Steve Waugh's second-innings drought

Steve Waugh has scored only two of his 32 Test hundreds in the second innings of a Test match. He scored 134 against Sri Lanka in 1989 and 116 against England at Old Trafford in 1997, which incidentally was his second century of the match. He has 12 other half-centuries and averages 32.45 in 94 second innings, which is significantly lesser than his first-innings average of 60.70 and an overall career figure of 51. This week we compare the performances of batsmen in first and second innings in Tests and one-day internationals.

New Zealand's John Reid has a prolific average in the first innings and the stats of a tailender in the second. He played 19 Tests between 1979 and 1986 and had an outstanding conversion-rate, scoring six hundreds and two fifties, all of which contributed to his first-innings average of 69. In the second innings, Reid could muster only 133 runs at an average of 12. His best was 30 against Sri Lanka at Kandy in 1984.

Biggest difference in batting average in the first innings over the second innings - Tests (qualification: 10 innings in each)

Player	Span		Inns1	Runs	Ave	100		Inns2	Runs	Ave	100		Diff
JF Reid (NZ)	1979-1986		19	1163	68.41	6		12	133	12.09	0		56.320
J Hardstaff jnr (Eng)	1935-1948		23	1289	64.45	4		15	347	23.13	0		41.316
Hon FS Jackson (Eng)	1893-1905		20	1156	64.22	5		13	259	23.54	0		40.676
V Sehwag (ICC/India)	2001-2007		52	3374	64.88	12		35	781	24.40	0		40.478
IR Bell (Eng)	2004-2007		29	1421	59.20	6		23	484	22.00	0		37.208
WH Ponsford (Aus)	1924-1934		29	1710	61.07	7		19	412	25.75	0		35.321
ED Weekes (WI)	1948-1958		48	3429	71.43	14		33	1026	36.64	1		34.794
BC Broad (Eng)	1984-1989		25	1336	53.43	6		19	325	19.11	0		34.322
AL Hassett (Aus)	1938-1953		43	2435	57.97	9		26	638	26.58	1		31.392
TT Samaraweera (SL)	2001-2006		38	1724	52.24	5		20	365	21.47	0		30.771
Zaheer Abbas (Pak)	1969-1985		77	3977	56.01	11		47	1085	25.83	1		30.180
FMM Worrell (WI)	1948-1963		51	2843	61.80	9		36	1017	31.78	0		30.023
SR Waugh (Aus)	1985-2004		166	8558	60.69	30		94	2369	32.45	2		28.242
CC McDonald (Aus)	1952-1961		47	2380	50.63	5		36	727	22.71	0		27.919
WA Brown (Aus)	1934-1948		22	1204	57.33	3		13	388	29.84	1		27.487

Virender Sehwag is another batsman who has sparkled in the first innings and fizzled out in the second. All of his 12 Test hundreds have come first up, giving him an average of nearly 65. But he has only four fifties to show for in 35 second innings, in which he averages only 24.40.

Don Bradman's average of 104.50 in the second innings - compared to 98 in the first - is the highest second-innings average among all batsmen. Michael Hussey is second with 80.50 in the second innings.

Brett Lee has scored all three of his fifties in the first innings but still averages a handy 41 in the second. Lee has had to bat only 13 times in the second innings out of 44 Tests - a sign of Australia's dominance - and his five most recent scores are 26 not out, 3, 32, 24 not out and 29.

Biggest difference in batting average in the second innings over the first innings - Tests (qualification: 10 innings in each)

Player	Span		Inns1	Runs	Ave	100		Inns2	Runs	Ave	100		Diff
KS Ranjitsinhji (Eng)	1896-1902		15	499	33.26	1		11	490	70.00	1		-36.733
Yuvraj Singh (India)	2003-2006		18	433	24.05	1		11	397	56.71	1		-32.658
Shoaib Malik (Pak)	2001-2006		17	466	27.41	0		12	475	59.37	1		-31.963
KC Bland (SA)	1961-1966		21	776	36.95	1		18	893	68.69	2		-31.739
A Bacher (SA)	1965-1970		12	234	19.50	0		10	445	49.44	0		-29.944
H Masakadza (Zim)	2001-2005		15	202	13.46	0		15	583	41.64	1		-28.176
Hanumant Singh (India)	1964-1969		14	297	21.21	1		10	389	48.62	0		-27.410
WW Armstrong (Aus)	1902-1921		49	1268	28.17	1		35	1595	55.00	5		-26.822
RB McCosker (Aus)	1975-1980		25	737	29.48	1		21	885	55.31	3		-25.832
FCM Alexander (WI)	1957-1961		23	450	21.42	0		15	511	46.45	1		-25.025
PM Pollock (SA)	1961-1970		27	367	16.68	0		14	240	40.00	0		-23.318
B Lee (Aus)	1999-2007		52	810	18.00	0		13	288	41.14	0		-23.142
JDB Robertson (Eng)	1947-1952		11	404	36.72	0		10	477	59.62	2		-22.897
GC White (SA)	1906-1912		17	319	19.93	0		14	553	42.53	2		-22.600
BF Butcher (WI)	1958-1969		44	1428	34.00	3		34	1676	55.86	4		-21.866

An average of 41 is respectable while batting second in one-day internationals. However, given Hussey's incredible one-day record, his average while batting first - 1491 runs at nearly 65 - is a whopping 23 runs more than his second-innings average, making him second in our table below.

Biggest difference in batting average in the first innings over the second innings - ODIs (qualification: 10 innings in each)

Player	Span		Inns1	Runs	Ave	100		Inns2	Runs	Ave	100		Diff
RA Smith (Eng)	1989-1996		37	1764	49.00	4		33	655	25.19	0		23.807
MEK Hussey (Aus)	2005-2007		39	1491	64.82	2		15	335	41.87	0		22.951
GN Yallop (Aus)	1979-1984		13	510	51.00	0		14	313	28.45	0		22.545
LE Plunkett (Eng)	2005-2007		13	174	34.79	0		11	121	13.44	0		21.355
BM McMillan (SA)	1991-1998		30	630	33.15	1		22	211	12.41	0		20.746
CS Pandit (India)	1986-1992		11	167	33.40	0		12	123	13.66	0		19.733
N Boje (Afr/SA)	1995-2005		34	886	36.91	2		37	528	18.20	0		18.709
RS Morton (WI)	2002-2007		15	512	42.66	1		20	474	24.94	1		17.719
RL Taylor (NZ)	2006-2007		10	393	43.66	1		12	313	26.08	1		17.583
VVS Laxman (India)	1998-2006		45	1649	38.34	6		38	689	20.87	0		17.470
DJ Callaghan (SA)	1992-2000		14	338	33.79	1		11	155	17.22	0		16.577
D Ganga (WI)	2001-2006		19	594	33.00	0		15	249	16.60	0		16.400
Yasir Hameed (Pak)	2003-2007		31	1354	45.13	3		22	645	29.31	0		15.815
GB Hogg (Aus)	1996-2007		43	581	26.40	0		15	124	11.27	0		15.136
GM Wood (Aus)	1979-1989		41	1456	40.44	3		36	763	25.43	0		15.011

Netherlands' Ryan ten Doeschate has the highest average among batsmen who've batted at least ten times in ODI run-chases. He averages nearly 83 batting second with four fifties and a century in ten innings, including 57 and 70 not out against South Africa and Scotland during the 2007 World Cup.

Sunil Gavaskar's Test average was close to 51 in both the first and second innings but, in one-day internationals, he was more successful while chasing a target. His only ODI century came while chasing 221 against New Zealand in the 1987 World Cup, and he averaged a shade under 49 in the second innings - nearly 25 runs more than his first-innings average of 24.22.

Biggest difference in batting average in the second innings over the first innings - ODIs (qualification: 10 innings in each)

Player	Span		Inns1	Runs	Ave	100		Inns2	Runs	Ave	100		Diff
BM Laird (Aus)	1979-1982		10	142	14.19	0		13	452	45.20	1		-31.000
SFAF Bacchus (WI)	1978-1983		13	180	13.84	0		13	432	43.20	0		-29.353
AI Kallicharran (WI)	1973-1981		17	413	25.81	0		11	413	51.62	0		-25.812
SM Gavaskar (India)	1974-1987		54	1187	24.22	0		48	1905	48.84	1		-24.621
A Bagai (Can)	2003-2007		15	264	18.85	0		15	509	42.41	2		-23.559
SM Katich (Aus)	2004-2006		28	755	29.03	0		14	569	51.72	1		-22.688
SK Raina (India)	2005-2007		15	281	18.73	0		13	331	41.37	0		-22.641
KD Walters (Aus)	1972-1981		13	220	20.00	0		11	293	41.85	0		-21.857
MJ Clarke (Aus)	2003-2007		65	2105	39.71	0		33	1224	61.20	2		-21.483
CJ Tavare (Eng)	1982-1984		15	288	19.19	0		13	432	39.27	0		-20.072
HJH Marshall (NZ)	2003-2007		28	479	17.74	0		34	975	37.50	1		-19.759
NC Johnson (Zim)	1998-2000		29	852	29.37	1		19	827	48.64	3		-19.267
RG de Alwis (SL)	1983-1988		12	143	13.00	0		15	258	32.25	0		-19.250
T Mishra (Kenya)	2006-2007		15	387	25.80	0		11	311	44.42	0		-18.628
V Sibanda (Zim)	2003-2007		24	357	14.87	1		26	800	33.33	0		-18.458
PK Amre (India)	1991-1994		20	250	14.70	0		10	263	32.87	0		-18.169