Josh Kennedy: [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Cricket Matters podcast. Today's topic is what is a good batting average in club cricket? Uh, and first of all, let me apologize. I've had some slight technical difficulties this morning. My mic stand has fallen into pieces. Uh, so I will be holding my mic for the, for the entirety of this podcast.
Let's hope it doesn't. Oh, uh, mess things up. James, what's your, uh, what's your batting average this year? You know, or all time, well, whatever
James Breese: this year and all time.
Josh Kennedy: Yeah. Idea.
James Breese: Uh, good question. I think I, I should know this. I think it's the five. I think across what board it was, it was 40. Yeah, I think I was going in for the weekend, but then I literally had two low scores on the weekend.
I had two on the weekend and downs. I think it's gone down to 35. So you put me on the spot there. I I didn't even check that. Well, we're doing, we're doing check a podcast about batting averages, so I thought it might be important. Yeah, exactly. It is. That is good. Very good point. Actually, I, uh, I take that, but, [00:01:00] uh, but yeah, no, this is, this is stemmed from a conversation on Saturday I've had with a.
A few players Hmm. And a few players were moaning about having a bit of bad luck. Yeah. Uh, a few players were moaning about they wish they could play it, they should be playing at a higher level 'cause they find batting against better bowling, uh, helps them perform better. And I just listened intently. I didn't really pass any comment or judgment, but unfortunately in cricket, the stats don't lie and the stats don't lie over time.
So it led me to the question of what's a good batting average in club cricket? Yeah. So what does the stats show? And there is a blog that goes with this, I think, which I highly reckon and recommend everyone going back to cookie matters.com onto the blog to find it, because I've put all these tables together to show what the 10 greatest run scores of all time in test cricket, ODI, cricket and T 20 Cricket have scored and what their averages are.
Mm-hmm. Right. But there's also a few other metrics I think you should learn about. [00:02:00] And then based on some of the top 10 Premier League Club levels in, well in the uk. I've taken the stats from there, used some fancy maths and algorithm basis along the chat GVT to help me analyze and correlate some of the data.
And they provided a really good framework to think about what, what, what constitutes good form, bad form, and what is a good batting averaging club cricket. So we kind of dive into this, but I think the key thing is everyone, you know, always remembers their good score.
Josh Kennedy: Mm.
James Breese: They don't remember sometimes the bad scores in between.
So an in cricket, it's a game of percentages. You know, we have to embrace the inevitable. We are always going to get out. Yeah. 90 to 99% of the time. Okay. And shout out to Geo Callusy for this, who kinda like brought me around to this idea of the fearless mindset and how it's inevitable. We're always gonna get out and the greats always get out an X number, X number of times per 10 innings.
So I've kind of taken his work [00:03:00] and taken on a little bit further and kind of our style for performance analysis. So, yeah, it's, it's interesting, and again, these, these conversations, it's halfway through the season in the UK for most people right now, and it's a stage where you've got enough innings to make a better informed judgment about who's, who's playing well, who's not playing well.
Mm-hmm. And if people need to do something about it, because it's about 10 innings. Okay, we're at that halfway stage, about 10 innings in a season where most baters have had a chance to play at the league club level. Okay? Mm-hmm. So I'm gonna share my screen. I'm go into this, uh, where's my screen share, share screen.
Let's go to here. If it allows you to do it. Seek share screen. Right? Here we go. Allow, uh, I, we'll get there in the end. We'll eventually, here we go. Can you see that, Josh? There we go.
Josh Kennedy: Yep.
James Breese: So, obviously this is the blog, but I wanna go down to, well, [00:04:00] let's look at the very, very best, right? Mm-hmm. The very, very best players.
And let's look at test players, right? And the top 10 test batters of all times. Yeah. Now, I've looked at the number of innings they've had. The number of runs they scored and it's all based on number of runs. Okay. Yeah. You could have looked at a different way in looking the, the best players who've X number of innings over, who've averaged over 50, for example.
But I've gone for just total runs. To make it simple, you can see their average. But what I'm looking at is how many 50 do they score per 10 innings, and how many hundreds do they score per 10 innings and what their percentage innings are. 50 plus is. Okay. If you can see this in the table here. Yeah. Now.
Obviously Satchin Ulca is currently at the leading run score of all time. Um, then Vicki Ponting, Jack Hallis Vid, and Joe Ru, who's still playing, still active is fast approaching. I think by the end of this summer, he'll be taking over the second spot. Closing in on Satchin Ulca. Now let's take Satchin.
Josh Kennedy: How many, sorry, just as, as the, uh, non [00:05:00] cricketing person here, as everyone knows, how many years has Joe Route got left, do you think?
Oh, get to the top.
James Breese: 500%. Yes. Literally a hundred percent. Yeah. He's got many years left. He's, he's looking as fresh as ever and he's playing as beautifully as ever. And it's a, it's a thing of joy to watch him batting. Really. I think that's the best way to put it. So long may he continue and well into his later years, so Absolutely.
If we look at that now. So though obviously Joe's gonna stand out and we'll come to the Joe route in a second, in a second now, but let's look at Satchin. 329 innings. 15,921 runs at an average of 53.78. That is fantastic. We always just think about the averages, and averages do tell you a lot about players, but when it comes to club cricket and overall stats and how they perform well, how many times does Section 10 doca score 50?
Mm-hmm. Right. How often does he do it? Right? Because you tend to, you tend to remember all these good innings. You forget about the bad innings when you [00:06:00] look at this. He literally only scores a 50 or more every 3.62 innings per 10 innings. Right? That's three to four times every 10 times he goes in bats that 'cause 50 plus constitutes success.
And from those 50 plus he makes every 10 innings, 1.55 centuries. Okay. Interesting. So he's literally looking one and a half centuries, you know, one to two centuries. Mm-hmm. Every 10 innings and he's hitting 50 or more every three to four innings. Okay. Which means there's a percentage conversion of 36%.
Everyone will probably get over 50, you said to get over 50, which constitutes success. Now in Bati. Now, everyone would probably think, and I, I was guilty this until GEO started showing this and highlight this to me, that you'd probably get six or seven times outta 10, you know? But it's not the status stone life.
But what's interesting, again, ignore Joe Root. Mm-hmm. You look across the board from Ricky Ponting all the way down to Alan Border, [00:07:00] 36%, 35%, 36%, 34%, 30%, 38%. Kuang car is a high percentage conversion there. 35%, 34%, 34%. It's pretty it. Mid
Josh Kennedy: 30%.
James Breese: Mid 30% except for Joe Root.
Josh Kennedy: Yeah, 49.8 is that Joe Root
James Breese: is incredible. When we look at this, he's still going, he's averaging 50, which is slightly lower than Satchin 10 Golder, but it's 50 plus per 10, 50 plus pretending.
Is 4.98 currently. Wow. Right. A hundred percent innings 1.76. His percentage of innings 50 plus is approximately is 49.8%. That is incredible.
Josh Kennedy: Right. So we pretty much get to 50 almost every single inning almost. Yeah. 50% of the time. Every time. 50% of the time is right. Every time. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, that's incredible to go in and, and almost know that you can.
Root's gonna guarantee you 50 in test cricket. It's
James Breese: [00:08:00] incredible. It is unheard of. It is a complete outlier on this whole, on this whole aspect. It's it's mental, right? So these are the best test batters of all time. So let's scroll down. Look at the ODI cookie betting averages, right? Again, leading to scores of all time.
Satchin at the top right. We've got Coley, who's just recently retired in the middle here as well. So we've got top Tenic Sharma who still play down at number 10, very down, down the bottom. So averages are slightly different. So again, taking statues at the very top is scored. 18,426 runs an average of 44, 50 plus per innings.
3.21. Okay. Hundreds per 10 innings, 1.08. Percentage of innings, 50 plus 32%. Okay. Now go Kuang average of 41 50 plus 3.11 hundreds per 10 innings nor 0.66 50 plus innings percentage, 31%. I'll come back to Vera Coley in a [00:09:00] second 'cause he's another outlier, right? But I can go down average of 42 rookie po ting, 50 plus per per 10 innings, 3.23, so three times, right?
Mm-hmm. Roughly outta 10. He gets 50.8. Two times he gets a hundred. So about once every 10 innings. Conversion rate, 32.3%, bit lower for RIA and Jay Waner, 22.9%. But let's go back to Vera Coli on these stats. 14,181 runs average of 57 in one day cricket, 50 plus per 10 innings, 4.23 hundreds for attend innings, 1.77.
Percentage of innings, 50 plus 42.3%. Another massive outlier. Yeah. So when I did these stats and these numbers I looked at, these went, holy crap, VE Coley and Joe Root are technically on a different planet.
Josh Kennedy: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
James Breese: In some respect, you know, for the number of innings, number of runs, you've gotta like compare them.
So now these are all great players on this list, but it starts to build a picture, [00:10:00] right? Mm-hmm. Of what's going on. Uh, Josh, as a non-retail, what do you make of this when you start to read this?
Josh Kennedy: You, well, you would've sort of expected the 50 pluses for the greatest bats of all time to be, to be higher, wouldn't you?
Yep. But as you say, Coley and Joe Root, they massively stand out. I mean, 1.77 hundreds per 10 in it. That's amazing. Yeah. Exactly, and he gets four
James Breese: fifties every tailings technically, and based on on his numbers and the stats, which is everyone else is three, some are twos, and some of the leading scores of all time, right?
Yeah. Compared to all this here now, but this is just like, you know, number of runs ever in ODI cricket, okay? Yeah. This is, so we could look at something bit different with 50 averages of 50 plus or different averages, et cetera. But this is what we're seeing here now. T 20 is a little bit different.
Alright, um, we've got wrote Sharm at the top. He's averaging 32, 50 plus. Pretending is 2.45. Uh, 24.5% is his 50 plus conversion rate. Okay. Razza again, averaging 39 I. 3.2, two 50. [00:11:00] Pretend innings not 0.25. So again, it changes as you come down from test cricket to ODI. Cricket, you know, here again, I'm, I'll go through all these numbers here, but you can look at this on the, on the website and look at the graphs here.
We're starting to build a picture. A picture is. Is that task will give us 50 plus. Most of them at the top of the top of their game. The best of all time ODI is 40 plus the greatest run scores of all time. Mm-hmm. But they're converting approximately three times per 10 innings, right? Yeah, three times per 10 innings.
And they're getting at least 100 every 10 innings after that too. That's not much. That's a failure rate of like
Josh Kennedy: 70% most of the time. Right. Do you think then club cricketers are judging themselves too harshly when you look at these numbers?
James Breese: Well, kind of. And, but also it gives you an idea of everything's, everything's, um, relative.
Relative. So these are the best players at the very highest level, playing against the best bowlers, right? [00:12:00] Everyone finds a level in cricket. That's why like take South Wales as an example. You've got Premier League, division one, division two, then you've got 14 divisions below it, right? Right. I might join the 14th division at the bottom.
It's actually great. That's exactly the perfect starting point for you. So if you were to join division 14, Josh in Southeast East Wales, cricket, right? You'd be looking as a bat at try and aim for some of these numbers at that level. Yeah. Yeah. And then you progress until you get to the point. So if we look at.
If I scroll down to go, you know, the club cricketers tend to get it wrong. Right. Again, I'll, I'll use some of the phrase I've heard. In what, in what sense?
They, they see a score as a justification for them to be picked for maybe a higher team, the first team, for example. Mm-hmm. Right. But it shouldn't be judged on one score. It should be judged over at least [00:13:00] 10 innings.
Josh Kennedy: Right. Okay. You with me? Yeah.
James Breese: So again, these are some of the, um, quotes I've heard recently.
I made 60 last month. I should be in the first. Now
I got a good nut, three games in a row. It's not my fault. I just need a bit of luck. Quote. Yeah. Right. Quote. These are exactly the quotes. I think this is just like them hanging onto their good scores. Mm-hmm. But what they don't realize is. Well, what's really happening? So again, on the blog I talk about, let's say you had one score of 74 4 scores in the twenties.
Eight single digits, two non-actors at 12 and 15. Most people will cling onto that 74 and convince themselves of inform.
Josh Kennedy: Yeah.
James Breese: But a coach, a selector, a captain or a serious athlete sees the pattern. You're not converting.
Josh Kennedy: You're
James Breese: inconsistent, you're unreliable. That is the harsh reality, right? Yeah. So you've gotta look at your stats over a period of time, and I'd say lead cricket is the best way to judge yourself by.[00:14:00]
Josh Kennedy: Mm.
James Breese: Okay. But is the best way to judge yourself. By doesn't mean you're talented, but means there's something not, not here, not working, right. Which you need to acknowledge it. So what the good batting averages look like in club cricket. Well, this is from the stats, right? This is from literally looking at a multitude of Premier League levels across the UK and pulling it together and analyzing it here.
So in Club Cricket, if you're an opening batsman or bat, we are looking at an average of 35 to 45 plus as a baseline. 50 plus scores per 10 innings. 2.8 to 3.5 hundred per 10 innings. That's quite high. Point eight to one, two and total 50 plus scores and 18 innings. 'cause we roughly can get 18 innings in a season, right?
Mm-hmm. Is five to six. Okay. Alright. It's harder Opening the batting is harder. You're facing the new ball. You have to absorb pressure. [00:15:00] The ball's moving around much more laterally. It's, it's a harder place to bat. It's, that's our job is to protect the middle orders. They're the engine room who can kick on and do the work that we need 'em to do.
Again, now we look at number three to five 40 to 50 plus, you know, 50 plus scores pertaining three to four mm and a hundred have 10 innings, one to 1.8 total, 50 plus scores, six to seven of the course of receiving. Okay. Mm-hmm.
Josh Kennedy: It
James Breese: gets a bit lower. Six to eight and nine to 11. Again, six to eight. Looking at 25 to 35 plus nine to 11, five to 15 plus is a bonus.
But you can see on the table and what we're sharing here now is, you know, these are aren't guesses. These are patterns pulled from real top lead players and adjusted for your ambition or ways you consider yourself to be.
Josh Kennedy: Yeah.
James Breese: In a sense, so for all the players out there, all the baters out there who are interested and they, they feel they're unlucky, right?
They're, [00:16:00] they should have a chance in the first go back to your stats. Do your stats match up with you? As a starting point. Yeah, because if they don't, then you've got two questions. One, if you could be a massive outlier, guess what? You could be averaging 80 plus, right? And scoring a hundred every four games.
Well, that means you're not facing the right, the right level of cricket for ability, right? It means you're a big fish in a small pond. That's the best way to put it. However, if you are really struggling, maybe it's time to drop down. And learn some things or make some changes, right? That's a really important aspect to consider.
So when we're looking at this, and I'm helping judge batter, so when people are coming to us for a performance analysis and they're asking me for my advice, I'm looking at play cricket now, and I'm looking at some of these stats. I wanna see how many hundreds they scored. I wanna see how many fifties they scored, right?
What are they converting? What are they averaging? Are they averaging 20 to 30 but not [00:17:00] score to 50, and they're opening batsman and an opening, um, or top fi top five player? Yeah. Well, that's not converting. So that leaves pressure situations to make decisions about who's coming in, who shouldn't come in.
You've gotta get to those fifties, haven't you? That that's, that's what's nstitute good performance on the team. Right, and this is what we're looking for from the openers. Again, you will have a good ball when you're batting it. It's inevitable, right? They order against you, right? It's like I feel like quote from Hunger Games coming on.
It's like world's always in your favor. No, they're not. Right? They're really not. I, I, I go out for two on Saturday, I hit a ball, hit the top of off stump, and it was ridiculous. It was a good ball, and they walked off laughing because you have to laugh. Right, because it was such a good ball. It was just, you know, when the umpire goes and the, and the keeper behind is laughing as well.
Like it's, it's just one of those things. You have to laugh with it 'cause it's gonna happen. But look over the [00:18:00] course of 10 innings, look over the course of a season, that's where you can start to really understand who's playing well, who's playing. Not because a single knock of 60 here with a series of low scores.
Well, it was your day. Maybe you got a bit lucky. But if you wanna improve, you've gotta take these numbers and start to understand them because this will make you a better cricketer and maybe take responsibility for your own batting. Yeah. Oh, how does that sound?
Josh Kennedy: So we need to, uh, you need to scrub upon exactly what your average is.
We need to find out, don't we?
James Breese: Do you what? We'll go,
Josh Kennedy: should we go into it now? If should do it
James Breese: live, live. Can find, can you
Josh Kennedy: find out that quickly without us all twiddling or tling off? Yeah. You're, you're
James Breese: doing an anecdote in the meantime.
Josh Kennedy: Card of
James Breese: play
Josh Kennedy: cricket.com. An anecdote. I, well, I, I've not particularly got a, a cricket anecdote apart from, um, yeah, I watched the, uh, watched the highlights of, uh, England, India, um.
There you go. When they hit, got a 3 71, was it 3 71 Chase? No. I thought it was incredible. Absolutely incredible, [00:19:00]
James Breese: right? There you go. Yeah. Loved it. Um, for those live on here, for all games played this year, I'm averaging 35 over the bating. 35.8 3 35 to be precise.
Josh Kennedy: Oh, look at him. He's just in there. He's just in the target.
Average. The
James Breese: averages, I've hit 100. I've hit one 50. I'm annoyed 'cause I had two 40 fives as well in this thing. So it's agonizingly close. I could've hit it now, but I'm in that kind of, kind of, um, bracket there. So four 30 runs, so it's, it's an okay season for me so far. It's not great.
Josh Kennedy: Well, you, you're just, you're on the average, you're just a bit lower on your fifties, aren't you?
Yeah, that's what I need to do. But yeah,
James Breese: no, it's, um. I said it's just Game of Cricket. Game of cricket. There you go. Absolutely. That's me. My average is
Josh Kennedy: for card this year, live on it. So for all those club cricketers listening in, what would be the takeaway from this episode? Definitely
James Breese: good question. Don't just consider ab batting average.
Consider your. 50 plus [00:20:00] scores over the over 10 innings. How many have you scored? How many have you converted? That is the most important thing in my personal opinion, because yeah, a batting average could mean th loads of 12 not outs, right? You get like loads of. You know, if you're basically not out the whole season at baton number 11, it can be a bit misleading.
Yeah. But if the top of the order, how many of those runs are you converting to fifties and hundreds to help your team win the game? Yeah. And that's the most important
Josh Kennedy: thing to think differently. Absolutely. There we go guys. You've gotta check out those, uh, name for those fifties. That is it for today.
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