Smith's 'scarily good' stats of 2014

1012 – Number of runs Steven Smith has scored in 2014. He registered the 36th instance of an Australian batsman scoring 1000 runs in a calendar year. Remarkably, his current batting average of 84.33 is fifth highest among these 36 instances. 

David Warner (1096) also reached the milestone in 2014. Last time two Aussies achieved this feat in the same year was in 2009 when Simon Katich and Michael Clarke led the batting charts. 

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447 – Number of runs Steven Smith has scored in this series, by far the most by any batsman, ahead of second place Murali Vijay with 323 runs. Smith’s average in three Tests so far is 223.50 having been dismissed only twice in five innings. 

304 – Average first innings total at Melbourne Cricket Ground in the past 106 matches. The MCG has the lowest first innings average score among Australia’s six major Test venues. The Adelaide Oval (390) has the highest. 

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2036 – Number of first-class runs Chris Rogers has scored in 2014, the only batsman with more than 2000. Rogers had a magnificent summer this year in the County Championship, where he scored 1333 runs at 55.54 for Middlesex.  The next leading run-getter in first-class cricket in 2014 is Kumar Sangakkara (1732), who is currently playing in the first Test against New Zealand at Hagley Oval (Christchurch. 

500 – Number of Test runs Shane Watson has scored at Melbourne Cricket Ground at average of 83.33. It is the only venue where he has accumulated 500 Test runs. The WACA (383 runs) is his second most productive ground. 

64.93 – Average partnership between Chris Rogers and Shane Watson in Tests. They have accumulated 974 runs in 15 innings at 64.93. In terms of average, Rogers is Watson’s best partner in Tests. 

4 – Number of times Shane Watson has been dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin in Tests. They have played five Tests against each other, with Ashwin getting the better of Watson on four occasions. No other spinner has troubled Watson more often than Ashwin. On Boxing Day, Watson faced 16 deliveries from Ashwin and managed only one scoring shot.  

18 – Years between ducks by Australian openers at the MCG. Before David Warner’s six-ball duck on Boxing Day, the last Australian opener to fall without scoring was Matthew Hayden 18 years ago. Interestingly, in these 18 years, eight non-Aussie openers were dismissed without scoring at MCG. 

251 – Number of catches MS Dhoni has taken behind stumps. He became the seventh wicketkeeper and first from Asia to pouch 250 catches in Tests when he caught Shaun Marsh on day one. The other six wicketkeepers who have 250 or more catches are Mark Boucher, Adam Gilchrist, Ian Healy, Rod Marsh, Jeffrey Dujon and Alan Knott. 

5 – Number of players who made their Test debut on Boxing Day 2014 – Joe Burns (Australia) and Lokesh Rahul (India) in Melbourne; Tharindu Kaushal (Sri Lanka) in Christchurch; and Temba Bavuma (South Africa) and Kenroy Peters (West Indies) in Port Elizabeth. 

441 & 284 – Joe Burns became 441st Australian to earn a Baggy Green while Lokesh Rahul was 284th Indian to don a Test cap. 

51 - In last ten years (2005-2014), Australia have awarded 51 Baggy Green caps. These figures are quite interesting when compared with the preceding ten years (1995-2004), which witnessed only 28 Australians making Test debuts. Can you name the 51 fresh faces? Answers here.