Any list that includes a mix like Gayle, Samaraweera, Duminy, North, and Prior as part of the top ten has to be an interesting (and surprising) one. At least four of these (Gayle being the exception) are not names I would have expected to see in the top ten when doing a Statsguru query on "highest away batting averages since Jul 2008 for players who played at least ten matches (excluding games involving Zimbabwe and Bangladesh)". And yet there they all are. The other five of the top ten comprise Amla, Cook, de Villiers, Smith, and Trott and most people who follow Test cricket would have probably expected them to be on that list.
Parsing that down further, a few more interesting things crop up. Gayle had one monster innings of 333 against Sri Lanka which inflated his average by more than 17 runs without which he would have been #7 on the list instead of at the top. Similarly, Thilan Samaraweera's twin double hundreds on the ill-fated tour of Pakistan in 2009 gave his average a 17+ run boost without which he would have dropped 18 places to #22 on the list. That would have made Prasanna Jayawardene the top Sri Lankan in this list ahead of their big three (Dilshan, Sangakkara, and Mahela Jayawardene). Something for the Sri Lankan selectors to think about as the rise of Chandimal is threatening Prasanna J's place in the first XI. Marcus North as the top Australian name on the list was as surprising as the Sri Lankan one and his case is even more interesting. Looking at just his away average of 51.7 and the five hundreds in 11 matches, one might wonder why he doesn't make a batting line-up that has struggled in an almighty fashion away from home in the last year. A closer look though reveals that in his other 10 matches, North averaged under 20 with just two fifties. It epitomises the kind of inconsistency that has made things so hard for Clarke and his men in recent times.
Consistency has rested mainly with South Africa and England in the last few years and the list here gives a good glimpse into why. The Springboks have four batsmen in the top ten and one more in the top 20. And when Jacques Kallis is your fifth best performing batsmen away, you must be doing quite well. England have three in the top ten and a further three (Pietersen, Strauss, and Collingwood) in the top 20, one of the main reasons they have consistently been in the top two teams in this period. Most other teams have generally struggled away from home, none more than India whose infamous 0-8 scoreline in 2011/12 means that they have no one who averages more than 50 during this period. Tendulkar is still (predictably and somewhat worryingly) the first Indian in the list at #15 but the figures for the others do not make for great reading. Dhoni should be a worried man with the tours of South Africa, New Zealand, and England looming in the next 12 months. Michael Clarke is a considerably worried man already and the fact that North and Katich, two men who can't find a place in the team anymore and are 35+, are the top two Australians in the list will worry him more. The other teams have also all struggled, none more than New Zealand and Pakistan who have no batsmen featured in the top 20.
I'm sure there's plenty more that I have missed so interested in thoughts.
Parsing that down further, a few more interesting things crop up. Gayle had one monster innings of 333 against Sri Lanka which inflated his average by more than 17 runs without which he would have been #7 on the list instead of at the top. Similarly, Thilan Samaraweera's twin double hundreds on the ill-fated tour of Pakistan in 2009 gave his average a 17+ run boost without which he would have dropped 18 places to #22 on the list. That would have made Prasanna Jayawardene the top Sri Lankan in this list ahead of their big three (Dilshan, Sangakkara, and Mahela Jayawardene). Something for the Sri Lankan selectors to think about as the rise of Chandimal is threatening Prasanna J's place in the first XI. Marcus North as the top Australian name on the list was as surprising as the Sri Lankan one and his case is even more interesting. Looking at just his away average of 51.7 and the five hundreds in 11 matches, one might wonder why he doesn't make a batting line-up that has struggled in an almighty fashion away from home in the last year. A closer look though reveals that in his other 10 matches, North averaged under 20 with just two fifties. It epitomises the kind of inconsistency that has made things so hard for Clarke and his men in recent times.
Consistency has rested mainly with South Africa and England in the last few years and the list here gives a good glimpse into why. The Springboks have four batsmen in the top ten and one more in the top 20. And when Jacques Kallis is your fifth best performing batsmen away, you must be doing quite well. England have three in the top ten and a further three (Pietersen, Strauss, and Collingwood) in the top 20, one of the main reasons they have consistently been in the top two teams in this period. Most other teams have generally struggled away from home, none more than India whose infamous 0-8 scoreline in 2011/12 means that they have no one who averages more than 50 during this period. Tendulkar is still (predictably and somewhat worryingly) the first Indian in the list at #15 but the figures for the others do not make for great reading. Dhoni should be a worried man with the tours of South Africa, New Zealand, and England looming in the next 12 months. Michael Clarke is a considerably worried man already and the fact that North and Katich, two men who can't find a place in the team anymore and are 35+, are the top two Australians in the list will worry him more. The other teams have also all struggled, none more than New Zealand and Pakistan who have no batsmen featured in the top 20.
I'm sure there's plenty more that I have missed so interested in thoughts.
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