There are few things in this world that seem to polarise people more than statistics. Mark Twain's famous quote (from which this series takes its name as well) is probably the best example of the school of thought that derides the field and its use to explain things whereas most people of a scientific mind or training will almost always look at the statistics first. The truth as always probably lies somewhere in between. My own more simplistic view on statistics is closer to what a character in one of Rex Stout's innumerable Nero Wolfe books says, "There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up". I was never particularly strong on the higher mathematics side (= the kind you make up) of the statistics coin but when it came to numbers in sports (especially cricket), my thirst for looking up has been like a glass with no bottom. Poring over lists and numbers and comparing players across eras (often on meaningless parameters) has cumu...