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[Tilal]

This is a mini-series on team behaviors around declaration.   

In the recently concluded Aus-WI series, Aussies declared twice after batting first with a score of 500 on both occasions.  In the series against Pak this week, the declaration occurred at 450 runs.   The seemingly weird and arbitrary number lead me to look into team behaviors around declaration.
My analysis is presented exclusively for CV members

For this analysis, declaration with at least 7 wickets in hand is considered. Technical declarations with 8 or 9 wickets down are excluded.
(dominating declaration with an intent is a cool thing to look at)
The time period is last 10 years.

Part 1:  declaration while batting first

Australia declare often and set various but consistent targets depending on the opposition.
The  run range against  teams (rounded to the nearest 50):
    England/RSA    600
    NZ                    575
    SL                    550
    WI                   500
    Pak                  450


India, England and RSA are the other teams with a meaningful number of declarations.
(Pak and SL don't have enough data to analyze)


England declare with 550 - they don't seem to consider the opposition. WI and RSA are the same as far England are concerned.  They wait for personal milestones - interestingly the declaration does not come right at the stroke of a player's 100 or 50 - but after another 15-20 runs. Probably want to show they were not waiting for the player to reach that coveted 100 or 50.

RSA and India declare with 600 runs -It  does not matter whether it is Bangladesh or Pakistan.
RSA have declared once against Bangladesh with less than 550 - but that is not common.
(India scored 675 against Pak and 705 against Aus in 2004 - but mostly the declaration comes at 600 runs).  It appears that the declaration against Pak with 675 was delayed because SRT was close to 200.   Against Australia Ganguly said he wanted to make Aussies field on the  third straight day as a means to inflict psychological damage. 
In summary, India want 600 runs but willing to compromise for complementary goals along the way.


Clearly Aussies measure and size up the opposition and set personalized targets for each team. They show flexibility around personal milestones, but a reasonable limit is placed on the number of runs they want to play with.

The other teams don't seem to account  for the strengths/weaknesses of other teams - but solely focused on getting a fixed number of runs. 

Aussies plan and execute to win, but the other teams merely try to defend. Avoiding defeat seems to be the first priority - no matter what team they are playing against.

The next episode will deal with declarations while batting second.

[keep-it-cool]

I think it also has to do with the bowling strengths. In this context, I'm surprised at how conservative SA has been despite having a strong bowling line up. India's case is understandable. Our bowlers generally need a lot of cushion.