Allott's 101-minute duck and other tail-end torments

Some statistics, like Bradman's average and the number of centuries Tendulkar has 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.

The stubborn tailender is high up on cricket's most-frustrating list and there have been several who've taken pleasure in making fielding captains tear their hair out. This week the List looks at their more notable performances. To filter out the Wasim Akrams and Shaun Pollocks, a far cry from your conventional mug, we've kept the analysis to performances at No. 10 and 11.

The longest duck
Geoff Allott battled 101 minutes in a 32-run partnership, to which he contributed zilch, with Chris Harris for the last wicket. South Africa had amassed 621 in a rain-affected match and though New Zealand followed on, this partnership had eaten away invaluable time and the match was drawn. Manjural Islam and Peter Such both made 72-minute ducks against Sri Lanka and New Zealand respectively.

Top-scoring from No.11

Bert Vogler's 62, way back in 1906, against England is the highest score when the No.11 has top-scored in an innings. South Africa won that match and it is the only time a team has won when No.11 contributed the most runs. There have been just seven instances of the last man top-scoring but the last two occurences came within two months of each other when Steve Harmison scored 42 against South Africa and Talha Jubair made 31 against India in 2004-05.

An 88-year-old record falls
Mushtaq Ahmed partnered Inzamam-ul-Haq in a nail-biting last-wicket partnership of 57 to snatch victory against Australia in 1994. Pakistan were comfortably placed at 148 for 2, chasing 314, before Shane Warne triggered a middle-order collapse leaving Pakistan 57 to get, with one wicket in hand. Mushtaq occupied the crease for 42 minutes and faced 30 balls for 20 runs. Inzamam, having batted valiantly for 58, almost threw it away when just four runs were needed. Ian Healy missed a stumping after Inzamam stepped out to Warne and the ball went for four byes to give Pakistan victory. The previous highest final-wicket partnership to win a match was 48 between Dave Nourse and Percy Sherwell against England in 1906.

Zaheer's world-record
Zaheer Khan broke Richard Collinge's record for the highest score by a No.11, when he smashed 75 against a hapless Bangladesh at Dhaka. He added 133 runs with Sachin Tendulkar for the last-wicket as India scored 526 and won by an innings and 140 runs.

When the last men standing stood for a while

Australia had skittled England for 61 in just 15.4 overs after making 112 in their first innings. Reggie Duff , a frontline batsman making his debut, was held back to No.10 on a bad wicket and he added 120 runs with Warwick Armstrong, another debutant, for the final wicket. At the time it was the highest partnership for the last wicket and Australia went on to win the Test by 229 runs.

Wilfred Rhodes possesses the highest average for a batsman at No.10 or 11 but he has another record which is far more interesting. He's the only player to be involved in a 100-run partnership, batting at No.11, and a 100-run partnership for the first wicket.

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