Header Ads

Opening Batsmen in T20 Cricket

Delhi Daredevils have struggled thus far in the 2018 IPL with just 3 wins from their 10 matches so far. One issue has been the apparent struggles of their two overseas opening options of Colin Munro and Jason Roy, who in their eight combined innings thus far have managed just one score of over 35 and have no fewer than five scores of five runs or less. They have chopped and changed in those 10 matches, picking Colin Munro for two matches, then Jason Roy for three matches, then neither for a match, then Munro again for three matches, then neither again in their most recent match.
On his day, there are few more destructive batsmen in T20 cricket than Colin Munro
Some people might make an argument for dropping out-of-form players, which both Colin Munro and Jason Roy, with the exception of his match-winning innings in his first match, have appeared to be. However, there is also an argument that this effectively misunderstands what Jason Roy and, in particular, Colin Munro actually bring to the team in terms of what they are able to produce.

There are two types of T20 opening batsmen that I want to discuss in this article. The first category are the reliable, but non-explosive openers, while the second category are the explosive, but unreliable openers. In an ideal world, you would want a reliable, explosive opening batsman, but for obvious reasons, there are very few of those around and they are often incredibly difficult to obtain, whether it be sheer cost or due to them usually being retained by their current teams.

For the purposes of this article, I have taken all batsmen in my database that have faced at least 1000 balls in T20 cricket, then filtered out all those players with fewer than 30 innings that have started in the first two overs. This should give us players that have opened the batting on a regular basis and with a decent sample size. This left a total of 105 batsmen.

Before we start on the two categories that I want to focus on in this article, there are a couple of players that deserve a bit of recognition. Virat Kohli's numbers are quite simply incredible - he scores fewer than 10 runs in just 18.9% of his innings when opening, which is the lowest of any player in the sample, he scores 50+ in 32.9% of those innings, which is #3 in the sample and he scores 75+ in 12.2%, which is #6 in the sample. In other words, he rarely gets out early and there are few players that hit big scores more regularly. Another figure that stands out is the recently retired Kevin Pietersen, who scored 30+ runs in an incredible 62.2% of innings, which was #1 in the sample, and 75+ in 10.8%, which puts him at #12 as well.

Moving on, the first category of openers to look at are the reliable, but non-explosive openers. The table below show a couple of these:
The five batsmen listed here are all among some of the very best at avoiding low scores. For example, of the 105 players in the sample, Ian Bell is #10 for percentage of scores of at least 30. Similarly, Brad Hodge is top 15 and you can see that Bell, Uthappa, Tendulkar and Sangakkara are all top 15 in terms of avoiding scores in single figures. On the face of it, these players rarely appear to fail terribly, but we can also see that you are not going to get the big potentially match-winning innings of 75+ from these players.
Ian Bell is one of the best opening batsmen at avoiding single figure scores
On the other hand, we have the explosive, but often unreliable opening batsmen. The following table shows a couple of these:
These are some of the batsmen that can almost single-handedly win a match if they get going. Colin Munro, who we discussed briefly earlier, is 93rd of the 105 players for scores of less than 10, with almost 4 in 10 of his innings ending in single figures. However, we can see that he is also #3 in terms of the percentage of his innings that end in scores of 75+. These big scores are also scored at a rapid rate, which will give the team a very good chance of posting a huge score or chasing big targets.

These batsmen are going to have a lot of failures and will often have a number of back-to-back failures as a result. However, they have the potential to have that big innings as well.

In terms of what is desirable for a team, there are various arguments that can be made. With several of the reliable batsmen, it is unlikely that you are going to end up with too many small totals. On the flip side, you are also unlikely to post any huge totals as well. For a team like Sunrisers Hyderabad this year, Kane Williamson has been pretty effective as he has scored well and consistently, even whilst not posting any huge innings. With the bowling attack that they have, reliably setting or being able to chasing mid-range totals may be a good strategy, but it does mean that they might struggle to chase any big totals.
Kane Williamson has worked well given the strengths of the Sunrisers team this year
However, if you are going to sign the explosive, high-risk batsmen, then you really need to stick with them through the failures. For example, if Delhi Daredevils know that Colin Munro is going to score less than 10 in almost 40% of innings, but that in just over 30% of innings, he will score 50+, then dropping him after two failures arguably demonstrates a lack of understanding of the type of player that they have. You can frame the argument in that he needs to play a number of innings to find his confidence and form, but in reality, that type of batsman will simply fail a lot of times whether confident or not.

The key is to find the right parts around this type of batsman. If you have a team where other players can provide runs around him, even if not necessarily at as rapid a rate, you can afford to absorb the failures and benefit from the handful of key innings that they are likely to play during the course of a tournament.

33 comments:

  1. You can login to the employee portal of MyLowesLife in order to check the previous paystubs and heck your schedule
    myloweslife

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like to read such articles and to search for them I use https://nexter.org

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don t have the time at the moment to fully read your site but I have bookmarked it and also add your RSS feeds. I will be back in a day or two. thanks for a great site. Bangladesh Cricket

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very informative post.Really looking forward to read more. Awesome. Tamim Iqbal

    ReplyDelete
  5. I value the blog article.Much thanks again. Fantastic. Tamim Iqbal

    ReplyDelete
  6. Online sim dating games work a lot like standard online role playing games do. Fixture of match

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice post mate, keep up the great work, just shared this with my friendz Virat Kohli

    ReplyDelete
  8. If you are on this page, chances are that you want to find out why this sport has become so popular. Read on to know the reasons.et20slamnet

    ReplyDelete
  9. Are there secrets to sporting excellence? Are these factors easily manipulated for the benefits of the athletes? This article discusses the factors that can lead athletes and coaches to peak performance in sports.토토사이트

    ReplyDelete
  10. There has been many articles and books detailing principles,토토사이트 programs, success factors and the like that can lead to peak performance in sports.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is a great inspiring article.I am pretty much pleased with your good work.You put really very helpful information. Keep it up. Keep blogging. Looking to reading your next post. India Cricket live

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow this ia awesome
    Goa state lotteries results

    Nagaland State Lottery Results

    Sikkim state lottery result

    West bengal state lottery result

    arunachal pradesh state lottery results




















    west bengal state lottery result today 4pm

    west bengal state lottery result today bangalakshmi

    west bengal state lottery app

    west bengal state lottery today 4pm

    west bengal state lottery dear

    west bengal state lottery sambad

    west bengal state lottery live

    west bengal state lottery result today 4pm 2019-2020


    arunachal pradesh state lottery results
    arunachal pradesh state lottery labhlaxmi
    arunachal pradesh lottery labhlaxmi
    arunachal pradesh lottery old result
    arunachal pradesh lottery 2020
    arunachal pradesh lottery mahalaxmi super
    govt of arunachal pradesh lottery results shubh laxmi
    arunachal pradesh state lottery durga puja bumper result
    arunachal pradesh lotteries. co. in






    sikkim state lottery morning
    sikkim state lottery result today evening
    sikkim state lottery dear
    sikkim state lottery live
    nagaland state lottery
    sikkim state lottery evening
    sikkim state lottery night
    sikkim state lottery sambad









    Mizoram state lottery results

    MIZORAM SILVER 10 Results
    MIZORAM DIAMOND 15 Results
    MIZORAM SWAN 20 Results
    MIZORAM ROJA 30 Results
    MIZORAM GOLD 50 Results
    MIZORAM ORANGE 100 Results


    rajshree lottery sambad 8pm
    rajshree lottery sambad old
    rajshree lottery sambad 4pm
    rajshree lottery sambad night
    rajshree lottery sambad today result
    rajshree lottery sambad morning
    rajshree lottery result today evening
    rajshree lottery morning result


    nagaland state lottery morning
    nagaland state lottery result today 8pm
    nagaland state lottery sambad
    nagaland state lottery evening result
    nagaland state lottery live
    nagaland state lottery result today 11.55 am
    lottery sambad night
    lottery sambad today 8pm
    lottery sambad night result
    lottery sambad 2019
    dear lottery sambad
    dear lottery result
    aajkal lottery sambad
    lottery sambad today morning result
    lottery sambad 2020


















    ReplyDelete
  13. In the event that you visit Flamingos ensure you set aside the effort to investigate the lodging after your round. It's definitely justified even despite a look.
    2019 Presidents Cup Golf Live Stream

    ReplyDelete
  14. live cricket streaming online on crictime @ https://www.pslt2020.com/crictime-live-score/

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sport betting is easy to do and if you enjoy watching sports anyways, it could add to the fun of supporting your favourite team.먹튀검증사이트

    ReplyDelete


  16. College Football Playoff member Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 28 of every a CFP elimination round. Underneath, get the forecast, time, TV channel and see data.


    Hawaii Bowl 2019 Live

    Oklahoma vs LSU Live

    Peach Bowl 2019 Live

    Fiesta Bowl 2019 Live

    Ohio State vs Clemson Live

    ReplyDelete
  17. Great, I read your blog and especially this excellent article that you have described very well about cricket and keep writing۔

    I have bookmarked it. I will be back in a day or two. thanks for a great site. top 10 highest paid players


    ReplyDelete
  18. This picture appears to demonstrate its prominence. This medieval golf match-up began in a type of training reveled by hurley players in places which they visited to play an 'away match.masters golf 2020 live stream

    ReplyDelete
  19. watching the Players golf on DISH Network

    Great, I read your blog and especially this excellent article that you have described very well about cricket and keep writing۔

    ReplyDelete
  20. Though many people will think that you need to be a genius or a sports fanatic to love the hobby, this is actually completely false.메이저사이트

    ReplyDelete
  21. 888b là nhà cái hàng đầu trong giới lô đề. Để biết thêm về nhà cái này hãy vào.
    lo de online

    ReplyDelete
  22. I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I certainly enjoyed every bit of it. I have you book-marked to check out new stuff you post… gogoanime

    ReplyDelete
  23. This is a splendid web journal! I'm exceptionally content with the remarks!.. http://sportbel.com/

    ReplyDelete
  24. On the off chance that a specific wide collector possessed by a likely play-off contender of yours is season finisher bound and you realize that the player may get sidelined during the end of the season games, feel free to get his reinforcement. https://www.thichbongda.com/bong-da-y

    ReplyDelete
  25. Yet, numerous others feel that the 'matter' of cricket is really doing a ton of good to the game. https://tonysportstrainingequipment.com/tennis-training-equipment-for-kids/

    ReplyDelete
  26. Most online sports books are simply followers of other lines. Paying attention to line moves is vital to winning long-term. Thanks to the Internet, it's now possible to watch line moves from the comfort of your favorite chair. https://dochub.com/bk8asiacasino/qA8ldYxVE7ALpvrR6MJrpP/most-famous-and-highly-played-online-live-casino-games-docx?dt=WeCsNq-YGKzD4KwY8zy7

    ReplyDelete
  27. Just under such extraordinary conditions can top execution in sports be conceivable.แทงบอลออนไลน์UFABET

    ReplyDelete
  28. There has been numerous articles and books specifying standards, programs, achievement factors and such that can prompt pinnacle execution in sports.UFABET

    ReplyDelete
  29. On the off chance that the goddess of fortune is likewise on your side, you can acquire a great deal from sports wagering. casino online

    ReplyDelete
  30. Something else that sports sponsorship can ensure is perceivability and acknowledgment. spbo.pro

    ReplyDelete
  31. These case have limits going from 100 to 1000 poker chips.situs judi slot

    ReplyDelete

Powered by Blogger.