Nomads with pads

Which players have batted at the most positions in Tests and one-day internationals? And which ones have scored fifties and hundreds at the most spots in the batting order? It's what we've looked at this week (we've clubbed positions No. 1 and 2 together because there's almost no difference between them).

Syd Gregory, Wilfred Rhodes, Vinoo Mankad and Nasim-ul-Ghani are the only players to have batted in all positions in Test cricket. The first three have played at all 11 spots, but Nasim-ul-Ghani hasn't batted at No 1. In fact, he opened the innings, at No. 2, in only one Test, and by circumstance rather than design at that. Saeed Ahmed was one of Pakistan's regular openers on the tour of Australia in 1973 but he made himself unavailable for the third Test in Sydney, citing a back injury. The team management was unsatisfied with Ahmed's explanation and sent him back to Pakistan because of a lack of fitness. Nasim-ul-Ghani was picked to fill the gap and he made 64 and 5 as opener in what turned out to be his last Test for Pakistan.

Gregory and Mankad batted at No. 10 and 11 only once each in their careers. For Gregory it was in his second Test, against Australia at The Oval in 1890, after which he moved up the order. Mankad batted at No. 10 in a strong Indian batting line-up against England in the Mumbai Test in 1951. Two years later he was the No. 11 in the first innings in Barbados but opened in the second. He had occupied spots No 1 and 9 in the first Test in Trinidad. We'll be happy to hear from you if you know why. Our theory is that he batted lower down because he bowled a massive number of overs.

Colin Cowdrey and Garry Sobers are the only batsmen with hundreds at six different batting positions. Sobers scored hundreds opening and all the way down to No 7. He batted at Nos. 8 and 9 a couple of times but managed a high score of only 28.

Cowdrey scored his centuries primarily at the top of the order, but he's got one at No. 8 as well. A finger injury forced him to bat at No. 8 in the Wellington Test in 1963. He responded by scoring 128 and sharing a record partnership for the ninth wicket with Alan Smith. No. 7 was the only spot at which Cowdrey didn't score a hundred. He batted there once in Johannesburg in 1956 and made 6.

Hundreds at the most number of batting positions - Tests

Player	Span	Inns	Pos		100s	Pos		Open	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
MC Cowdrey (Eng)	1954-1975	188	7		22	6		5	5	4	6	1	0	1	-	-	-
GS Sobers (WI)	1954-1974	160	8		26	6		1	3	6	7	8	1	0	0	-	-
DG Bradman (Aus)	1928-1948	80	5		29	5		-	20	3	2	3	1	-	-	-	-
GS Chappell (Aus)	1970-1984	151	5		24	5		-	5	15	1	2	1	-	-	-	-
M Azharuddin (India)	1984-2000	147	5		22	5		-	1	1	16	3	1	-	-	-	-
AL Hassett (Aus)	1938-1953	69	6		10	5		1	4	3	1	1	0	-	-	-	-
DW Randall (Eng)	1977-1984	79	6		7	5		1	2	0	1	2	1	-	-	-	-
AJ Stewart (Eng)	1990-2003	235	6		15	5		8	3	1	2	1	0	-	-	-	-
R Dravid (ICC/India)	1996-2008	216	6		25	5		2	19	2	1	1	0	-	-	-	-
M Leyland (Eng)	1928-1938	65	7		9	5		0	2	1	2	3	1	-	0	-	-
CH Lloyd (WI)	1966-1985	175	7		19	5		-	0	3	8	6	1	1	0	-	-
IVA Richards (WI)	1974-1991	182	7		24	5		1	12	4	6	1	0	0	-	-	-
S Chanderpaul (WI)	1994-2008	193	7		19	5		0	1	1	10	6	1	0	-	-	-
VVS Laxman (India)	1996-2008	158	7		12	5		1	4	1	2	4	0	0	-	-	-
AC Gilchrist (Aus)	1999-2008	137	7		17	5		0	1	0	1	2	12	1	-	-	-
WW Armstrong (Aus)	1902-1921	84	9		6	5		1	0	1	1	1	2	0	0	-	0

Don Bradman, Greg Chappell and Mohammad Azharuddin have never opened the innings, nor have they batted at No. 8 or below, but they've scored centuries at all five positions in between, including one each at No. 7.

Bradman scored 270 at No. 7 against England at the MCG in 1937 after he reversed the batting order to protect his specialists from a soggy pitch. As a result he and Jack Fingleton added 346 for the sixth wicket, when they would normally be associated for the second. Chappell made his Test debut at No. 7 at the WACA and scored a century at the WACA. Azharuddin's only innings at No. 7 was in the Cape Town Test in 1997, because Venkatesh Prasad had gone up the order as a night-watchman. Azharuddin scored 115 in a 222-run stand with Sachin Tendulkar.

In ODIs there are several players who batted at nine spots in the batting order, but only Abdul Razzaq has played at ten. Razzaq batted at No. 11 in his first innings (second match) and didn't face a ball. He never batted at No. 11 after that. Another Pakistan batsman, Asif Mujtaba, batted at nine different positions, though he played only 55 ODIs.

The opportunity to score centuries at different positions in ODIs is more limited than in Tests because of the over limitation. Only five batsmen have managed to score centuries from No. 7, and there have been no hundreds scored from lower in the order. The largest number of positions from which hundreds have been scored by a batsman is four. David Gower is the only non-Asian in that list.