Gibbs's opening dichotomy & Tendulkar in the middle

We're about a month and a half away from the World Cup and India are tinkering with their batting order, trying to find the perfect combination to take to the Caribbean. Sachin Tendulkar, who's not been the opener Indians adored for a while now, has dropped down the order for the series against West Indies. He'd been an automatic entry at the top of the order since that explosive innings at Eden Park in 1994 and in 262 matches, he's amassed 11731 runs at 48.27 against the new ball. In the middle order, however, Tendulkar's been more human, scoring 2837 in 110 matches with only three hundreds, at an average of 32.23. Since 2003, he's batted down the order only six times and whether he fares better this time around remains to be seen.

Sanath Jayasuriya languished in the lower-middle order for most of his first 55 one-day internationals. During this time he averaged a meagre 13.87 with no hundreds and two fifties for his tally of 652 runs. He was asked to open in the home series against Pakistan in 1994 and he cracked three consecutive fifties. Since then he's opened in 311 out of 315 innings and blasted the majority of 10,803 runs at a fearsome pace.

Biggest positive difference of batting average for a player not batting in their normal position - ODIs (qualification: normal position for at least half their career; alternative position for a min of 10 inns; 1000 career runs)

Player	Span		Pos	Inns	Runs	Ave		Pos	Inns	Runs	Ave		Diff
MEK Hussey (Aus)	2004-2007		7	20	706	117.66		6	16	609	60.90		56.766
A Symonds (Aus)	1998-2007		5	65	2474	44.98		7	20	345	21.56		23.419
ST Jayasuriya (Asia/SL)	1989-2007		1-2	317	10803	35.53		6	16	207	13.80		21.736
SR Tendulkar (India)	1989-2007		1-2	262	11731	48.27		5	36	797	28.46		19.811
ST Jayasuriya (Asia/SL)	1989-2007		1-2	317	10803	35.53		7	13	194	16.16		19.369
SV Carlisle (Zim)	1995-2005		3	54	1692	33.17		7	16	201	14.35		18.819
SC Ganguly (Asia/India)	1992-2007		1-2	209	8124	41.66		4	20	472	24.84		16.819
ME Waugh (Aus)	1988-2002		1-2	141	5729	44.06		5	37	934	27.47		16.598
PA de Silva (SL)	1984-2003		4	197	6870	39.25		7	13	211	23.44		15.812
GA Gooch (Eng)	1976-1995		1-2	99	3828	40.29		4	13	298	24.83		15.461

Kevin Pietersen started out batting at No.5 and knocked up 698 runs at 116.33 in 12 ODI innings at that position. After his initial success, Pietersen moved up one place to No. 4. He's played 18 of his 36 innings to date at No 4, where he averages only 39.88.

For most of his career - 148 matches to be precise - Herschelle Gibbs has opened the batting in one-dayers for South Africa. During this time he's scored 13 hundreds and 19 fifties but averaged only 35.18. It's been nearly two years since Gibbs opened in an ODI and he's been batting a lot more at No.3 and No.4, where his average of 46.11 is a remarkable improvement on his opening stats.

Biggest negative difference of batting average for a player not batting in their normal position - ODIs (qualification: normal position for at least half their career; alternative position for a min of 10 inns; 1000 career runs)

Player	Span		Pos	Inns	Runs	Ave		Pos	Inns	Runs	Ave		Diff
KP Pietersen (Eng/ICC)	2004-2007		4	18	678	39.88		5	12	698	116.33		-76.450
AJ Lamb (Eng)	1982-1992		4	77	2617	37.92		3	12	622	62.20		-24.272
DC Boon (Aus)	1984-1995		1-2	118	3995	34.43		4	35	1255	54.56		-20.125
Javed Miandad (Pak)	1975-1996		4	160	5678	43.34		3	18	731	60.91		-17.573
GW Flower (Zim)	1992-2004		1-2	137	4409	33.15		6	13	352	50.28		-17.135
AH Jones (NZ)	1987-1995		3	49	1476	34.32		4	10	387	48.37		-14.049
DPMD Jayawardene (Asia/SL)	1998-2007		4	108	3375	34.79		3	23	870	48.33		-13.539
DM Jones (Aus)	1984-1994		3	131	5100	43.58		4	10	441	55.12		-11.535
HH Gibbs (SA)	1996-2006		1-2	148	4820	35.18		4	21	830	46.11		-10.928
SC Ganguly (Asia/India)	1992-2007		1-2	209	8124	41.66		3	30	1356	52.15		-10.492

The reverse is true for Gibbs in Tests. He averages a prolific 49.68 at the top with 5018 runs in 106 innings. He began as a predominantly middle-order batsman and scored only 223 runs in his first seven Tests. He received a promotion to No. 2 during the 1998-99 season and averaged 52.27 in his first two series as opener. Thereafter he opened in every Test he played till January 2005. Since then, however, he's batted between No.3 and No.7 for most of the time and averaged just 27.81.

Biggest positive difference of batting average for a player not batting in their normal position - Tests (qualification: normal position for at least half their career; alternative position for a min of 15 inns; 1000 career runs)

Player	Span		Pos	Inns	Runs	Ave		Pos	Inns	Runs	Ave		Diff
IM Chappell (Aus)	1964-1980		3	91	4279	50.94		4	17	340	21.25		29.690
JA Rudolph (SA)	2003-2006		3	36	1428	46.06		6	15	265	17.66		28.397
WJ Edrich (Eng)	1938-1955		3	41	2049	51.22		1-2	15	331	23.64		27.582
NC O'Neill (Aus)	1958-1965		4	41	2010	57.42		3	21	608	32.00		25.428
SR Waugh (Aus)	1985-2004		5	142	6754	56.28		7	19	543	33.93		22.345
RB Simpson (Aus)	1957-1978		1-2	70	3664	55.51		6	16	466	33.28		22.229
JV Coney (NZ)	1974-1987		6	48	1772	45.43		5	26	581	23.24		22.195
Yashpal Sharma (India)	1979-1983		5	30	969	44.04		6	16	359	23.93		20.112
BE Congdon (NZ)	1965-1978		3	62	2414	43.10		4	18	436	24.22		18.884
M Amarnath (India)	1969-1988		3	66	2907	47.65		6	15	403	28.78		18.870

Before 2006, Mohammad Yousuf averaged 53 at both No 4 and No 5 though he had batted predominantly at No. 5, where he had scored 12 hundreds. However he batted at No 4 in each of his matches in 2006 and, 1788 runs later, his average at that position has shot up to 76.22. He went back to No 5 for his first Test in 2007 - against South Africa at Port Elizabeth - and made 32 and 18.

Biggest negative difference of batting average for a player not batting in their normal position - Tests (qualification: normal position for at least half their career; alternative position for a min of 15 inns; 1000 career runs)

Player	Span		Pos	Inns	Runs	Ave		Pos	Inns	Runs	Ave		Diff
VL Manjrekar (India)	1951-1965		4	52	1714	35.70		3	16	922	65.85		-30.148
Imran Khan (Pak)	1971-1992		7	63	1845	34.81		6	23	928	61.86		-27.055
RT Simpson (Eng)	1948-1955		1-2	24	622	25.91		3	15	609	50.75		-24.833
IT Botham (Eng)	1977-1992		6	94	2690	29.23		5	18	958	53.22		-23.983
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)	1998-2007		5	74	3505	52.31		4	38	2744	76.22		-23.908
MV Boucher (ICC/SA)	1997-2007		7	74	1661	24.42		6	23	941	44.80		-20.383
MAK Pataudi (India)	1961-1975		5	45	1183	26.28		6	21	862	45.36		-19.079
AI Kallicharran (WI)	1972-1981		4	57	2047	40.13		3	25	1334	58.00		-17.862
KC Wessels (Aus/SA)	1982-1994		1-2	37	1383	39.51		3	18	950	52.77		-13.263
IT Botham (Eng)	1977-1992		6	94	2690	29.23		7	36	1329	40.27		-11.033