Cricket... A Game Of Statistics That Does Not Always Paint The Picture Of Greatness

As MS Dhoni finally breaks his T20i duck, Roderick Easdale looks at other global superstars who didn’t always have things their own way.

Last week’s third T20 international of the recentseries between India andEngland saw MS Dhoni make a half century. No great surprise you might think there – after all he has long been one of the best white-ball cricketers around. Asked to name a World T20 side to take on the Martians, many would plump for Dhoni as batsman-keeper-captain. Moreover, Dhoni was playing his 76th T20i and his 66th innings and went to the crease averaging more than 36 in this format.

Yet this was the first time the 35-year-old had made a T20i half century.

In comparison, England’s wicket-keeper batsman, Jos Buttler, has five half centuries in 20 fewer innings; Dhoni’s successor as captain, Virat Kohli, 16 half centuries in 22 fewer innings. England’s skipper, Eoin Morgan, has played the same number of innings as Dhoni, but has eight fifties. The 22 players in this match had gone into the game with 48 half centuries between them.

Clearly statistics do not always tell the full story. Three men who were selected for England either as a batsman or an all-rounder made a pair on Test debut. Two of them were never picked again. The third went in to win 118 caps and become, for a while, England’s record run scorer – Graham Gooch.

Debutant Gooch had learnt at breakfast on the morning of the match that he was playing from one of the selectors, Len Hutton. “Have you played against Australia before?” asked Hutton, chattily.

“Yes, you selected me for the MCC two weeks ago.”

“Did I?“ replied Sir Len. “Sorry, I don’t watch much cricket these days.”