| The world's greatest No. 11
Some statistics, like Sir Donald Bradman's average and the number of centuries that Sunil Gavaskar made, are known to pretty much everyone who follows the game. But every Wednesday, The List will bring you facts and figures that aren't so obvious, adding fuel to those fiery debates about the most valuable middle-order bat, and the most useless tailender. If there's a particular List that you would like to see, e-mail us with your comments and suggestions.
A batsman may say that he doesn't mind batting at any position for the greater common good of the team, but whether he does reveal his favourite batting position or not, a batsman's numbers paint a picture for him. In its first week, The List brings you the highest run-scorers by their positions in the batting order.
Are you scanning the list for Allan Border, the 11,174-Test-runs heavyweight? Well, he didn't make it. The reason - he never batted long enough at one position. Border played 88 innings at No. 4, scoring 3783 at 50.44, 70 at five (3071 at 52.05) and 63 at six (2556 at 52.16).
Sunil Gavaskar and Geoffrey Boycott, arguably Test cricket's most correct batsmen, take the honours for most runs at the top of the order. A couple of other interesting observations: Steve Waugh is the only player to feature as the highest scorer for two positions in Tests, and Waqar Younis is the most prolific No.10 batsman in both forms of the game. And the best No. 11? That honour belongs to Glenn McGrath, who is a full three runs clear of his nearest rival, West Indies' Courtney Walsh.
Highest run scorers by batting position in Tests
Position Batsman Innings Runs Avg 100s/50s
1 Sunil Gavaskar 203 9607 50.29 33/42
2 Geoffrey Boycott 191 8091 48.16 22/42
3 Rahul Dravid 118 6463 62.14 17/31
4 Sachin Tendulkar 157 8251 59.78 29/32
5 Steve Waugh 142 6754 56.28 24/29
6 Steve Waugh 79 3165 51.04 6/16
7 Adam Gilchrist 79 3377 51.16 11/13
8 Kapil Dev 58 1777 33.52 2/11
9 Curtly Ambrose 97 973 12.01 0/1
10 Waqar Younis 48 496 11.80 0/0
11 Glenn McGrath 117 556 7.61 0/1
Batting regularly at a position is precisely why the one-day list is populated by Sri Lankans. When Sanath Jayasuriya walks in to bat, 85.75% of the time it is to open the innings, a figure that towers over Sachin Tendulkar's 70.20%. Out of Arjuna Ranatunga's 255 innings, 153 have been at No. 5 and 197 of Aravinda de Silva's 296 innings have been at No. 4. Ricky Ponting has played 198 of 226 innings (87.6%) at No. 3, a position he's made his own in the Australian line-up. Thus it's no surprise that, with 7452 runs, he is 3027 runs clear of Jacques Kallis, his closest contemporary competition.
Perhaps the unluckiest batsman to miss out on a top position is Lance Klusener, who has plundered 1056 runs in just 36 innings at an average of 58.66 at No. 8 in one-day internationals. Unfortunately, Klusener is pipped by Wasim Akram, who has played 57 more innings than Klusener for his 1208 runs.
Highest run scorers by batting position in ODIs
Position Batsman Innings Runs Avg 100s/50s
1 Sachin Tendulkar 238 10839 48.82 35/51
2 Sanath Jayasuriya 283 9483 34.99 18/56
3 Ricky Ponting 198 7452 42.10 17/39
4 Aravinda De Silva 197 6870 39.25 10/48
5 Arjuna Ranatunga 153 4675 38.63 2/33
6 Michael Bevan 87 3006 56.71 1/23
7 Chris Harris 104 2130 31.32 0/9
8 Wasim Akram 93 1208 17.01 0/1
9 Daniel Vettori 49 473 14.33 0/0
10 Waqar Younis 63 478 11.11 0/0
11 Courtney Walsh 55 165 5.89 0/0  | 
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