A bizarre statistic: Zimbabwe have taken more wickets than any other team in 2018, but have still lost a majority of their matches
Taking wickets is extremely important in a cricket game. It is perhaps even more important than scoring runs.
Wickets drastically suck out a large chunk of the momentum, slowing the opposition's scoring rate. They put added pressure on the shoulders of the new batsman taking guard at the crease, making him play conservatively.
So it is simple, isn't it? Take wickets, win matches.
Maybe not.
Zimbabwe have been the victim of a paranormal phenomenon: a scenario where they have been taking bucketloads of wickets, yet still ended up with the second lowest win-loss ratio - 0.250 - among teams who have taken at least 100 wickets in the last 12 months in ODIs.
Australia, the team with the lowest win-loss ratio of 0.181, have been understandably poor considering they lost two of their best batsmen overnight during the ball-tampering scandal. It is notable that Australia have played just 13 matches in this period, which is the lowest among teams who have taken at least 100 wickets. That is further evidence of the fact that their bowling is world-class; only their batting is severely depleted.
Zimbabwe's case, however, is simply bizarre.
They have taken 231 wickets in the last 12 months in ODIs, the highest for any team. Yet out of the 26 games they have played, they have only won 5 games and lost a whopping 20.
The next highest - the West Indies - have taken a far smaller 171 wickets from 5 fewer games.
In fact, Zimbabwe are second highest on the list of wickets taken per game, only behind Australia. Zimbabwe have taken 8.88 wickets per game, as opposed to India (the world's number 1 ODI team), who have taken 5.05 wickets per game, which is bizarrely the lowest on the list!
This strange statistic can be explained by looking at the countries where Zimbabwe have played. First there was the tri-series in Zimbabwe, then the ODI series against Afghanistan in the UAE, the ODI series against Pakistan in Zimbabwe, the tri-nation series in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, the series against Bangladesh in Bangladesh, and finally the series against South Africa away from home.
Zimbabwe have been unlucky to play in countries like the UAE, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe itself, where run-scoring is difficult and pitches are slow. This means that even their lower quality bowling is mightily effective on such pitches. That also means, however, that their batsmen, often with lesser skill than the opposition batsmen, tend to fare poorly and lose the game.
As for the 30 wickets that Zimbabwe took in three games against South Africa in South Africa while still ending up losing all three games, well, that's yet another bizzare statistic for another day.