Tail wagging the dog

Sri Lanka's win at Trent Bridge to level the series was largely due to England being clueless against Muttiah Muralitharan. But forget not Chaminda Vaas's contribution - with the bat, not ball - right through the series. He finished with an average of 92, passed 30 five out of six times, and remained unbeaten on four occasions. The tail rallied around him, bailed Sri Lanka out of a near-impossible situation at Lord's, and added 126 runs for the last four wickets - the first six had added 105 - at Trent Bridge to post their only respectable first-innings total of the series. This week we look at instances where the tail out-performed the top order with the bat.

Trailing 0-1 on the 1955-56 tour of Pakistan, New Zealand made a strong comeback in the second Test at Lahore by scoring 348 in the first innings and then reducing Pakistan to 87 for 5. Pakistan lost another wicket at 110 before Imitaz Ahmed joined Waqar Hassan. Together they added 308 runs for the seventh wicket, the highest partnership for Pakistan for any wicket at the time and still their highest seventh-wicket stand. During the course of Waqar's 189, he broke the national record for highest individual Test innings only to lose it hours later, when Imtiaz became his country's first double-centurion. Imtiaz would be the only wicketkeeper to score a double-hundred till 1980 when Taslim Arif scored 210 not out against Australia. Imtiaz took Pakistan to 561, their highest score at the time, and they proceeded to win the Test and their first series.

Biggest difference by the bottom 5 partnership wickets over the top 5 - Tests

Team	Score	Top 5 Wkts	Bot 5 Wkts	Diff	Inns	Opposition	Ground	Season	Scorecard
Pakistan	561	87	474	387	2	v NZ	Lahore	1955/56	Test 414
Australia	564	97	467	370	3	v Eng	Melbourne	1936/37	Test 257
England	527	130	397	267	2	v WI	The Oval	1966	Test 609
India	451/8d	92	359	267	2	v WI	Chennai	1983/84	Test 972
New Zealand	391	64	327	263	1	v India	Auckland	1989/90	Test 1139
New Zealand	468	104	364	260	2	v Pak	Karachi	1976/77	Test 784
Australia	323	32	291	259	1	v Eng	Melbourne	1897/98	Test 56
Australia	353	48	305	257	3	v Eng	Melbourne	1901/02	Test 66
England	468/6d	106	362	256	3	v NZ	Christchurch	2001/02	Test 1594
Australia	489	118	371	253	1	v Eng	Adelaide	1924/25	Test 160

Australia's fightback from 0-2 down to win the 1936-37 Ashes began with Don Bradman's shrewd captaincy at the MCG. Both teams had declared their first innings closed - unusual for a Timeless Test - Australia on 200 for 9 and England on 76 for 9, still 124 runs behind. On a pitch ravaged by rain and sun - Wisden described it as a glue pot - Bradman reversed the batting order in the second innings. After the tail had played the early overs, Bradman joined Jack Fingleton when Australia were 97 for 5. Normally these two would share a second-wicket stand but this time they added 346 runs for the sixth. Australia set England a mammoth 689 and eventually won by 365 runs.

The first Test of the inaugural Asian Test Championship in 1999 at Eden Gardens began with Pakistan collapsing to 26 for 6 in nine overs. Moin Khan battled for four-and-a-half hours for 70 and pushed the score to 185. India were cruising at 147 for 2 but Shoaib Akhtar silenced an estimated 100,000 people with consecutive yorkers that uprooted Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. India collapsed to 223 and a resurgent Pakistan replied with 316. Two riots interrupted India's chase, one after Tendulkar was run-out following a collision with Shoaib and another as India were on the brink of defeat. Pakistan eventually won in front of empty stands as the public were ousted from the stadium.

Seven years later at Karachi, Kamran Akmal, another wicketkeeper, rescued Pakistan from 39 for 6 against India with a breathtaking hundred. But this time no riots marred a famous Pakistan win.

Biggest difference by the bottom 4 batsmen over the top 7 - Tests

Team	Score	Top 7	Tail	Diff	Inns	Opposition	Ground	Season	Scorecard
New Zealand	391	96	282	186	1	v India	Auckland	1989/90	Test 1139
Pakistan	255	48	204	156	3	v Eng	The Oval	1967	Test 623
Pakistan	553	192	336	144	2	v Zimb	Sheikhupura	1996/97	Test 1336
Australia	506	170	307	137	3	v Eng	Adelaide	1907/08	Test 98
Pakistan	245	82	158	76	1	v India	Karachi	2005/06	Test 1783
India	207	57	129	72	2	v WI	Kanpur	1983/84	Test 964
Sri Lanka	211	61	130	69	2	v Aust	Kandy	2003/04	Test 1688
Pakistan	185	49	116	67	1	v India	Kolkata	1998/99	Test 1444
Zimbabwe	321	118	182	64	3	v Aust	Perth	2003/04	Test 1661
Bangladesh	271/9d	95	159	64	3	v WI	Gros Islet	2004	Test 1701

In ODIs, India's recovery from 17 for 5 to 266 for 8 - thanks to Kapil Dev's inspirational 175 off 138 balls - against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup ranks as the best tail-end performance of all time. A more recent Indian recovery from 35 for 5 to 249 for 9 against South Africa at Hyderabad is ranked at second place.

Biggest difference by the bottom 5 partnership wickets over the top 5 - ODIs

Team	Score	Top 5 Wkts	Bot 5 Wkts	Diff	Inns	Opposition	Ground	Season	Scorecard
India	266/8	17	249	232	1	v Zimb	Tunbridge Wells	1983	ODI 216
India	249/9	35	214	179	1	v SAf	Hyderabad (Uppal)	2005/06	ODI 2297
Pakistan	238	41	197	156	2	v Aust	Karachi	1998/99	ODI 1365
Pakistan	235/7	43	192	149	1	v SL	Leeds	1983	ODI 211
Zimbabwe	274/9	64	210	146	2	v NZ	Auckland	2000/01	ODI 1665
New Zealand	215	36	179	143	1	v India	Bulawayo	2005/06	ODI 2273
Zimbabwe	210	36	174	138	1	v Pak	Harare	2002/03	ODI 1906
Zimbabwe	206/8	35	171	136	1	v SAf	Port Elizabeth	2004/05	ODI 2233
Bangladesh	185/9	26	159	133	1	v Scot	Grange Cricket Club	1999	ODI 1459
England	240	54	186	132	1	v SAf	Centurion	2004/05	ODI 2226