This page will eventually provide keys to all of the statistical tables that can be found on the site, along with some explanatory notes regarding the content of those tables. Currently it is very much a work in progress (it was only started at the end of August 2008) and the style, layout and content are subject to change without notice.

• All-Time Partnerships
• Official Batting Averages
• Official Bowling Averages

All-time Best Partnerships

The best partnerships table can be found in the Hall Of Fame and doesn’t really look much like a table because there are no column headings. There are actually six columns – the wicket number, the size of the stand, the players involved, the date, an empty column for layout purposes, and the opposition – and the content is all fairly obvious except perhaps to note that an asterisk following the runs scored indicates an unbroken partnership.

One element of this data that might cause some confusion is the number of entries for each wicket, which appear to be somewhat random. The underlying principle is that there is a number of runs for each wicket that are considered worthy of inclusion. For the first four wickets this is set at 100, so any stand higher than 99 will appear in the list. For each subsequent wicket the number reduces by ten runs, so it is 90 for the fifth wicket, 80 for the sixth, down to just forty for the tenth. That isn’t quite all though, because there is one further rule which dictates that there will be at least five entries displayed for each wicket, so in some cases there will be stands that are lower than the limit but that will be because they are at least fifth best (or tied for fifth best) for that wicket.

Official Batting Averages

The official batting average tables can be found as part of the season reports as well as in their own section. Some games are ignored when building the data for these tables – evening or reduced overs games, inter-club matches, or the occasional game where external factors have conferred an unusual status on the game – and to feature in them a player must have batted five times in matches that counted.

The table is followed by list of those players that didn’t have enough innings to be included, but prior to 1988 that list will not be complete and will only show those players who have had their season data added despite their lack of innings – generally either because they bowled enough to feature in the bowling averages or because they made it into the thirtieth season lifetime averages and needed all performances added to ensure the accuracy of their career data.

Since 1988 the tendency has been to record the details of all games and then to exclude those matches that were deemed ‘not official’, and such exclusions will always be indicated in the table footnotes. Prior to 1988 the performances from such games simply weren’t recorded for posterity.

Played

The number of games that the player played in. For seasons prior to 1988 this column will often contain N/A to indicate that the value is unknown

Innings

The number of times that the player actually batted in a game

NO.

The number of times that the player finished an innings ‘not out’

Runs

The total number of runs that the player scored during the season

HS

The highest individual score that the player made in a single innings

Average

The average number of runs that the player scored in the season. By convention this is the total number of runs scored divided by the number of completed innings (ie. the innings column minus the NO. column)

Official Bowling Averages

The official bowling average tables can be found as part of the season reports as well as in their own section. Some games are ignored when building the data for these tables – evening or reduced overs games, inter-club matches, or the occasional game where external factors have conferred an unusual status on the game – and to feature in them a player must have bowled at least fifteen overs in five matches that counted, or prior to the 2000 season simply to have bowled fifteen overs in such matches.

The table is followed by list of those players that didn’t have enough overs or games bowled to be included, but prior to 1988 that list will not be complete and will only show those players who have had their season data added despite their lack of overs – generally either because they batted enough to feature in the batting averages or because they made it into the thirtieth season lifetime averages and needed all performances added to ensure the accuracy of their career data.

Since 1988 the tendency has been to record the details of all games and then to exclude those matches that were deemed ‘not official’, and such exclusions will always be indicated in the table footnotes. Prior to 1988 the performances from such games simply weren’t recorded for posterity.

Games

The number of games that the player bowled in. For seasons prior to 1988 this column will often contain N/A to indicate that the value is unknown

Overs

The number of overs that the player bowled. By convention partial overs are shown in a pseudo-decimal format where x.y indicates y balls more than x overs (eg. 12.1 is twelve overs and one ball, 0.5 is just five balls)

Maidens

The number of overs that the player bowled from which no runs were scored

Runs

The total number of runs that were scored from the player’s bowling during the season

Wickets

The total number of wickets that the player took during the season

Average

The average number of runs that the player conceded per wicket taken in the season. This is the traditional method of measuring the relative worth of bowlers, and is the one that the club uses to decide the destination of the annual bowling cup, but those that prefer more modern statistical mechanisms such as economy rate or strike rate can find them recorded in the miscellaneous statistics instead

Best

The player’s best bowling figures during an individual game. By convention the number of wickets taken is king, so four wickets for ninety runs is considered ‘better’ in this context than three for ten