As Disraeli said, there are lies, damned lies and statistics, but an examination of the calendar year statistics reveals much of interest, and a few surprises. Calendar year statistics are affected by the number of games played, and in the Test arena, the Australians had the most opportunity to add to total runs and wickets, playing 14 Tests, with India, England and South Africa closely behind, each with thirteen - Pakistan played only 6 Tests, and newcomers Bangladesh 8. The team of the year in terms of win - loss ratio is not South Africa or Australia, but New Zealand with their three wins against a single loss edging out Australia's 8 wins against three losses. Bangladesh lost seven of their eight matches, and the West Indies had a dismal year, losing six times and winning only twice.

Batting averages are not affected by the number of games played, and the stars of the year were the Sri Lankan pair of Samaraweera and Tillakaratne, with averages of 140.7 and 136.4 respectively. One other player averaged over 100 - Tafeeq Umar made 104 in his only innings. Andy Flower had another superb year, averaging nearly 90, and Lara, Hayden, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Martyn, Kallis, and Tendulkar all averaged over 60. The top run scorer was Matthew Hayden, scoring over 200 runs more than the runner up, Brian Lara - but Lara had 7 fewer innings. Hayden's 5 centuries puts him at the top of the list, with Jayawardene, Steve Waugh, and Justin Langer each making four. Gibbs, Kallis, Jayawardene and Tendulkar all passed 1000 runs for the year. Laxman's 281 was the top score of the year, and Marvan Atapattu made two double hundreds.

Examination of batting strike rate throws up some oddities - the list is topped by Paul Strang due to his rapid fire 38* at a rate of 136. Looking at those who have combined significant run-scoring with a fast strike rate, Adam Gilchrist stands out with 870 runs at the exceptional rate of 82 runs/hundred balls faced. Chris Cairns scored at a slightly higher rate, but had overall less success with the bat.

The bowler of the year was undoubtedly Muralitharan, with his 80 wickets -twelve more than runner-up Glenn McGrath, despite playing in two less Tests. Muralitharan bowled more than anyone else, however, delivering 781.2 overs, and his strike rate was not exceptional. Of serious bowlers, Cairns and Gough lead the way in strike rate, although the list is topped by Danish Kaneria of Pakistan, his 12 wicket performance in the one Test he played also giving him the best bowling average of the year. The best bowling performance of the year was Harbhajan Singh's 8/86, narrowly edging out Muralitharan's 8/87. Harbhajan Singh in addition had two seven wicket hauls, and his 60 wickets put him behind just Muralitharan and McGrath. Courtney Walsh marked his final matches of Test cricket by bowling at an exceptional economy rate, conceding under two runs an over. Nathan Astle conceded a fraction less but bowled under 100 overs, and other notable economical bowlers include Hooper, Saqlain Mushtaq, Jayasuriya, and of course Muralitharan.

Adam Gilchrist topped the wicket-keeping statistics with 52 catches and seven stumpings and this was combined with an exceptional batting performance. Ricky Ponting with 24 catches just beat out Mark Waugh for fielding honours. Gilchrist's statistics make a good case for all-rounder of the year, although Andy Flower's 25 dismissals were in five fewer Tests, and his batting average was nearly 90. Chris Cairns played only five Tests, but took 23 wickets at an exceptional strike rate as well as scoring over 250 runs very quickly, and Jacques Kallis topped 1000 runs, and took 35 wickets.

It was a great year for Test cricket and one that perhaps drew attention away from the one-day arena. Zimbabwe played 37 one-day internationals in 2001 and Sri Lanka played 34 times. Bangladesh played only six, and England fourteen. The most successful team was Australia, losing only three times in their twenty-one matches, with South Africa narrowly behind. Zimbabwe lost 27 times. There was not a single tie in the 120 matches played this year.

Given that Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe played so much more one-day cricket than anyone else, it is unsurprising that the top six run-scorers are from those two countries. Jayawardene tops this list with 1260 runs and completed the difficult double of 1000 runs in both Tests and one-day internationals. Jayasuriya, Grant Flower, Andy Flower, Atapattu and Carlisle also topped 1000 runs for the year. Tendulkar failed narrowly but his 904 runs were made in just 16 innings (those above all batted at least thirty times). Tendulkar made his runs at an average of 69.53, in second place behind Mark Waugh, who had a superb year with 809 runs at an average of 80.9. Both Tendulkar and Waugh made four centuries, Waugh recording the highest innings of the year (173).

The fastest scorer in one-day internationals in 2001 was JJC Lawson of the West Indies! His three runs from the solitary ball he faced gave him a strike rate of 300. Statistical oddities aside, Harvey, Symonds, Azhar Mahmood, Nevin, Zoysa and Shahid Afridi all scored over 100 runs at a strike rate of more than a run per ball. Sehwag made an impression with his 439 runs at a strike rate of 99.54.

The bowling averages are headed by occasional bowlers - Steve Waugh averaged 9.66 but only bowled 6 overs for 3 wickets. Of regular bowlers, that man Muralitharan stands out again, his 56 wickets costing only 18.19 each. He tops the wicket-taking list, and of regular bowlers only Shaun Pollock bowled with better economy. Vaas had a fine year taking 42 wickets at an average of 22.14 - capped by his world record 8 for 19. Waqar Younis took 41 wickets, despite playing in far fewer matches than Heath Streak who took one more wicket, and also had the second and third best bowling performances of the year, his 7/36 and 6/59 both coming against England.

Adam Gilchrist and Mark Boucher tie at the top of the wicket-keeping table, both recording thirty-four dismissals, Gilchrist playing one fewer match. Shane Warne's catching ability gave him the most catches by a non-keeper with 16, tied with Muralitharan and Jayawardene but playing 15 fewer matches.

Do the numbers lie? Based on the statistics alone you might pick the following two elevens:

Tests: Hayden, Gibbs, Tendulkar, Samaraweera, Tillakaratne, Kallis, A Flower, Pollock, McGrath, Harbhajan Singh, Muralitharan

One-day internationals: Tendulkar, Dippenaar, Jayawardene , M Waugh, Ponting, Kallis, Gilchrist, Pollock, Vaas, Waqar Younis, Muralitharan

The best teams? Probably not - but remember there are indeed lies, damned lies and statistics.

© CricInfo / Dave Liverman