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Bowling performances in England during the World Cup

Mohandas Menon

In the previous article we had looked at the batting performances in World Cup competitions on English soil, between 1975 to 1983.

This time, we look at the bowling performances, at the same venue, during the same period.

Just for the record, a total of 141 bowlers from 10 countries have in all bowled 35, 898 balls (5983 overs) in the World Cup in England. These bowlers have conceded 21, 596 runs and have captured 748 wickets (which obviously excludes dismissals by the way of run-outs). The bowlers thus average 28.87 runs per wicket; they capture a wicket every 47.99 balls and concede 3.61 runs every over.

Table A provides the summary of the wickets lost by various teams in the World Cup in England.

To Andy Roberts, the West Indian paceman, goes the distinction of capturing the maximum wickets in the three World Cups in England. Interestingly, from the list provided in table B, spinners Vic Marks of England and Abdul Qadir of Pakistan have been the most successful bowlers in terms of wickets, with 13 and 12 respectively. However they occupy the 14th and 17th positions in the overall table -- which seems to indicate that spin is not a potent weapon on English soil.

Table B in fact examines the success, or lack of it, of the slower bowlers in England. Since the World Cup matches are played in the first half of the summer, when it is usually wet and cold, slow bowlers find it difficult to grip the ball, and thereby are rendered ineffective. Table C underlines this point.

Just for the record, Indian slow bowlers have never fared well in England. Table D lists the performance of Indian spin bowlers in England in all one-day matches from 1974 to 1996.

This is an aspect our selectors need to think about, while picking the team for England. It would seem that even a bowler of the caliber of Anil Kumble could be rendered ineffective in English conditions.

TABLE A : SUMMARY OF WICKETS LOST BY VARIOUS TEAMS

Country M WKTS B CF CK C&B HW LBW RO St O RH NO
Australia 14 108 28 39 14 4 - 11 12 - - 1 23
Canada 3 29 11 6 3 3 1 4 - 1 - - 3
East Africa 3 28 15 2 1 1 - 5 3 1 - - 4
England 16 99 34 23 16 2 - 16 8 - - - 26
India 14 107 18 44 21 4 - 11 9 - - 1 20
New Zealand 14 104 26 36 12 2 - 17 10 1 - - 23
Pakistan 14 101 16 41 19 5 - 11 9 - - - 24
Sri Lanka 11 95 22 37 12 7 - 7 6 4 - 2 15
West Indies 17 94 20 31 17 4 1 13 6 2 - - 31
Zimbabwe 6 53 10 11 14 2 - 8 7 1 - - 8
  56 818 200 270 129 34 2 103 70 10 - 4 177
M = Matches; WKTS = Wickets; B = Bowled; CF = Caught by Fielder; CK = Caught by Keeper; C&B = Caught and Bowled; HW = Hit-Wicket; LBW = Leg Before Wicket; RO = Run-Out;
St = Stumped; 0 = Others; RH = Retired Hurt; NO = Not Out

TABLE B : HIGHEST WICKET AGGREGATES FOR BOWLERS IN THE WORLD CUP IN ENGLAND (Qualification: 10 or more wickets)

No Bowlers Country M Balls Md Runs Wkts Ave Best 5 4 SR R/o
01 AME Roberts WI 16 1021 29 552 26 21.23 3/32 - - 39.27 3.24
02 RJ Hadlee NZ 13 877 38 421 22 19.14 5/25 1 - 39.86 2.88
03 Madan Lal Ind 11 698 12 426 22 19.36 4/20 - 1 31.73 3.66
04 MA Holding WI 11 695 16 341 20 17.05 4/33 - 1 34.75 2.94
05 RMH Binny Ind 8 528 9 336 18 18.67 4/29 - 1 29.33 3.01
06 RGD Willis Eng 11 709 27 315 18 17.50 4/11 - 2 39.39 2.66
07 ALF de Mel SL 6 396 13 265 17 15.59 5/32 2 - 23.29 4.01
08 CM Old Eng 9 543 18 243 16 15.19 4/8 - 1 33.94 2.68
09 M Amarnath Ind 14 663 9 431 16 26.94 3/12 - - 41.44 3.90
10 Sarfraz Nawaz Pak 11 714 15 435 16 27.19 4/44 - 1 44.63 3.65
11 BL Cairns NZ 11 692 16 436 14 31.14 3/36 - - 49.43 3.78
12 Kapil Dev Ind 11 702 19 382 14 27.29 5/43 1 - 50.14 3.26
13 IT Botham Eng 12 798 26 456 14 32.57 2/12 - - 57.00 3.42
14 +VJ Marks Eng 7 468 9 246 13 18.92 5/39 1 - 36.00 3.15
15 BJ McKechnie NZ 8 539 9 304 13 23.38 3/24 - - 41.46 3.38
16 J Garner WI 8 540 12 289 13 22.23 5/38 1 - 41.54 3.21
17 +Abdul Qadir Pak 6 406 6 264 12 22.00 5/44 1 1 33.83 3.90
18 MD Marshall WI 6 420 10 175 12 14.58 3/28 - - 35.00 2.58
19 JV Coney NZ 10 534 7 303 12 25.25 3/28 - - 44.50 3.40
20 DK Lillee Aus 9 588 8 400 12 33.33 5/34 1 - 49.00 4.08
21 GJ Gilmour Aus 2 144 8 62 11 5.64 6/14 2 - 13.09 2.58
22 KD Boyce WI 5 312 3 185 10 18.50 4/50 - 1 31.20 3.55
23 M Hendrick Eng 5 336 14 149 10 14.90 4/15 - 1 33.60 2.66
24 Asif Iqbal Pak 5 354 5 215 10 21.50 4/56 - 1 35.40 3.64
25 Imran Khan Pak 13 356 10 182 10 18.20 3/15 - - 35.60 3.06
26 BD Julien WI 5 360 11 177 10 17.70 4/20 - 2 36.00 2.95
27 RM Hogg Aus 8 468 9 271 10 27.10 3/40 - - 46.80 3.47
28 +DS de Silva SL 11 660 12 463 10 46.30 3/29 - - 66.00 4.20
+ Spinners

TABLE C : Performance of slow bowlers in the World Cup in England from 1975 to 1983.

Bowlers Teams Type M Balls Mdns Runs Wkts Avge 4wi Best S/r R/o
Vic Marks Eng ROB 7 468 9 246 13 18.92 1 5-39 36.00 3.15
Adbul Qadir Pak RLBG 6 406 6 264 12 22.00 2 5-44 33.83 3.90
Somachandra deSilva SL RLBG 11 660 12 463 10 46.30 - 3-29 66.00 4.20
Larry Gomes WI ROB 8 444 4 304 9 33.78 - 2-46 49.33 4.10
Viv Richards WI ROB 17 312 2 219 9 24.33 - 3-41 34.67 4.21
Majid Khan Pak ROB 7 282 8 117 7 16.71 - 3-27 40.29 2.48
Tom Hogan Aust SLA 4 282 2 172 6 28.67 - 2-33 47.00 3.65
Hedley Howarth NZ SLA 4 240 5 148 5 29.60 - 3-29 48.00 3.70
Best for India :
Ravi Shastri IND SLA 5 121 1 87 4 21.75 - 3-26 30.25 4.31
Type: ROB = Right arm off-break bowler; RLBG = Right arm leg-break bowler;
SLA = Left arm slow bowler.

TABLE D : Performance of INDIAN slow bowlers in all one-day matches in England from 1974 to 1996.

Bowlers Type M Balls Mdns Runs Wkts Avge 4wi Best S/r ER
Ravi Shastri SLA 11 499 1 331 8 41.38 - 3-26 62.38 3.97
Anil Kumble RLB 5 306 4 204 5 40.80 - 2-29 61.20 4.00
Bishen Bedi SLA 6 426 17 216 4 54.00 - 2-68 106.50 3.04
Kirti Azad ROB 3 102 1 42 1 42.00 - 1-28 102.00 2.47
Gopal Bose ROB 1 66 2 39 1 39.00 - 1-39 66.00 3.54
Maninder Singh SLA 2 132 1 86 1 86.00 - 1-31 132.00 3.90
Ashok Mankad ROB 1 35 0 47 1 47.00 - 1-47 35.00 8.05
S Venkataraghavan ROB 7 498 7 275 1 275.00 - 1-58 498.00 3.31
Venkatapathy Raju SLA 1 59 1 50 0 - - - - 5.08
Type: ROB = Right arm off-break bowler; RLBG = Right arm leg-break bowler; SLA = Left arm slow bowler.

Statistics

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