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Best tail-order batsmen in Test cricket

Shane Warne has a laugh. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Roar Guru
24th September, 2016
31

Very often in Test cricket we see excellent bowling dismissing the top half of the batting line-up, but then there is a dour rearguard action by the lower order batsmen. Nothing can be more frustrating to the bowling side.

Who are top tailenders in Test cricket? A few names come to mind such as Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Shaun Pollock, Jason Gillespie, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and so on.

The fact that Shane Warne, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie played at the same time no doubt contributed to Australia being such a devastating team. Even if the redoubtable batting order faltered, these stubborn tailenders would combine with the best-ever keeper-batsman in history – Adam Gilchrist – to take the match away from the opposition.

In fact now the English team too is strong as they have a long tail instead of a feeble one.

Is Dan Vettori a tailender batsman? Is Shaun Pollock one, though he has two Test tons batting at 9, and is the only one to perform such a feat.

Are Wasim Akram or Moeen Ali tailenders? No. They are all allrounders, and may be classified as bowling allrounders at most. The fact that they often batted at say number eight or nine is due to their team having a strong batting line up, rather than they being weak batsmen.

After considering various tailenders, I zero in on the following three as my top.

1 Jason Gillespie
He is the first nightwatchman to go on to score a Test 200. Jason was always a stubborn customer with the bat and valued his wicket very highly.

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It was always an issue getting him out. He once played an important role in saving a Test match at Chennai in 2004 by scoring 26 in over four hours at the crease and consuming more than 55 overs in a partnership with Damien Martyn.

Overall Jason had ab average of only 18.73 in Tests with one ton (the 200 mentioned earlier) and only two 50s but he was much more valuable than what his figures suggest.

Interestingly Dizzy is a Roar expert. Are you reading this piece Dizzy? If so, I hope it brings a smile to your face.

2 Shane Warne
He too has a Test batting average of only 17.32 but has twelve 50s. His highest Test score was 99 and he has scored 3000 plus runs in Test cricket, the highest for any batsman without a 100.

If Dizzy was obstinate, then Warne was exuberant. This exuberance cost him his 100 as he tried to get a big hit off Vettori only to hole out to Mark Richardson. Sadly Vettori had bowled a huge no ball but those days there was no DRS.

Destiny that he would retire without a 100. However he was a dangerous batsman.

3 Anil Kumble
Getting ten wickets in a Test innings and bowling with a broken jaw at Anigua and dismissing Brian Lara – these are the memories of Kumble. However Kumble was no poor batsman.

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His average too was only 17 but he made it difficult to get his wicket. It took him 17 years to reach a Test 100 and that too he got it in England where traditionally Indian batsman do not fare too well.

In that particular innings at the Oval, six Indian batsmen crossed 50 but it was destiny that among them only Kumble would get a century.

How about you Roarers? Do you agree?

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