Trend Breakers- 5 bowlers who did well Away but struggled at Home

That cricketers do well at home, rather than away, especially in red-ball-cricket is a well-known fact. This has become even prominent at home with almost all top teams- India, England, Australia, South Africa, dominating at home and meekly surrendering when playing away, in conditions they aren't very used to.

Cheteshwar Pujara averages 65 in India and Sri Lanka, and 26 elsewhere. James Anderson has 357 Test Wickets in England and only 196 outside. Adaptability is perhaps at its lowest ever in Test Cricket.

Who then are the bowlers who thrive in conditions foreign to them, rather than at home in conditions in which they have grown and honed their skills? So, what should be the criteria? Number of Wickets may not be the best one. It depends on the number of matches played and that varies with the era the player played in and his longevity among other factors.

Bowling average too isn't the ideal criterion as the scoring conditions have varied over eras and also regions.

For this purpose, I have evaluated the number of wickets taken per innings at home and compared it with the same stat away for each bowler who has taken a minimum of 75 wickets home as well as away and calculated the percentage improvement in the away wickets/innings stat as compared to the home wickets/innings.

For example, if a bowler takes 1 wicket per innings on average at home, and 1.2 wickets per innings on average away, his improvement is 20%.

73 bowlers qualified for this study. The following are the 5 bowlers who come out at the top-

#5- Keith Miller 21%

Keith Miller of Australia

Keith Miller was widely considered as one of Australia's greatest all-rounders. He began his Test Career in 1945, months after the end of World War 2, in which he served as an Air Force pilot.

In a career that spanned 12 years, he scored close to 3000 runs and snared exactly 85 wickets each at Home and Away. However, while his 85 wickets took him 52 innings at home, he scalped the same number of victims in just 43 outings outside of Australia.

His high arm action gave him the ability to make balls rise from a length which stood him in good stead on Australian pitches, while his ability to move the ball both ways made him a potent bowler in England and New Zealand.

His best match figures of 10/152 came in England, the land where he snared more than half of his away wickets.

#4- Graeme Swann 23%

Graeme Swann of England

England has long been a land of seam and swing and hence, one of their most successful spinner featuring on this list, makes sense. In almost 60 years, no English right-arm offspinner other than Swann has managed to go past Jim Laker's mark, and that in itself is a nod to Swann's adaptability and longevity.

No English bowler had more wickets than Swann in the period he played in. Mind you, his career coincided with the peaks of the likes of James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

With pacers doing most of the damage in England, Swann only bowled on average 20 overs an innings at home, with his workload rising to 28 overs an innings elsewhere. While he snared 2.1 wickets an innings in England- an impressive statistic itself, he had an extra wicket every two innings while touring, with his wicket-taking abilities peaking in spin-friendly Asia, where he has more than 3 wickets an innings.

#3- Ishant Sharma 33%

Ishant Sharma of India

A bowling average of 35 or more doesn't speak very highly of you, no matter which era you played in. Yet, India have persisted with Ishant Sharma simply for the ability to strike that he packs in his kitbag when touring. Who can forget his spell to Ricky Ponting back in 2007 at Perth or his 7/74 that gave India a Test win at Lord's after 28 years, in 2014?

His 7/74 are the best bowling figures for an Indian in England, and his 32 wickets in just 13 innings are the second-most for an Indian pacer in the country, next to the legendary Kapil Dev. In no other country does Ishant strike as often as in England- a fact that has been reiterated by him over the course of 3 consecutive tours to the land in 2011, 2014, and 2018.

Out of his 245 Test Wickets, only 84 have come in India, where he strikes 1.38 times per innings, as compared to 1.83 times per innings away. This stat rises to 2.46 in England!

#2- Daniel Vettori 42%

Daniel Vettori of New Zealand

Like Swann, Vettori hails from a country that isn't known for turn-producing pitches or for spinners. And like Swann, Vettori's incredible record his a doff-of-the-hat to his adaptability and longevity.

The man of Italian origins had a Test Career that spanned close to 18 years, over which he played 113 Test Matches. Among New Zealand spinners, John Bracewell has the next most- 41.

Of his 362 Test wickets, 159 have come at home at the rate of 1.62 per innings. His 203 away wickets on the other hand, have come at a rate of 2.31 per innings. Where his numbers truly become mind-boggling are again in spin-friendly Asia, where he has 98 wickets- the most for a visiting spinner after Shane Warne.

The master of drift and subtle variations in flight, length, and speed produced these 98 wickets in just 34 innings at the rate of 2.89 per innings- quicker than even Shane Warne! All this against batsmen who have been bred on spinners and spinning tracks.

#1- Zaheer Khan 47%

Zaheer Khan of India

Rarely has a bowler shown as much control over both the new as well as the old ball, as well as over all the 3 Test balls- SG, Duke, and Kookaburra as Zaheer has. If the old ball did the talking for Zaheer with reverse swing in dusty conditions in Asia, it was the conventional swing with the new ball that did the batsmen in abroad.

Life can be miserable for a swing bowler in Asia. Just ask James Anderson. Zaheer found a way to succeed at home as well, mastering the skill of reverse swing. However, he came into his own abroad, especially in England, where conditions allowed for conventional swing.

In Asia, he averaged 1.66 wickets per innings, which shot up to 2.23 outside, and to a colossal 3.52 in Africa! No wonder James Anderson, who has 553 Test Wickets to date, looks up to this man. Just imagine what ZK could have achieved had he been born in England and South Africa. The cricket world may not have known Anderson or Steyn then!