At the beginning of the year, I read the excellent biography of VVS Laxman, 281 and Beyond, a beautifully collaborated book that is as much Laxman's creation as it is of the co-author, R Kaushik. One aspect of Laxman's career that came through clearly was his anguish at being dropped at regular intervals at the beginning and end of his career.

That led me to the idea for this article: about how steady or topsy-turvy players' careers are over their duration.

Let me first present the cut-off criteria. I have set 50 Tests and a batting average of 25 as the cut-off for batsmen, and 40 Tests and a sub-40 bowling average for bowlers. There is no point in looking at Shane Warne as a batsman just because he scored runs; or at bowlers who took two wickets per Test, like Carl Hooper did. Unfortunately these criteria rule out players like Claire Grimmett, Sydney Barnes, Victor Trumper and Everton Weekes.

The graphs presented their own challenges. In order to present a snapshot of a player's career, I need to show the entire span of his career, from first Test to last. The longest span of Tests is that of Sachin Tendulkar, whose 200 matches came in a sequence of 217 Tests for India. And I needed to show no fewer than ten players in a single graph, so that readers could make visual comparisons. All in all, this turned out to be a fine-tuned exercise of space management on the visual presentation. My thanks to TS Girish from ESPNcricinfo for his valuable inputs.

Before going on to the tables and graphs, let me first define what counts as a "break" in a player's career. A player may be absent for one Test through illness, injury, not being selected, and so on. He might miss an overseas series of, say, four Tests. He might make himself unavailable for ten Tests. He might make his debut and then miss 20 Tests. All these are considered as one break. However, I will also present a value of the Tests the player figured in as a percentage of the Tests played by their team during his career span. The tables below contain all the players who qualify, while the graphs contain selected players, so that all important players can be covered.

Careers of batsmen

Let us first look at batsmen who had very stable and virtually uninterrupted careers. This graph is proof that batsmen can have long careers with fewer disruptions, relative to bowlers. The contrast will be vivid lower down in the article.

Career snapshot of batsmen - Fewest breaks Batsman FirstYear LastYear Runs Matches Team_matches % Breaks Brendon McCullum 2004 2016 6453 101 101 100.0% 0 Adam Gilchrist 1999 2008 5570 96 96 100.0% 0 Michael Hussey 2005 2013 6235 79 79 100.0% 0 Tony Greig 1972 1977 3599 58 58 100.0% 0 John Reid 1949 1965 3428 58 58 100.0% 0 Alastair Cook 2006 2018 12472 161 162 99.4% 1 Allan Border 1979 1994 11174 156 157 99.4% 1 Kapil Dev 1978 1994 5248 131 132 99.2% 1 Stephen Fleming 1994 2008 7172 111 114 97.4% 1 GR Viswanath 1969 1983 6080 91 93 97.8% 1 Joe Root 2012 2019 6718 81 82 98.8% 1 Jeff Dujon 1981 1991 3322 81 82 98.8% 1 Michael Slater 1993 2001 5312 74 94 78.7% 1 David Warner 2011 2018 6363 74 76 97.4% 1 Asad Shafiq 2010 2019 4323 69 70 98.6% 1 Bill Lawry 1961 1971 5234 67 68 98.5% 1 Alvin Kallicharran 1972 1981 4399 66 68 97.1% 1 Andy Flower 1992 2002 4794 63 65 96.9% 1 Roy Fredericks 1968 1977 4334 59 60 98.3% 1 Hanif Mohammad 1952 1969 3915 55 57 96.5% 1 Habibul Bashar 2000 2008 3026 50 52 96.2% 1

Anantha Narayanan

Only one batsman, Brendon McCullum, has had a career of over 100 Tests and not missed a single one played by his team in that time. It helped that he was the premier wicketkeeper and the captain. Adam Gilchrist had a similar career, missing the hundred by four Tests. Michael Hussey made his debut after he turned 30 but then made up by playing in 79 consecutive Tests. Tony Greig and John Reid (Sr) had similar careers but with fewer Tests. (It must be said that the number of Tests played was lower in the middle of the 20th century than in decades since.)

There are a number of batsmen who have had a single break each. I have selected only a few of the important ones to feature in the graph. The table has a complete list of such batsmen. Allan Border missed a single Test, right at the beginning of his career. Similarly, Gundappa Viswanath missed two Tests very early. Joe Root missed a Test during his first year. Michael Slater had only one break in his career, in the mid-1990s, but that turned out to be a 20-Test stretch. Though Slater missed those 20 matches, he played uninterrupted before and after. Sunil Gavaskar missed four Tests but split into two, at either end of his career.

Now a look at batsmen who missed the most Tests.

Career snapshot of batsmen - Most breaks Batsman FirstYear LastYear Runs Matches Team_matches % Breaks Shiv Chanderpaul 1994 2015 11867 164 205 80.0% 18 Colin Cowdrey 1954 1975 7624 114 194 58.8% 16 Mike Gatting 1978 1995 4409 79 180 43.9% 15 Mohinder Amarnath 1969 1988 4378 69 135 51.1% 14 Keith Fletcher 1968 1982 3272 59 132 44.7% 13 Murali Vijay 2008 2018 3982 61 107 57.0% 13 Geoff Boycott 1964 1982 8114 108 172 62.8% 13 Sanath Jayasuriya 1991 2007 6973 110 142 77.5% 13 Ramnaresh Sarwan 2000 2011 5842 87 115 75.7% 12 Imran Khan 1971 1992 3807 88 138 63.8% 12 Chris Gayle 2000 2014 7214 103 145 71.0% 12 Graham Gooch 1975 1995 8900 118 202 58.4% 12 Inzamam-ul-Haq 1992 2007 8830 120 135 88.9% 12 VVS Laxman 1996 2012 8781 134 163 82.2% 12

Anantha Narayanan

As the great humourist PG Wodehouse said: "He went in and came out so fast that he almost met himself going in." Some of these players might have felt likewise. Shivnarine Chanderpaul had 18 breaks (adding up to 41 Tests) in his long career. Why this should have been the case is difficult to answer. Colin Cowdrey (16 breaks and 80 Tests) made a comeback after retiring. That lowered his share of Tests he played for the team in that period. Why did he have so many breaks in his main career? Maybe it is to do with Cowdrey not touring some countries. Mike Gatting (15 breaks and a whopping 101 Tests) had long breaks right through his career. Look at the end of his career - he missed 33 Tests at one stage. Immediately after his debut, Mohinder Amarnath (14 breaks and 66 Tests) missed 21 Tests; and he did not play during a long stretch of 23 Tests when he was at his peak. Sanath Jayasuriya (13 breaks and 32 Tests) is a surprising name here. Was it because of the way he played?

Geoff Boycott missed no fewer than 64 Tests in his career. The long break of 30 Tests in the middle was caused by his self-imposed exile. As for VVS Laxman (12 breaks and 29 Tests), it looks like he was justified in his feelings about the number of times he missed Tests. In a career of 134 matches, the longest uninterrupted stretch was of 43 Tests. After playing his first two Tests Graham Gooch (84 Tests in 12 breaks) missed 25 Tests. Finally, I have included Don Bradman here since there is no other logical place. Four breaks but only the first was because he was dropped; the rest were by his own choice.

Finally, a selection from among batsmen who have played many Tests.

Career snapshot of batsmen - Tests played Batsman FirstYear LastYear Runs Matches Team_matches % Breaks Sachin Tendulkar 1989 2013 15921 200 217 92.2% 7 Steve Waugh 1985 2004 10927 168 189 88.9% 9 Ricky Ponting 1995 2012 13378 168 193 87.0% 10 Jacques Kallis 1995 2013 13289 166 184 90.2% 9 Shiv Chanderpaul 1994 2015 11867 164 205 80.0% 18 Rahul Dravid 1996 2012 13288 164 166 98.8% 2 Alastair Cook 2006 2018 12472 161 162 99.4% 1 Allan Border 1979 1994 11174 156 157 99.4% 1 Mahela Jayawardene 1997 2014 11814 149 159 93.7% 3 Mark Boucher 1997 2012 5515 147 156 94.2% 3 VVS Laxman 1996 2012 8781 134 163 82.2% 12 Kumar Sangakkara 2000 2015 12400 134 138 97.1% 4 Alec Stewart 1990 2003 8465 133 154 86.4% 7 Kapil Dev 1978 1994 5248 131 132 99.2% 1 Brian Lara 1990 2006 11953 131 157 83.4% 7

Anantha Narayanan

The top four players above have had a reasonable number of breaks. However, Sachin Tendulkar's seven breaks (17 Tests missed) is indeed a surprise, especially as he was never dropped. The visual inspection shows a number of breaks of two or three matches each, indicating that these are series from which Tendulkar chose to stay out. Similarly surprising are the high number of breaks for the next three batsmen. In case of all these players - Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis - there were longish breaks early in their careers. Then comes Rahul Dravid, with just two breaks.

Alastair Cook missed a single Test after he played two Tests. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene had reasonably stable careers, especially Jayawardene, who missed seven Tests immediately after his debut and then settled in for the long haul. Brian Lara missed 27 Tests, including ten right after his debut. Mark Waugh, despite a late start, had just two breaks of one Test each - both early in his career.

Careers of bowlers

We now move on to bowlers who had stable careers. Because of how bowlers are more susceptible to injuries than batsmen, they do not get anywhere near the stability that batsmen achieve.

Career snapshot of bowlers - Fewest breaks Bowler FirstYear LastYear Wkts Matches Team_matches % Breaks Tony Greig 1972 1977 141 58 58 100.0% 0 Monty Noble 1898 1909 121 42 42 100.0% 0 Kapil Dev 1978 1994 434 131 132 99.2% 1 MM Ali 2014 2019 178 59 66 89.4% 2 Keith Miller 1946 1956 170 55 57 96.5% 2 Trevor Goddard 1955 1970 123 41 49 83.7% 2 Garry Sobers 1954 1974 235 93 100 93.0% 3 Nathan Lyon 2011 2019 343 86 90 95.6% 3 Trent Boult 2011 2019 246 61 67 91.0% 3 Graeme Swann 2008 2013 255 60 66 90.9% 3 Wes Hall 1958 1969 192 48 52 92.3% 3 JR Hazlewood 2014 2019 164 44 48 91.7% 3 Brett Lee 1999 2008 310 76 103 73.8% 4 Bishan Bedi 1967 1979 266 67 75 89.3% 4 Heath Streak 1993 2005 216 65 79 82.3% 4 Graham McKenzie 1961 1971 246 60 65 92.3% 4 Intikhab Alam 1959 1977 125 47 56 83.9% 4 Vinoo Mankad 1946 1959 162 44 50 88.0% 4 Ian Bishop 1989 1998 161 43 73 58.9% 4 Bill Johnston 1947 1955 160 40 45 88.9% 4

Anantha Narayanan

Unlike batsmen, only two bowlers have had unbroken careers. We have already seen that Tony Greig played 56 consecutive Tests. Monty Noble played in 40 consecutive matches. It took him 11 years to play these Tests. Kapil Dev missed a single Test because of a quirky decision by the captain, Sunil Gavaskar, that Kapil should be penalised for a rash shot he played. Unfortunate indeed. Moeen Ali has had only two breaks. (This is before the Lord's Test against Australia, for which Moeen has been dropped.) Keith Miller missed a single Test each twice in his career. It took Miller ten years to play his 55 Tests.

The next four bowlers have had three breaks each. Like Bradman, Garry Sobers was dropped after he played in a single Test. Nathan Lyon has had a very stable career, with only three breaks, all in his first two years. Trent Boult and Graeme Swann have had similar careers. Brett Lee missed 17 Tests at a stretch in the middle of his career, mainly because of team requirements.

Career snapshot of bowlers - Most breaks Bowler FirstYear LastYear Wkts Matches Team_matches % Breaks Brian Statham 1951 1965 252 70 136 51.5% 21 Harbhajan Singh 1998 2015 417 103 172 59.9% 20 Zaheer Khan 2000 2014 311 92 145 63.4% 18 James Anderson 2003 2019 575 148 206 71.8% 18 Dilhara Fernando 2000 2012 100 40 116 34.5% 17 Shoaib Akhtar 1997 2007 178 46 94 48.9% 16 Chris Old 1973 1981 143 46 92 50.0% 16 Saqlain Mushtaq 1995 2004 208 49 79 62.0% 16 John Emburey 1978 1995 147 64 175 36.6% 16 Rangana Herath 1999 2018 433 93 184 50.5% 16 Phil DeFreitas 1986 1995 140 44 85 51.8% 15 Mitchell Starc 2011 2019 211 51 85 60.0% 15 Mushtaq Ahmed 1990 2003 185 52 111 46.8% 15 Stuart MacGill 1998 2008 208 44 118 37.3% 14 Paul Adams 1995 2004 134 45 88 51.1% 14 Ishant Sharma 2007 2018 267 90 128 70.3% 14 Wasim Akram 1985 2002 414 104 131 79.4% 14 M Muralitharan 1992 2010 800 133 155 85.8% 14

Anantha Narayanan

Why did Brian Statham, a terrific fast bowler, play only around half the Tests England played when he was active? A quote might be relevant here. Sobers once said that Statham was too accurate and had to get the good batsmen out early or he could bowl them into form. He was never the spearhead of the attack and was a foil to Frank Tyson and Fred Trueman.

With the kind of start he had, did Harbhajan Singh need to miss 69 Tests across 20 breaks? The end was painful for him. What about James Anderson - 18 breaks and 59 Tests - who continues to miss Tests? Injuries have played a part too. In the case of Zaheer Khan (18 breaks and 53 Tests), it was a question of him missing out on many Tests played in India. On the other hand, Rangana Herath missing 80 of the first 100 Tests Sri Lanka played during his span is easily explained by the presence of Muttiah Muralitharan in the side.

It is a similar case with Stuart MacGill. The presence of Shane Warne in the side meant that MacGill played in only 37% of the Tests Australia played. Mitchell Starc's figures are mind-boggling. Maybe he missed out on occasion because he did not fit into the Australian scheme of things. It is also true that he had an average of only three wickets per Test at the beginning of his career.

The three Pakistani bowlers in the graph above are all exceptional. However, as happens with many Pakistani players, they were in and out of the team for reasons not often clear. Shoaib Akhtar's graph is especially painful - he played in less than half the matches Pakistan played in his time.

Finally a selection from among bowlers who have played many Tests.

Career snapshot of bowlers - Tests played Bowler FirstYear LastYear Wkts Matches Team_matches % Breaks Jacques Kallis 1995 2013 292 166 184 90.2% 9 James Anderson 2003 2019 575 149 207 72.0% 18 Shane Warne 1992 2007 708 145 177 81.9% 9 M Muralitharan 1992 2010 800 133 155 85.8% 14 Courtney Walsh 1984 2001 519 132 142 93.0% 6 Anil Kumble 1990 2008 619 132 159 83.0% 9 Kapil Dev 1978 1994 434 131 132 99.2% 1 Stuart Broad 2007 2019 444 127 146 87.0% 12 Glenn McGrath 1993 2007 563 124 157 79.0% 12 Daniel Vettori 1997 2014 362 113 149 75.8% 6 Chaminda Vaas 1994 2009 355 111 133 83.5% 10 Shaun Pollock 1995 2008 421 108 132 81.8% 10 Wasim Akram 1985 2002 414 104 131 79.4% 14 Harbhajan Singh 1998 2015 417 103 172 59.9% 20 Ian Botham 1977 1992 383 102 156 65.4% 8 Makhaya Ntini 1998 2009 390 101 128 78.9% 8

Anantha Narayanan

In Shane Warne's case, the real break is the sequence of 14 Tests he missed in 2003, when he was banned for a year. That he earned the ban is clear. However, this ban was instrumental in his missing a chance to come close to Muttiah Muralitharan. Warne also missed seven Tests earlier in his career.

Muralitharan himself missed Tests often in his career. But never more than four at a stretch. Compared to that, Courtney Walsh had a steady career.

There was no real reason for Anil Kumble to be dropped for 11 Tests in a row during 2000-01. This and a long break at the beginning cost him quite a few Tests. Glenn McGrath had a long stretch of nine Tests missed around 2003. And he missed a few towards the end of his career because of the Australian policy of resting/rotating players.

Wasim Akram had 14 breaks. Ian Botham missed many Tests at the end of his career. Curtly Ambrose and Richard Hadlee had steady careers compared to the others. Dale Steyn missed many Tests recently due to injuries and earlier this month called his glittering career to a close. These ten bowlers have had nearly 100 breaks between them. In contrast, the featured ten batsmen had 54 breaks between them.

In conclusion, it can be seen that batsmen have careers that are steadier than bowlers. It is very tough for bowlers to play over 100 Tests without many breaks. The exception is, of course, Kapil Dev, who would have had an uninterrupted 130-Test career but for the capriciousness of Gavaskar.

The Test Championship

A long-awaited event has just completed its first contest at Edgbaston. This provides Test cricket a boost - one that it needs to survive against other eye-catching formats and gross apathy from many stakeholders, including spectators. I hope it goes through well to the conclusion of the first cycle two years from now.

Though it is too late to make any changes in the current cycle, here are some problems that should be addressed.

All teams should play all other teams. I know the only impediment to this is the fact that India would not play Pakistan. But then, India did play Pakistan a few weeks earlier, in the World Cup, at Old Trafford. Why can India not play Pakistan in the UAE or anywhere else - say, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, England or Australia?

If that can be sorted out, there could be eight series for each team.

It is very disappointing to note that each India-Bangladesh Test carries 60 points and each England-Australia Test is worth 24 points. To be fair, all Tests must carry equal weight. This could have been the case if there had been the courage and conviction to make all series of equal length - say, three Tests each. Each Test could carry 40 points, each team would play 24 matches, and the total number of points at stake would be 960 for all teams. Of course, schedules would have been a problem but then the T20 windows could have been shortened. Why should the IPL take nearly 15% of the total time available, year after year?

I would like to suggest a few minor tweaks to the points-distribution methodology.

A tie has come about twice in the last 60 years. Ties deserve more recognition than just 50% of the points for a win. In my Test Teams Performance work, I assign two-thirds of the value of a win to a tie. It could even be three-fifths. Taking both teams together, I don't mind the total points awarded for a tie exceeding the points for a win.

A draw where the team batting last scores 300 for 8, chasing 350, surely deserves more than two-fifths of the points. A possible tweak could be that a draw in which the two first innings are not completed could get two-fifths of the points, and a competitive draw half the points. I understand that ICC's idea is to reward a 1-1 draw more than a 0-0 draw. But draws are unique and an integral part of this beautiful game and need more recognition. Surely two well-contested draws should be viewed in the same light as two one-sided wins.

It is also possible to consider something similar to the ratings system in my Test Team Performance analysis. A draw that is a nailbiter, like the 2014 England-Sri Lanka Lord's Test (with scores of 575 for 9, 453, 267 for 8 and 201 for 9) is allotted 98.9 performance rating points, while a boring draw (like the Pakistan-India Test in Lahore in 2005-06, where the team scores were 679 for 7 and 410 for 1) is allotted only 38.2 points.

How will the ICC identify a sub-standard pitch in order to apply penalties? Cricketing sense and common sense are not enough. It is necessary to use a metric like my PQI (Pitch Quality Index). This is derived using a combination of the following factors:

- Expected runs from batsmen playing

- Actual runs scored by batsmen

- Expected wickets from bowlers playing

- Actual wickets taken by bowlers

- Match RpW weighted by quality of wickets lost

The net result is a very sound value. For the recent Lord's Test between England and Ireland, the PQI was measured at 25.4, indicating a difficult, but not monstrous, pitch. In general if there are two reasonable innings, we cannot term a pitch as "terrible". The first Ashes Test this year, at Edgbaston, had a PQI of 53.6.

In the past 20 years, the lowest PQI value was 21.3, for the Hamilton pitch in 2002 in which India made 99 and 154, and New Zealand managed 94 and 160 for 6. The India-Australia Test in Mumbai in 2004 clocked in at a PQI value of 23.4, and the Pakistan capitulation (59 and 53) in Sharjah in 2002 comes in at 24.0.

This works well at the other end of the spectrum too. The really high-scoring pitches should also be penalised. The India-New Zealand match in New Delhi in 1955 (where the innings scores were 450for 2, 531for 7 and 112for 1) had a PQI of 93.7. The Pakistan-India bat-athon in Lahore in 2006 referred to above fetched a PQI of 88.6.

(Added on August 19: The Lord's Test which ended on Sunday is a perfect example of what I have mentioned about the competitive draw. That the two teams could produce such a great Test despite losing nearly two days of play and be allotted just 8 points each is a travesty of justice. The least they deserve is 12 points each.)

***

Steven Smith's all-time great innings of 144 in the first innings of the Edgbaston Test moved comfortably into the top 15 in my Golden Willow 25 table of the top Test batting performances of all time. The following factors influenced the entry of the innings into the list:

- Smith came in at 17 for 2, after which the innings slumped to 112 for 6 and 122 for 8, and finally finished at 284. He added 172 runs with the late-order batsmen. Out of these, 162 runs were added with the last two batsmen.

- Chris Woakes, with a tally of 60 home wickets at 22, was a big factor in the high quality of England's bowling attack. To some extent this was discounted by Anderson bowling only four overs.

- The PQI was 53, mainly because of the middle two innings.

- But the real clincher, worth well over 100 points, was that the innings resulted in an away win against a very strong England team. (Australia's own strength was not that great, because of the presence of Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Matthew Wade and Peter Siddle.)

An image of the current GW25 table is shown below. It can be seen that Smith's 144 pushes Cheteshwar Pujara's Adelaide classic of 123 out of the top 25.

Anantha Narayanan

Smith's twin 140s at Edgbaston fetched him over 1320 rating points, and took his match performances into the best-ever match batting performance position, jumping over Jack Russell's 140 and 111 in 1923 against South Africa, which gathered just over 1300 points.

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