Benedict Bermange has all the stats ahead of the first Test of the summer at Lord's.
Benedict has all the stats ahead of the first Test of the summer
To stay as the top-ranked Test team, England need to win the series against West Indies.
If they win by the narrowest margin (1-0 or 2-1) they will move to 115.92 compared to South Africa's 115.91. If they draw the series they will drop behind South Africa. If they lose the series, they will drop behind Australia (and possibly India too!).
England are undefeated in their last 12 Tests at Lord's since their defeat in the 2005 Ashes Test at the venue. If they avoid defeat in this match they will equal their longest unbeaten stretch at the venue:
|
|
|
| Tests |
Start |
Finish |
| 13 |
21 June 1962 |
22 July 1971 |
| 12 |
20 June 1974 |
10 June 1982 |
| 12 |
11 May 2006 |
21 July 2011 |
Here are England's longest unbeaten stretches at their other major home venues:
|
|
|
|
| Venue |
Tests |
Start |
Finish |
| Manchester |
25 |
24 July 1905 |
22 July 1954 |
| The Oval |
18 |
11 August 1884 |
17 August 1929 |
| Birmingham |
16 |
29 May 1902 |
4 July 1974 |
| Nottingham |
9 |
11 June 1953 |
4 June 1964 |
| Leeds |
8 |
8 June 1967 |
14 August 1975 |
The all-time record is Pakistan's 34-match run at the National Stadium, Karachi between 1955 and 2000.
James Anderson may have played 68 Tests and be ranked number three in the world, but his Test bowling average has not been below 30 since July 2007 (after 36 Tests).
Tim Bresnan has won his first 11 Tests. Only two players have had better starts to their Test careers:
|
|
|
|
| Player |
Team |
Years |
Matches |
| Adam Gilchrist |
Aus |
1999-2001 |
15 |
| Stuart Clark |
Aus |
2006-2008 |
13 |
Only one England off-spinner has taken more wickets than
Graeme Swann's 182 - Jim Laker with 193. Swann is playing his 42nd Test and after 41 Tests Laker had taken 176 wickets - at 21.10 compared to Swann's 27.97.
Anderson has said that this could be the
greatest England Test team. Using the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings we can analyse the total points each team had acquired. The current England record is 8861 (4930 batting + 3931 bowling) in the team which beat New Zealand at The Oval in 1958. In comparison, the side which won at Nottingham last year totalled 8859.
West Indies have not won
an away series against anyone other than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in 17 years and they have not won an overseas Test somewhere other than Bangladesh since the Boxing Day Test in South Africa in 2007
Andrew Strauss has captained England in 25 home Tests, winning 17 of those and only losing 2. He is currently level with Michael Vaughan for captaining the most home Test wins in England:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Captain |
Played |
Won |
Lost |
Tied |
Drawn |
% won |
| MP Vaughan |
29 |
17 |
6 |
0 |
6 |
58.62 |
| AJ Strauss |
25 |
17 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
68.00 |
| PBH May |
26 |
16 |
4 |
0 |
6 |
61.53 |
Jonny Bairstow could become the 79th player to play Test cricket for England while a Yorkshire player, maintaining that county's lead in terms of the number of different current players to play for England:
|
|
| County |
Players |
| Yorkshire |
78 |
| Surrey |
66 |
| Lancashire |
65 |
| Middlesex |
64 |
