Lore of averages
I am now back from holiday and have enjoyed reading the offerings of my good friends, Messrs Canning and Wright. Many thanks to them for their time spent writing such illuminating posts (be assured, though, that words will be had with Wright concerning the introduction of Kula Shaker to arbitrary constant — ed.).
The holiday provided plenty of opportunity to read and follow England's dismal cricket performances in the one day internationals against India. There was also the spectacle of Bangladesh looking to inflict defeat on Australia following "spirited" comments from Ricky Ponting saying Bangladesh didn't deserve Test status.
But the best bit was saved for my return: Jason "Dizzy" Gillespie making a double century as a nightwatchman, to the general surprise and merriment of all. By my calculation, this will increase Gillespie's average from its current 15.69 to 18.5 (over 93 innings in 70 Test matches). To give you an idea of the size of his achievement, Ricky Ponting would need to score 522 not out in his next innings in order to improve his average by the same amount — a total just over double his current best of 257. In his current form, not even Ponting could do that — but it would be mighty fun watching him try.
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