Division Two - runs scored
By New Boy 2
December 30 2022
A fascinating delve into runs scored per team.
Looking at the total number of runs scored in last season's Division Two, I was surprised that Middlesex came second bottom of the table.
These totals are by my own calculations as I grew bored trying to drag the data out of Cricinfo:
| Pos | Team | Runs |
| 1 | Sussex | 8082 |
| 2 | Derbyshire | 7863 |
| 3 | Nottinghamshire | 7811 |
| 4 | Glamorgan | 7501 |
| 5 | Durham | 7239 |
| 6 | Leicestershire | 7172 |
| 7 | Middlesex | 6978 |
| 8 | Worcestershire | 6643 |
On one hand, it's surprising that we scored so few runs, relatively speaking - 14% fewer than Sussex, and managed to get promotion.
On the other hand, wining a county game is only possible for a team taking 20 wickets (19 in unusual circumstances such as Notts v Durham on the last day) so while runs are vital, wickets are pivotal. It seems at first sight that the wicket-taking of TRJ, Dial-M, Tom Hand Ethan who all took 25+ wickets, gave the team sufficient advantage that we didn't need to go chasing runs to win, Or that we knew we could take wickets to win when our run advantage wasn't as high as we might have hoped.
You may, of course, have a different view on this.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023:01:29:12:05:23 by BarmierKev.
Oh and MTWD have been bought 2 weeks + thanks to this.
I'm reminded slightly of the football stat about teams who win most points from a losing position. If you are rarely behind you are going to be near bottom on that.
Adelaide
Sussex finished 7th on overall points, on batting points, on bowling points, on most wins and on fewest losses. Overall a pretty solid 7th out of 8 on what counts!
By contrast Middlesex finished 2nd on overall points, =1st on batting points, =3rd on bowling points, =2nd on most wins and =1st on fewest losses which for me is a solid 2nd overall.
As others have said scoring shedloads of runs isn’t a good strategy if they are not delivering points and wins. I recall that there were a lot of runs scored at Hove last season and also that the Sussex bowling attack seemed at times to be very weak.
Quote:adelaide
I'm reminded slightly of the football stat about teams who win most points from a losing position. If you are rarely behind you are going to be near bottom on that.
Adelaide
That is very true, and it's a regular issue with modern-day media statistics: they reflect correlation rather than causation.
Quote:Sillyp0int
You reckon our batting is too weak for Div 1?
Who are you asking?
If it's me, then I didn't say anything of the sort. I merely observed that we were promoted with the second lowest total of runs; and reinforced the point that wickets are more valuable in four-day county games than runs.
After all, if you can't take 20 wickets you can't win a game.