Playing in England has always been associated with overcast conditions, the swinging ball and the home of cricket, Lords. England's bowling attack has contributed some great swing bowlers in the past two decades but have they really been successful in ruining the images of some of the greatest batsman over the past two decades as well?
Well the stats would seem to point the other way, some of the greatest batsman over the past two decades seem to actually enjoy batting under the glorious English sunshine. I have put this under the knife of the Cricinfo statsguru. Minimum of 5 games, ordered by average, between the dates 1 Jan 1990 and 22 Oct 2010.
The top 10 batsman in England of the past two decades are;
IJL Trott (ENG) - 7 Matches, 829 runs @ 82.90
Saleem Malik (Pak) - 8 Matches, 683 runs @ 75.88
GC Smith (SA) - 9 Matches, 1083 runs @ 72.20
DC Boon (AUS) - 6 Matches, 555 runs @ 69.37
R Dravid (IND) - 9 Matches, 915 runs @ 65.35
SC Ganguly (IND) - 9 Matches, 915 runs @ 65.35
S Chanderpaul (WI) - 13 Matches, 1164 runs @ 64.66
DI Gower (ENG) - 6 Matches, 441 runs @ 63.00
SR Waugh (AUS) - 16 Matches, 1127 @ 62.61
GA Gooch (ENG) - 29 Matches, 3169 runs @ 62.13
Notable Others;
SR Tendulkar - 13 Matches, 1032 runs @ 62.00
R Ponting - 20 Matches, 1421 runs @ 41.79
Javed Miandad - 5 Matches, 364 runs @ 60.66
JH Kallis - 12 Matches, 586 runs @ 29.30
So, if some of the greatest batsman have actually thrived under the English swinging ball that is made out to be so dangerous, where is the hardest place to ply your trade as a batsman?
Well the stats would seem to point the other way, some of the greatest batsman over the past two decades seem to actually enjoy batting under the glorious English sunshine. I have put this under the knife of the Cricinfo statsguru. Minimum of 5 games, ordered by average, between the dates 1 Jan 1990 and 22 Oct 2010.
The top 10 batsman in England of the past two decades are;
IJL Trott (ENG) - 7 Matches, 829 runs @ 82.90
Saleem Malik (Pak) - 8 Matches, 683 runs @ 75.88
GC Smith (SA) - 9 Matches, 1083 runs @ 72.20
DC Boon (AUS) - 6 Matches, 555 runs @ 69.37
R Dravid (IND) - 9 Matches, 915 runs @ 65.35
SC Ganguly (IND) - 9 Matches, 915 runs @ 65.35
S Chanderpaul (WI) - 13 Matches, 1164 runs @ 64.66
DI Gower (ENG) - 6 Matches, 441 runs @ 63.00
SR Waugh (AUS) - 16 Matches, 1127 @ 62.61
GA Gooch (ENG) - 29 Matches, 3169 runs @ 62.13
Notable Others;
SR Tendulkar - 13 Matches, 1032 runs @ 62.00
R Ponting - 20 Matches, 1421 runs @ 41.79
Javed Miandad - 5 Matches, 364 runs @ 60.66
JH Kallis - 12 Matches, 586 runs @ 29.30
So, if some of the greatest batsman have actually thrived under the English swinging ball that is made out to be so dangerous, where is the hardest place to ply your trade as a batsman?