The best ODI top order, and 300-plus scores

	MS Dhoni has by far the best record among top-order batsmen over the last five years © AFP Enlarge
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One-day cricket is all about batting, and with the overs restrictions in place, the onus is generally on the top four or five batsmen to get big scores and set up the team. The bowlers have a key role to play no doubt, but generally the best teams in ODIs should be the ones with the best batting, or more specifically, the best top order. This week the Numbers Game looks at the top-order batting of each team over the last five years, and their results during this period.

It turns out that the four teams that have had the most success since 2005 are also the ones whose top orders have been the most successful. Australia lead the way with the highest win-loss ratio - 2.51 - and the highest batting average and the second-highest strike-rate during this period. Australia's top order has also been the best in terms of notching up hundreds - Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden and Co have combined to score a century every 17 innings, which is better than any other team.

South Africa are the only other team whose top order averages more than 40. They're also the only team with a win-loss ratio of more than 2, which illustrates how much these two teams have dominated over the last five years. India and Pakistan are next on the list, and while plenty has been written and said about India's heavyweight top order, Pakistan's top five haven't generally received as much acclaim. They've often been inconsistent, admittedly, but they've also managed to put together pretty good numbers.

What's more surprising, though, is the presence of West Indies at number five. Their win-loss ratio is a miserable 0.63 (it's even lower than Bangladesh's, though their ratio has been pushed up by wins against non-Test-playing teams), but their top five have averaged an impressive 35.74, thanks to the presence of Chris Gayle, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. (The average would have been even higher had the full-strength team played over the last few months.) The top-order stats, in fact, show up even more starkly West Indies' woeful standards in other aspects of their one-day cricket.

Sri Lanka's average is relatively poor, but that's because of the conditions at home, where run-scoring is relatively more difficult than in most other venues.

The table below lists the top-order batsmen who've been the most successful during this period. India's captain, MS Dhoni, leads the way by a considerable distance: in 53 innings, he has scored at least a half-century on 22 occasions, and he has scored his runs at an incredible strike-rate of almost 96. The Australians have two representatives in the top five, and five in the top 15, which explains why their overall batting numbers are so good.

India are the only other team with more than two batsmen in this list - apart from Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Tendulkar make the cut. There are two representatives for South Africa and Pakistan, but only one each for England, West Indies and Sri Lanka.

Does a 300-plus score guarantee victory?

Once Sri Lanka topped 300 in the first match of the Champions Trophy in Centurion, they gave themselves, going by past results, a 96% chance of success - in 24 previous ODIs when they'd scored 300 or more batting first, only once had they tasted defeat, against India in the Asia Cup last year. That's a pretty imposing stat, but a couple of teams have a spotless record in such situations: Bangladesh's three such scores have come against admittedly weak opposition - Kenya, UAE and Zimbabwe - but New Zealand have won each of the 17 matches where they've topped 300 (though only eight of those have come against the top eight teams). A couple of such scores in the Champions Trophy would serve them well, considering the hole they're in after the defeat to South Africa.

On the other hand, India and West Indies have both lost five times after scoring more than 300 - the most by any team. India have registered a fair number of wins, but West Indies only have a 76% winning record when scoring 300, a further illustration of how the bowlers have let the batsmen down. England are the only team to play out a tie after getting a 300-plus score, while one such game featuring Australia was abandoned.