Viv Richards in disguise, and the free-hit effect

Andrew Symonds has been in the news for all kinds of reasons over the last three weeks, but his most emphatic statement has been out in the middle, with bat in hand. To outshine the likes of Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Michael Clarke isn't easy, but Symonds managed it - almost effortlessly, it seemed - just about every time he came out to bat in the series against India. The scores were huge: 87, 89, 75 and 107 not out, marred only by failures in the first and last game. Add the electrifying fielding, the more-than-useful bowling, and the air of supreme confidence bordering on arrogance, and it's difficult to ignore the similarities with a legend who has widely been acknowledged as the best one-day player ever.

Viv Richards retired with outstanding ODI numbers - an average of 47 and a strike-rate of 90, stats that were unheard of during his playing days. The game has admittedly changed significantly since then, and strike-rates have been burgeoning all the time, but even allowing for that, Symonds' performances in the last four years have been nothing short of phenomenal.

Over a career that has so far spanned nine years, Symonds' graph has only been moving upward, a fact confirmed by the table below. In his first four years he hardly did much to set the cricket world alight. Going into the 2003 World Cup, he averaged less than 24 with the bat; on the 38 occasions he had batted till then, 20 times he was dismissed for less than 20.

Then he made a scintillating, unbeaten 143 in difficult circumstances in the World Cup opener against Pakistan, which kickstarted his second phase, one in which his average leapfrogged to nearly 45, and his consistency increased too - only 18 sub-20 dismissals in 52 innings. In his last 52 innings, he has improved on those stats even further, scoring more runs at a quicker pace, and getting at least a half-century once every three innings.

If you were asked to name the best ODI batsman of the last four-and-a-half years, you'd do well to ignore the likes of Ponting and Kevin Pietersen and plump for Symonds instead. Mostly batting at No. 5, a tough position in the limited-overs format, Symonds has stunning stats, not only scoring prolifically but also getting the runs at a remarkable pace.

The table below has a batting index calculated by multiplying the average by runs scored per ball (all runs since the 2003 World Cup), and Symonds comes out right on top. His average of 47.86 is bettered, marginally, by Pietersen and Jacques Kallis, but neither has Symonds' strike-rate (though Pietersen comes close).

And if the question is about the ability to raise the game to match the occasion, then Symonds' stats are spotless in this regard as well: he averages 103 in World Cup games, and 60.50 in all finals since the 2003 World Cup.

There are a couple of areas he needs to work on, though. His two low scores in the series both came in day-night games, and not surprisingly, he averages 39.06 in such games in the last four-and-a-half years, and 61.77 in day games. (This stat should probably have been passed on to the Indian board when they were firming the itinerary.) Also, his average at home during this period is only 33.88, which is well below the 58.20 he averages when playing outside Australia.

Those are minor blemishes, though, and he has an excellent opportunity to set those numbers right over the next four months, when Australia take on Sri Lanka and India at home. If he continues in similar vein, the comparisons with Viv will look even better.

The free-hit deterrent
These are very early days yet, but it does seem that the free-hit rule is having the desired effect on bowlers. In the 12 ODIs in which this rule has been enforced - the five games between Sri Lanka and England, and the seven between India and Australia - only 12 no-balls were bowled, while the legitimate deliveries totalled 6254. England's bowlers didn't overstep even once in their series against Sri Lanka - the only no-ball of the series, by Stuart Broad, was for bowling two bouncers in an over - while Sri Lanka gave away only two free hits.

The India-Australia series had nine no-balls, of which two were for full-tosses over the waist. The Indians gave away only one free hit - Murali Kartik was the offender, making him the first Indian to concede one in an ODI - while Brett Lee was guilty of five out of six front-foot transgressions for Australia.

As the table below shows, the ratio of legitimate deliveries to no-balls is much higher than for ODIs before the rule was enforced.

*Includes all no-balls, and not just the front-foot ones. The first ODI between Pakistan and South Africa is not included in the analysis.