First day statistics

Benedict Bermange has the stats that matter on the first day of the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley.

The Ashes in numbers every day with Benedict

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 ahead of each day's play and to give you a few pointers on what to look out for during Sky Sports' comprehensive Ashes coverage. 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.

Fourth Test, Day One - Headingley

Headingley brings back memories of 1981. Every 28 years, when the vernal equinox falls on a Tuesday at sundown, Jews recite the "Blessing of the Sun", which happened on 8 April this year. The last time it happened was 1981 (England won the Ashes), and the time previously was 1953 (England won the Ashes). With the annual re-jig of the ICC Test Championship, Australia have retained the number-one spot but are now just two ratings points clear of South Africa and need to win both remaining Tests in order to stay top above them. Each August the oldest of the four years of results are removed to be gradually replaced with results of series completed over the following 12 months. They were last out of top spot in 2003 when South Africa were top for four months.

In front

The last time England lost a series having been in front was in 1999 when they were 1-0 up against New Zealand before losing the series 2-1. The only time Australia have won a series coming from behind since 1970 was in the 1997 Ashes series when they were 1-0 down but won 3-2. Jonathan Trott is averaging 99.75 in nine county championship matches this season and has scored 1625 runs in all cricket. The last ten Tests at Headingley have all produced results - six wins for England and four defeats. In fact, only two of the 25 Tests since the famous 1981 match have been drawn. However, there have only been four positive results (including a win for South Africa in last years Test) in the ten first-class matches to be played in Leeds since the start of the 2008 season.

Runs

In the eight Tests since 2000, the first two innings average 40.12 runs per wicket and the second two 26.98. England withstood the temptation to pick another Headingley "horse for course":

John Lever v India in 1986	Kabir Ali v South Africa in 2003
Steve Watkin v West Indies in 1991	Martin Bicknell v South Africa in 2003
Neil Mallender v Pakistan in 1992	Martin Saggers v New Zealand in 2004
Martin Bicknell v Australia in 1993	Ryan Sidebottom v West Indies in 2007
Mike Smith v Australia in 1997	Darren Pattinson v South Africa in 2008

Simon Katich has opened the innings on 33 occasions and never faced the first delivery. Only two batsmen have opened on more occasions and never batted number 1: 72 MP Vaughan (Eng), 34 RT Robinson (Eng). In addition, Katich has opened 33 times in ODI cricket and never faced the first ball - six ahead of Andrew Jones of New Zealand. Shane Watson performed well opening at Edgbaston despite a career batting average of just 19.76 from his previous 13 Test innings. However, when Marvan Atapattu opened for the first time for Sri Lanka his average stood at a microscopic 7.71 from his first 14 Test innings!

Rated

Michael Clarke is now rated at a career-best number 3 in the world. A good match could see him overtake second-placed Gautam Gambhir. Andrew Strauss needs 51 runs to become the 40th Englishman to score 1000 runs against Australia. Hawkeye made its debut in the 2001 Lord's Test between England and Pakistan. In the 383 Test matches played since then, 17.2 per cent of all wickets have fallen lbw. In the preceeding 383 Tests, the figure was 16.3 per cent. However with spinners, the difference is far bigger. Since 2001, 18.5 per cent of spinners wickets have been lbw, whereas in the previous 383 matches the figure was just 14.7 per cent.