The Stats show that Ian Bell apart England’s batsmen underperformed in “The Ashes”

 

The statistics only tell part of the story about any batsman of course but now The Ashes 2013 is over there is one telling stat which tells its own story. Here in order of success are the Test Match averages of England’s top nine in the batting order showing the extent to which that average increased or (mostly) declined over this summer. The number shown is the difference between their average just before the series started and now:

Bell          + 1.09

Swann     + 0.17

Broad       + 0.09

Pietersen  –  0.63

Bairstow   –  0.78

Bresnan    –  1.23

Cook        –  1.32

Prior        –  1.97

Root        –  2.25

Trott        – 2.69

 

Only Ian Bell enhanced his reputation and for Trott, Root, Prior and Cook there was serious slippage. Pietersen slipped back a bit but his average of 48.38 now places him at the top of England’s current players whereas before the Series started he was third behind Trott and Cook.