A stroke of error .........
A joke by a friend that the current Indian ODI team was a "CMM level 1 team, depending on heroics", got me thinking on error rates in cricket, and in particular in batting.
The scope for geekery is enormous here, but even with a fairly generous notion of error (e.g. getting beaten, miscues, and getting out), it is clear that on average, a batsman makes multiple errors per outing, so the error rate should at least be 5-10% for a regular batsman, maybe higher. Even Don Bradman must have had an error rate above 1%!
Anyway, my thoughts then turned to what might constitute an error according to the approach to batting that various cricketers have, e.g.:
Sachin: Getting out.
Sehwag: Dot ball.
Dravid: Anything not in the textbooks.
Laxman: Anything ungainly.
Afridi: Thinking.
Tavare: Spectators who are awake.
I can see a much longer list in the making here - feel free to add! :-)
The scope for geekery is enormous here, but even with a fairly generous notion of error (e.g. getting beaten, miscues, and getting out), it is clear that on average, a batsman makes multiple errors per outing, so the error rate should at least be 5-10% for a regular batsman, maybe higher. Even Don Bradman must have had an error rate above 1%!
Anyway, my thoughts then turned to what might constitute an error according to the approach to batting that various cricketers have, e.g.:
Sachin: Getting out.
Sehwag: Dot ball.
Dravid: Anything not in the textbooks.
Laxman: Anything ungainly.
Afridi: Thinking.
Tavare: Spectators who are awake.
I can see a much longer list in the making here - feel free to add! :-)