Wisden 100 hails Laxman, ignores Tendulkar

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, JULY 27. Figures in cricket tell their own story but more importantly they point to a fact. But it doesn't necessarily go down well with followers of the game if a batsman like Sachin Tendulkar, who after 12 years of international cricket, is said not to have batted as well as Brian Lara or Venkatsai Laxman (his 281 against Australia at Eden Gardens, Kolkata has been deemed as the sixth best Test match innings) in a Test match and cricket ratings fail to recognise his performances.

None of Tendulkar's big knocks according to the `Wisden 100' evaluated ratings for 134 years find a place in the top 100 Test innings of all time and also in the top 10 among Indians. What the `Wisden 100', which was launched on Thursday, says is that Tendulkar, regarded as the best batsman in the world, has to play match winning knocks to merit entry into the list.

Tendulkar's century in the second innings of the Test against Pakistan in Chennai two years ago almost got him a place in the exalted `Top 10'. According to Mr. Y. Ananth Narayan, who completed his engineering from the Madras University in the late 60s and set up Hallmark Software, Tendulkar has been very consistent. ``But he did not finish it off in Chennai against Pakistan. Neither he nor his teammates were able to win the match for India.''

Mr. Ananth Narayan who said `cricket has been a way of life for him for more than a decade', put in place a system to evaluate performances and interacted with the Wisden team in London for 18 months before determining the top 100 list in batting and bowling.

``I hope Tendulkar's second phase in Test cricket matches Lara's first phase. In the `Wisden 100' ratings winning a match is given weightage. Lara did not leave it to the others to win a match,'' he said. The `Wisden 100' rates Lara's 153 not out against Australia in Bridgetown in 1998-99 as the second best innings after Sir Donald Bradman's 270 against England in Melbourne in 1936-37. Lara's 375 against England in St. John's in 1993-94 and 213 against Australia in Kingston in 1998-99 are rated as the 10th and 14th best Test match innings.

The good news is that Laxman's 281 against Australia, Anil Kumble's 10 for 74 against Pakistan in 1998-99 and Harbhajan Singh's wonderful bowling feats against Australia have been recognised. ``Laxman's 281 changed the course of the Test series. There was good support for him from Rahul Dravid. Harbhajan Singh's bowling has been amazing. He has taken four spots in the top 100 bowling performances,'' said Mr. Narayan.

Harbhajan's eight for 84 in the Chennai Test (2001) has given him the No. 14 position ahead of Pakistan's Sarfraz Nawaz's nine for 86 against Australia. His seven for 123 and six for 73 against Australia in Kolkata (2001) are at 71 and 85 respectively. His seven for 133 (vs Australia, Chennai) has also helped him take the 100th position.

The other Indian batsmen who find a place in the `Wisden 100' are Dilip Vengsarkar (No. 30, 102 not out, v England, Headingley, 1986), G.R. Viswanath (No. 38, 97 not out, v West Indies, Chennai, 1974-75), Sunil Gavaskar (No. 74, 221, v England, The Oval, 1979), Kapil Dev (No. 75, 129, v South Africa, Port Elizabeth, 1992-93), G.R. Viswanath (No. 82, 114, v Australia, Melbourne, 1980-81), M. Azharuddin (No. 88, 152, v Sri Lanka, Ahmedabad, 1993-94), Sunil Gavaskar (No. 96, 236 not out, v West Indies, Chennai, 1983-84).

The ratings have deemed Kumble's 10-wicket effort in the second innings of the second Test against Pakistan at the Ferozshah Kotla as the second best after Hugh Tayfield's nine for 113 for South Africa against England (Johannesburg, 1956-57). Kapil Dev's seven for 56 (Chennai, 1979-80) and eight for 85 (Lahore, 1982- 83) against Pakistan have merited the 37th and 38th positions.

At No. 39 is Narendra Hirwani's eight for 75 against the West Indies in Chennai in 1987-88. The other Indians who figure in the bowling honours are: Erapalli Prasanna (No. 54, eight for 76, v New Zealand, Auckland, 1975-76), Vinoo Mankad (No. 56, eight for 55, vs England, Madras, 1951-52), Subhash Gupte (No. 66, nine for 102, v West Indies, Kanpur, 1958-59), S. Venkatraghavan (No. 87, eight for 72, v New Zealand, New Delhi, 1964-65).

The ratings has used 12 parametres (batting base points, pitch index, bowling quality index, percentage of score index, point of entry index, after point of entry index, wickets falling at crease index, support index, shepherding of tail enders index, highest score index, match status index and result contribution index) to ascertain the top 10 best innings of all time and eight parametres (bowling base points, pitch index, batting quality index, dismissed batsman quality index, bowling accuracy index, highest wickets index, match status index and result contribution index) to determine the top 100 bowling performances.

The batsmen who have secured the maximum positions in the top 100 are: Don Bradman (5); Greg Chappell, Gordon Greenidge, Walter Hammond, Brian Lara and Vivian Richards (3 each). The bowlers are: Curtley Ambrose, Harbhajan Singh (4 each); Fazal Mahmood and Lance Gibbs (3 each).

Launching `Wisden 100' Mr. Anthony Bouchier, Wisden Online said, ``The Wisden 100 celebrates the greatest individual performances in cricket history. Wisden has spent over a year reviewing and relentlessly testing the parametres used to assess these things. It is a complex calculation of weighting, using a number of variables including the state of the game, the quality of the bowler, the quality of the pitch and final result of the game. The assessment has taken in to account 1552 matches, 54,494 innings and 29,730 bowling performances.''

There was one man, totally dissatisfied with the way the ratings were determined. ``What about Jasu Patel's 14 wickets against Australia (nine for 69 and five for 55). Australia had McDonald, Harvey, O'Neil, Mackay, Davidson and Benaud. And also what about Vinoo Mankad's 72 and 184 and five for 196 against England at Lord's in 1952. I was the captain when Jasu took 14 wickets,'' said G.S. Ramchand.

lTop 10 (batting): 1. Don Bradman (Aus, 270, v England, Melbourne, 1936-37), 2. Brian Lara (WI, 153 not out, v Australia, Bridgetown, 1998-99), 3. Graham Gooch (Eng, 154 not out, v West Indies, Headingley, 1991), 4. Ian Botham (Eng, 149 not out, v Australia, Headingley, 1981), 5. Don Bradman (Aus, 299 not out, v South Africa, Adelaide, 1931-32), 6. Venkatsai Laxman (Ind, 281, v Australia, Kolkata, 2001), 7. Clem Hill (Aus, 188, v England, Melbourne, 1897-98), 8. Azhar Mahmood (Pak, 132, v South Africa, Durban, 1997-98), 9. Kim Hughes (Aus, 100 not out, v West Indies, Melbourne, 1981-82), 10. Brian Lara (WI, 375, v England, St. John's, 1993-94)

Top 10 (bowling): 1. Hugh Tayfield (SA, nine for 113, v England, Johannesburg, 1956-57), 2. Anil Kumble (Ind, 10 for 74, v Pakistan, New Delhi, 1998-99), 3. Jim Laker (Eng, 10 for 53, v Australia, Old Trafford, 1956), 4. J.C. White (Eng, eight for 126, v Australia, Adelaide, 1928-29), 5. Richard Hadlee (NZ, nine for 52, v Australia, Brisbane, 1985-86), 6. Devon Malcolm (Eng, nine for 57, v South Africa, The Oval, 1994), 7. Bob Willis (Eng, eight for 43, v Australia, Headingley, 1981), 8. H. Verity (Eng, eight for 43, v Australia, Lord's, 1934), 9. Bill O'Reilly (Aus, seven for 54, v England, Trentbridge, 1934) 10. Graham McKenzie (Aus, eight for 71, v West Indies, Melbourne, 1968-69).

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