STBR Stats

Welcome to the world of the Popped Collars for 2013.

For this week, rather than listing numbers and looking up stats, I'm going to do a match report on our first match of the year, played last Friday. It was certainly one worth remembering. Firstly, because it marked the end of our 13 (or 14) match winning streak. Secondly, the blatant cheating of one of the Gold Diggers players, and the incredible level of incompetence from the umpire turned the game into a bit of a joke.

But at least the scoreline made the ending exciting.

And... even if you were at the game, this blog has a cracking surprise twist that you won't see coming. Stick around.

Brad scored 8 runs off consecutive deliveries, and Xavier was bowled twice in one over. These two events sparked questions - and in the first case, further events - which form the basis of this week's blog. Probably the last for 2012...

Last week's match brought about a few unusual things. Popped Collars made scores of 58, 56, 54 in their three skins. Brad and Xavier teamed up for a hat-trick of stumpings, and there were three other stumpings during the innings. And Popped Collars took a wicket on each of the three double-score balls, wiping 30 runs off the opposition's total. We also had a record-equaling 11th consecutive win.

Here is collection of quick stats about these intriguing numbers.

Wickets on double-score balls

In the natural follow up to last week's stats, we're doing "wickets in a calendar year" this time. An email to the team this week asked for some prediction in this category. The question was: 3 players have taken 100 wickets in a calendar year for the Popped Collars. 2 of them have done it twice, and the other has done it one. Who are these players?

From the email, Gareth - inspired by the recent exploits of Michael Clarke - asks about runs in a calendar year. For the Popped Collars, obviously the players who play most often are going to have the most runs, but it will still be interesting just to see what the numbers are.

The scorecard for last week's game showed a very consistent batting performance from the Popped Collars' batters. Highest score 28, lowest 22. This was actually incorrect - the umpire was apparently incapable of adding up. Nevertheless, it gave us this week's stat-to-discuss.

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?