The Blog Re-read: Part 7 (and Repetitive Overs)

Random fact: despite being published to the blog in December, this post (along with most others in the "re-read" series) was written a couple of months in advance. I did this so that I could fulfill the promise I made to the team of "a blog on each game-day for the rest of the year", and so that I'd have more time to work on something different for you.
But enough about that... let's continue with the blog re-cap (and some stats about Gareth's over of singles last week).

Completely random stats

Much frustration ensued this morning when we were asked to change our game-time for tonight - the third consecutive week that has happened. There are no stats on that, but I think that might be a record. Additionally, we were then told that if we didn't change, we would have no game tonight, and a double-header next week - then we were told we didn't have to change. Everyone loves the organisation at Weston.
To calm the angry hordes, here is a blog. Given that I don't have time to put together anything proper, here is a small selection of random stats.

Season 2014-15 (part 1)

'Tis the end of another season. Number 11 for the Popped Collars (number 21 if you count all the predecessor teams, and number 22 if you count the side project, GG)
As always, stats for the season just gone must be blogged about, so here we go...

Disgraceful

Apparently we were a week early with the use of the word "disgraceful"... here's the stats and records from the most recent game. Warning... this post contains graphic stats which some players may find disturbing. Please refrain from reading further if you do not wish to be reminded of this particular match.

(Not) Disgraceful

Last week's "word of the night" was supposed to be 'disgraceful', but after completing a 130 run demolition of It's On Like Donkey Kong there was not much disgrace going around. In fact, records tumbled, primarily during the final pair. The 'disgraceful' was originally a reference to the lack of blog posts recently - and given the existence of this one, even that can no longer have the word applied to it.

Graphs - batting

Here they are, as requested: graphs of players' batting performances over their career. They're pretty simple, no additional information such as running average, and not even any labels on the horizontal (time) axis. The graphs include both Popped Collars and GG games.

The batting quiz - answers and more questions...

For those who played along (i.e. who read) last week's "Stats Quiz" post, I will now provide the answers. If you want to go and have a stab at answering the questions before seeing the answers, go here first. For most answers I give, I will also pose a follow-up question... for those who want to keep testing their knowledge of the team/stats!

Milestone games

Last week was Gareth's 200th match for the Popped Collars and we celebrated with a good win over a very good opposition. Presumably we were inspired by Gareth personal milestone! If a few weeks time, Sanjit will reach 200 and Xavier 250 during the same match (assuming they both play all matches between now and then). Will we be inspired on that occasion as well? Will the individual players perform well? Or will the crumble under the pressure and emotion of the situation?
The stats cannot answer these questions (yet), but they can look at how players have performed in their milestone games in the past.

Inspirational Stats

It's semi-final week, and time to inspire the troops to perform well. Here are a few quick stats to get you fired up for tonight's big game.

Everyone's s**t batting

In the interest of fairness after our last blog, and with some particularly poor batting performances recently, today we're going to have a look at a bunch of bad batting stats (bowling next week). Normally, we celebrate quality, or are intrigued by the unusual - today, we're laughing at the unfortunate.

Debuts, comebacks, and the low ceiling

And we're back for 2014. I'll just do a couple of quick stats today that I've had in the back of my mind over the first few games of the year.

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.

Good/Bad contributions despite a bad/good performance

This is a topic that, on several occasions, I've thought I'd already written about. But apparently I haven't. So here it is. This is all about players who do very badly in one aspect of the game (batting or bowling), but still manage to get a positive contribution. Also players who do very well in one aspect, but end up with a negative contribution.

Runs Caused

A few weeks ago, a game was played where captain Brad led from the front with the bat, and trailed behind with the ball. He both scored and conceded more than 50 runs. What stats and records can we find with this as a starting point?

Pretty pictures

With no good stat suggestions, and nothing new and exciting coming to my mind, I decided this week to draw some pretty pictures for you. I plan to not write much; rather just allow you to look for yourself and make your own observations. Or just admire the pretty colours.

Xavier gets bowled. Brad and Rian score 8s.

Brad scored 8 runs off consecutive deliveries, and Xavier was bowled twice in one over. These two events sparked questions - and in the first case, further events - which form the basis of this week's blog. Probably the last for 2012...

Stumpings and Negative-tens

Last week's match brought about a few unusual things. Popped Collars made scores of 58, 56, 54 in their three skins. Brad and Xavier teamed up for a hat-trick of stumpings, and there were three other stumpings during the innings. And Popped Collars took a wicket on each of the three double-score balls, wiping 30 runs off the opposition's total. We also had a record-equaling 11th consecutive win.

Here is collection of quick stats about these intriguing numbers.

Runs in a calendar year

From the email, Gareth - inspired by the recent exploits of Michael Clarke - asks about runs in a calendar year. For the Popped Collars, obviously the players who play most often are going to have the most runs, but it will still be interesting just to see what the numbers are.

Consistency within the team (now with bowling)

The scorecard for last week's game showed a very consistent batting performance from the Popped Collars' batters. Highest score 28, lowest 22. This was actually incorrect - the umpire was apparently incapable of adding up. Nevertheless, it gave us this week's stat-to-discuss.

Batting by position number

Here's a question from Sanjit to get everyone in the mood for some Friday night indoor cricket.

Sanjit asked about the performance of batting pairs based on position in the innings. That is, how well does the opening partnership do compared to the pair who bat second, and third, and fourth.

As a side note: While doing this, I noticed something that I hadn't spotted before. The Popped Collars last game at Lyneham was actually their 150th match! Well done lads... onwards to 200!!