Blogs & Opinion

The numbers game

The Ashes facts and figures with Benedict

Benedict Bermange Posted 12th July 2009 view comments

Sky Sports' cricket stats man Benedict Bermange will be here throughout the summer to bring you the statistical lowdown on the battle for the Ashes.

Benedict has teamed up with skysports.com to bring you the best stats before and after each day's play and to give you a few pointers on what to look out for during Sky Sports' comprehensive Ashes coverage.

Consolation prize: man-of-the-match Ponting picked up his 150th catch

Consolation prize: man-of-the-match Ponting picked up his 150th catch

Read on for his day four stats - and if you have any questions or queries that you'd like Benedict to look into, just fill out the comment form at the bottom of the page and he'll answer your questions.

Session one stats

England went to lunch at 102-5, still 137 behind with Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff at the crease.

However, before the prophets of doom finish, I would like to take you back to The Oval in 1987.

England were forced to follow-on and the match was saved by an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership between Mike Gatting and England's premier all-rounder Ian Botham. There are certainly some parallels between them and the current not-out pair.

The match was finally drawn with England 315-4 and Botham's contribution was an unbeaten 51 scored off 209 balls in 4 and a quarter hours. Inspiration for Flintoff if ever there was any!

Session two stats

Paul Collingwood reached his fifty from a funereal 167 deliveries - the slowest half-century by an England batsman since Nasser Hussain's 183-ball effort at Port-of-Spain against the West Indies in 2004.

England will hope not to make history this match. The highest-ever first innings score by a team who subsequently went on to lose a Test by an innings is the 432 they managed at The Oval in 2001 against Australia. The Aussies declared at 641-4 and won by an innings and 25 runs.

Session three stats

England managed to survive and the match was drawn. This marks the first time they have managed to avoid defeat in the first Test of an Ashes series since the first Test at Brisbane in 1998.

Mitchell Johnson ended the match stranded on 99 Test wickets but Ricky Ponting can console himself with being the seventh player and fourth Australian to take 150 catches in the field. He reached the milestone when he caught Andrew Flintoff at second slip from Mitchell Johnson's bowling.

Now it's onto Lord's - where England haven't beaten Australia since 1934!

Post to your View!

Be the first to post a comment on this story

Add Comment*

Send us your views

Are you a Sky Sports subscriber?

*All fields required, your email address will be kept private

back to top

Other Cricket Experts:

Latest Posts in Cricket:

David Lloyd

Breaking boundaries

Will youth get a chance? Will England start hitting boundaries? Bumble blogs ahead of the ODI series......

0 comments

Women's cricket

Blazing the trail

Sarah Taylor blogs on rugby, tattoos and Incubus as her England team-mates join her in New Zealand....

0 comments

Bob Willis

Behind the verve

Bob Willis hopes England's young guns can inject some dynamism into an under-performing ODI side....

0 comments

Latest News RSS feeds

Cook - New format, clean slate

England captain Alastair Cook has urged his side to prove they have learned from their 5-0 series whitewash in India four months ago.

Aussies suffer Clarke setback

Australia captain Michael Clarke has been ruled out of Friday's ODI against Sri Lanka due to a hamstring injury.

England to do without Buttler

Jos Buttler will miss the first one-dayer of the series against Pakistan because of split webbing in his left hand.

Dhoni delivers for India

MS Dhoni held his nerve at the death as India claimed a dramatic four-wicket victory over Australia at the Adelaide Oval.

Hussey to miss India clash

Australia have opted to rest veteran batsman Mike Hussey for their upcoming CB Series encounter with India in Adelaide.

Features

Jos the ticket

Jos the ticket

Mark Butcher told Sky Sports News HD that Jos Buttler's strength and subtlety will improve England's ODI side.

The talk of Sky Sports

The talk of Sky Sports

See what has got the Sky Sports experts' tongues wagging over a busy seven days in sport.

Same old story

Same old story

Bob Willis believes England's failure to perform in sub-continental conditions is nothing new.