2/50) ran through the rest of the Australian batsmen for only 30 runs in the final session. Glenn McGrath responded with 5/37 to bowl Sri Lanka out for 97 on the second morning. Vaas (2/51) and Malinga (4/42) then had the champions at 77/5 before tea, but stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist scored 80 in 123 balls to set Sri Lanka a target of 312 at stumps. On the third day, Michael Kasprowicz took 7/39 to seal a 149-run victory and retain the title. Matthew Hayden (117 and 132) and Justin Langer (162 and 8) then scored centuries at Cairns but, despite Shane Warne's 7/199 in the match, which helped him equal Muralitharan's wicket tally, Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa batted out the final ten overs of the Test to secure a draw.
Result: Australia retain, 1-0. Player of the Series: Matthew Hayden (288 runs @ 72.00)
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#48: AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND (5 TESTS, 2006-07)
England wrested away the #1 contender status from South Africa by winning a five-Test away series, 2-1, in 2004-05, then beat Australia by the same margin in the 2005 Ashes at home. It was the first time the world championship would be defended in an Ashes series since 1972. On the first day at the Gabba, Justin Langer scored 82 in 98 balls, before Ricky Ponting (196 off 319) and Michael Hussey (86 off 187) added 209 for the fourth wicket, taking Australia to 346/3 at stumps. The champions declared at 602/9, and Glenn McGrath took 6/50 to bowl England out for 157. Langer scored a century to allow Australia to declare at 202/1 early on the fourth day. Chasing 648, Paul Collingwood (96 off 155) and Kevin Pietersen (92 off 155) added 153 for the fourth wicket to get England to stumps at 293/5 but, after Pietersen was dismissed in the first over of the final day, the rest of the side could only add 77 runs.
Collingwood (206 off 392) added 113 runs for the third wicket with Ian Bell (60 off 148) on the first day of the Adelaide Test, before adding 310 runs in over a day with Pietersen (158 off 257). England declared at 551/6 in the final hour of the second day, and Andrew Flintoff dismissed Langer early to have Australia at 28/1 at stumps. However, Ponting (142 off 245) and Hussey (91 off 212) added 192 for the fourth wicket on the third day, before Clarke (124 off 224) added 98 with Adam Gilchrist (64 off 79) and 118 with Shane Warne (43 off 108) on the fourth to keep the first-innings deficit at 38. England were at 59/1 going into the final day, but lost nine wickets for 70 runs to set Australia a target of 168 in one session. Ponting (49 off 65) and Hussey (61* off 66) added 83 runs in 96 balls to secure a six-wicket win.
Hussey's 74* in 162 balls got Australia to 244 on the first day of the Perth Test, despite Monty Panesar's 5/92 and Steve Harmison's 4/48. England reached stumps at 51/2, and kept losing wickets at regular intervals, with Pietersen's 70 in 123 balls taking them to 215. Matthew Hoggard dismissed Langer off the first ball of the second innings, but Matthew Hayden (92 off 159) and Ponting (75 off 128) added 144 for the second wicket. Centuries by Hussey (103 off 156), Clarke (135* off 164) and Gilchrist (102* off 59) allowed Australia to declare at 527/5 on the third day and, despite a 170-run partnership for the second wicket between Alastair Cook (116 off 290) and Bell (87 off 163), Warne took 4/115 to seal a 206-run victory to retain the title. England could only manage totals of 159, 161, 291 and 147 in the final two Tests to be whitewashed for the first time in an Ashes series since the disastrous tour of 1920-21.
Result: Australia retain, 5-0. Player of the Series: Ricky Ponting (576 runs @ 82.28)