oh boy....
www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/24662442/how-justin-langer-slipped-centuries-statistic
Australia's coach
Justin Langer read a spreadsheet incorrectly in coming up with a "total hundreds" statistic that counted international centuries twice.
Hundreds have been a common theme of Langer's recent public discussions on team selection, either side of Tuesday's announcement of the
15-man squad to play two Tests against Pakistan in the UAE in October.
The unselected
Glenn Maxwell, Langer said, had only made 17 centuries "above A-Grade cricket" while the suspended
Steven Smith and
David Warner had 79 and 88 respectively.
Aaron Finch, meanwhile, was credited with 41 hundreds across all forms. This was cited as a reason why Maxwell, in particular, needed to be more productive to regain a place in the Test team.
However, these figures could only be reached by tallying all the common statistical categories for centuries - Test, ODI, T20I, first-class, List A and T20 - as though they are entirely separate. This overlooks the fact that the latter three categories already include their international equivalents.
Smith, then, does not have 79 hundreds but 48; Warner not 88 but 53. Finch's tally slips from 41 to 28, and Maxwell's from 17 to 13. So the overall, basic point about hundreds scored still stands in terms of Maxwell not making as many as the rest, but the nuance is a matter for questions. Over the past 48 hours, many in Australian cricket have been asking them.
