Last action heroes

This week The List looks at players who have under- and over-achieved in the fourth innings of a Test

23-Nov-2005

Some statistics, like Bradman's average and the number of centuries Gavaskar made, are known to pretty much every cricket buff. But 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.

Steve Waugh did some repair to his forgettable fourth innings record by playing a match-saving innings at Sydney © Getty Images

England stumbled in their second step towards cricket-world domination as they fell short in a relatively low run-chase in the first Test against Pakistan at Multan. After racking up a formidable 418 in the first innings, England coughed, spluttered and eventually ran out of gas on 175 in the second, 23 runs shy of victory. Marcus Trescothick had battled for a gritty 193 in the first innings but could manage just 5 before getting bowled in the second. This week The List looks at players who have under- and over-achieved in the fourth innings of a Test.

A mathematical quirk and the man's sheer genius puts Sir Donald Bradman atop the list of highest last-innings averages as well as the list of highest differences between the career average and the fourth-innings average. His fourth-innings average of 73.40 is well below the immortal 99.94 but still is miles ahead of the rest. Geoffrey Boycott and Sunil Gavaskar, arguably cricket's most 'correct' batsmen rank just below Bradman with averages of 58.76 and 58.25.

Best Batting Average in 4th innings (qualification: 15 innings)
Player	Span	Inns	Runs	100	50	Ave	Career
DG Bradman (Aust)	1928-1948	15	734	3	4	73.40	99.94
G Boycott (Eng)	1964-1982	34	1234	3	7	58.76	47.72
SM Gavaskar (India)	1971-1987	33	1398	4	8	58.25	51.12
JB Hobbs (Eng)	1908-1930	23	979	2	6	57.58	56.94
Javed Miandad (Pak)	1976-1993	22	816	2	5	54.39	52.57
H Sutcliffe (Eng)	1924-1935	15	644	3	1	53.66	60.73
KR Stackpole (Aust)	1966-1974	19	749	1	6	53.50	37.42
RT Ponting (Aust)	1995-2005	26	798	2	3	53.20	56.46
CG Greenidge (WI)	1974-1991	38	1383	3	6	53.19	44.72
JH Kallis (ICC/SAf)	1995-2005	25	695	1	5	49.64	57.07
GS Chappell (Aust)	1970-1984	25	688	1	4	49.14	53.86
R Dravid (ICC/India)	1996-2005	30	983	1	7	49.14	57.62
ER Dexter (Eng)	1958-1968	16	535	0	6	48.63	47.89
IVA Richards (WI)	1974-1991	24	911	2	6	47.94	50.23
A Ranatunga (SL)	1982-2000	20	667	0	4	47.64	35.69
GS Sobers (WI)	1954-1974	19	607	2	2	46.69	57.78
AI Kallicharran (WI)	1972-1981	18	698	1	4	46.53	44.43
WR Hammond (Eng)	1927-1947	20	697	1	3	46.46	58.45
PA de Silva (SL)	1984-2002	21	741	1	4	46.31	42.97
AR Morris (Aust)	1946-1955	16	636	2	1	45.42	46.48

A common bone of contention in the debate about Sachin Tendulkar being cricket's best batsmen is his shortage of substantial scores in the final innings of a Test. He averages just 34.88 in the last innings with only two fifties and two centuries of his total tally of 34 hundreds and 41 fifties. Another surprising underachiever in the last essay of a Test match is Steve Waugh who averages just 25.54. In fact, in matches that Australia lost, that stat drops to an abysmal 15.45. He did sign off in style by making an invaluable 80 in his last Test, defying a rampant Anil Kumble and saving the series against India at Sydney. Keith Stackpole, the Australian opener, had a modest career average of 37.42 but when it came to the chase, he weighed in with 53.50. He went past 50 seven times in 19 fourth-innings opportunities.

Worst Batting Average in 4th inns - by difference (qualification: 15 innings)
Player	Span	Inns	Runs	100	50	Ave	Career	Diff
DG Bradman (Aust)	1928-1948	15	734	3	4	73.40	99.94	-26.54
SR Waugh (Aust)	1985-2004	31	613	0	2	25.54	51.06	-25.51
MS Atapattu (SL)	1990-2005	29	329	0	1	14.95	38.72	-23.77
DCS Compton (Eng)	1937-1957	22	455	0	1	26.76	50.06	-23.29
SR Tendulkar (India)	1989-2005	35	872	2	2	34.88	57.25	-22.37
Zaheer Abbas (Pak)	1969-1985	15	293	0	1	22.53	44.79	-22.25
KD Walters (Aust)	1965-1981	16	319	0	2	26.58	48.26	-21.67
KF Barrington (Eng)	1955-1968	22	595	1	2	37.18	58.67	-21.48
NS Sidhu (India)	1983-1999	16	353	0	2	22.06	42.13	-20.06
GP Howarth (NZ)	1975-1985	18	257	0	1	14.27	32.44	-18.17
CC McDonald (Aust)	1952-1961	22	381	0	1	21.16	39.32	-18.16
ME Trescothick (Eng)	2000-2005	30	647	1	2	28.13	46.18	-18.05
DJ Cullinan (SAf)	1993-2001	19	347	1	0	26.69	44.21	-17.52
DL Amiss (Eng)	1966-1977	18	348	0	2	29.00	46.30	-17.30
JC Adams (WI)	1992-2001	17	316	0	1	24.30	41.26	-16.95
AR Border (Aust)	1978-1994	35	860	2	2	34.39	50.56	-16.16
VVS Laxman (India)	1996-2005	17	417	0	3	27.80	43.71	-15.91
BC Lara (ICC/WI)	1990-2005	42	1380	2	7	37.29	53.20	-15.91
Saleem Malik (Pak)	1982-1999	21	448	1	0	28.00	43.69	-15.69
Majid Khan (Pak)	1964-1983	15	334	0	1	23.85	38.92	-15.06

Keeping with the wear and tear a pitch takes going into the fourth and fifth day, you would expect a spinner to top fourth-innings bowling averages. And Bishan Singh Bedi obliges with a marvellous strike rate of 47.2 and a miserly average of 14.46. Surprisingly Chaminda Vaas has a marginally better average and a much better strike rate than Sri Lanka's wrecker-in-chief, Muttiah Muralitharan.

Best Bowling Average in 4th innings (qualification: 1000 balls)
Player	Span	Mat	Wkts	4	5	Ave	Career
BS Bedi (India)	1966-1979	26	60	4	5	14.46	28.71
RJ Hadlee (NZ)	1973-1990	24	32	3	2	15.62	22.29
CV Grimmett (Aust)	1925-1936	8	22	0	3	15.77	24.21
TL Goddard (SAf)	1955-1970	17	27	1	2	15.92	26.22
JC Laker (Eng)	1948-1959	19	26	0	1	15.96	21.24
CEL Ambrose (WI)	1988-2000	30	58	2	3	16.13	20.99
H Trumble (Aust)	1890-1904	16	40	3	2	16.67	21.78
AR Caddick (Eng)	1993-2003	16	40	1	4	17.55	29.91
MD Marshall (WI)	1978-1991	21	41	3	2	17.65	20.94
MA Holding (WI)	1975-1987	15	33	2	2	17.93	23.68
WPUJC Vaas (SL)	1994-2005	24	43	3	2	18.34	28.94
VA Holder (WI)	1969-1979	16	20	1	1	18.35	33.27
JV Saunders (Aust)	1902-1908	9	32	3	3	18.46	22.73
L Klusener (SAf)	1996-2004	16	22	1	1	18.59	37.91
GD McGrath (Aust)	1993-2005	50	97	5	5	18.67	21.14
MA Noble (Aust)	1898-1909	21	24	0	3	18.75	25.00
M Muralitharan (ICC/SL)	1992-2005	24	65	3	5	19.00	22.23
CA Walsh (WI)	1984-2001	40	66	2	1	19.07	24.44
MHN Walker (Aust)	1972-1977	17	33	2	1	19.12	27.47
JB Statham (Eng)	1951-1965	24	28	0	1	19.96	24.84

Imran Khan has a surprisingly bad final-innings average when compared to his overall 22.41. Ian Botham also took just 31 wickets in 37 last-innings efforts. Perhaps what's most striking, is that several spinners - Srinivas Venkatraghavan, Stuart MacGill, Intikhab Alam and Paul Adams, to name a few - have better career averages than final-innings averages.

Worst Bowling Averages in 4th inns - by difference (qualification: 1000 balls)
Player	Span	Mat	Wkts	4	5	Ave	Career	Diff
CL Cairns (NZ)	1989-2004	19	14	1	0	50.57	29.40	21.16
Imran Khan (Pak)	1971-1992	24	21	1	0	42.09	22.81	19.28
MW Tate (Eng)	1924-1935	10	10	0	0	42.10	26.16	15.93
AV Bedser (Eng)	1946-1955	13	16	0	1	39.75	24.89	14.85
RB Simpson (Aust)	1957-1978	21	9	0	1	54.00	42.26	11.73
AL Valentine (WI)	1950-1962	16	19	1	1	41.10	30.32	10.78
IT Botham (Eng)	1977-1992	37	31	1	1	38.54	28.40	10.14
PR Adams (SAf)	1995-2004	19	22	1	0	42.00	32.87	9.12
R Benaud (Aust)	1952-1964	19	20	0	2	32.54	27.03	5.51
ARC Fraser (Eng)	1989-1998	19	22	0	1	32.22	27.32	4.90
Intikhab Alam (Pak)	1959-1977	24	10	0	0	40.60	35.95	4.64
JA Snow (Eng)	1965-1976	19	21	1	1	31.09	26.66	4.42
S Venkataraghavan (India)	1965-1983	18	11	0	0	40.09	36.11	3.97
R Illingworth (Eng)	1958-1973	27	21	1	0	35.09	31.20	3.89
WA Johnston (Aust)	1947-1955	15	27	3	0	27.77	23.91	3.86
GD McKenzie (Aust)	1961-1971	22	27	1	0	33.44	29.78	3.65
PAJ DeFreitas (Eng)	1986-1995	15	15	2	0	36.53	33.57	2.96
SCG MacGill (Aust)	1998-2005	15	29	1	2	30.03	27.47	2.56
SM Pollock (SAf)	1995-2005	36	49	2	1	24.44	22.09	2.35
C Blythe (Eng)	1901-1910	9	17	0	1	20.94	18.62	2.31

Trivia

Virender Sehwag's batting style has a certain resemblance to Sachin Tendulkar and his second innings performances seem have exaggerated similarities as well. Sehwag averages 55.32 overall but in the fourth innings he averages just 28.20.

Bruce Mitchell had quite an impressive overall average of 48.88. However, in the final innings that figure rose to a towering 89.85.
* Sehwag and Mitchell are not in the tables because they do not qualify our criterion of 15 innings. Both of them have played only 12 fourth innings.

Vijay Manjrekar made more than 20 in each of the 11 times he batted in the final innings. In his last such outing, he batted as low as No. 8 and made 39, leading India to a two-wicket win against Australia.

If there's a particular List that you would like to see, e-mail us with your comments and suggestions.

Chris Cairns Sachin Tendulkar Virender Sehwag Bishan Bedi Steve Waugh Donald Bradman

George Binoy is editorial assistant of Cricinfo