Statistics reveal where England failed, yet again
Given how perilous things looked for England at stumps on day one, they did a remarkable job on the second day to turn things around.They restricted Australia to 492 runs and had managed to reply with 158 runs of their own for the fall of just the
David Wiseman
09-Nov-2002
Given how perilous things looked for England at stumps on day one, they did
a remarkable job on the second day to turn things around.
They restricted Australia to 492 runs and had managed to reply with 158 runs
of their own for the fall of just the one wicket.
Had they continued and posted a score in the vicinity of 400, the fortunes
of the game would have swung remarkably their way. Australia would have needed
more time to put the game out of England's reach and that would have meant
less time with which to bowl England out.
Unfortunately for England, their batsmen let them down. Paradoxically, they
failed because their batsmen didn't. That is, the starts they made were
wasted.
The Australian scorecard looks a lop-sided one. Two massive scores at the
top, a handy contribution by Warne at the bottom and bits and pieces in
between.
This is opposed to England's top five all posting handy scores. Handy, as
opposed to something big. Not one of the England players could build on
their innings and allow themselves to capitalise on all the hard work which
they had done.
Australia's two centuries to one fifty and England's four fifties to zero
centuries looks like continuing a recent Ashes trend. What separates the
Australian batsman from their English counterparts is that more often that
not, at least one of the Australians is going to make a score of note.
From the 1986 series to the start of this one, the statistics crucify
England. They have made 28 hundreds to 104 fifties. A ratio of about 27%.
Australia have 57 centuries to their 101 fifties. A ratio of 56%
The series in 1993, in particular, was a disaster for England. They could only manage three figures on three occasions and posted 22 fifties. Michael Atherton being the main culprit making six half-centuries without a single ton.
Australia's dominance in the last three Ashes series, is evident in
their high century to half century ratio; 24 hundreds to 28 fifties.
England's top-order will have their work cut out for them in the second
innings on a breaking up wicket for which they can thank their captain, but
they will have a chance to redeem themselves. However, the failure of at
least one of them to score a century will see them 1-0 down as they head
to Adelaide.