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The cover drive is easily among the most productive shots for hitters, especially in test cricket: Over the past six years, 40,909 runs have been scored from this shot in testing, according to ESPNcricinfo ball-for-ball data. Among all the different types of shots recorded in the database, only the movie has produced more runs.
Over the years, there have been plenty of good exponents of the shot: from David Gower, Damien Martyn, Mark Waugh, Michael Vaughan, and Sourav Ganguly, to current stars like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Kane Williamson. However, when we subjectively assess hitters on how well they played the shot, style takes precedence over substance (although in many cases they go hand in hand). What we remember is the blossoming of a Brian Lara, or the silky grace and elegance of Vaughan and Ganguly, but not necessarily the efficiency with which a Jacques Kallis or Rahul Dravid fired the shot.
The human mind, by default, gravitates towards what is aesthetically pleasing, but what if we ignore aesthetics and focus only on concrete facts? This article looks at the best exponents of the cover test in tests among current hitters, but through the prism of statistics and numbers. (To see a similar article from 15 years ago, click here.) The period considered here is the last six years, as of April 1, 2014.
Leaders by average
Consider, for example, Kohli. In these six years, he collected 1,038 tests from the cover test, and is the only player to exceed 1,000 runs on that shot. But he’s also been fired 14 times when he tries to play it, giving him an average of 74.1 runs per layoff. He seems like a reasonably healthy average, but among the 45 hitters with more than 300 runs on that shot in the past six years, 24 have a better average than Kohli.
Leading that group are two unlikely South Africans and a Pakistani: Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis and Asad Shafiq. Markram has scored 338 runs on that shot without a single layoff, which means he still doesn’t have average driving coverage. His 207 hitting rate while playing the coverage drive is also the best among these 45 hitters. These are the first days of Markram’s Test’s career, but he has established himself as one of the best exponents of the shot.
Du Plessis is not the most stylish cover driver, but his numbers are outstanding: 542 runs on just two layoffs, giving him an average of 271. Those numbers once again underscore the triumph of substance over style. Shafiq has been around for almost a decade, but has failed to elevate his career to the next level, which has left us discussing what he could have accomplished in an alternate universe. However, their cover numbers are from this universe and they are excellent.
Among the next three on the list are players who might have waited at the top. Williamson combines orthodoxy and elegance with effectiveness to average nearly 180, while Steven Smith’s version of the deck unit is slightly different but successful, giving him an average close to 150. Among them is Cheteshwar Pujara, a Testing specialist and less flamboyant than most of his top-ranked peers in the Indian lineup, but as the 167.3 average shows, he’s also pretty skilled in the coverage unit.
In fact, it is ironic that Pujara, known for his defensive skills more than anything, has relatively low numbers among the hitters with the best defense, but are in the top five on the hitter list with the most effective cover units. Kohli, on the other hand, was among the top hitters in defense, but his 74.1 coverage average is only good enough for 25th place among 45 hitters. Joe Root is only a few points above him at number 19, averaging 83.6.
The risk-reward factor
However, while the average indicates how safe a cover drive shot is for a hitter, it does not say how important that shot is to him. Kohli, for example, gets 18.8% of all his runs in the coverage drive, which means that it is an important scoring option for him. For Markram, the percentage is as high as 23.7, but Pujara has only scored 12% of his runs in this shot, suggesting he is more careful in terms of choosing the installments he covers, and also that this shot is not his. . most important option for collecting races. (Pujara’s wagon wheel during this period shows that he has scored 1201 runs from the film, and only 502 from the coverage unit; for Kohli, the film has scored 1,419 runs, but the cover unit is not far behind, at 1038.) Pujara averages 138.7 balls per dismissal when he plays the coverage drive, compared to Kohli’s 55.3.
So while the cover drive is a riskier option for Kohli than for Pujara, that’s also because he tries that shot more frequently, perhaps deliveries that aren’t there for the shot, and gets a higher percentage of their runs that shot
Another way to look at this risk-reward equation is to compare the percentage of runs this shot hits a hitter, compared to the percentage of layoffs it causes. Kohli gets 18.8% of his runs from the coverage drive, but also results in 14.3% of his layoffs (excluding outs), giving him a differential of 4.5. For Pujara, those percentages are 12 and 3.5, which is a differential of 8.5.
Markram’s differential on this scale is 23.7, which is the highest. Du Plessis is also up there, as is Shai Hope, who scores 23.3% of his runs through the coverage campaign. At the other end of the scale is Babar Azam. The cover drive is his most productive shot: it has brought him 394 runs, while the next highest is the movie, at 320, but it has also caused eight layoffs. In terms of their aggregate numbers, that represents 21.3% of their total runs and 21.1% of their total pitcher throws. The 0.2 differential is the lowest among the 45 hitters on this list. Azam’s average coverage of 49.3 is ranked 42; only Kraigg Brathwaite (45), Kusal Mendis (44.71) and Dimuth Karunaratne (44.4) have poorer averages.
(However, it needs to be mentioned here that this differential is also a function of how many runs a batter scores on other shots. Hope’s percentage of runs on the cover drive is extremely high because he does not score as many runs on other shots. in turn increases the differential value for him. Smith has a lower running percentage, and a lower differential, because he has other shots in his arsenal, but his coverage average is still much higher than Hope’s.)
When the favorite shot reaches a high value
What about hitters who combine a high average with a high percentage of runs scored through the throw? It turns out there are only five that average over 100 and also get at least 20% of their careers through the coverage campaign: Markram, Tamim Iqbal, David Warner, Shakib Al Hasan and Hashim Amla. Temba Bavuma simply misses but deserves a mention: he is averaging 121.67, while scoring 19.8% of his runs in the coverage drive.
Control statistics
Finally, a look at the control numbers for these hitters. Do high averages necessarily translate into high percentages of control? It turns out that most hitters with high averages also have pretty good control statistics, but those with poor averages don’t necessarily have poor control percentages.
Markram’s control is a staggering 94.5%, but his coverage sample size is 163. Taking a cut of 300 facing balls – 39 hitters make the list – the hitter with the highest percentage of control is that monster of control, Williamson, at a staggering 95%. BJ Watling, who has an average coverage of 84, which places him 18th on that list, ranks second here, with a control percentage of 94.1. Similary, Azhar Ali (average 78.57) climbs from 20th to third place. Pujara is in 13th place with a percentage of 88.9, while Root is 25 (87.1) and Kohli is 28 (86.3).
However, the interesting entry is at n. ° 5: Azam’s percentage of control when playing the coverage drive is an exceptional 91.5, but despite that, his average when he plays that shot is among the poorest, with 49.25. The reason for this is his abandonment rate when he makes a mistake – he makes just 3.5 false shots for layoff, compared to 7.3 for Williamson, 12.5 for Smith and 18 for du Plessis. It could be that you tend to attempt high-risk coverage attempts, when the ball is not really there for the shot, or it could be that you have had no luck every time you made a mistake trying to cover the attempt. However, given the style with which he plays that shot, the range on the control board seems more suitable than his range in terms of average, which is sure to increase in the coming years.
