Blog Posts by Impact Index

To help us overlook the mediocre New Zealand competition in the current series being played in West Indies, we travel to New Zealand to put its entire ODI cricket history under the Impact Index scanner.

From 1973 to 2012 (before the current series in West Indies), New Zealand played 620 matches and won 268 with a win-loss ratio of 0.85.  Their highest score is 402, lowest 64. They have never won the World Cup, not even reached the final once till date (though they probably should have in 1999). In 2000 though, they did win the ICC Champions Trophy.

We present three lists – of players, batsmen and bowlers. The minimum qualification to be on these lists is to have played 75 matches. A match is considered in this system only when there is a result, and if the player has bowled or batted, as the case may be.

Here are the highest impact ODI players in New Zealand’s history.

 

Richard Hadlee is the only cricketer from the main 8 Test-playing nations who is the highest impact cricketer in both

Read More »from These Kiwis could fly

Dean Jones is perhaps the most underrated ODI player in history.

Continuing in our series of pieces on each country’s ODI history, we move towards Australia. From 1971 to 2012 (before the current series in England), Australia played 793 matches and won 490 with a win loss ratio of 1.82 – making them easily the most successful country in ODI cricket history. Their highest score is 434, lowest 70. They won the World Cup four times, in 1987, 1999, 2003 and 2007 and finished as runners-up in 1975 and 1996.

We present three lists – of players, batsmen and bowlers. The minimum qualification to be on these lists is to have played 75 matches. A match is considered in this system only when there is a result, and if the player has bowled or batted, as the case may be.

Here are the highest impact ODI players in Australia’s history.

So, there are 8 specialist bowlers, 5 specialist batsmen and 7 all-rounders amidst the highest impact 20 players in Australian ODI cricket history. An example of why great bowlers and (especially) all-rounders have an advantage Read More »from Stars of the Southern Cross

By Soham Sarkhel and Jatin Thakkar

Scorecard links: 1st T20I, 2nd T20I

Following a disappointing tour of England which saw them going winless in all the three formats of the game, the West Indian team came back in the strongest manner possible and completed one of the most comprehensive whitewashes ever in a T20I series. New Zealand who were playing their first international series after a break of 4 months, looked rusty and completely listless in front of a dominant West Indian side.

Here is the series through the Impact Index prism.

Observations:

The one-sided nature of this series can be understood from the fact that the 5 highest impact players were from West Indies. In comparison, the six lowest impact players of the series were from New Zealand. The one-sided encounters can be attributed to the non- availability of their seniors (Taylor, Vettori, Ryder etc.) but the fact remains that the youngsters failed to take the spots which were up for grabs and more importantly failed Read More »from Lashed in Lauderhill

By Soham Sarkhel and Jatin Thakkar

The retirement of Kevin Pietersen in the shorter formats of the game (bizarre, because Pietersen is the highest impact batsman in T20 internationals) had left a question for the selectors and a chance for youngsters to grab a spot in the English side. However, for the time being, both the parties seem to have a mutual agreement.

If it was the dominance of Ian Bell in the ODI series, 23-year-old Notts batsman Alex Hales made sure he would be a top contender for the opener’s slot in the T20 World Cup after helping England chase down a competitive total of 173 against the West Indies in the one-off T20I. As was the case in the ODI series, the West Indian bowlers again let their team down and ended the tour without a win- the start of which had been quite promising.

Here is the match through the lens of Impact Index.

Observations:

Alex Hales, as expected, was the highest impact performer of the match (Match IMPACT 8.50). In a tough chase of 173, he lost his

Read More »from New English talent bursts through

By Soham Sarkhel and Jatin Thakkar

After the 2-0  defeat in the Test series where the West Indians had shown promising signs of a fight, they were expected to perform better with the inclusion of their IPL stars - Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard in their line-up. However, what followed was a rather spineless performance from the West Indians which resulted in yet another 2-0 series loss (a ‘whitewash’, since the 3rd ODI got abandoned) against an efficient English team. Very much like the Test series, it was their bowling which comprehensively let them down – but this time, even their batting did not do them sufficiently proud.

Here is the series through the Impact Index prism.

Observations:

Ian Bell, who made his comeback to the ODI side as the replacement for Kevin Pietersen was the highest impact player in the series (Series IMPACT 4.00) and was also rightly declared the Player of the Series. Bell was also the highest impact batsman in the series, Read More »from Bowling lets West Indies down again

ODI cricket history through Impact Index - part 2. Click here for Part 1

Continuing in our series of pieces on each country's ODI history, we move here towards West Indies. From 1973 to 2012 (before the current series in England), West Indies played 670 matches and won 347 with a win loss ratio of 1.18. Their highest score is 360, lowest 54. They won the World Cup twice, in 1975 and 1979, and finished as runners-up in 1983.

We present three lists - of players, batsmen and bowlers. The minimum qualification to be on these lists is to have played 75 matches. A match is considered in this system only when there is a result, and if the player has bowled or batted, as the case may be.

Here are the highest impact ODI players in West Indies' history:

Quite unsurprisingly, the majority of this list is packed with players who represented West Indies during its golden era of world domination (1973-1994). Also evident is the gap in the quality between the old warhorses and the relatively new flagRead More »from Windies' Highest Impact ODI Players

By Soham Sarkhel and Jatin Thakkar

Scorecards: 1st ODI | 2nd ODI | 3rd ODI Abandoned | 4th ODI | 5th ODI

Given the run of form both these teams had coming into this bilateral one-day series, few would have expected Sri Lanka to come out triumphant, that too convincingly (3-1) against a Pakistani side which has won five out of the six ODI series in the post-World Cup period compared to Sri Lanka's last ODI series victory which came way back in 2010. Pakistan had their share of performers in Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali and Misbah-ul-Haq in this series, but their performances were way too inconsistent in front of a Sri Lankan team which had glimpses of both individual (NLTC Perera, KC Sangakkara) as well as team brilliance.

Thisara Perera finally lived up to his billing as a genuine all-rounder and provided two brilliant individual performances for his team in the second and the fourth ODI for which he got the Man of the Series award. However on the IMPACT chart, both Kumar Sangakkara and Read More »from Handling pressure the key as Sri Lanka edge Pakistan

ODI cricket history through Impact Index – part 1


Interestingly, all the major cricket-playing nations are involved in bilateral ODI cricket in the next 2 months (perhaps for the last time in such a concentrated period – this is almost like a solar eclipse, in a cricketing context). We take this opportunity to present a perspective on each country’s ODI cricket history over the next few weeks.

We begin with Pakistan. From 1973 to 2012 (before the current series in Sri Lanka), Pakistan played 772 matches and won 416 with a win-loss ratio of 1.25. Their highest score is 385, lowest 43. They won the World Cup in 1992 and reached the final in 1999.

We present three lists – of players, batsmen and bowlers. The minimum qualification to be on these lists is to have played 75 matches. A match is considered in this system only when there is a result, and if the player has bowled or batted, as the case may be.

Here are the highest impact ODI players in their history.

It is interesting that Read More »from Pakistan’s Highest Impact ODI Players