Flattest ODI wickets in last 10 years (2007-2017)

[Joseph Gomes]

From 17 Sep 2007 to 17 Sep 2017

Including both home+away+neutral games

Run Per Over

1. India- 5.58
2. New Zealand- 5.53
3. England- 5.43
4. South Africa- 5.40
5. Australia- 5.31
6. Sri Lanka- 5.16
7. West Indies- 4.93
8. UAE- 4.89
9. Bangladesh- 4.86

As expected, India has the flattest wickets overall. New Zealand isn't far behind, with their puny grounds. Bangladesh is the hardest place to bat in ODIs, Mirpur pitch is slow+low and the outfield is notorious for being sticky (a good reason why BDesh batsmen have such low strike rate).

Is it as you expected? Thoughts?

 

[Rightarmfast]

So your logic is, if the runs per over is the highest in India, it means the wickets are the flattest? Is the answer so simplistic? Sounds too lame to me.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

So your logic is, if the runs per over is the highest in India, it means the wickets are the flattest? Is the answer so simplistic? Sounds too lame to me.

Uh huh? Why wouldn't it be? It's not that only India is scoring in bulk in India. Everybody gets their share of pie too

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

English wickets have been the flattest, especially in the last year or two.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

English wickets have been the flattest, especially in the last year or two.

I picked 10 years for a decent sample size. RPO might fluctuate year to year

 

[MMHS]

Good stats, with couple of out layers.

NZ wicket isn't that flat - doesn't help spinners, but new ball seems lot there, but they play cricket on Rugby size grounds.
BD wickets are far better than the stats, but selecting 10 years means, it includes first 5/6 years when we played to reduce defeat margin . I think, in last 3-5 years, that stats is much better. Same is probably ENG, for which data is diluted for last few years.

 

[Specialisttailender]

So your logic is, if the runs per over is the highest in India, it means the wickets are the flattest? Is the answer so simplistic? Sounds too lame to me.

Our pitches are the flattest. Everyone knows it.

 

[IndianWillow]

India has a very good batting lineup with many batsmen with career SR 85-90 range. So this stat does not say which wickets are the flattest. Bangla has the weakest decade span lineup and explains why Bangla has the 'toughest' wickets as well. India might figure in top four flat pitch for sure but this stat does not necessarily prove it is the flattest unless the RR of home/visiting sides are compared.

 

[gasgemba]

Uh huh? Why wouldn't it be? It's not that only India is scoring in bulk in India. Everybody gets their share of pie too

Or it has to do with india's class in batting. Or are u suggesting countries like zim, uae(pak) and sl have low ER because the wickets are tough to bat on lol.

A very simplistic analysis.

 

[CanadianG00se]

some of the folks will post without actually watching the game. If you would've seen todays game or you'd notice there was some swing on offer and Coulter Nile bowled really well. It wasnt the pitch rather brtual hitting from India's lower order got them to reasonable score.
Beside now-a-days every country produces flat pitches for LOIs.

 

[Sherlock]

India have the best batting line-up in the World too, so that could also be a reason. Doesn't necessarily mean flatter wickets.

New Zealand don't have flat wickets. Those rpo could also be due to the grounds/boundaries being so small.

England have also improved their batting in the last 3 years, and are the current holders of the World record for most runs scored in LOIs. Their bowling is inconsistent and leaks runs too.

Australian grounds have over the years gotten batsmen friendly, but not by much.

UAE is the poorest ground to score because of the slowness in the pitches, no how good it is to bowl on.

The rest of the countries are much of a muchness, tbf. Hardly groundbreaking rpo either.

The list doesn't mean much, tbh.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Or it has to do with india's class in batting. Or are u suggesting countries like zim, uae(pak) and sl have low ER because the wickets are tough to bat on lol.

A very simplistic analysis.

The stat takes BOTH home and away teams into account, India doesn't score 500 each match and the opponent 100. Whatever the margin of win for India, it's flat for everyone.

 

[CricFan2012]

India have the best batting line-up in the World too, so that could also be a reason. Doesn't necessarily mean flatter wickets.

New Zealand don't have flat wickets. Those rpo could also be due to the grounds/boundaries being so small.

England have also improved their batting in the last 3 years, and are the current holders of the World record for most runs scored in LOIs. Their bowling is inconsistent and leaks runs too.

Australian grounds have over the years gotten batsmen friendly, but not by much.

UAE is the poorest ground to score because of the slowness in the pitches, no how good it is to bowl on.

The rest of the countries are much of a muchness, tbf. Hardly groundbreaking rpo either.

The list doesn't mean much, tbh.

Excellent post.

Also don't forget about Pakistan's awful ODI batsmen misbah, younis, shafiq, shehzad, hafeez dragging that run rate in UAE down through their dots Check the stats of other countries, they've scored at a better run rate than that in UAE.

 

[msb314]

From 17 Sep 2007 to 17 Sep 2017

Including both home+away+neutral games

Run Per Over

1. India- 5.58
2. New Zealand- 5.53
3. England- 5.43
4. South Africa- 5.40
5. Australia- 5.31
6. Sri Lanka- 5.16
7. West Indies- 4.93
8. UAE- 4.89
9. Bangladesh- 4.86

As expected, India has the flattest wickets overall. New Zealand isn't far behind, with their puny grounds. Bangladesh is the hardest place to bat in ODIs, Mirpur pitch is slow+low and the outfield is notorious for being sticky (a good reason why BDesh batsmen have such low strike rate).

Is it as you expected? Thoughts?

I am surprised Bangladesh has the lowest RR

I have seen plenty of high scoring games there during the last few years i.e. when Kohli scored 183 to chase 329 vs Pak, Pak chasing a record total of 326 vs Bangladesh in 2014 Asia Cup and even recently when Bangladesh almost chased a 300+ score against England last year.

 

[The_Odd_One]

India does have the flattest wickets. Remember SA-India series and the last series India played at home in which 300 was scored in almost every inning. Can't remember the opponent.

 

[Buffet]

What is the run rate in each country excluding hosts?

 

[gasgemba]

The stat takes BOTH home and away teams into account, India doesn't score 500 each match and the opponent 100. Whatever the margin of win for India, it's flat for everyone.

like i said, a very simpleton way of looking at an interesting question

 

[Cric1234]

7 out of the 8 batsmen averaging 50+ have come in the last 10 years aswell.

 

[Rightarmfast]

India have the best batting line-up in the World too, so that could also be a reason. Doesn't necessarily mean flatter wickets.

New Zealand don't have flat wickets. Those rpo could also be due to the grounds/boundaries being so small.

England have also improved their batting in the last 3 years, and are the current holders of the World record for most runs scored in LOIs. Their bowling is inconsistent and leaks runs too.

Australian grounds have over the years gotten batsmen friendly, but not by much.

UAE is the poorest ground to score because of the slowness in the pitches, no how good it is to bowl on.

The rest of the countries are much of a muchness, tbf. Hardly groundbreaking rpo either.

The list doesn't mean much, tbh.

Exactly! Excellent post, btw. The OP has absolutely no idea how complex these things work.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

What is the run rate in each country excluding hosts?

Bangladesh- 5.51 (lol)
India- 5.05
South Africa- 4.81
New Zealand- 4.77
West Indies- 4.75
Sri Lanka- 4.69
England- 4.68
UAE- 4.56
Australia- 4.48

Bangladesh is the only team where hosts have lower RPO than visitors...

Apart from that, India is the flattest. Australia is surprisingly much harder to bat for visitors than hosts

 

[sachin100]

Bangladesh- 5.51 (lol)
India- 5.05
South Africa- 4.81
New Zealand- 4.77
West Indies- 4.75
Sri Lanka- 4.69
England- 4.68
UAE- 4.56
Australia- 4.48

Bangladesh is the only team where hosts have lower RPO than visitors...

Apart from that, India is the flattest. Australia is surprisingly much harder to bat for visitors than hosts

Australia is the easiest place to bat in odis now a days. The problem for visitors is the Aussie hacks outscore visitors on concrete pitches.

Aus has the worst record in icc tournaments after 2007 world cup. Apart from finals in 2010 t 20 wc and 2015 wc their performance is horrible.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Australia is the easiest place to bat in odis now a days. The problem for visitors is the Aussie hacks outscore visitors on concrete pitches.

Aus has the worst record in icc tournaments after 2007 world cup. Apart from finals in 2010 t 20 wc and 2015 wc their performance is horrible.

You prefer a 5 year timeframe? 2012-2017

Here you go:

India- 5.62
New Zealand- 5.57
England- 5.49
Sri Lanka- 5.41
Australia- 5.40
South Africa- 5.40
UAE- 5.13
Bangladesh- 5.09
West Indies- 5.04

India still on top

 

[ego-gambit]

Nature of pitches changing in India we will see example of this on 21st September Ind vs Aus ODI clash at kolkata where pitch started assisting fast bowlers instead of spinners.

 

[sachin100]

You prefer a 5 year timeframe? 2012-2017

Here you go:

India- 5.62
New Zealand- 5.57
England- 5.49
Sri Lanka- 5.41
Australia- 5.40
South Africa- 5.40
UAE- 5.13
Bangladesh- 5.09
West Indies- 5.04

India still on top

Every where pitches r flat and u make a thread that looks like India is worse. Its not the case and pitches r flat every where.

The last time india toured aus every score is above 295. With 300 scores in other 4 matches

 

[sachin100]

I accept indian wickets r flat compared to other countries like sa, eng, aus previously but nowadays they r even worse than India where no bowler has any chance

 

[Buffet]

Bangladesh- 5.51 (lol)
India- 5.05
South Africa- 4.81
New Zealand- 4.77
West Indies- 4.75
Sri Lanka- 4.69
England- 4.68
UAE- 4.56
Australia- 4.48

Bangladesh is the only team where hosts have lower RPO than visitors...

Apart from that, India is the flattest. Australia is surprisingly much harder to bat for visitors than hosts

Thanks. Bounce makes it harder , but recently Aus has been putting very batting friendly pitches.

 

[Buffet]

You prefer a 5 year timeframe? 2012-2017

Here you go:

India- 5.62
New Zealand- 5.57
England- 5.49
Sri Lanka- 5.41
Australia- 5.40
South Africa- 5.40
UAE- 5.13
Bangladesh- 5.09
West Indies- 5.04

India still on top

India is in top, but gap narrows down a lot here. You have 6 venues between 5.6-5.4 rate. Given that Indian batting is generally pretty good and this 5.6 has that batting playing half of the time, I think most venues are similar.

I would think that gap will be even less if you go for the last 3 years.

 

[Bilal7]

Every where pitches r flat and u make a thread that looks like India is worse. Its not the case and pitches r flat every where.

The last time india toured aus every score is above 295. With 300 scores in other 4 matches

Indian ODI pitches are the most batting friendly in the world. Pitches are getting flatter everywhere but not as much as India's. Besides, overhead conditions in England and South Africa can make things difficult on even the flattest of tracks.

On the other hand, the Indian ODI bowlers deserve respect for bowling on such pitches day in day out.

 

[sachin100]

Indian ODI pitches are the most batting friendly in the world. Pitches are getting flatter everywhere but not as much as India's. Besides, overhead conditions in England and South Africa can make things difficult on even the flattest of tracks.

On the other hand, the Indian ODI bowlers deserve respect for bowling on such pitches day in day out.

England pitches r the flattest with 440 being scored in recent times. Recent champions trophy being prime example.

 

[Cric1234]

Indian ODI pitches are the most batting friendly in the world. Pitches are getting flatter everywhere but not as much as India's. Besides, overhead conditions in England and South Africa can make things difficult on even the flattest of tracks.

On the other hand, the Indian ODI bowlers deserve respect for bowling on such pitches day in day out.

Not recently they have become flatter than Indian ones in some ways scores of over 350 400 are being scored in the past it would be a great batting performance to get past 300 now it's a normality.

 

[backfootpunch]

A lot of the ODI games played in India are played in the smaller grounds to give each part oft he country a fair share of hosting a home international game. Not only are they flattest around the world (take Rajkot for example - easiest batting wicket in the world) but with boundaries pulled from their small existing dimensions makes run scoring a lot easier.

If more games were played on grounds like Chennai, Kolkata and etc these grounds are tougher to bat (assuming without dew factor) because they take spin and possess far bigger boundaries.

For me the 2 biggest factors which decide the ease of batting are down to whether pitch takes spin and boundary size. NZ of late (barring the odd game such as Aus v NZ in WC 2015 and Pak v SA WC 2015 where there has been enough assistance for the quality seamers) has been the easiest to score runs even Sri Lanka and Pakistan have had success scoring runs in their LOIs. I think also Misbah's team enjoyed success there if I remember correctly and has played a proper decent match winning knock at a healthy SR himself. I also predict one day 240 will be the new 200 in NZ conditions for T20Is.

 

[Bilal7]

England pitches r the flattest with 440 being scored in recent times. Recent champions trophy being prime example.

Not recently they have become flatter than Indian ones in some ways scores of over 350 400 are being scored in the past it would be a great batting performance to get past 300 now it's a normality.

The best bowling attacks dismissed hyped-up batting lineups for under 200 and 250 consistently during the Champions Trophy. I don't know what you guys are speaking of. Yes, 400+ was scored in England recently but on average, as the stats show, the average scores are lower than in places like India.

 

[Cric1234]

The best bowling attacks dismissed hyped-up batting lineups for under 200 and 250 consistently during the Champions Trophy. I don't know what you guys are speaking of. Yes, 400+ was scored in England recently but on average, as the stats show, the average scores are lower than in places like India.

In the last 2 years before the champions trophy ODIs in England had the highest run rate of all countries at 6.14 the CT gave bowlers a bit more respite with a few more helpful wickets.

 

[sachin100]

The best bowling attacks dismissed hyped-up batting lineups for under 200 and 250 consistently during the Champions Trophy. I don't know what you guys are speaking of. Yes, 400+ was scored in England recently but on average, as the stats show, the average scores are lower than in places like India.

Yes that's why india scored more than 300 against pak and pak scored 300 against india.

They r in no way u call bowling pitches.

 

[Musakhel]

Flat wickets are best for lol cricket, Only change I would make is remove field restrictions, that way Game will become more challenging for batsman.

 

[jonny darko]

Rajkot, Adelaide, The Oval, Cape Town.