Madness League - statistical analysis 2004
| Rank | Player | Average rating |
Std Dev | Median | Mode | Lowest | Highest | Top 5 placings | Top 10 placings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Priestland | 2.25 | 2.86 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 18 | 19 |
| 2 | Martin Thomas | 3.55 | 2.19 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 18 | 19 |
| 3 | Jeff Hilson | 3.60 | 2.87 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 18 | 19 |
| 4 | Mark Bradshaw | 4.60 | 3.94 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 1 | 16 | 17 |
| 5 | Matt Cook | 7.90 | 4.85 | 6 | 5 | 20 | 2 | 9 | 16 |
| 6 | Andrew Sammut | 8.10 | 3.52 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 3 | 5 | 14 |
| 7 | Amil Patel | 9.00 | 4.09 | 9 | 11 | 17 | 2 | 5 | 12 |
| 8 | Naren Patel | 9.05 | 4.54 | 8 | 9 | 18 | 3 | 4 | 15 |
| 9 | Nick Creak | 9.35 | 4.68 | 7 | 7 | 20 | 3 | 4 | 14 |
| 10 | Wil Scott | 9.90 | 3.28 | 10 | 6 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 11 |
| 11 | Jon Taylor | 10.05 | 4.36 | 9 | 14 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| 12 | Keith Roberts | 12.15 | 3.28 | 12 | 8 | 20 | 8 | 7 | |
| 13 | Andrew Wingfield | 12.50 | 4.61 | 13 | 13 | 20 | 6 | 7 | |
| 14 | Pablo Palao | 12.60 | 5.05 | 12 | 11 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 15 | Sam Scott | 12.75 | 4.12 | 12 | 18 | 19 | 6 | 7 | |
| 16 | Luke Butler | 13.75 | 3.26 | 14 | 11 | 19 | 9 | 4 | |
| 17 | Dom Herrington | 14.40 | 3.55 | 14 | 16 | 20 | 7 | 2 | |
| 18 | Phil Chamberlain | 15.05 | 3.95 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 19 | Gwyn Thomas | 15.45 | 4.54 | 17 | 17 | 20 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 20 | Quentin Davies | 17.25 | 4.04 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 6 | 2 | |
| 21 | John Hodgson | 17.30 | 2.54 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 12 |
Commentary
We can roughly place individuals into one of the following five groups:
The Raving Lunatics - the top four in the League are clearly head and shoulders above other Exiles and would be worthy qualifiers for a "Champions League" of mad cricketers across London. Fourth-placed Mark Bradshaw's average score is over three points ahead of Matthew Cook in fifth place. What is more no-one outside these four came top of any individual's rankings. Each of these four is very different from the other and has their own very distinctive marks of madness: John P - karaoke, on-field motivational techniques; Martin - eccentric batting, Nomads background, lateness; Jeff - hallucinations, cowardice, chuntering, poetry; Mark - drunkenness, disturbingly photographic memory, obsessions.
The Mad - there is little to choose between the next five players who are clearly mad in the eyes of other players in the team - each got their fair share of top five placings and all were voted in the top half of madness by more than half of respondents. In each of their own individual ways, these five players have demonstrated considerable psychosis in their Exiles careers and are in danger of displacing the top four if they maintain their progress. Like the top four, they have displayed a range of psychoses from Nick's "over-confidence" through Naren's "finger-wagging" and intolerance of bad cricket to Matt's "bottle-booting" and introspection. These players are the potential UEFA Cup qualifiers of madness - a bit like Newcastle United.
The Fairly Mad - Wil Scott and Jon Taylor are the average performers in the Madness League, but this position reflects very different individual rankings. While Wil was consistently voted in the mid-table (thus his low Standard Deviation figure), Jon's rankings varied wildly. It may be worth commissioning further study into the split of votes for JT between tourists and non-tourists - my (as yet untested) hypothesis would be that he received far higher rankings from those that have toured with him. Both JT and Wil are clearly quite mad, but would not have a realistic chance of qualifying for higher competition.
The Eccentric - this group of eight is the largest category in the League, though there may be scope for sub-dividing these into two further groups. These players have clearly demonstrated the occasional signs of psychosis, but not so much to place them higher in the list. Each has shown the occasional signs of eccentricity. For example, Keith's tendency to call off matches unilaterally, Dom's post-mortems after batting, or Gwyn's unique approach to batsmanship. However, none of them is actually mad.
The Sane - finally, it appears that Quentin and John are considered sane by their team-mates, and one must commiserate with both of them having to put up with the rest of us loonies - a Sunday afternoon with the Exiles must seem like the inmates' outing in "One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest".