All countries has been minnows except Aussies and Poms. But no one defines who is a minnow. It's loosely defined as new entrant to test / ODI cricket. But when sides like Pakistan considered they had large number of players with test experience in their 1st test, so may not be minnows. So it needed an objective assessment to judge on minnows.
Batting and bowling averages of each country by decade was compared to that of rest of the world (batting ability and bowling ability). Two indices were created
Pessimistic index (PI), where it was assumed that deficincies of bowling or batting could not compensate each other. PI was calculated with sqaure root of the product of batting and bowling abilities.
Optimistic Index (OI) was average of the two, where it was assumed that batting and bowling can cover up each ones deficiencies.
Here are the results:
Code:
Bangladesh
Decade Bat Av Bowl Av Gbat Gbowl Bat Ab Bowl Ab PI OI
2000s 18.95 53.19 33.13 33.22 0.57 0.62 0.6 0.6
India
Decade Bat Av Bowl Av Gbat Gbowl Bat Ab Bowl Ab PI OI
1930s 22.04 38.4 31.61 31.94 0.7 0.83 0.76 0.76
1940s 24.66 46.67 36.25 34 0.68 0.73 0.7 0.7
1950s 26.45 35.09 27.53 27.68 0.96 0.79 0.87 0.87
1960s 28.06 34.14 31.3 31.8 0.9 0.93 0.91 0.91
1970s 30.05 33.4 30.9 31.64 0.97 0.95 0.96 0.96
1980s 32.13 36.39 30.17 31.42 1.06 0.86 0.96 0.96
1990s 33.1 33.46 29.09 31.3 1.14 0.94 1.03 1.04
2000s 35.34 34.78 31.53 33.94 1.12 0.98 1.05 1.05
New Zealand
Decade Bat Av Bowl Av Gbat Gbowl Bat Ab Bowl Ab PI OI
1930s 23.78 46.03 31.73 31.38 0.75 0.68 0.71 0.72
1940s 30.11 42.11 34.56 35.01 0.87 0.83 0.85 0.85
1950s 18.73 38 28.45 27.86 0.66 0.73 0.69 0.7
1960s 22.66 31.79 32.06 32.14 0.71 1.01 0.85 0.86
1970s 26.05 38.95 31.34 31.22 0.83 0.8 0.82 0.82
1980s 27.82 30.38 30.8 32.31 0.9 1.06 0.98 0.98
1990s 27.44 36 29.73 30.98 0.92 0.86 0.89 0.89
2000s 29.76 33.76 32.14 34.06 0.93 1.01 0.97 0.97
Pakistan
Decade Bat Av Bowl Av Gbat Gbowl Bat Ab Bowl Ab PI OI
1950s 24.42 30.1 27.68 28.41 0.88 0.94 0.91 0.91
1960s 27.41 35.72 31.13 31.86 0.88 0.89 0.89 0.89
1970s 33.13 33.52 30.46 31.71 1.09 0.95 1.01 1.02
1980s 33.69 30.68 29.98 32.36 1.12 1.05 1.09 1.09
1990s 29.03 28.52 29.51 31.9 0.98 1.12 1.05 1.05
2000s 33.3 34.79 31.81 33.96 1.05 0.98 1.01 1.01
South Africa
Decade Bat Av Bowl Av Gbat Gbowl Bat Ab Bowl Ab PI OI
1880s 7 22.95 18.91 19.17 0.37 0.84 0.56 0.6
1890s 10.85 25.65 25.85 25.15 0.42 0.98 0.64 0.7
1900s 22.24 21.65 24.11 25.39 0.92 1.17 1.04 1.05
1910s 21.16 33.14 29.43 24.02 0.72 0.72 0.72 0.72
1920s 26.2 34.15 33.69 33.03 0.78 0.97 0.87 0.87
1930s 26.7 38.12 32.02 31.24 0.83 0.82 0.83 0.83
1940s 30.64 42.97 34.92 34.3 0.88 0.8 0.84 0.84
1950s 24.81 28.78 27.73 28.51 0.89 0.99 0.94 0.94
1960s 31.65 30.26 30.74 32.28 1.03 1.07 1.05 1.05
1970s 38.67 21.12 30.68 32.05 1.26 1.52 1.38 1.39
1980s
1990s 31.64 27.05 29.24 32.02 1.08 1.18 1.13 1.13
2000s 35.87 30.97 31.45 34.5 1.14 1.11 1.13 1.13
Sri Lanka
Decade Bat Av Bowl Av Gbat Gbowl Bat Ab Bowl Ab PI OI
1980s 24.22 39.53 30.89 31.75 0.78 0.8 0.79 0.79
1990s 28.9 35.67 29.51 31.12 0.98 0.87 0.92 0.93
2000s 34.58 29.57 31.67 34.57 1.09 1.17 1.13 1.13
West Indies
Decade Bat Av Bowl Av Gbat Gbowl Bat Ab Bowl Ab PI OI
1920s 16.1 40.32 32.53 33.12 0.49 0.82 0.64 0.66
1930s 24.6 35.34 32.04 31.82 0.77 0.9 0.83 0.83
1940s 42.89 31.2 33.41 35.88 1.28 1.15 1.21 1.22
1950s 33.74 31.2 26.31 28.06 1.28 0.9 1.07 1.09
1960s 33.66 31.81 30.37 32.16 1.11 1.01 1.06 1.06
1970s 34.54 33.49 30.09 31.61 1.15 0.94 1.04 1.05
1980s 33.05 25.02 30.03 33.69 1.1 1.35 1.22 1.22
1990s 27.89 29.23 29.66 31.83 0.94 1.09 1.01 1.01
2000s 28 38.49 32.51 33.5 0.86 0.87 0.87 0.87
Zimbabwe
Decade Bat Av Bowl Av Gbat Gbowl Bat Ab Bowl Ab PI OI
1990s 24.4 36.05 29.78 33.96 0.82 0.94 0.88 0.88
2000s 24.94 43.46 32.36 33.66 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.77
Looking at these values few glaring points are evident.
1. BAN, NZ (1950s) and SAF (1880-1890) have been apalling
2. Pakistan never had been a minnow side
3. ZIM and NZ are the only sides to regress with time at some point of their cricket history
4. If 0.8 is taken as the cut off (to force SL of 1980s to become a minnow) the highligted ones can be considered as minnows
5. In 1990s ZIM were NOT minnows.
Discuss