Highest run chases of all -time

UPDATE: 5th November 2009 - CLICK HERE to see the highest successful run chases in India.


UPDATE: 2 days after this post was posted NZ chased down 347 agaisnt Australia to add themselves to 2nd place again and bump their old high score down to third place. All the others also move down 1 place and the 7/316 Indis scored against Pakistan at Dhaka in 97/98( Scorecard) moves out of the top 10.

Having failed to defend 5/336, Australia now has the unwanted record of the top 3 highest scores unsuccessfully defended. The worrying thing is these have all come in the last 12 months.

Stand-in skipper Michael Hussey isn't worried about this fact or the team's form coming into the world cup which starts next month "We can't afford to panic, we can't afford to start making wholesales changes or anything like that," said Hussey "I know big totals being chased down is an area of concern and we're going to have to get better at it, but I still think we've got the right people in the team and in the squad."

The list of the top 10 totals batting second in ODI history.

1. 9/438 SA v AUS Johannesburg 05/06 Scorecard
2. 9/350 NZ v AUS Hamilton 06/07 Scorecard
3. 5/337 NZ v AUS Auckland 06/07 Scorecard
4. 8/332 NZ v AUS Chirstchurch 05/06 Scorecard
5. 7/330 AUS v SA Port Elizabeth 01/02 Scorecard
6. 8/326 IND v ENG Lord's 02 Scorecard
7. 5/325 IND v WI Ahmedabad 02/03 Scorecard
8. 2/324 SRL v ENG Leeds 06 Scorecard
9. 7/319 PAK v IND Ahmedabad 04/05 Scorecard
10. 4/316 AUS v PAK Lahore 98/99 Scorecard

Some common and not so common statistics.

Our friends over at TheAshesBlog have done a great statistical analysis of the Aussie and English teams. I was going to do something similar but have no need to now. Here is an example -

Australia’s team batting average is far better than that of England. In the Aussie lineup there are 3 players who average over 50, whilst England has just the one in young Alastair Cook. Even in the tail the Australians look far stronger, with Brett Lee at number 9 averaging over 21. In the bowling lineup....

Click here to read the whole article.


Career and series averages and statistics.

Averages
When Michael Clarke reached 101 not out today his career Test Average rose to exactly 40. When he was finally dismissed for 139 it dropped back down to 39.48. He is averaging 90 for the series.

Ricky Ponting's career average has now risen to just over 60 and unlike most players whose average drops as they get older his is rising and rising. In fact Ponting is averaging around the 71 mark since 2002. His career average now stands at 60.06.

Amazingly, after 21 innings with only 4 not outs, Mike Hussey's average is still in the high 70s (77.41)

Glenn McGrath was the only Australian batsmen with an average in the single digits (7.52) In fact, Mcgrath has the lowest average out of any player in both teams, just behind Matthew Hoggard who averages 7.67

Series Averages
Ricky Ponting's average for the series is 199.
Langer - 93
Clarke - 90
Hussey - 88.50

Ducks
Michael Clarke & Mike Hussey are the only 2 players in the Australian team to have never been out for a duck in test cricket. Ricky Ponting only has 8 ducks in his 178 innings, Damien Martyn only has 7 in his 108 innings.

Fours & Sixes
Ponting has hit 1039 4s in his career off 15586 balls or 1 four every 15 balls.
Gilchrsit - 632 off 6362 (1 every 10.06 balls) 93 sixes ( 1 every 68.4 balls)
Clarke - 155 off 2378 (15.34)
Hayden - 905 off 12308 (13.6)