Days of Grace
International Captain
Do you mean the four bowlers who bowled the most in the innings or the four highest ranked bowlers? Remember that I am weighting it by number of overs bowled, so even if the fifth bowler (and/or the lowest rated bowler) bowls a few overs, they will not affect the team rating too much.
Let me give you three examples of why only choosing four bowlers would be a problem:
Example A: Adam Gilchrist's 149* at Hobart. Pakistan used five bowlers. Do I cut Waqar out because he bowled the last amount of overs? If I do then the overall attack would lose some points on its rating. Or do I cut out Azhar Mahmood and go with the four highest rated bowlers?
Example B: Sunil Gavaskar's 221 at the Oval. England used seven bowlers. But I only count the top five bowlers and anyone else who bowled at least 10% of the total overs. If I go with the four highest rated bowlers here then Peter Willey is cut, even though he bowled the most overs in the innings, and thus was a big factor.
Example C: Hanif Mohammad's mammoth 337 at Bridgetown in 1958. West Indies used 7 bowlers. Here I include six bowlers, because Valentine bowled more than 10% of the team overs, and he happened to be the highest rated bowler in the team at that time. If I cut Gilchrist and Valentine then the team would lose some rating points. But if cut the lowest rated bowlers (Sobers, Atkinson), then I would be cutting two members who bowled a lot of overs and were thus a major factor in the innings.
This is the problem with only selecting four bowlers. I am loathe to change the formula just so Laxman's 281 can climb one spot.
Five bowlers and anyone else who bowled 10% of the innings seems to be the sweet spot.
Let me give you three examples of why only choosing four bowlers would be a problem:
Example A: Adam Gilchrist's 149* at Hobart. Pakistan used five bowlers. Do I cut Waqar out because he bowled the last amount of overs? If I do then the overall attack would lose some points on its rating. Or do I cut out Azhar Mahmood and go with the four highest rated bowlers?
| Saqlain Mushtaq | 751 | 771 | 758 | 44.5 |
| Shoaib Akhtar | 340 | 855 | 512 | 23 |
| Wasim Akram | 745 | 830 | 773 | 18 |
| Azhar Mahmood | 278 | 325 | 294 | 17 |
| Waqar Younis | 680 | 909 | 756 | 11 |
Example B: Sunil Gavaskar's 221 at the Oval. England used seven bowlers. But I only count the top five bowlers and anyone else who bowled at least 10% of the total overs. If I go with the four highest rated bowlers here then Peter Willey is cut, even though he bowled the most overs in the innings, and thus was a big factor.
| P Willey | 35 | 71 | 47 | 43.5 |
| PH Edmonds | 552 | 654 | 586 | 38 |
| IT Botham | 884 | 911 | 893 | 29 |
| RGD Willis | 759 | 837 | 785 | 28 |
| M Hendrick | 724 | 727 | 725 | 8 |
| AR Butcher | 2 | |||
| GA Gooch | 2 |
Example C: Hanif Mohammad's mammoth 337 at Bridgetown in 1958. West Indies used 7 bowlers. Here I include six bowlers, because Valentine bowled more than 10% of the team overs, and he happened to be the highest rated bowler in the team at that time. If I cut Gilchrist and Valentine then the team would lose some rating points. But if cut the lowest rated bowlers (Sobers, Atkinson), then I would be cutting two members who bowled a lot of overs and were thus a major factor in the innings.
| DS Atkinson | 456 | 522 | 478 | 62 |
| OG Smith | 349 | 483 | 394 | 61 |
| GS Sobers | 205 | 715 | 375 | 57 |
| ES Atkinson | 59 | 417 | 178 | 49 |
| R Gilchrist | 254 | 703 | 404 | 41 |
| AL Valentine | 613 | 792 | 673 | 39 |
| CL Walcott | 10 |
This is the problem with only selecting four bowlers. I am loathe to change the formula just so Laxman's 281 can climb one spot.
Five bowlers and anyone else who bowled 10% of the innings seems to be the sweet spot.
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