Years Of The Bat

Bowlers, those poor saps, have never had it so bad. Or maybe they've never bowled so badly. A quick glance at the Test figures for 2009 prompted this entirely arbitrary and unscientific bit of research:

Year: 2009
No. of batsmen averaging more than 50: 27
No. of batsmen making 1000+ runs in the calendar year: 7

No. of bowlers taking more than 30 wickets: 9
No. of bowlers averaging less than 30 per wicket: 15

Year: 2005
No. of batsmen averaging more than 50: 18
No. of batsmen making 1000+ runs in the calendar year: 7

No. of bowlers taking more than 30 wickets: 15
No. of bowlers averaging less than 30 per wicket: 22

Year: 2000
No. of batsmen averaging more than 50: 16
No. of batsmen making 1000+ runs in the calendar year: 2

No. of bowlers taking more than 30 wickets: 9
No. of bowlers averaging less than 30 per wicket: 29

Year: 1990
No. of batsmen averaging more than 50: 11
No. of batsmen making 1000+ runs in the calendar year: 1

No. of bowlers taking more than 30 wickets: 8
No. of bowlers averaging less than 30 per wicket: 14

Year: 1980
No. of batsmen averaging more than 50: 5
No. of batsmen making 1000+ runs in the calendar year: 0

No. of bowlers taking more than 30 wickets: 9
No. of bowlers averaging less than 30 per wicket: 21

Year: 1970
No. of batsmen averaging more than 50: 8
No. of batsmen making 1000+ runs in the calendar year: 0

No. of bowlers taking more than 30 wickets: 0
No. of bowlers averaging less than 30 per wicket: 6

Notes:
i] I've only counted the 50+ averages of those who've scored more than 250 runs, and the bowling averages of those who've taken more than 10 wickets

ii] In 2005, Shane Warne took 96 wickets [!]

iii] In 2000, Andy Flower was one of the two batsmen to make 1000+ runs, from just 9 Tests

iv] The amount of runs and wickets becomes less relevant the further back you go, purely because of the lower number of Tests played.

v] In 1970, pre-ODIs, the most Tests played by any one player was six. Ian Redpath made the most runs in the year - 530.

vi] It's interesting to try and weigh say Boycott's average of 47.72 against for example Gautam Gambhir's 56.73 [and that's not to diminish the excellent Gautam].