Chasing runs

This is an update and re-write of last week's blog. It was a super-hastily thrown together blog about the last batting pair chasing down big totals - or failing to get the win, despite needing to make very few runs. I'm updating it for two reasons... firstly, it was written is haste, and needed fixing. Secondly, (and ironically) one of the records listed in that blog was smashed during last week's match.

Last week I wrote a blog about teams who won the match despite needing large numbers of runs in the final over, or final pair. And the reverse - about teams failing to chase small numbers of required runs at the end of the match.

The original entry was inspired by this story from two weeks ago:

The Popped Collars were cruising towards victory against the Stumpers with a couple of overs left. They had a lead of 14 runs with 3 balls left in the over. Consecutive wickets fell, and a loss was suddenly on the cards. Fortunately, Gareth kept a cool head, told batting partner Rajit not to run on the last ball, and blocked it out, holding on for the victory. He began to remove gloves, shake hands and head off the court.

The only problem was... that it wasn't the last ball of the match - there was one over to go.

Fortunately, after one more up-and-down over, Gareth (again) blocked out the last ball to keep his team 1 run ahead when the match really did end. 

Despite looking like being easy winners with just 11 balls left, the Popped Collars could easily have bombed it.

The following tables are updated and corrected from last week, and contain results from both 8-a-side and 6-a-side matches.

Here's a list of the lowest scores required by a last batting pair that they failed to chase:

Batting Team	Fielding Team	Batters	Trailed By	Scored
Popped Collars	4 Skins	Alec , Jake	12	5
Popped Collars	Pidge's Coupe	Gareth , Daniel	19	-16
Popped Collars	66s	Brad , Sanjit	31	24
Popped Collars	4 Skins	Xavier , Sanjit	31	30
Big 4 Bandits	Popped Collars	Simon , Aaron	33	10
Popped Collars	4 Skins	Jake , Andy	36	24
Popped Collars	Underarm	Rian , Gareth	37	23
GG	Wickies	Jake, Andy	37	20

As you can see, there's not been too many disasters. Only twice ever has a final pair needed less than 20 and failed to get it. Perhaps this is a good reason for our preference of batting second - when fielding, it's hard to defend if the opposition get a good start in their chase.

Here's a list of the least runs needed off the last over that the batsmen failed to score:

Batting Team	Fielding Team	Bowler	Batters	Trailed By	Scored
Can't Bat Can't Bowl	Popped Collars	Rian	Kurt , Phil	3	-6
S.N.A.F.U	Popped Collars	Rian	Nathan , Marty	9	0
Popped Collars	Prestige Stigs	Tom	Xavier , Julian	11	4
Big 4 Bandits	Popped Collars	Andy	Rowdy , Andy	11	-4
Popped Collars	Four Skins	Richo	Matt S , Rian	11	6
Popped Collars	4 Skins	Joel	Jake , Andy	13	1
Popped Collars	66s	Mick L	Brad , Sanjit	15	8
Popped Collars	Boonies	Simon	Andy , Jake	15	11
Popped Collars	4 Skins	Mick	Xavier , Sanjit	15	14
Popped Collars	Jug Chasers	Mike	Andy , Matt S	16	3
GG	Wickies	Dan	Jake , Andy	16	-1

Rian is the only bowler to have defended less than 10 runs in the last over; and he's done it twice. Andy is the only other of our bowlers to have defended 20.
Unfortunately, most of the entries on that list involve the Popped Collars failing to make get-able runs off the final 8 balls.

Note that no team has ever taken a lead into the final over, and then gone backwards to lose the match. Again showing the power of batting second.

Big Chases
Here's the opposite scenario. You can look at them as bowling chokes, or as masterpieces of batting under pressure. Personally, I would give the latter description to what we saw last week...

Here's the most runs required by a final pair that they managed to chase down:

Batting Team	Fielding Team	Batters	Trailed By	Scored
Popped Collars	EFI	Rian , Brad	78	80
Jugulars	GG	Darcy , Will	68	70
The Dilberts	Popped Collars	John , Bruce	45	58
GG	Underarm	Jake , Xavier	43	44
Popped Collars	Boonies	Andy , Jake	39	51
Indian Kangaroos	GG	Baway , Arun	39	41
Half-Inch Nipples	Popped Collars	Justin , Trav	38	76
Popped Collars	Take That	Jake , Andy	37	55
Popped Collars	Can't Bat Can't Bowl	Brad , Sanjit	37	38
Popped Collars	Fine Legs	Gareth , Rian	36	59
Popped Collars	Underarm	Rian , Gareth	36	53

The top of that list was from our most recent match. Rian was in top form, making his 53 look easy, while Brad played a sensible, safe supporting role to guide his team over the line on the final ball.

The second entry there is the only one that comes close. It was a 6-a-side GG game, so didn't appear in the initial version of this blog. We also might like to forget it because we lost, despite having 68 runs to work with.

Personally, I wish I hadn't been reminded of it... because I bowled the last over; the last 3 balls of the game were: seven, seven, dot. Some blokes called Roy and Jonathan were playing for us that day - we only had 3 regular players. Roy (whoever he is) went for 26 in his over during that last pair.

And finally here is:
Most required from the final over which were successfully chased.

Batting Team	Fielding Team	Bowler	Batters	Trailed By	Scored
Popped Collars	Big 4 Bandits	John	Rian , Brad	22	23
Popped Collars	EFI	Mitchell	Rian , Brad	19	21
GG	Underarm	Rob	Jake , Xavier	18	19
Jugulars	GG	Xavier	Darcy , Will	13	15
Popped Collars	Pidge's Coupe	Billy	Andy , Jake	8	10
Popped Collars	Can't Bat Can't Bowl	Phil	Brad , Sanjit	8	9

Don't be fooled. Rian and Brad's pair from last week is actually second on that list. The top entry is from a low-scoring 8-a-side game in 2010. The same pair who made 80 last week almost made a meal out of chasing 32 in the last skin but slammed 19 runs off the first 4 balls of the final over to regain control of the situation.

And there, in 4th place, is my over from the GG game discussed before. 14 of those 15 runs came of the second- and third-last balls.

Bonus stat: Overall biggest choke
In terms of "required run rate" at any point during a game, the biggest choke was in a game against the old blokes at Weston in 2011. They made just 105. Julian and Xavier put on 71 for the first pair, reducing the required rate to less just 2.9 runs per over. The other three pairs (all our regular players!) made a total of -1.

(There are other variations of that stat I could tell you about as well, but all those records are from matches already listed in the tables above)