Hell raisers and sleep inducers

I went back over the Castrol Cricket folder and suddenly realized that I had not covered the important measure of innings scoring rates in both Tests and ODIs. In ODIs, I have the complete balls-played data and it is not very difficult to extract the same.

As the tongue-in-cheek title says, these are innings which would have got the cemeteries come alive. When someone scores at the rate of around 15 runs per over, that is what is likely to happen. The cut-off is that the innings should have reached the half-century mark. This is needed to separate the cameos, about which I have covered earlier.

Year	Batsman	For	Vs	Runs	Balls	SR	4s	6s
2002	Shahid Afridi	Pak	Hol	55*	18	305.6	4	6
2007	McCullum B.B	Nzl	Bng	80*	28	285.7	9	6
1996	Jayasuriya S.T	Slk	Pak	76	28	271.4	8	5
2000	Agarkar A.B	Ind	Zim	67*	25	268	7	4
2011	Shahid Afridi	Pak	Nzl	65	25	260	5	5
1996	Shahid Afridi	Pak	Slk	102	40	255	6	11
1990	O'Donnell S.P	Aus	Slk	74	29	255.2	0	0
2001	Boucher M.V	Saf	Ken	51*	20	255	2	4
2005	Kemp J.M	Saf	Zim	53*	21	252.4	2	5
2007	McCullum B.B	Nzl	Can	52*	21	247.6	1	5
2008	Hussey D.J	Aus	Win	52	21	247.6	4	4
2008	Taylor R.L	Nzl	Ire	59*	24	245.8	5	4
2011	Berrington R.D	Sco	Ire	56	23	243.5	2	6
2010	Sammy D.J.G	Win	Saf	58*	24	241.7	2	6
2007	Boucher M.V	Saf	Hol	75*	31	241.9	9	4
2001	Sehwag V	Ind	Ken	55*	23	239.1	7	3
2004	McMillan C.D	Nzl	Usa	64*	27	237	2	7
2009	Chigumbura E	Zim	Ken	68	29	234.5	10	3
2002	Marillier D.A	Zim	Ind	56*	24	233.3	10	1
2005	Abdul Razzaq	Pak	Eng	51*	22	231.8	5	3

Shahid Afridi is the only batsman to have gone past a strike rate of  300 under these cut-off conditions. Granted it was against the Dutch bowlers; however, still a stupendous effort. McCullum’s innings is legend. New Zealand reached their target of 95 in 6, yes; it is not a misprint, 6 overs. Jamie How, at the other hand, dawdled to 7 in 8 balls.

The next innings, Jayasuriya’s blitz, unfortunately finished on the losing side. Chasing 216 to win, Sri Lanka reached 96 for 1 in the 9th over when Jayasuriya got out. They then collapsed to 172. Only one other innings, Sammy’s wonderful 58 finished on the losing side.

Note that Shahid Afridi owns 3 of the top 7 innings. McCullum and Boucher have two innings each.

Now for those who forgot that there was an ODI game going on and played innings which would have put Test spectators to sleep. The criteria is that the innings should be 25 balls or more. Then the scoring rate takes over.

Year	Batsman	For	Vs	Runs	Balls	S/R
2006	Morton R.S	Win	Aus	0	31	0
2009	Chigumbura E	Zim	Bng	0	27	0
2011	Mutizwa F	Zim	Bng	0	27	0
1996	Mehra V	Uae	Eng	1	34	2.9
1999	King R.D	Win	Aus	1	30	3.3
2004	Faisal Hossain	Bng	Slk	1	29	3.4
2002	Hinds W.W	Win	Ind	1	28	3.6
1984	Wettimuny S	Slk	Nzl	1	27	3.7
2000	Carlisle S.V	Zim	Ind	1	25	4
1999	Kanitkar H.H	Ind	Win	2	33	6.1
1992	Wallace P.A	Win	Ind	2	32	6.2
1986	Rutherford K.R	Nzl	Pak	2	31	6.5
2003	Mol H.J.C	Hol	Ind	2	30	6.7
1986	Tillakaratne H.P	Slk	Win	2*	29	6.9
2010	Adeel Raja	Hol	Ire	3	42	7.1
2004	Mpofu C.B	Zim	Eng	2	28	7.1
2007	Panesar M.S	Eng	Saf	2	28	7.1
2009	Blain J.A.R	Sco	Can	2	28	7.1
2008	Flynn D.R	Nzl	Eng	2	26	7.7
2008	Otieno K.O	Ken	Sco	2	26	7.7

Morton came in 0 for 1 after a first-ball duck and then proceeded to defend the next 31 balls. He had the mortification of getting out without breaking the duck. No wonder West Indies lost comfortably.

What does one say of Chigumbura, with a career strike rate of 83, while scoring 2700+ runs, scores a 0 in 27 balls, for a team chasing 125. It was certainly not a match-winning innings although Zimbabwe managed to reach their target in the 50th over. A few more balls to Chigumbura and Bangladesh might have won.

Mutizwa did no better. His 27-ball 0 did not exactly help Zimbabawe’s chase of 254.

Vijay Mehra scored his 34-ball 1 batting at no.4. Reon King, on the other hand, scored his patient one-run innings, batting at no.10. It is not a surprise that most of these were in losing causes.