In a recent article, I looked at just which Australian players had participated in the most Test match wins during their careers and who had the best record of wins to losses.
For those who did not get to that article, the winner by a landslide was champion keeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist. Gilchrist won 73 Tests from only 96 matches. His win/loss ratio of 6.64 was a whopping 35 per cent better than any other player in history, from anywhere in the world.
But cricket is a team game. By merely looking at how often a player was in a winning team we are only seeing half the picture. The other important factor is how those players contributed to their teams’ victories.
Take an example, the famous Adelaide Ashes Test of December 2006. We all know how England’s unparalleled ability to freeze in sight of victory was preyed upon by the Will of Warne, resulting in a win for the Australians that still resonates. Let’s contrast two players from that match:
1. Shane Warne: 43 runs and 4 for 49 in England’s strangled second innings,
2. Justin Langer: 4 runs in the first innings and 7 in the second.
Both these players get to place a tick in the win column, but there can be no doubt who contributed more to that victory.
Over a series of articles, I will look at a selection of Australian cricket winners from my previous article and see which players stood up and drove our teams to greatness. I will provide some detail on memorable performances in wins and other interesting bits and pieces, so each article will only focus on a few players.
Once I’ve gotten bored with performing individual player analyses, in a future article I will present a table of champions.
The top seven comparison
In addition to straight-up batting averages, a key component of this analysis will be what I call “the top seven comparison”. What I’ve done is reviewed all of the winning Tests involving each player. I’ve taken the total contribution of the top seven in these matches (excluding the player in question) and calculated an overall batting average for the other specialist batsmen (plus keeper) involved in those wins.
This should show us who was taking on the lion’s share of scoring and who was coasting along. A similar analysis will be performed for bowlers.
This time around we will look at Michael Clarke, Adam Gilchrist and Allan Border.
Michael Clarke
64 wins. 4,955 runs at 55.67 with 17 centuries (losses 29.71, draws 75.66). Top seven comparison: 49.58.
Clarke’s batting average in these wins was 55.67, so this means that on average when Clarke was involved in a win he contributed six runs per innings more than the other batsmen, which is around 12 per cent more.
Clarke’s first two centuries in victories were away in India and then back home against New Zealand. In both cases, Australia were four down for a bit of a vulnerable score before Clarke put on big partnerships at speed with Adam Gilchrist to take the initiative. He was awarded the man of the match award in both Tests.
(AFP PHOTO/Lindsey Parnaby)
Two of Clarke’s highest scores, 329 not out and 210, were both achieved in the one series against India in 2012 and both resulted in wins for the home side. In the Mitch Johnson-inspired 2013 Ashes massacre, Clarke scored centuries in both the Brisbane and Adelaide wins to set up victory.
It’s also forgotten that in the Adelaide Ashes test of 2006 before Warne spun Australia to victory it was a Clarke century along with big contributions from Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey that got the Australians within striking distance in the first place.
Interestingly, a quick stroll through his 17 centuries in wins (only five Australians have scored more) shows him regularly taking advantage of a turbocharged start from David Warner or Ricky Ponting. I counted three each of his winning centuries being games where Warner or Ponting also scored a ton in the same innings.
On the bowling front, Clarke also took three wickets in the dying minutes to snatch a highly controversial win against India in Sydney in 2008.
Clarke has made some big runs in drawn matches including a pair of double centuries, but he wasn’t just filling his boots. For example, he scored 259 not out in Brisbane in a high scoring draw in November 2012, but he came in when the side was 3 down for 40 after South Africa had posted 450 in their first innings and the attack Clarke was up against included Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel and Jacques Kallis.
His other double was in Adelaide that same month after Australia were 3 for 55 in their first innings against a similar attack. South Africa went on to hold out for a draw with eight wickets down on Day 5.
In summary, Clarke was a deceptively tough player and for a period after the decline of Ponting until the rise of Steve Smith, he was the lynchpin of a side struggling to match its past glories.
Adam Gilchrist
73 wins. 4,332 runs at 54.83 (losses 29.9, draws 35.55). 14 of Gilchrist’s 17 centuries came in wins and he struck his runs in victories at a strike rate over 82. Top seven comparison: 53.6.
In averaging 54.83, Adam Gilchrist performed on average only 1.2 runs per innings better than his peers in wins he was involved in (or 2 per cent). So, in general, his runs on their own weren’t the vital factor, although he made a decent contribution. To dig further, there is strike rate to consider.
Gilchrist’s strike rate in wins of 82.26 can be compared to the combined strike rate of his peers in these games of 56.5. Gilchrist was going a whopping 46 per cent faster than his batting partners.
So in addition to the mountain of runs from the number 7, the speed at which they came was a significant contributor, giving his bowlers more time to take 20 wickets and demoralising his opposition. Every time I look at Gilchrist’s career from a new angle it only emphasises what a once in a lifetime player this man was.
(Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images)
Gilchrist’s most famous winning century was probably his first, when in Hobart in 1999 he and Justin Langer chased down 369 for victory against Pakistan. In only his second Test Gilchrist came in at 5 for 126 and was not out at the finish with 149 from just 163 balls.
There were many other amazing efforts. During India’s famous series victory in 2001, it is probably forgotten now that Gilchrist, along with Matt Hayden, were responsible for Australia stretching its record winning run to 16 Tests in the first Test.
In his maiden Test on Indian soil, Gilchrist came in with Australia in trouble at 5 for 99 and smashed 122 from just 112 balls to engineer a ten-wicket victory.
Later efforts were often about turning good totals into winning ones in very quick time to allow a push for victory. For example, in South Africa in 2002 across the first two Tests Gilchrist smashed 342 runs in only 321 balls without being dismissed, leading to two victories.
There was also Gilchrist’s final fling in Perth in the 2006 Ashes, where in setting up a declaration he completely destroyed poor Monty Panesar while racking up 102 runs from only 59 balls.
And then there was a Test against Sri Lanka in Kandy in 2004. Not played at home or in a glamour series, this one is rarely mentioned. Australia were shot out for only 120 in their first innings, with the great Muttiah Muralitharan taking four wickets.
Sri Lanka were restricted to 211 thanks to Shane Warne and Michael Kasprowicz, but Australia were still behind by 91 in a low scoring match, heading into the second innings on a turner against one of the greatest spinners ever seen.
For one of the few times in his career, Gilchrist was promoted up the order, all the way to number three. He came in at 1 for 11 which soon became 2 for 26, so effectively 2 for minus 65. Gilchrist walked off at 3 for 226 having scored 144 from 185 balls.
Damien Martyn, that other beautiful player of spin, chipped in with a cool 161. A likely loss became a tight win. Sri Lanka failed by only 27 runs to chase down 352 in one of the all-time classic matches.
Warne took another five in the second innings to make it ten for the match. But it all started with Adam Gilchrist.
What. A. Player.
Allan Border
50 wins. 3,186 runs at 51.38 with five centuries (losses 33.38, draws 68.70). Top seven comparison: 46.06.
Border on average hit 5.3 runs per inning more than his batting teammates, 11.5 per cent more. So interestingly, Michael Clarke was a greater contributor to his wins than Allan Border was.
A top seven comparison in draws is vastly different. Border averaged 68.70 compared to his batting partners’ collective 41.25, a massive 27.5 runs per innings (66.5 per cent). So Allan Border was a bit of a draw specialist. But let’s look at the wins first.
Border only scored five centuries in Australian wins, but still averaged more than 51 across his fifty victories. That tells a story of consistently significant contributions rather than a series of spectacular performances. That could be the line that summarises the career of Allan Border.
An early example of this reliability would be the second Test against Pakistan in 1979, with the Australians minus their World Series Cricket stars. Pakistan scored 277 in their first innings, with star scrapper Javed Miandad contributing 129 and no one else more than 35.
In response Border top-scored with 85 from number three as Australia took a 50-run lead. After a solid Pakistan second innings the young Australians found themselves chasing 236 in their fourth innings. After a solid start by Rick Darling (run out) and Andrew Hilditch (out handled the ball), the young AB guided his team home with 66 not out.
(Photo by Adrian Murrell/Getty Images)
Later that year the rebels were back and Australia were again in Perth, this time against England. The Australians took a slim 16 run lead after the first innings thanks to 99 from Kim Hughes. Ian Botham and Dereck Underwood snared eight-second innings wickets between them but Border stood firm to grind out 115 from 296 balls.
The next highest score was 58 from the fabulously-named Julian Weiner and Australia romped home by 138 runs. The England second innings was a strange one, simply because we were in Perth in 1979 and Dennis Lille and Jeff Thomson took only a single wicket between them, while the unfashionable Geoff Dymock grabbed six to bowl the hosts to victory.
In the 1985 Ashes, Australia weren’t far from their 1980s rock bottom. But at Lords in the second Test Border got the tourists on the board with 196 runs in the first innings. No other player from either side scored a century in the match. Craig McDermott took six first innings wickets and Dutchie Holland five in the second to leave Australia chasing only 127 for the win.
This is the type of target that now causes Australia collective nightmares and in 1985 it was no different. 1 for 0 became 2 for 9 and eventually 5 for 65 as the wobbles well and truly set in. But the captain steadied the ship with 41 not out to bring his team home by four wickets.
Border’s outstanding innings were less and less common as time went on, replaced by reliable contributions. His batting line up became stronger and less reliant on the veteran captain and a young legspinner by the name of Warne gave Border firepower that he had previously only dreamed of.
By the 1993 Ashes tour of England, his 200 not out in the fourth Test at Leeds was just another embarrassment for England. Three centuries were scored and all but one player reached fifty in that first innings of four declared for 653, before England were knocked over twice without too much trouble.
Over his fifty wins the reliable Border scored at least 30 runs in 40 out of his 70 innings, which was just under 60 per cent of the time.
Border scored 16 centuries in draws and averaged nearly 70, which as stated above was more than 27 runs per innings better than his peers in those matches. Two of Border’s most famous performances came in draws:
In Lahore in 1980, Border became the first (and I think still the only?) player to score 150 in each innings of a test. The game itself didn’t rise to any great heights and petered out to a tame draw but no other Australian scored a century in either innings, so I’d say Border held them together.
More dramatically, in March 1984 the West Indies were probably close to their zenith and the Australians pretty much at the bottom of the pile. The first Test had been a draw where the West Indies had put on 250 for no wickets down in their second innings.
So expectations were not high for Australia heading into the second Test at Port of Spain.
And so it proved. Australia were sent in and found themselves at 3 for 11 as the Big Bird Joel Garner ran through Kepler Wessels, Wayne Phillips and Greg Ritchie. Kim Hughes and David Hookes provided 59 balls of resistance between them before giving Garner the first five wickets of the innings.
From 5 for 85 Border digs in…and digs in some more. Australia scratch and bite their way to 255, with Border unconquered on 98 from 314 balls, facing more deliveries than the entire rest of the team combined.
Australia’s attack of Geoff Lawson, Rodney Hogg, Terry Alderman and Tom Hogan perform admirably, reducing the hosts to 4 for 129, with Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Richie Richardson and Larry Gomes back in the sheds. Then it all goes pear-shaped.
A century to wicketkeeper Jeffrey Dujon, able assisted by Gus Logie and Viv Richards, leaves Australia facing a deficit of 213 on the first innings. And the wicket is not getting any better from here. The only hope is to block out a draw.
For reasons I am yet to fathom, opener Wayne Phillips is run out without facing a ball. At 3 for 41, Tom Hogan is sent out ahead of the exhausted Border. He still finds himself in at 4 for 114, which becomes five down just one run later.
Border amazingly finds reserves of concentration and bats out the remainder of the match to score 100 from 269 balls and again remain undefeated. After heroic resistance from Hogg, who faces 34 balls, it is left to number 11 Terry Alderman to hold out with AB.
Alderman survives an unbelievable 69 balls against Garner, Marshall and Wayne Daniel and Australia secures a draw for the ages. Border has scored 198 not out runs from 583 balls.
Unfortunately, the next three Tests result in West Indian victories by ten wickets, an innings and 36 runs and ten wickets. Later that year Kim Hughes falls on his sword and Allan Border is on his way to becoming the longest-serving captain of his country.
Border also famously took 11 wickets with his slow left armers to destroy the might Windies in Sydney in January 1989.
Gee
Roar Rookie
Nice piece, well done. Some other players that would make interesting comparison from my time would be Taylor, Slater, Langer & Hayden. Also the Mark Waugh, Dean Jones & Damien Martyn debate would be interesting using your criteria.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Those draws that Border shone in would have been crushing defeats had he not shone.
Jon Richardson
Roar Pro
The message I get from the Border stats is that he played pretty well whether it was a win, loss or draw and it was when other players lifted their games we had a better chance of a win. Although Border shone in a lot of draws.
matth
Roar Guru
Well average is a combination of strike rate and economy rate so, along with wickets per test, it covers all bases. And don't discount wickets per test. With an average like that, which implies superb strike rate and economy rate, why wouldn;t you keep bowling him to take as many wickets as possible?
badmanners
Roar Rookie
But why would his average, and I'm guessing his strike rate, be so low. He still must be delivering an awful lot of quality balls to get the wickets. Likely he did bowl more overs over his career than he would have if his support bowlers were of higher quality but you still have to produce the wicket taking ball. Maybe strike rate will shed more light in this instance rather than what I use as a measure, wickets per test.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Fair enough.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
You are talking to the wrong person as I've played goalie.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
My brother and I were at the 1992 world cup game in brisbane v india and we were only a couple of rows behind the rope as it was in those days and when Mark Taylor was fielding only about 5 metres in front of us, my brother said to me “Gee I never realised just how fat he actually is.”
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
I've always thought soccer should have wider and higher goal posts ... wouldn't 23-19 be more exciting than 1 nil?
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I think there is differing phases of wins, draws and losses in cricket. Cricket stands alone in the major sports in that it has become more attacking. Football, Australian Football, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Tennis, etc have all become more defensive. ----- So l reckon players of the past 30 years, give or take, have benefited from the great leap forward that cricket has taken.
matth
Roar Guru
OK, so top six for Border changes things as follows: Win - peers move from 46.6 to 48.9. Difference becomes 2.5 runs 5% better (down from 11.6%) Loss - peers move from 24.0 to 24.9. Difference becomes 8.5 runs 34% better (down from 39%) Draw - peers move from 46 to 42.4. Difference becomes 26.4 runs 62% better (down from 66.5%). The differences for Clarke are minor, because he played with Gilchrist a lot and Brad Haddin wasn't too shabby either. Didn't do the analysis for Gilchrist for obvious reasons. I think I'll use the top 6 for future articles.
matth
Roar Guru
Good comment Bernie, yes there are always nuances, reasons, etc. It's a team game and no man can do it all. The reasons you state are likely why, while his winning average is not hugely greater than his peers, his average in losses is 34% better than the rest of his top 6 and his average in draws is a whopping 62% different. When his teammates didn't stand up the team drew or lost, but it was almost always Border standing on the burning deck.
matth
Roar Guru
I will definitely be profiling Lillee in a future article. Great, great bowler. I'll really interested in the results.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Yes these type of stats are really cool. I think you may have touched on some of it but Border only scoring 5 out of his 27 centuries in wins can be down to three things mainly: 1. His absolute peak as a batsman – early 1984 until early 1987 – coincided with arguably Australia’s greatest dearth ever in match winning test match bowlers. Lawson was cut down by injury during this time, McDermott, Hughes and Reid were all rookies, and our best other bowlers such as Hogg, Alderman, and Rackemann were on the rebel tours in saffie land. In the home summers of 1984-85, 85-86 and 86-87, West Indies, New Zealand, India and England all scored ridiculously heavy day in day out and as a result we did not win a test series for 4 years, and only won 4 tests in this period, one at Lords and 3 on a sharply turning Sydney pitch, 2 of them actually dead rubbers. 2. By the time the Australian team emerged from this dark period into a genuine renaissance, Border, while not yet over the hill by any means, was past his absolute best and the team no longer relied so heavily on him. Let’s face it, any team that relies so heavily on one batsman is not going to win a lot of tests in any case, but now in the 1989-94 period, Australia are winning many more tests with Border scoring a lot less runs because of where his own career is at as a batsman. But as you said, he still contributed regular half tons in this period. 3. Probably more in the period before he became captain, and peaked with the bat, there were a handful of occasions where a Border ton could have and in at least one case should have resulted in a win had the rest of the team been able to stand up better, particularly the other batsmen. Three occasions in particular spring immediately to mind: his maiden ton, 105, against Pakistan at Melbourne in early 1979 where a diabolical collapse of 7 for 5 saw Australia lose by 71 runs, his 2nd innings 126 v West Indies in Adelaide early 1982, his 124 against India at Melbourne in early 1981 where we were bundled out for a pitiful 83 chasing a mere 143 for victory and his unbeaten 123 at Old Trafford in 1981 was in the midst of Botham’s famous series. Then there is also his 118 against Pakistan in Brisbane late 1983 where rain washing out almost the entire last two days prevented Australia from crushing Pakistan after taking a 353 first innings lead.
badmanners
Roar Rookie
People remember him as a great captain which disregards what a brilliant opener he was. Liked him talking about his batting philosophy of getting to 30 or so before trying a drive, "you play the pitch not the conditions", he seemed to take the "grey noise" out and simplified things. Might have been his country upbringing?
GG
Guest
Interesting points on Hadlee. But you need to look at the greatest in Lillee, as he has 14 WSC SuperTests, 67 wkts, against the mighty West Indies & World XI's, in which he took 4x 5 wkts hauls, striking at around 45 balls per wkt, against the best Test side in history. He also took 24 wkts in just 4 Tests against the World XI in 1972, including 12/92, 8/29 in 1 innings against a mighty lineup. Averaging 20 a wkt, striking at 39. All-in-all, 88 "Tests," 446 wkts, 29x 5 wkt hauls, 8x 10 wkt hauls. Consider he played the mighty West Indies every 2nd summer in Australia during his career & more matches in WSC, plus multiple matches against World XI sides, he probably played 1/3rd of his matches against above Test & International standard. His record is still above 5 wkts a Test. Astonishing. Plus striking at 45 (West Indies) & 39 (World XI) is plain unmatchable. If his true record of 446 wkts in just 88 Tests, was recognised, it would have stood till after the year 2000, when Courtney Walsh surpassed Kapil Dev. It is very sad that people forget Lillee's unofficial record, they are top shelf & paint a true record of how great, this Rolls Royce of fast bowlers was. The master & still the greatest ever.
matth
Roar Guru
I thought about that but to be honest the stats engine is easier with top 7 and I really wanted to include Gilchrist. I might try and amend amend for non Gilchrist eras.
matth
Roar Guru
Very true
matth
Roar Guru
I haven’t actually done the analysis yet but you could be right. And if you add batting you will almost definitely be right
Micko
Roar Rookie
To be fair though, Hadlee is actually helped by the fact he was essentially a one man army: he never had any high quality bowling partners who would affect his ability to get bags of wickets.