Darren Bravo's home/away splits

I posted this in the game thread, but figured it might warrant it's own thread for discussion.

Darren Bravo's home/away splits:

Home: 29.34 average in 40 innings with 1 century and 7 fifties.
Away:  51.18 average in 39 innings with 6 centuries and 7 fifties.

Bravo has been exceptional overseas. Since making his debut, his overseas average (51.18) is fifth best (min 20 matches). Only Amla (60.36), Smith (59.78), Younis Khan (58.50) and Alastair Cook (56.01) have a higher overseas average.

By contrast, his home average (29.34) is the lowest among top 6 batsman (min 20 matches), and by some margin, Graeme Smith has the next lowest average at 38.03.

If only he could put up similar numbers at home. This is a trend with Lil Bravo as he also has a higher average overseas in ODIs and T20Is. Why is he so poor at home?

If you go back even further and look at the home averages over the last 10 years, Darren Bravo's average (29.34) is second lowest. Who owns the lowest home average over the last decade?, I hear you ask! Marlon Samuels (29.26).

*min 15 matches played.

It took me a while to cull the data, but I was curious to see which batsman has the highest differential between home and away averages since 2000.

In parsing the data, Bravo's -21.84 runs worse at home is the biggest split. Stephen Fleming is second with an average of 18.25 runs lower at home compared to his away average. Mushfiqur Rahim is third at -14.44. Graeme Smith is fourth (-13.68) and Samuels (-10.86) rounds out the top 5. Boeta Dippenaar (-10.43) is the only other batsman with a home average more than 10 runs lower than his away average.

Of the 93 batsman to have played a minimum of 10 matches at home and 10 matches away, 23 had reverse splits (a higher overseas average).

In doing some further investigation, Bravo's home differential of -21.84 is the highest in Test history. India's Mohinder Amarnath is second with a differential of -21.41.

Steve Smith had some interesting comments in light of Australia's ongoing struggles in the subcontinent, suggesting that perhaps it is time for them to start selecting separate teams for home and away series.

Quote:In other words, the batters they take to India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour next year that will define the success of Australia's (thus far unsuccessful) subcontinent strategy and their aspirations to remain atop the Test rankings might differ from the ones they utilise on home pitches throughout the preceding summer. A recognition that some players are more technically and temperamentally suited to playing the sorts of physically gruelling, mentally demanding innings required amid the stifling weather and atmosphere of a Test in Asia than are others who have been tried and found wanting.

"It certainly needs to be looked at," Smith said of the notion that the seemingly revolutionary idea of the best top six batsmen for an Ashes series in England or a tour to South Africa or New Zealand not necessarily being the best bet for totally opposite conditions. "If there are guys that can play spin well in these conditions then it's certainly got to be a chance. "It's been too long now – it's been (17 Tests) since we've won a game in the subcontinent (at Galle in 2011), so whatever we're doing, it's not working. "So there might be a need for some changes."

http://www.cricket.com.au/news/feature/s...2016-08-06

I posted this here due to the relevancy of the discrepancy in Bravo's home and away numbers. What is the likelihood of Test teams selecting separate sides based solely on home and away conditions?

OR use the Pakistan "forced" model !

PLAY in a Neutral territory a la Dubai and AbuDhabi.

This Galle match can be played at say, Providence stadium  8)

Australia vs. Sri Lanka , Providence Stadiu, Guyana.

Subcon conditions generally suit those batsmen who are conservative, like to play late, cautiously and don't like attacking. Here the ball doesn't bounce, swing or come fast. So batsmen like Jimmy Adams, Cook and Chanders thrive there. Once you can play spin and are willing to spend hours chalking up doubles and singles, you will make easy runs in the subcontinent.

But the T20 era has bred a bunch of attacking strokemakers who get frustrated by these pitches; they get out trying to up the tempo. Those who have patience, still manage to fall to spin.