England have stellar record at home Test matches in May
Friday 22 July 2016 17:02, UK
In the second of our data analytics series on the summer of sport - in partnership with HPE - cricket statistician, Benedict Bermange, looks at the impact a ground can have on a player or a team's performance as we head into the second Investec Test at Emirates Old Trafford…
And so England's Test series against Pakistan moves north to Manchester, which in 1884 became just the fourth ground to host Test cricket. And, true to form, that first scheduled day of Test cricket at the ground - Thursday 10 July - was totally rained off.
That was the first of a record 29 days to have been totally lost to rain at the venue, a clear seven ahead of the next best, Dunedin and Sydney.
Mancunians must have been delighted in 2009 when Cardiff became the 100th Test venue - no longer do they hold the crown as the wettest England home Test venue as Cardiff receives an annual average of 1061 millimetres of rainfall compared to 810mm at Manchester. London only has 594mm annually.
Given variations like the weather, temperature, and altitude at certain grounds, do some players prefer certain venues?
England captain Alastair Cook will be thankful that there is no Test scheduled at Trent Bridge this summer, having only scored 306 runs in his nine Tests there, averaging 21.85. However, he does have his solitary Test wicket at the venue!
Joe Root has enjoyed much more success at Nottingham, scoring 13 more than Cook despite playing in six fewer matches. Surprisingly, Root has struggled at his home venue of Headingley, with an average of just 25.28 in his four Tests.
Steven Finn will be eager to return to Edgbaston for the third Test against Pakistan, the scene of his eight wickets in the win over Australia last year, contributing to a career average of 20.92 in Tests at the Midlands ground.
Finn won't be relishing his trip to The Oval for the fourth Test quite as much, though, having taken only four wickets in his two previous Tests there, at an average of 45.50.
The Oval is also the ground where England's two premier strike bowlers, James Anderson and Stuart Broad, have their worst Test figures at home.
Anderson has taken 35 Test wickets there at an average of 33.51; Broad takes his wickets at a slightly less costly rate with 25 wickets at an average of 32.44. In contrast, Mohammad Amir took six wickets at 16.83 on his last visit to The Oval in 2010.
One classic example of a player performing better on a certain ground than others is Sky Sports' own Nasser Hussain. In his 96 Tests he averaged 37.18 overall - not bad considering he had to face some of the all-time great bowlers.
Looking at Hussain's ground-by-ground record at home, it is no real surprise that he had his best record at Lord's - traditionally a very fine batting pitch. However, he also performed very well at Nottingham and Leeds, traditionally grounds which have favoured bowlers.
What really stands out is how poorly he performed at The Oval and, in particular, at Manchester - where his highest score in seven innings was just 16.
Other than just the psychological 'feeling' at some grounds rather than others, there is no real evidence to show why he performed so differently around the country.
Of course, some players have had famous love affairs with certain grounds. Brian Lara set his two world records of 375 and 400 not out at the Antigua Recreation Ground - renowned as possibly the most batsman-friendly pitch in the world.
But it is Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene who has the most Test runs on any ground. He scored 2,921 runs at an average of 74.89 at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo. He is second on the list as well at Galle, with 2382.
At English grounds, Graham Gooch's 2,015 at Lord's leads the way, with Cook on 1657 at the same ground.
With the ball, another Sri Lankan occupies the top three places - Muttiah Muralitharan taking 166 wickets at the SSC, 117 at Kandy and 111 at Galle.
Since 2000 in Test cricket in England, seam bowling has dominated, but at some grounds more than others.
The northern grounds of Leeds (85 per cent) and Nottingham (82 per cent) have seen the highest percentage of wickets taken by seam bowlers. By contrast, the traditional end-of-season venue of The Oval is down at 75 per cent - level with Manchester, traditionally seen as perhaps the 'best' wicket in the country for Test cricket. Interestingly, over this recent time period, spinners have had a better average than seamers at Edgbaston.
If you are searching for a home banker, then look no further than a Test match played in May. For instance, of the 33 home Tests starting in that month, England have won 24, drawn six and lost just three. Those losses were to Australia in 1921, Pakistan in 2001 and New Zealand in 2015.
One of those victories came at Chester-le-Street - the northernmost of all Test grounds at only 2,429 miles from the North Pole. Perhaps tellingly, England have won all six of their Tests played at the Riverside ground. This is the most consecutive wins by any home side from the inauguration of a Test Ground.
Test cricket is played around the world in different climates and conditions. The best players find ways to perform at any venue in all conditions, that's what makes them the best.
