STBR Stats

Today we continue (and conclude) the write-up of our performance over the incredibly long season that recently finished. Last post discussed the team's overall performance and looked at individual batting stats - today we do the bowling stats and player contributions.

Two weeks ago, season 2014 came to an end with It's On Like Donkey Kong defeating Popped Collars in the B-Grade grand final. That match brought to an end the 10th season of existence for the Popped Collars team. In the coming weeks, there will be some blog posts to commemorate the milestone, but before that here are the stats for the season just gone.

After an opposition forfeit two weeks ago, the Popped Collars next great milestone was delayed by a week. But, assuming we play tonight, we will be finishing off the year with the team's 200th game!!

I spent this week struggling to remember any unanswered stat questions, and being unable to come up with anything new and exciting. Eventually I finally realised that I haven't yet compiled last season's overall performances. So without any further ado: player performances from our first season at a new location.

Batting in the first skin is good - according to the stats. Different people have different strengths and weaknesses, based on where in the innings they bowl - according to the stats. But now, we look a little deeper. Within each skin, would you prefer to bowl the first over? ...the second over? ...the last over? What do the stats say?

Bowling stats by skin position number... unimaginative, perhaps, following last week's blog, but it was requested anyway. It may seem to be a redundant thing to look at... surely people bowl worse in the first pair (where the higher runs are scored) and better in third. Well, maybe - we shall see what we see.

I'll start with an alternate theory to explain last week's stats. We assumed that batting first was some kind of advantage... perhaps it is because, in general, teams bowl their weaker bowlers in the first pair. And their strongest bowlers in the third pair. Could this be true?

Along with the recent loss of the National Indoor Cricket Center, the Popped Collars suffered another unexpected loss, with one of its great players, Andy Ragg, leaving the team to pursue non-indoor-cricket related opportunities elsewhere.