Figuring out the most impressive individual performances during a test series ever

[mr_mister]

Moeen's series got me thinking. Mainly, the fact somebody posted in the England/SA thread that it's weird that the 250run/25 wicket metric is being thrown around because a wicket is definitely worth more than 10 runs. How much is it worth though? 20? 25? 20 seems fair, because a 5 fer = 100 and they are the 2 main bowling and batting milestones.


If we convert these to 'points', then who has had the most impressive series ever. I know this heavily benefits longer test series, but bear with me.

Syd Barnes' 49 wicket 1913/14 series just beats out Bradman's 974 run 1930 series. Bradman got no wickets and Barnes only scored 9 runs, but his total points were therefore 989 to 974


Hammond didn't do too much bowling in the 28/29 series, but his 5 wickets combined with 905 runs was enough to edge him out to 1005 points

Shane Warne in Ashes '05 scored 249 runs to go with his 40 wickets, giving him 1049 points using this scale. A mighty effort.



Anyway, what are some interesting ones? My four examples were all 5 match series. Maybe we could use a 1.25x and 1.5x multiplier for 4 and 3 match series, and see what we can come up with?

I know fielding should probably also factor, but I dunno what to make a catch worth. 10 points?

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Shakib did something like this on their tour of the WI in 09

 

[honestbharani]

Lara in Sri Lanka 2001

 

[mr_mister]

688 runs in 3 tests. damn. Add the 1.5x multiplier and we get 1032 points, right up there.

 

[mr_mister]

The current top 5:

Warne - 1049
Lara - 1032
Hammond -1005
Barnes - 989
Bradman - 974




I'm sure a member of the big four 80s allrounders, or maybe Faulker or Miller could give this a fair shake

 

[vcs]

Johnson with 165 runs and 37 wickets at 13.97 in 2013-14. Comes out to 905. That rather understates the influence he had on the series.

Average should be factored in somehow for bowlers.

 

[srbhkshk]

Bhajji in 2001 India - Australia.

 

[vcs]

Bhajji in 2001 India - Australia.

32 out of 50 Aussie dismissals in that series! Surely has to be some sort of record in terms of percentage, though I'm sure Murali would also have a few of those types of series to his name.

 

[a massive zebra]

In the 1966 series in England, Sobers scored 722 runs at an average of 103.14 with three centuries, and had 20 wickets at 27.25, as well as taking 10 catches.

 

[a massive zebra]

In the 1982/83 series against India, Imran scored 247 runs at an average of 61.75, and had 40 wickets at 13.95 with four five wicket hauls, as well as taking 4 catches.

 

[mr_mister]

nearly identical to Warne^


Sobers takes the cake though. Believe that's 1122 points

 

[a massive zebra]

In the 1981 Ashes series, Botham scored 399 runs at 36.27 with two centuries, and had 34 wickets at 20.58 with three five wicket hauls, as well as taking 12 catches.

 

[srbhkshk]

BTW cricinfo says that Barnes played only 4 matches in the mentioned series.

 

[srbhkshk]

Faulkner vs England (9/10) - 545 runs and 29 wickets.

 

[a massive zebra]

BTW cricinfo says that Barnes played only 4 matches in the mentioned series.

Barnes pulled out of the fifth Test in protest at the authorities refusal to pay for his wife’s accommodation.

If we are looking at performances per Test, Graham Gooch got 752 runs at an average of 125.33 in 3 Tests against India in 1990 and George Lohmann got 35 wickets at 5.80 in 3 Tests against South Africa in 1895/96.

 

[Howe_zat]

Faulkner has 1125

In the 1909/10 series against England Aubrey Faulkner scored 545 runs (at 60.55) and took 29 wickets (21.89). He scored almost 300 runs more than anyone else on his team, with no one else averaging more than mid-30s, and was one of only two bowlers (Bert Vogler being the other) to get more than 4 wickets. Not 4 wickets in a match, 4 wickets in the series. This was the first time SA beat a full strength England side that included Hobbs, Woolley, Rhodes and Blythe.

 

[a massive zebra]

In the 24/25 Ashes series, Maurice Tate got 155 runs at 17.22 and took 38 wickets at 23.18 with five five wicket hauls, in addition to taking 1 catch.

 

[Howe_zat]

Faulkner vs England (9/10) - 545 runs and 29 wickets.

oh jog on.

 

[srbhkshk]

oh jog on.

faulknered.

 

[srbhkshk]

Decided to be less lazy and wrote a code for calculating the numbers, here are the top 20 -