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Folly of using "overall career averages"


zen

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Posted (edited)

"Overall career averages" are not necessarily the best way to judge cricketers as, among other things, they: 

 

  • Give equal weightage to runs scored vs. a strong side, a weak side, and an associate 
  • Fail to account the number of games played vs. strong side. For example, both A and B have played 100 games. In batting, B averages higher than A, but A could have played a majority of his games vs. stronger sides 

 

Talking about strong test teams, let's look at the W/L ratios of teams in the 1970s:

 

View overall figures [change view]
Start of match date between 1 Jan 1970 and 31 Dec 1979 remove between 1 Jan 1970 and 31 Dec 1979 from query
Totals in terms of batting team switch totals
Ordered by win/loss ratio (descending)
Page 1 of 1 Showing 1 - 7 of 7   First pageFirst Previous pagePrevious Next Next page Last Last page dblBakArwB.gifReturn to query menu
dblBakArwW.gifCleared query menu
Overall figures
Team Span Mat Won Lost Tied Draw W/LDescending Ave RPO Inns HS LS  
South Africa 1970-1970 4 4 0 0 0 - 40.35 3.00 7 622 232 investigate this query
England 1970-1979 95 33 21 0 41 1.571 32.30 2.45 170 633 64 investigate this query
West Indies 1971-1980 63 18 15 0 30 1.200 36.64 3.08 116 687 109 investigate this query
Australia 1970-1980 83 30 29 0 24 1.034 31.85 2.76 161 585 90 investigate this query
India 1971-1979 64 17 19 0 28 0.894 32.27 2.70 116 644 42 investigate this query
Pakistan 1971-1979 46 9 11 0 26 0.818 35.13 2.87 85 608 105 investigate this query
New Zealand 1971-1979 41 3 19 0 19 0.157 28.05 2.33 74 551 65

 

  • The top teams  with a W/L ratio of 1 or higher are SA, Eng, WI and Aus
  • Ind and Pak are similar
  • NZ  is pretty weak 

 

 

With the above info, let's look at team performances vs. the top teams: 

 

View overall figures [change view]
Opposition team Australia remove Australia from query or England remove England from query or South Africa remove South Africa from query or West Indies remove West Indies from query
Start of match date between 1 Jan 1970 and 31 Dec 1979 remove between 1 Jan 1970 and 31 Dec 1979 from query
Totals in terms of batting team switch totals
Ordered by win/loss ratio (descending)
Page 1 of 1 Showing 1 - 7 of 7   First pageFirst Previous pagePrevious Next Next page Last Last page dblBakArwB.gifReturn to query menu
dblBakArwW.gifCleared query menu
Overall figures
Team Span Mat Won Lost Tied Draw W/LDescending Ave RPO Inns HS LS  
South Africa 1970-1970 4 4 0 0 0 - 40.35 3.00 7 622 232 investigate this query
West Indies 1973-1980 31 11 9 0 11 1.222 36.02 3.25 56 687 109 investigate this query
England 1970-1979 47 14 16 0 17 0.875 29.81 2.42 91 538 71 investigate this query
Australia 1970-1980 56 18 22 0 16 0.818 30.71 2.67 110 532 90 investigate this query
India 1971-1979 51 13 16 0 22 0.812 31.69 2.67 91 644 42 investigate this query
Pakistan 1971-1979 30 3 10 0 17 0.300 31.72 2.76 55 608 105 investigate this query
New Zealand 1971-1978 26 2 12 0 12 0.166 28.26 2.24 47 551 65

 

  • Now only WI and SA (though only played 4 games) have a W/L ratio of 1 or more 
  • Eng, Aus, and Ind are similar, which it should be as Ind had a team that won in WI and Eng
  • Pak and NZ drop to the bottom

 

 

 

Similarly, let's try for 80s

 

View overall figures [change view]
Start of match date between 1 Jan 1980 and 31 Dec 1989 remove between 1 Jan 1980 and 31 Dec 1989 from query
Totals in terms of batting team switch totals
Ordered by win/loss ratio (descending)
Page 1 of 1 Showing 1 - 7 of 7   First pageFirst Previous pagePrevious Next Next page Last Last page dblBakArwB.gifReturn to query menu
dblBakArwW.gifCleared query menu
Overall figures
Team Span Mat Won Lost Tied Draw W/LDescending Ave RPO Inns HS LS  
West Indies 1980-1989 82 43 8 0 31 5.375 35.05 3.15 140 606 53 investigate this query
Pakistan 1980-1989 80 23 13 0 44 1.769 35.77 2.96 128 708 62 investigate this query
New Zealand 1980-1989 59 17 15 0 27 1.133 30.07 2.57 105 553 94 investigate this query
Australia 1980-1989 97 27 31 1 38 0.870 33.98 2.77 179 617 76 investigate this query
India 1980-1989 81 11 21 1 48 0.523 34.59 2.99 139 676 75 investigate this query
England 1980-1989 104 20 39 0 45 0.512 29.97 2.80 190 652 82 investigate this query
Sri Lanka 1982-1989 29 2 16 0 11 0.125 25.99 2.75 54 491 93

 

  • Here only WI, Pak, and NZ (Hadlee factor) have a W/L ratio of 1 or greater

 

 

Now let's adjust for the top teams above: 

 

View overall figures [change view]
Opposition team New Zealand remove New Zealand from query or Pakistan remove Pakistan from query or West Indies remove West Indies from query
Start of match date between 1 Jan 1980 and 31 Dec 1989 remove between 1 Jan 1980 and 31 Dec 1989 from query
Totals in terms of batting team switch totals
Ordered by win/loss ratio (descending)
Page 1 of 1 Showing 1 - 7 of 7   First pageFirst Previous pagePrevious Next Next page Last Last page dblBakArwB.gifReturn to query menu
dblBakArwW.gifCleared query menu
Overall figures
Team Span Mat Won Lost Tied Draw W/LDescending Ave RPO Inns HS LS  
West Indies 1980-1988 20 6 4 0 10 1.500 28.24 2.91 37 511 53 investigate this query
New Zealand 1980-1989 18 4 5 0 9 0.800 29.53 2.64 32 492 94 investigate this query
Pakistan 1980-1989 18 4 5 0 9 0.800 28.20 2.76 32 616 77 investigate this query
Australia 1980-1989 52 12 21 0 19 0.571 30.64 2.69 95 617 76 investigate this query
India 1980-1989 47 4 15 0 28 0.266 32.07 2.95 82 565 75 investigate this query
England 1980-1988 51 5 24 0 22 0.208 26.84 2.67 95 546 82 investigate this query
Sri Lanka 1982-1987 15 1 9 0 5 0.111 23.42 2.60 28 479 93

 

  • Now only WI has a W/L ratio of 1 or higher 

 

 

Since, we are at this, let us look at the 90s too:

 

View overall figures [change view]
Start of match date between 1 Jan 1990 and 31 Dec 1999 remove between 1 Jan 1990 and 31 Dec 1999 from query
Totals in terms of batting team switch totals
Ordered by win/loss ratio (descending)
Page 1 of 1 Showing 1 - 9 of 9   First pageFirst Previous pagePrevious Next Next page Last Last page dblBakArwB.gifReturn to query menu
dblBakArwW.gifCleared query menu
Overall figures
Team Span Mat Won Lost Tied Draw W/LDescending Ave RPO Inns HS LS  
South Africa 1992-1999 66 29 13 0 24 2.230 33.82 2.77 117 621 105 investigate this query
Australia 1990-1999 108 54 25 0 29 2.160 35.32 2.95 193 653 104 investigate this query
Pakistan 1990-1999 76 32 21 0 23 1.523 30.95 2.98 133 594 92 investigate this query
West Indies 1990-1999 81 30 28 0 23 1.071 29.92 3.11 147 692 51 investigate this query
India 1990-1999 69 18 20 0 31 0.900 35.46 2.95 113 633 66 investigate this query
Sri Lanka 1990-1999 67 14 22 0 31 0.636 30.86 2.86 118 952 71 investigate this query
England 1990-1999 107 26 43 0 38 0.604 30.39 2.77 198 653 46 investigate this query
New Zealand 1990-1999 81 17 32 0 32 0.531 29.70 2.69 153 671 93 investigate this query
Zimbabwe 1992-1999 39 3 19 0 17 0.157 26.66 2.57 72 544 10

 

 

After adjusting for the top teams: 

 

View overall figures [change view]
Opposition team Australia remove Australia from query or Pakistan remove Pakistan from query or South Africa remove South Africa from query or West Indies remove West Indies from query
Start of match date between 1 Jan 1990 and 31 Dec 1999 remove between 1 Jan 1990 and 31 Dec 1999 from query
Totals in terms of batting team switch totals
Ordered by win/loss ratio (descending)
Page 1 of 1 Showing 1 - 9 of 9   First pageFirst Previous pagePrevious Next Next page Last Last page dblBakArwB.gifReturn to query menu
dblBakArwW.gifCleared query menu
Overall figures
Team Span Mat Won Lost Tied Draw W/LDescending Ave RPO Inns HS LS  
South Africa 1992-1999 25 11 7 0 7 1.571 30.19 2.69 46 517 113 investigate this query
Australia 1990-1999 50 21 14 0 15 1.500 33.14 2.88 89 628 105 investigate this query
West Indies 1990-1999 38 13 18 0 7 0.722 26.22 3.11 73 606 51 investigate this query
Pakistan 1990-1999 31 7 13 0 11 0.538 27.58 2.94 55 580 92 investigate this query
India 1991-1999 32 7 15 0 10 0.466 28.91 2.79 58 633 66 investigate this query
England 1990-1999 77 16 36 0 25 0.444 28.20 2.74 145 593 46 investigate this query
New Zealand 1990-1999 33 7 19 0 7 0.368 26.27 2.65 65 518 93 investigate this query
Sri Lanka 1991-1999 29 3 13 0 13 0.230 27.57 2.95 53 547 71 investigate this query
Zimbabwe 1993-1999 16 2 10 0 4 0.200 24.67 2.78 30 544 102

 

 

Additionally, for players try not to sort based on runs or wkts. Identify some minimum criteria such as 2,000 runs  or 100 wkts (if accounting for most teams over a relatively long period), and then sort based on averages (applicable for most cases).

 

My 2 cents! 

 

Edited by zen

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