SHORT FEATURE

GANGAN PRATHAP

HE best ODI batsmen? “Richards, followed by daylight,”” Tsays S. Rajesh, stats editor of ESPNcricinfo (http://www.. espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/537629.html). Since a long period was covered (from the 1970s to recentt times), the indicator used was a simple multiplication of battingg average with strike rate, normalized with that of the top 7 batsmenn of that era. The top ten then looked like this: Viv Richards (2.19),, M S Dhoni (1.80), (1.76), (1.70),, (1.65), (1.56), Virender Sehwagg (1.55), Gordon Greenidge (1.51), (1.51), and Allann Lamb (1.48). However, performance is a complex construct. There is a sizee (quantity) component, the number of innings played. Sachin hass played far more ODI innings than Richards, Hayden or Lamb.. And then there is quality (in this case, average and/orr strike rate being possible proxies). But what about consistency?? Readers of Science Reporter might recall that a defi nition forr consistency was offered in these pages (SR Vol.48(09), Septemberr 2011). Let us now apply this theory to identify who among thee icons of ODI today, and earlier, counts on both qualityy and consistency. We collect data for leading run-getters in the history of ODII cricket from the Cricinfo website. Table 1 displays the salientt fi gures. In terms of quality (batting average) and consistency takenn together, RN ten Doeschate ranks above the rest. In quality termss alone, as expressed by the average number of runs scored for thee opportunities one has had at the crease, Amla has the slightest off Science Reporter, MARCH 2016 44 SHORT FEATURE Figure 1. Considering that many of ten Doeschate’s best innings were against teams like Bermuda, Ireland and Kenya, it is Amla who is arguably Bevan is the best ODI batsman. Bevan is the most consistent of all time. the most consistent of all time.

Table 1. STATISTICS FOR LEADING It is Amla who RUN-GETTERS IN THE HISTORY OF ODI CRICKET FROM THE CRICINFO WEBSITE is arguably ODI batsman Innings Runs Average Consistency the best ODI RN ten Doeschate 32 1541 48.16 0.634 Amla H 123 6008 48.85 0.578 batsman. de Villiers 187 8403 44.94 0.586 Williamson KS 78 3362 43.10 0.595 Abbas, Zaheer 60 2572 42.87 0.592 Kohli V 158 6831 43.23 0.530 Hayden ML 155 6133 39.57 0.584 Richards IVA 167 6721 40.25 0.549 Tendulkar S 452 18426 40.77 0.510 Jones DM 161 6068 37.69 0.596 edges over ten Doeschate. But when it comes to consistency with the bat, Bevan has the edge over ten Doeschate. Dhoni MS 236 8832 37.42 0.601 In fact, it is interesting to see this plotted on a map as shown Bevan MG 196 6912 35.27 0.655 in Figure 1. Considering that many of ten Doeschate’s best Sangakkara K 346 12500 36.13 0.600 innings were against teams like Bermuda, Ireland and Kenya, it is Amla who is arguably the best ODI batsman. Bevan is the most Ponting R 365 13704 37.55 0.554 consistent of all time. Bailey CD 60 2236 37.27 0.555 Chanderpaul S 251 8778 34.97 0.580 Dr. Gangan Prathap is associated with the Vidya Academy of Science and Technology, Thrissur and the A P J Abdul Kalam Technological University, Lara B 289 10405 36.00 0.525 Thiruvananthapuram. He was earlier Director of the National Institute of Dravid R 318 10889 34.24 0.572 Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR), New Delhi and more recently with the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science Gilchrist AC 279 9619 34.48 0.529 and Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram. Address: 56 Pebble Gardens, Njandoorkonam, Chempazhanthy PO, Thiruvananthapuram-695587; Email: Sehwag V 245 8273 33.77 0.486 [email protected] 45 Science Reporter, MARCH 2016