What Is A Good First Inning Total?

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offbreakdoosra

offbreakdoosra

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Hello all,

I wish to put the following question to all the cricket enthusiast out there... see if it gets any responses.

What is a good batting total for a team electing to bat first in a test match?

Is there such a thing? Is it completely subjective? Is it purely down to the batting/bowling conditions? Is the question wholly irrelevant?

To be honest, the real question I wish answered is probably, "Statistically, what is the average batting total for a team electing to bat first?" (I have already attempted to contact cricket statisticians re that question... with no success).

There are lots and lots of other factors to this question, i know, but I shall keep this first post message brief.

I would be good to find out if there is a magic number that cricket fans consider a "good score" in all forms of the game, though...
 
yashsr said:
350+ is a good score, I think the modern average 1sts innings score wold be around 325..
Click to expand...

Cheers for you respose here. I reckon you are about right about the (test match) modern average, perhaps slightly lower. (I reckon 310-325)

I wonder if anyone out there has got stats to back up what you and I think...

The reverse question to ask is; If you elect to bowl first, what sort of total are you (realistically) looking to bowl the opponent out for?

A couple of years back, I heard Adam Gilchrist talking about Ricky Ponting's infamous decision to bowl first in the Edgbaston test of the 2005 Ashes. I remember him saying...

"If you put the other side into bat first, all you're looking to do is bowl them out on the first day.
We did that.
The problem is that they scored 400 plus..."

Made me smile that.... he wasn't even being sarcastic, he actually meant it.
 
By the by,

If anyone does have any sort of answer to the question "Statistically, what is the average batting total for a team electing to bat first?" I would love to know.
 
Being serious, I would wager that the average score on most grounds falls somewhere between 260 and 375. However, I'm basing this on the last 10/15 years.

According to the stats thing on Cricinfo the average runs per wicket when batting first is 34.07. I make it that 661266 runs have been scored in the first innings of a game. Divide that by the number of tests (2041) gives you a figure of 324. So to answer your question the average first innings score is 324.
 
Of course, you can dress up the sums and answer in many different ways. For me the more interesting question would relate to the 2nd innings of a game as this is where I get the impression many games are won or lost. Plus it is generally held that most pitches are at their best on day 2/3 of a 5 day test.
 
sage said:
Being serious, I would wager that the average score on most grounds falls somewhere between 260 and 375. However, I'm basing this on the last 10/15 years.

According to the stats thing on Cricinfo the average runs per wicket when batting first is 34.07. I make it that 661266 runs have been scored in the first innings of a game. Divide that by the number of tests (2041) gives you a figure of 324. So to answer your question the average first innings score is 324.
Click to expand...

Very good response Sage, thanks a bunch for your input.

This is almost exactly what i was looking for. You also provided some other good little stats and raised some interesting other points.

Cheers again,

OBD
 
Re second inning totals, you're of course right to say this is where the game is won or lost.

However, an average of second inning totals would be less of a representation of a "batting target total" (which is what I was aiming to get an idea of in the original question)

The amount of runs scored in the second innings is dependant on the lead or deposit incurred in the first innings.

I suppose the interesting question surrounding second inning totals (and I think this is what you were hinting at) would be... "whats a good run total for a fielding team to defend in the final innings of a match".

That's another interesting question and would be very dependent on the pitch and, again, time left in the game.

To put that question in a statisical manner would be "At what target run total does a team, statistically, have a less than 50% chance of chasing in a fourth innings" (if that makes sense).
 
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