The stats in this article only includes games played between the 10 test nations!!

The top ODI teams of 2006 were Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies. These 4 teams dominated most of the ODI series they played in and were the four finalists in the Champions Trophy too.

Both Sri Lanka and Pakistan had a poor year but gave as good as they got, finishing up in mediocre mid-table positions but India lost their way. After beginning the year with a promising 4-1 ODI series drubbing of Pakistan they ended it finishing below Bangladesh.

England sunk lower than ever before sinking to second from bottom with only the hapless Zimbabwe providing a buffer between England and the last position.

The ranking below is based on win percentage vs the other test teams…

71.42% — Australia
64.28% — New Zealand
62.50% — South Africa
56.25% — West Indies
53.13% — Sri Lanka
50.00% — Pakistan
47.37% — Bangladesh
46.42% — India
26.31% — England
14.29% — Zimbabwe

ODI Batting Stats – these stats are based on a minimum of 10 ODI inns played in 2006 vs the other test nations, players are ranked by their batting average.

It wasn’t a great year for batting in ODIs and that’s reflected by the fact that only 3 batsmen averaged over 50. Astle leads the way with the highest average but both Hussey and Yuvraj maintained a 50+ average for twice as many games as he did.

Despite speculation that he’s a spent force, Sachin cemented his place for a spot in the Indian World Cup squad by finishing fourth with an average of 45. It would seem there’s a lot of runs left in the old man yet!

Sangakarra and Hussey finished amongst the top 5 batsmen in both forms of the game and look likely to dominate the batting rankings for many years to come. Especially Sangakkara, who is now without a doubt the best batsman-keeper in the world.

Despite England’s low ranking as a team, they still managed to get two batsmen into the top 10 and both of them are young guns with their best years ahead of them. Hopefully this will mean a stronger English ODI team in the future which can only be good for cricket, perhaps all they need is a new coach who brings them a new attitude towards the shorter form of the game.

12 inns — 586 runs @ 58.60 avg — 81.2% SR — 118* HS – 1x 100 — 4x 50 —> Astle
22 inns — 784 runs @ 56.00 avg — 89.8% SR — 109* HS – 1x 100 — 4x 50 —> Hussey
21 inns — 849 runs @ 53.06 avg — 88.3% SR — 107* HS – 2x 100 — 5x 50 —> Yuvraj
16 inns — 628 runs @ 44.85 avg — 77.1% SR — 141* HS – 2x 100 — 3x 50 —> Tendulkar
31 inns — 1259 runs @ 44.96 avg — 79.0% SR — 109 HS – 1x 100 — 12x 50 —> Sangakkara
22 inns — 972 runs @ 44.18 avg — 78.7% SR — 120 HS – 5x 100 — 3x 50 —> Tharanga
16 inns — 654 runs @ 43.60 avg — 70.4% SR —- 88 HS – 0x 100 — 5x 50 —> Bell
25 inns — 963 runs @ 43.77 avg — 75.4% SR — 115* HS – 1x 100 — 8x 50 —> Sarwan
16 inns — 612 runs @ 43.71 avg — 88.4% SR — 90* HS – 0x 100 — 5x 50 —> Pietersen
24 inns — 996 runs @ 43.30 avg — 107.4% SR — 152 HS — 4x 100 — 2x 50 —> Jayasuriya

ODI Bowling Stats – these stats are based on a minimum of 10 ODI inns played in 2006 vs the other test nations, players are ranked by their bowling average

It’s no surprise to see 6 of the top 10 ODI bowlers coming from South Africa and Australia, both teams have traditionally been very strong ODI units with the bowling muscle to barge through opposition batsmen.

Australia would be glad to see that their top two ODI bowlers of 2006 are both ‘youngsters’ who can serve the team for several years to come. Watson is a very useful player who many consider a batting all-rounder, which makes his number 3 position in the bowling top 10 even more impressive!

Ntini is the only bowler who made the top 10 bowlers in both forms of the game, in fact he’s in the top 5 bowlers of 2006 for both forms of the game. I remember watching him back in 2003 and thinking that he was a far better bowler than he’s been credited for and since then he’s been consistently brilliant.

And finally it’s a great feeling to see a Bangladeshi bowler in top 5 for 2006. And he’s not there for beating up on associate countries either, only figures against other test nations have been considered. In fact he averaged 21 vs Australia over the three games he played against them in 2006. What’s even more promising for Bangladesh is that Mortaza had a good year too, as did Shahadat, Rafique, Rasel and Saqibul Hasan. Now if Bangladesh can sort out their batsmen, they may be the dark horses in the 2007 World Cup. I’m not saying they’ll win it but look out for some potentially high profile bloody noses!!

21 Ms — 32 wkts @ 17.34 avg — 34.8 SR — 3.0 Eco — 1x 4WH — 0x 5WH — 1.5 WPM —> Pollock
23 Ms — 46 wkts @ 18.82 avg — 25.3 SR — 4.4 Eco — 1x 4WH — 0x 5WH — 2.0 WPM —> Bracken
12 Ms — 19 wkts @ 19.15 avg — 25.2 SR — 4.6 Eco — 1x 4WH — 0x 5WH — 1.6 WPM —> Watson
15 Ms — 28 wkts @ 19.71 avg — 27.1 SR — 4.4 Eco — 0x 4WH — 2x 5WH — 1.9 WPM —> Ntini
17 Ms — 27 wkts @ 20.51 avg — 33.5 SR — 3.7 Eco — 1x 4WH — 1x 5WH — 1.6 WPM —> Razzak (BD)
17 Ms — 30 wkts @ 21.93 avg — 28.9 SR — 4.5 Eco — 2x 4WH — 0x 5WH — 1.8 WPM —> Malinga
11 Ms — 21 wkts @ 22.04 avg — 30.0 SR — 4.4 Eco — 0x 4WH — 0x 5WH — 1.9 WPM —> Bond
20 Ms — 27 wkts @ 23.40 avg — 29.8 SR — 4.7 Eco — 0x 4WH — 1x 5WH — 1.4 WPM —> Maharoof
11 Ms — 17 wkts @ 23.41 avg — 32.1 SR — 4.8 Eco — 1x 4WH — 0x 5WH — 1.5 WPM —> Nel
14 Ms — 17 wkts @ 23.58 avg — 29.3 SR — 4.8 Eco — 0x 4WH — 0x 5WH — 1.2 WPM —> Kallis