I came across the following chart from this tweet after the India-Australia clash at the CWC 2019.

Fig. 1

The article linked in the tweet argues how special Mitchell Starc is and questions why he didn’t attack that day. However, looking at the chart, I found myself asking more general questions on the other bowlers in the chart and trends based on types of bowlers. I also wondered whether there is more behind Starc’s position in that chart. So, I decided to try and reproduce this data and dig in a bit more.

Here is my reproduction of the same chart. I ended up with more bowlers on the chart and a slightly different strike rate for Starc, but the gist holds.

Fig 2.

In the rest of this piece we will spend a bulk of the time trying to understand the bowling landscape broadly based on different types of bowlers and bowling styles. We will also identify specific bowlers and try to glean insights on them. Finally, we will take a quick look at Mitchell Starc and compare him with another special seamer and touch on how the bowlers in the one day game have evolved.

The Misers & The Spendthrifts

If we divide the chart into four quadrants, we get four types of bowlers.

Fig. 3

I. High RR, Low SR: These are our spendthrifts. Attacking bowlers who buy their wickets by taking risks in the field or luring the batsmen into hitting. This is the most populous quadrant; a testament to the fact that containing batsmen in the modern game is extremely hard. (See also: The last section on The Game is Getting More Aggressive & Risk Bearing)

II. Low RR, Low SR: This is where one really wants to be as a bowler. Not giving too many runs but still taking wickets often. We don’t have a lot of these, especially farther from the quadrant axes where you get more stingy and dangerous as a bowler. These are the special bowlers of the decade.

III. Low RR, High SR: These are our misers. Defensive bowlers who stop the run flow. They may be creating pressure resulting in wickets on the other end, but they aren’t taking wickets themselves.

IV. High RR, High SR: Teams must have good reasons for handing the ball to these guys. They are expensive and don’t get you wickets. Maybe these are partnership breakers. This is the least populous quadrant because most bowlers who would end up here don’t get to bowl much; for good reason.

Those that are Outstanding & Those that Stand Out

Let’s identify some of the interesting bowlers in each of these quadrants.

Fig. 4

The two bowlers who have a lower strike rate than Starc are Corey Anderson & Rashid Khan. Anderson concedes way more than Starc, has taken only 60 odd wickets and most importantly hasn’t played for New Zealand since 2017. Rashid Khan, however, has an economy of under 4, and has taken 128 wickets already. This is very close to the 150 wicket cutoff that the article cited above used, but at a much better strike rate. Rashid Khan is special!

If you want to plug in some overs for the 5th bowler cheaply, pick Mohammed Hafeez to bowl them. Glenn Maxwell, JP Duminy, Moeen Ali & Hafeez; all fill in for the specialist bowler not picked in the eleven. They might break a partnership here and there but they aren’t really a wicket taking option. So the high strike rate is expected. However, Hafeez stands out from the pack with a much lower economy rate than the others. Of course, this could also be an indication of how these bowlers are used by their captains. (See Also: Section on Wrist Spinners Attack, Finger Spinners Defend)

Attacking with Pace & Containing with Spin

We saw a smattering of specialist spinners in the economical bottom half of the chart in Fig. 4. Let’s look at this more closely to see how the seamers and spinners stack up.

Fig. 5 Spin vs Seam

Gone are the days when spinners were meant to be dispatched all over the place. They are now the containing option and a healthy number of them are also strike options.

Fig. 5. also shows how much more of an attacking option Adil Rashid is than Moeen Ali for England. I am not sure that Eoin Morgan sees it this way. Moeen has finished his quota more often than Rashid in recent games including the three matches that England have played so far at CWC2019. Maybe this is because Morgan is attacking with pace and plugging the runs with spin. Even with this strategy, however, the numbers seem to show that Adil Rashid gives you a better bang per buck.

Wrist Spinners Attack, Finger Spinners Defend

Anyone who has listened to experts discuss spinners, has heard about wrist spinners being more attacking than finger spinners. If you ever wondered what this meant, take a look at the following chart.

Fig. 6 Wrist Spinners vs Finger Spinners

While there are fewer wrist spinners, most of them are in quadrant II with attacking, but miserly figures. The only two that have a strike rate of over 40 are AG Cremer of Zimbabwe & Shahid Afridi of Pakistan. Most finger spinners are not an attacking option and they have to contend with the role of keeping the scoring down from their end. As we saw earlier, in the discussion on Fig. 4, some of the prominent part-timers of international cricket: Glenn Maxwell, JP Duminy, Moeen Ali & Mahmadullah, don’t seem to be filling this role too well. Hopefully, they are breaking enough key partnerships. If not, their management should probably think about how to use them better or look for alternatives. Even if they are breaking partnerships, they are probably left on for longer than they should be. Otherwise, they would have lower strike rates.

Not The Best Time To Be a Dibbly-Dobbly Seamer

While we are at it, let’s also look at the seamers by how fast they bowl.

Fig. 7 Medium Pacers vs Fast Bowlers

Almost all of the medium pacers have set up camp in the first quadrant. Unlike spinners, the more attacking of whom seem to enjoy a lower economy rate, the medium pacers not only go for more runs, but they also seem to have to take additional risks as bowlers and in setting fields to be able to get additional wickets.

Coming Back to Mitchell Starc Being Special

We see in Fig. 2, and Fig. 7, that M. Starc is indeed pretty good and tops the list in terms of strike rate. But “special” is a relative term, and to look for someone really special, you want to look along the diagonal in the bottom left corner. We saw in fig x that Rashid Khan fits this bill overall; by a huge margin. Amongst pace bowlers, Bumrah is that man. Jasprit Bumrah is special!

Unfortunately, Rashid Khan plays for a relatively new Afghanistan team and hasn’t played a lot of games against most oppositions. So, Rashid Khan is special, but underexposed. But we can take a look at how Bumrah & Starc stack up against different oppositions.