Time to restore balance

UMPIRE's POST

Cricinfo, the website devoted to cricket, has put out interesting statistics around the 300 mark, spurred on by India's successful chase of Sri Lanka's 308 on Thursday, which marked the 300th occasion that the mark was breached.

India was the first to concede 300, as early as 1975 in the first match of the first World Cup. Dennis Amiss helped himself to a century and England to 334 in 60 overs. As the norm changed to 50 overs, 300 enticed and challenged teams. England was the first to do it, but went into a slumber after that, touching 300 on only 20 more occasions.

Other teams went on to do much better. Australia has made 300 no less than 53 times, Pakistan 49 times, and India 47.

In recent times, 300 has become a much more frequent occurrence. There were 51 ODI innings of 300 or more in 2007, a sharp rise from 24 in 2006 and 27 in 2005. Last year's Fifty50 World Cup saw 16 innings of 300 or more. This Asia Cup, a much smaller tournament, had already had 10 by Thursday.

A closer look at the numbers reveals that it is the subcontinent that has become the breeding ground of 300s. The National Stadium in Karachi, the scene of the 300th 300, has staged the most 300 innings