Australia's Batting - some stats

[Marstermind]

Australia will end 2018 with 10 Tests. The following is calendar years where Australia played 10 tests, the number of wins, the amount of centuries scored in that year, the leading run scorer, and the number of team innings over 350.

1902 - 12 Tests - 8 wins - 5 centuries - Clem Hill 1060 - 2
1921 - 11 Tests - 7 wins - 11 centuries - Herbie Collins 730 - 8
1964 - 14 Tests - 3 wins - 7 centuries - Bob Simpson 1381 - 8
1975 - 10 Tests - 5 wins - 10 centuries - Ian Chappell 982 - 6
1977 - 13 Tests - 5 wins - 10 centuries - Greg Chappell 736 - 6
1978 - 10 Tests - 3 wins - 8 centuries - Graeme Wood 750 - 2
1979 - 14 Tests - 2 wins - 8 centuries - Kim Hughes 1152 - 4
1980 - 10 Tests - 4 wins - 9 centuries - Greg Chappell 953 - 5
1981 - 13 Tests - 5 wins - 13 centuries - Kim Hughes 931 - 8
1982 - 12 Tests - 3 wins - 8 centuries - John Dyson 681 - 4
1984 - 11 Tests - 2 wins - 5 centuries - Allan Border 831 - 3
1985 - 11 Tests - 2 wins - 11 centuries - Allan Border 1099 - 3
1986 - 11 Tests - 0 wins - 12 centuries - Allan Border 1000 - 6
1989 - 11 Tests - 6 wins - 15 centuries - Mark Taylor 1219 - 12
1991 - 10 Tests - 4 wins - 5 centuries - David Boon 777 - 4
1993 - 16 Tests - 7 wins - 19 centuries - David Boon 1241 - 10
1994 - 10 Tests - 4 wins - 7 centuries - Michael Slater 916 - 5
1995 - 12 Tests - 7 wins - 14 centuries - Steve Waugh 959 - 6
1997 - 15 Tests - 8 wins - 14 centuries - Greg Blewett 1067 - 9
1998 - 12 Tests - 5 wins - 16 centuries - Mark Taylor 1112 - 8
1999 - 14 Tests - 9 wins - 17 centuries - Michael Slater 1051 - 7
2001 - 14 Tests - 8 wins - 23 centuries - Matthew Hayden 1391 - 13
2002 - 11 Tests - 10 wins - 18 centuries - Matthew Hayden 1160 - 9
2003 - 12 Tests - 8 wins - 25 centuries - Ricky Ponting 1503 - 11
2004 - 14 Tests - 10 wins - 22 centuries - Justin Langer 1481 - 15
2005 - 15 Tests - 9 wins - 21 centuries - Ricky Ponting 1544 - 13
2006 - 10 Tests - 10 wins - 19 centuries - Ricky Ponting 1333 - 7
2008 - 14 Tests - 5 wins - 19 centuries - Ricky Ponting 1182 - 12
2009 - 13 Tests - 7 wins - 15 centuries - Simon Katich 1111 - 11
2010 - 12 Tests - 6 wins - 12 centuries - Mike Hussey 967 - 7
2012 - 11 Tests - 7 wins - 15 centuries - Michael Clarke 1595 - 8
2013 - 14 Tests - 5 wins - 14 centuries - Michael Clarke 1093 - 9
2015 - 14 Tests - 8 wins - 21 centuries - Steve Smith 1474 - 9
2016 - 11 Tests - 5 wins - 12 centuries - Steve Smith 1079 - 7
2017 - 11 Tests - 6 wins - 15 centuries - Steve Smith 1305 - 5
2018 - 10 Tests - 3 wins - 4 centuries - Usman Khawaja 699* - 3

All stats are open to interpretation and are flawed as they disregard context. But these would sustain an argument that this is worst Australian batting line-up ever.

Assuming no Australian scores a century in the second innings (a fair assumption given the batting application today), never has an Australian team scored as few centuries in a calendar year of 10 Tests. Remember that 3 of those 4 centuries were scored by January 7 against a beaten, dispirited, bedraggled England team on a 40+ degree day in Sydney.

Khawaja needs 31 in the second innings to pass Herbie Collins of 1921 as the second lowest calendar year run scorer for 10 or more Tests.

Of other low years, in 1921, Collins, McCartney, Gregory and Bardsley all got over 500 runs. In 1977, G.Chappell, Walters and McCosker did. In 1978, Wood, Yallop and Toohey did (the 1977-79 teams were basically second XI teams due to WSC). In 1982, Dyson, G.Chappell, Hughes, Border and Wood did. Unless Paine scores 33 in the second innings, only Khawaja will in 2018.

And the 30% winning ratio is the worst apart from 1964, 1978-79 (WSC), 1982 and 1984-86. (A team decimated by retirements and rebel tours). This the number of scores over 350 is the lowest aside from WSC and Rebel Tours bans since 1902.

 

[The Passenger]

On runs per wicket, it's our third worst batting year since the first World War.

StatsGuru: Australian calendar years less than 27 runs per wicket.

Not inconceivable we could drop below 1978. All out 136 or lower would see our 2018 runs per wicket average drop from 26.03 to below 23.35.

Even if that does happen at least we can all raise a beer at the end of the test and say "well at least it wasn't as bad as 1956"

 

[ClokesShankedIt]

I'm hoping that we fail. There needs to be a black mark on the history books after taking two Marshes into the batting lineup

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Sobering stats

1982-86 (not counting 1983): Seven wins in 45 tests

How did we go in '83? I'm almost scared to ask.

 

[Richard Pryor]

Imagine if we banned our two best bats in Hughes and Yallop for a year at some point in the early 80's though.

 

[Marstermind]

Imagine if we banned our two best bats in Hughes and Yallop for a year at some point in the early 80's though.

Along with 14 other players (9 with Test experience) - for three years! I guess we'd have hoped a handy player like Allan Border chipped in. In 2018, we're hoping it's Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja.

By the mid 80s, Border was the only elite batsman in the team but David Boon was 26, Dean Jones 25 and Steve Waugh 21 - Boon and Jones were contributing and going to get better and Waugh had raw promise. Now, there is no elite player, Head turns 25 today, Harris is 26, but 3 of the other 4 are 32+ and Mitch Marsh is, well, Mitch Marsh. Certainly though, with Smith and Warner in the team, the 2017 batting line up was better than the teams from 1983-1988.

Even before the South Africa rebels, in his last 26 Tests, Greg Chappell, Australia's best player and captain only made himself available for 4 overseas Tests, and they were all the way over in NZ and against a fledgling Sri Lanka, handing the captaincy over to a guy who didn't want it and who had less than 100% support within the team, only to take it back when it suited him. Imagine that set up now.

 

[Marstermind]

Sobering stats

1982-86 (not counting 1983): Seven wins in 45 tests

How did we go in '83? I'm almost scared to ask.

We played 6 Tests - one at home against England, one away against Sri Lanka and 4 at home against Pakistan. We beat Sri Lanka and Pakistan by an innings each, and drew the other four. Add on 1987 (4 Tests - 2 wins and 2 draws) and 1988 (8 Tests - 1 win, 3 draws and 4 losses) and that's 12 wins, 26 draws, a tie and 24 losses from 63 Tests.

Between November 15 1983 and December 3 1987, Australia played 37 Tests and won only 5 - four of those were at the SCG (Pakistan West Indies, New Zealand, England) and other at Lord's. Allan Border played in all of those Tests, scoring 3346 runs at an average over 60. Greg Ritchie played the next most Tests and made the next most runs - 27 Tests for 1485 runs at 34.53. The only other Australian to play over 10 Tests in that time and average over 40 was Dean Jones (10 Tests at 55.7). Border scored 12 centuries and no ducks in this time. The next most centuries was David Boon with 4 then Greg Matthews and Geoff Marsh with 3.

No wonder he was Captain Grumpy - he didn't want to be captain, was personally performing at an elite standard, had half the decent players in the country abandon the team, and was carrying a bunch of spuds who couldn't beat anyone.

 

[Del165198]

Imagine if we banned our two best bats in Hughes and Yallop for a year at some point in the early 80's though.

Why would we do that when they didn't cheat?

 

[Marstermind]

Why would we do that when they didn't cheat?

We did ban them and others for a few years. They didn't cheat but they took Apartheid money.

 

[Marstermind]

Was wondering when the last time Australia played a completed match with no one making a 50. Must have been ages ago. But this match might be the third in the past 2 and a bit years - the last only three matches ago in the UAE and the other in August 2016 in Galle. Before that it was in 1997 at The Oval. This would be the only one of those where an opposition player made a 100.

 

[The Passenger]

Not inconceivable we could drop below 1978. All out 136 or lower would see our 2018 runs per wicket average drop from 26.03 to below 23.35.

Even if that does happen at least we can all raise a beer at the end of the test and say "well at least it wasn't as bad as 1956"

 

[The Fonz]

It would stand to reason that if there was a time when we had a super team (under steve waugh) there would now be a time where we have a super-bad team.

Obviously things are exaggerated due to absence of Warner and Smith but writing has been on the wall for a while.

Sri Lanka 2016, the infamous Hobart test against South Africa in 2016, and drawing against Bangladesh in 2017.

Everything was ok and forgotten cause the Poms were crushed in the Ashes.

The batting in the Shield is frightening. That Marsh x 2, Finch, and Head are considered the best of the rest is downright disturbing.

Matthew Wade is the leading run-scorer this Shield, but only averages 29 in Test cricket which indicates that while all the focus is on the batting woes, the bowling stocks after Starc, Haze, Cummins and Lyon may be just as poor.