Form

What is form? Can we quantify it?

Anyone can come up with any conjecture, but to frame it properly is what makes it scientific. And David Barry does just that here at Pappu's Plane.

He asks is it true that a batsman in good form scores more runs? And using statistical analyis, he answers, "yes'. 

It might seem obvious to us, but it is the proper framing of the question and the quantitative answer that removes any doubt from our mind. David Barry has done a great job here.

I studied Physics, now I am sorry that I did that- it is useless in my everyday life. But if I had studied Statistics or Maths, it would be useful all through my life.

What I would like to know is, people say, form is temporary, class is permanent. 

Is it possible to verify this?

One method would be to take proven class players like Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Ponting, Hayden, Lara and so on, and identify their lean periods, and the scores then and after they had returned to form. If we compare their scores with others during those two periods, we might get some idea of whether this is true or not.