In a lovely testimonial to the batting exploits of Chris Martin, Old Batsman noted the high percentage of total runs Martin's highest score took up. Somewhat curious, I thought I'd have a look at it.

The biggest problem, obviously, is that it gets progressively harder to make your highest score dominated your total runs scored, and any straight query returns nothing but one test wonders who scored all their runs in their only knock. Martin, in that sense isn't close.

As a more realistic measure, we can multiply the percentage by the number of innings, to rate longevity higher. This is equivalent, however, to dividing the high score by the average (ignoring not outs). Martin hasn't played his career out yet, but even so, he loses out on percentage and on the index to the undisputed king of innings out of the blue: Jason Gillespie.

Name		HS	PERC	IDX
Gillespie	JN	201	0.1650	15.5123
Akram	Wasim	257	0.0887	13.0362
McGrath	GD	61	0.0955	12.9828
Blair	RW	64	0.3386	11.5132
Chandrasekhar	BS	22	0.1317	10.8024
Martin	CS	12	0.1579	10.2632
Bacchus	SFAF	250	0.3197	9.5908
Badcock	CL	118	0.7375	9.5875
Jumadeen	RR	56	0.6667	9.3333
Jayasuriya	ST	340	0.0488	9.2155
Balaskas	XC	122	0.7011	9.1149
Muralitharan	M	67	0.0581	8.9991
Desai	RB	85	0.2033	8.9474
Young	BA	267	0.1313	8.9263
Gregory	SE	201	0.0881	8.8081
Howarth	HJ	61	0.2096	8.8041
Bell	AJ	26	0.3768	8.6667
Islam	Manjural	21	0.2593	8.5556
Sandham	A	325	0.3697	8.5040
Mushtaq	Saqlain	101	0.1090	8.4984
Tufnell	PCR	22	0.1438	8.4837

This index however, is a little too biased towards longevity, and doesn't really capture the essence of Martin's great inability to score runs. To do this, I tried an alternative index, that calculates the square of innings played, divided by career runs. Some very good batsmen can rate well on this list too, by dint of extended careers, but the top of it represents the true greats of dismal batsmanship.

Name		HS	PERC	IDX	IDX2
Martin	CS	12	0.1579	10.2632	55.5921
Chandrasekhar	BS	22	0.1317	10.8024	40.2635
Walsh	CA	30	0.0321	5.9295	36.5652
McGrath	GD	61	0.0955	12.9828	28.9452
Gibbs	LR	25	0.0512	5.5840	24.3463
Tufnell	PCR	22	0.1438	8.4837	22.7516
Muralitharan	M	67	0.0581	8.9991	20.8189
McCarthy	CN	5	0.1786	4.2857	20.5714
Willis	RGD	28	0.0333	4.2667	19.5048
Valentine	AL	14	0.0993	5.0638	18.4468
Mbangwa	M	8	0.2353	5.8824	18.3824
Edwards	FH	21	0.1071	6.4286	18.3673
Kaneria	Danish	29	0.1115	7.6962	18.3115
Hoggard	MJ	38	0.0803	7.3911	17.8943
Ntini	M	32	0.0471	5.0898	17.1782
Iverson	JB	1	0.3333	2.3333	16.3333
Chatfield	EJ	21	0.1167	6.3000	16.2000
Bedi	BS	50	0.0762	7.8506	16.1723
Jurangpathy	BR	1	1.0000	4.0000	16.0000
Colquhoun	IA	1	1.0000	4.0000	16.0000
Ambrose	CEL	53	0.0368	5.3405	14.6108
Singh	Maninder	15	0.1515	5.7576	14.5859
Underwood	DL	45	0.0480	5.5710	14.3607
Younis	Waqar	45	0.0446	5.3465	14.2574
Malcolm	DE	29	0.1229	7.1271	14.2542
Alderman	TM	26	0.1281	6.7882	13.8374

One shouldn't actually read anything into this list, because the number is mostly meaningless. But the size of Martin's lead over acknowledged bunnies in Chandrasekhar and Walsh is impressive.

Cricket - Analysis 19th March, 2009 22:02:15   [#] 

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