Shoring up the top order

Here's an oddity from the recent Test series between England and Pakistan, spotted by Peter Smyth: Pakistan's lower-order partnerships contributed more than their top-order partnerships in the four Tests. Their first five wickets totalled 623 runs in 40 stands at an average of 15.57 each, while their last five added 684 runs in 37 stands at an average of 19 per wicket. It's not an uncommon occurrence in a Test but we thought it worth investigating how many times it's happened over an entire series. Turns out that lower-order partnerships have outscored top-order ones several times, but rarely in series with more than three Tests.

When Australia toured Sri Lanka in 1992, their partnerships for the last five wickets accumulated 1124 runs compared to 754 added by their first five wickets. Only twice in six innings did Australia get to 110 without losing five wickets, and yet they won the three-Test series 1-0. Australia's top batsman - Mark Taylor, Mark Waugh and David Boon - fared poorly but Dean Jones, Ian Healy and Allan Border shored up the innings and had substantial lower-order partnerships. They found a steady ally in Greg Matthews, who was a part of Australia's three century stands in the series - two for the sixth wicket, one for the seventh - and four of their half-century partnerships. Matthews was the highest run-scorer with 329 at an average of nearly 55. The series was Sri Lanka's first at home since a bomb blast in Colombo in 1987 and it was Australia's first victory on the subcontinent since 1969-70.

India were thrashed 5-0 during their tour of the Caribbean in 1961-62 and the fact that their last five partnerships out-scored their top five over 50 stands contributed significantly to the result. Fourteen out of India's 21 partnerships of more than 40 were for the sixth wicket or lower. The top five wickets added 1086 at an average of 21.72, while the last five made 1035 at 26.10.

Largest difference in series runs between last five partnership wickets and first five - Tests (min 2 matches)

Team	Mat	Top 5 Wkts	Dis	Ave	Bot 5 Wkts	Dis	Ave	Diff		Series	Season
Australia	3	754	30	25.13	1124	24	46.83	370		v Sri Lanka	1992
Pakistan	3	420	20	21.00	742	12	61.83	322		v New Zealand	1955/56
New Zealand	3	597	30	19.90	837	30	27.90	240		v Australia	1999/00
Zimbabwe	2	380	12	31.66	604	7	86.28	224		v Bangladesh	2001/02
India	5	1086	50	21.72	1305	50	26.10	219		v West Indies	1961/62
Pakistan	3	440	21	20.95	651	16	40.68	211		v South Africa	1997/98
New Zealand	3	684	28	24.42	879	23	38.21	195		v South Africa	2005/06
Zimbabwe	2	328	20	16.40	520	20	26.00	192		v India	2005/06
England	3	600	30	20.00	782	30	26.06	182		v Australia	1979/80
Zimbabwe	2	348	20	17.40	529	20	26.45	181		v New Zealand	1997/98
West Indies	5	1217	42	28.97	1378	32	43.06	161		v Australia	1984/85
England	5	743	37	20.08	903	33	27.36	160		v Australia	1902
Zimbabwe	2	518	20	25.90	670	16	41.87	152		v West Indies	2003/04
Pakistan	3	652	25	26.08	796	24	33.16	144		v West Indies	1999/00
Bangladesh	2	263	15	17.53	405	15	27.00	142		v Zimbabwe	2003/04
New Zealand	2	405	10	40.50	531	9	59.00	126		v Zimbabwe	2005/06
New Zealand	2	380	20	19.00	503	20	25.15	123		v Pakistan	1996/97
Pakistan	3	523	28	18.67	644	25	25.76	121		v England	1967
Pakistan	2	386	10	38.60	503	10	50.30	117		v Zimbabwe	1996/97
West Indies	2	286	20	14.30	397	20	19.85	111		v Sri Lanka	2005

Quite a few of the runs in the partnerships above were made by a top-order player batting with the tail. So, in the table below, we've listed series in which the difference between the aggregate runs scored by lower-order batsmen (8-11) and the top-order batsmen (1-7) was the least.

No team's top seven batsmen have ever been out-scored by its last four in a whole series. The closest the lower order has come to matching the top was in the 1886-87 Ashes, which England won 2-0 because their tail contributed 201 to bolster the 285 made by their top seven. In the first Test at the SCG, England were 17 for 6 in the first innings and they were eventually out for 45. In the second innings, they were 103 for 7 but their tail carried them to 184 to set up a tense victory. In the next Test, also in Sydney, England's tail more than doubled the first-innings total after it was 73 for 7, and in the second, they stretched 98 for 7 to 154. The lower order averaged 15.46 per dismissal in the series, while the top-order figure was 10.55.

Most runs scored by the last four batsmen in comparison to the first seven in a series - Tests (min 2 matches)

Team	Mat	Top 7	Dis	Ave	Tail	Dis	Ave	Diff		Series	Season
England	2	285	27	10.55	201	13	15.46	-84		v Australia	1886/87
Pakistan	2	483	14	34.50	375	6	62.50	-108		v Zimbabwe	1996/97
Zimbabwe	2	398	28	14.21	286	12	23.83	-112		v South Africa	2004/05
Australia	3	304	42	7.23	186	18	10.33	-118		v England	1888
South Africa	2	215	26	8.26	65	14	4.64	-150		v England	1888/89
South Africa	3	420	42	10.00	258	18	14.33	-162		v England	1912
Bangladesh	2	421	23	18.30	259	9	28.77	-162		v India	2007
Zimbabwe	2	391	28	13.96	209	12	17.41	-182		v South Africa	1999/00
New Zealand	2	342	21	16.28	155	7	22.14	-187		v India	1995/96
New Zealand	2	311	21	14.80	120	9	13.33	-191		v England	1958/59
Bangladesh	2	621	28	22.17	424	11	38.54	-197		v West Indies	2004
Australia	2	333	27	12.33	84	13	6.46	-249		v England	1886/87
India	2	374	28	13.35	123	12	10.25	-251		v New Zealand	2002/03
England	3	421	27	15.59	168	13	12.92	-253		v Australia	1888
Zimbabwe	2	483	28	17.25	230	12	19.16	-253		v Sri Lanka	2004
England	2	350	16	21.87	94	4	23.50	-256		v New Zealand	1954/55
Zimbabwe	2	403	27	14.92	146	13	11.23	-257		v New Zealand	2005/06
Zimbabwe	2	522	27	19.33	263	13	20.23	-259		v India	2005/06
New Zealand	2	452	18	25.11	176	6	29.33	-276		v Sri Lanka	1982/83
Bangladesh	2	410	28	14.64	132	12	11.00	-278		v New Zealand	2001/02

It's harder for the last five wickets of a team to score more than the first five in a one-day series because it's unlikely that the lower order will get adequate chances consistently in limited-overs contests. Scotland's top order, however, was so brittle during the 1999 World Cup that they gave the lower order ample opportunity to bat, and were comprehensively out scored by them.

Scotland's three 50-plus stands in the tournament were by Gavin Hamilton and a No. 8 or 9 for the sixth and seventh wickets. The largest top-order stand was 35 for the fourth wicket followed by 19 for the first. By the time they were eliminated in the first round, Scotland's first five wickets had added 266 runs at an average of 10.64, while their last five had added 434 at an average of 19.72.

Largest difference in series runs between last five partnership wickets and the first five - ODIs (min 2 matches)

Team	Mat	Top 5 Wkts	Dis	Ave	Bot 5 Wkts	Dis	Ave	Diff		Series	Season
Scotland	5	266	25	10.64	434	22	19.72	168		ICC World Cup	1999
Africa XI	3	201	15	13.40	353	15	23.53	152		v Asia XI	2005
Zimbabwe	2	110	10	11.00	259	6	43.16	149		v South Africa	2009/10
India	2	110	10	11.00	245	8	30.62	135		v England	1982
Scotland	3	165	15	11.00	288	12	24.00	123		ICC World Cup	2006/07
Scotland	3	215	15	14.33	327	12	27.25	112		ICC World Cup Qualifiers	2009
Zimbabwe	3	152	15	10.13	254	11	23.09	102		v Bangladesh	2008/09
Zimbabwe	2	99	10	9.90	197	7	28.14	98		v South Africa	1995/96
Africa XI	3	407	15	27.13	500	12	41.66	93		v Asia XI	2007
Bangladesh	3	176	15	11.73	262	14	18.71	86		v South Africa	2002/03
Bangladesh	3	155	15	10.33	239	15	15.93	84		v Australia	2003
Canada	2	77	10	7.70	155	9	17.22	78		ICC Tri-Series (in West Indies)	2006
Bangladesh	2	68	10	6.80	138	10	13.80	70		ICC Champions Trophy	2002/03
West Indies	2	195	10	19.50	257	9	28.55	62		v Australia	1977/78
New Zealand	2	107	10	10.70	167	10	16.70	60		Compaq Cup	2009
Kenya	5	495	25	19.80	554	24	23.08	59		v Zimbabwe	2008/09
Zimbabwe	2	140	10	14.00	198	10	19.80	58		ICC Champions Trophy	2004
Sri Lanka	3	227	15	15.13	283	9	31.44	56		Tri-Nation Tournament in Bangladesh	2008/09
Zimbabwe	3	243	15	16.20	297	10	29.70	54		v South Africa	2004/05
Kenya	3	208	15	13.86	262	15	17.46	54		v Bangladesh	2006