Why studying England’s win/loss ratio can bring selectors some clarity

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Cricket is not often accused of being short of statistics, but there is one that we hardly ever see. It measures what may be the most sought-after quality in sport: the ability to win. And the least sought-after – the tendency to lose. Welcome to the win/loss ratio, an off-putting name for a crucial metric.

For this year’s Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, which is published on Thursday, I’ve had a look at international captains through this lens. While doing the research, I also worked out the win/loss scores for England’s current (male) Test players. As they all play for the same team, you might expect them to be much of a muchness. Far from it: some players have a habit of being on the winning side, others don’t, and most of the time we have no idea which is which.

Before doing the digging, you have to decide how far back to go. Four years seemed about right, because (a) it’s the traditional cycle of international cricket, (b) it covers the Covid bubble era but also plenty of normal sporting life, and (c) it means you don’t have to include more than one of the horror movies known as Ashes tours.

So the starting point is spring 2018. England’s men have played 51 Tests since then, winning 22 and losing 20. The good news is that they are one of only four nations with more wins than losses. The bad news is that they’re a distant fourth behind Australia (won 16, lost 7), New Zealand (17:8) and India (24:13). Test cricket, like English football, has a big three.

In those 51 games England have used 35 players, of whom 29 have tasted victory