Bowling stats

[someblokecalleddave]

Bowling stats

I'm trying to get my head round the bowling stats and which of the series of numbers is the most important. On my clubs website we have -

Average
Runs per over
Strike Rate
BB (Best bowling)?

Is there one of these figures that is generally seen as the best indicator of how well you're bowling and if so which one? If you look at the link here Wrist Spin Bowling: Stat wars #2 you can see that I'm doing okay at the minute (Dave Thompson) but my runs per over are not as good as the best spinner in our club or some of the Off-spinners (I'm a wrist spinner). How important is that figure in the scheme of things? How important are the strike rates and averages?

 

[Ljp86]

Re: Bowling stats

I'm trying to get my head round the bowling stats and which of the series of numbers is the most important. On my clubs website we have -

Average
Runs per over
Strike Rate
BB (Best bowling)?

Is there one of these figures that is generally seen as the best indicator of how well you're bowling and if so which one? If you look at the link here Wrist Spin Bowling: Stat wars #2 you can see that I'm doing okay at the minute (Dave Thompson) but my runs per over are not as good as the best spinner in our club or some of the Off-spinners (I'm a wrist spinner). How important is that figure in the scheme of things? How important are the strike rates and averages?

The top three are most important and I don't think any of them could be discarded without looking at the other. Average is the amount of runs you give away per wicket and strike rate is the amount of balls you bowl for each wicket. I would consider them pretty important.

You don't want to be giving away too many runs per over, thaty's my personal opinion but others are different. Being able to tie an end down as a spinner is just as important as taking wickets and giving the batsman runs won't achieve that.

 

[micoach]

Re: Bowling stats

Leggies will almost always give away more runs per over. It's hard to bowl accurately over the wrist. That hardly matters in your case though because you clearly don't buy your wickets (your average is low).

 

[mas cambios]

Re: Bowling stats

Generally speaking you want your:

average to be around 20,
runs per over to be 5 or less (for a spinner, 4 or less for a seamer)
strike rate to be under 60 (probably under 30/35 in one day games though)

All general figures but usually what people use to denote a good player. Of course they vary from bowling type to bowling type but for me the key would average, followed by runs per over.

 

[Liz Ward]

Re: Bowling stats

It also depends on the type of match/play.

For instance, if you are playing 20 over matches or are on the defence, wickets mean little and the economy rate [rpo] comes into great import; there is no point taking 3 wickets if you give away 20 rpo. Especially if your team bagged few runs in the first innings. I will not give the average much importance unless we have a much longer match. If a bowler takes easy wickets, this is usually a reflection of the opposition rather than their skill .

I have no idea what 'BB' stands for on your site. It usually refers to balls bowled, which are used to calculate strike rate.

One thing to remember with statistics is that they are useless unless you know how to interpret them. You cannot compare the results of [say] 40 overs with the results of [say] 160 overs. The more overs bowled, the more accurate the statistics become. You also need to take into consideration the quality of opposition. For instance, opening bowlers, usually get to bowl against the best batsmen. Bowlers that regularly come in later on in the match, tend to bowl against bowlers and find their job very easy in comparison and, therefore, should reflect better stats, although not demonstrating better skill.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Bowling stats

It also depends on the type of match/play.

For instance, if you are playing 20 over matches or are on the defence, wickets mean little and the economy rate [rpo] comes into great import; there is no point taking 3 wickets if you give away 20 rpo. Especially if your team bagged few runs in the first innings. I will not give the average much importance unless we have a much longer match. If a bowler takes easy wickets, this is usually a reflection of the opposition rather than their skill .

I have no idea what 'BB' stands for on your site. It usually refers to balls bowled, which are used to calculate strike rate.

One thing to remember with statistics is that they are useless unless you know how to interpret them. You cannot compare the results of [say] 40 overs with the results of [say] 160 overs. The more overs bowled, the more accurate the statistics become. You also need to take into consideration the quality of opposition. For instance, opening bowlers, usually get to bowl against the best batsmen. Bowlers that regularly come in later on in the match, tend to bowl against bowlers and find their job very easy in comparison and, therefore, should reflect better stats, although not demonstrating better skill.

Liz the BB is 'Best Bowling' figures. Almost all the matches would be 40 overs matches in my case and most of the others the same. I generally come on around No.4, 5 and 6 bats whilst the bloke with the lowest RPO is the captain and he tends to pick up the lower order in order to massage his figures as he's constantly trying to maintain his most wickets in the club ever figures. Last week because I'm an attacking bowler with good accuracy, big turning spin and a whole load of variations I was the 2nd opener and did well till I came up against a leftie at No.4. Up till then I was on 3-2-1-2 but he smashed me all over the shop and I ended up with 5-2-28-2 gutted! I realise that with more overs bowled there's the potential for your figures to slide backwards, but surely there's an argument for the more overs bowled the more experience you gain and therefore the potential to improve your game/figures?

Usually the opposition are equal to us and more often than not a lot better than us. Whether I'll be put in again to bowl against the openers remains to be seen, but I'm well up for it and actually think as a strategy it has it's merits. In the last game the team we played seemed to think that they had a really strong fast bowling attack and it struck me if that was the case the whole team would have spent the whole of their winter nets batting against their fast bowlers? Therefore the whole of the winter for their openers would have been based around the idea that they're expecting to face pace openers. You should have seen the fear on these blokes faces when they realised that I was opening with spin. I cleaned up both of them for 1 run in 3 overs - 2 x wicket maidens. They just didn't expect it and weren't prepared for spin going both ways, backwards, forwards, slow, fast, looping, skidding and most of all - accurate.

The rest of the season will show whether I can maintain my figures over a longer period. I'm currently working on my approaches to bowling to Lefties and there's been some good advice on the wrist spin thread. I get to play against the same bloke in sept so I'm looking forward to a return match and getting him out for a wicket maiden!!!

 

[Liz Ward]

Re: Bowling stats

... I get to play against the same bloke in sept so I'm looking forward to a return match and getting him out for a wicket maiden!!!

If the Gods give you a Bunsen on the day, nothing will stop you... let's hope for an Indian Summer