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Best series for each batting position

A

AndrewB

International Vice-Captain
Having posted about this in the thread about Arthur Mailey, I got curious...

The most runs scored in a series batting at...

#1 - is surprisingly topped by a batsman from a 3-match series:
752: Graham Gooch, Eng v Ind 1990
732: Sunil Gavaskar, Ind v WI 1978-9
714: Graeme Smith, SA v Eng 2003

#2:
774: Sunil Gavaskar, Ind v WI 1970-1
766: Alastair Cook, Eng v Aus 2010-1
717: Mark Taylor, Aus v Eng 1989

Taylor has the record for batting as an opener with 839 in this series. The only other opener to reach 700 in a series is Herbert Sutcliffe (701 at #2 in 1924-5 v Aus)

#3:
966: Don Bradman, Aus v Eng 1930
829: Viv Richards, WI v Eng 1976
785: Wally Hammond, Eng v Aus 1928-9

This was the first time Hammond had batted at 3 for England, and his first 4 innings doing so were 251, 200, 119*, 177. Even a 38 in the final Test only brought his #3 average down to 196.
Bradman, of course, scored more runs in that series than anyone before or since, even without the 8 he scored batting at 4 in the first innings of the 1st Test.

#4
753: Denis Compton, Eng v SA 1947
716: Everton Weekes, WI v Ind 1952-3
712: Jacques Kallis, SA v WI 2003-4

#5
626: Michael Clarke, Aus v Ind 2011-2
623: Doug Walters, Aus v WI 1968-9
607: Zaheer Abbas, Pak v Ind 1982-3

Clarke also achieved 5th place in this list the following winter (571 v SA)

#6
722: Gary Sobers, WI v Eng 1966
562: Shiv Chanderpaul, WI v Ind 2002
506: Steve Waugh, Aus v Eng 1989

#7
493: Brad Haddin, Aus v Eng 2013-4
473: Adam Gilchrist, Aus v SA, 2001-2
423: Andrew Flintoff, Eng v SA, 2003

Just missing out is Ian Botham, who scored all of his 399 runs in the 1981 Ashes while batting at 7, despite also batting at 6 and 8.

#8
315: Harbhajan Singh, Ind v NZ 2010-1
257: Wasim Akram, Pak v Zim 1996-7
243: Ravichandran Ashwin, Ind v Eng 2012-3

Akram's 257 runs were all in a single (not out) innings. Ashwin is the first listed so far (excluding Sutcliffe) to be on the losing side (Kumar, Asif Iqbal and Hall are of those in the later lists)

#9
247: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ind v Eng, 2014
244: Stuart Broad, Eng v Pak, 2010
222: Asif Iqbal, Pak v Ind 1967

#10
197: Bert Oldfield, Aus v Eng 1924-5
149: Wes Hall, WI v Aus 1960-1
144: Ish Sodhi, NZ v Pak 2014-5

#11
115: Arthur Mailey, Aus v Eng 1924-5
112: James Anderson, Eng v Ind 2014
108: Bert Vogler, SA v Eng 1905-6

Ashton Agar was (briefly) in the top 3 here for his 98 against England in 2013 - as with Akram, all his runs were in one innings. Tino Best's 95 the year before puts him a place lower.
 
OverratedSanity

OverratedSanity

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weldone said:
Gavaskar WAG!
Click to expand...
Tbh both those series had probably the weakest possible WI attacks of that entire era.

Imo Sobers v England and Haddin in the Ashes are probably the two most impressive series performances among these considering the runs and the strength of the opposition bowling.
 
weldone

weldone

Hall of Fame Member
OverratedSanity said:
Tbh both those series had probably the weakest possible WI attacks of that entire era.
Click to expand...
I know, but that's immaterial. The fact is that hundreds of openers have faced worse attacks and they couldn't score as many runs. And he's the only one who appears on this list twice.
 
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Spikey

Spikey

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i mean, when denis lindsay hit 250 runs in a test while batting at 7, SA moved him up to 6 so that he could make two more hundreds in the series. given #7 is basically "by a keeper" it feels like he should get a mention
 
A

AndrewB

International Vice-Captain
Here are the records if you allow consecutive positions in the line-up - entries which aren't just duplicated of the previous list are in bold.

Most runs as an opener:
839: Mark Taylor, Aus v Eng 1989
774: Sunil Gavaskar, Ind v WI 1970-1
766: Alastair Cook, Eng v Aus 2010-1

Batting at 2 or 3 is the same list as "batting at 3"

Batting at 3 or 4:
974: Don Bradman, Aus v Eng 1930
905: Wally Hammond, Eng v Aus 1928-9
834: Neil Harvey, Aus v SA 1952-3

These, plus Taylor, are the top 4 series for players at any position.

Batting at 4 or 5:
769: Steve Smith, Aus v Ind, 2014-5
753: Denis Compton, Eng v SA 1947
716: Everton Weekes, WI v Ind 1952-3

Batting at 5 or 6:
722: Gary Sobers, WI v Eng 1966
626: Michael Clarke, Aus v Ind 2011-2
623: Doug Walters, Aus v WI 1968-9

Batting at 6 or 7:
722: Gary Sobers, WI v Eng 1966
606: Denis Lindsay, SA v Aus 1966-7
562: Shiv Chanderpaul, WI v Ind 2002

Batting at 7 or 8 is the same list as "batting at 7"

Batting at 8 or 9:
315: Harbhajan Singh, Ind v NZ 2010-1
302: Shaun Pollock, SA v WI, 2000-1
293: Moeen Ali, Eng v Aus, 2015

Batting at 9 or 10:
291: Bert Oldfield, Aus v Eng 1924-5
250: Stuart Broad, Eng v Pak, 2010
249: Graeme Swann, Eng v Aus, 2009

Batting at 10 or 11 is the same list as "batting at 10".

If you allow longer runs of batting positions I think the only new instances are:

Batting at 8-10:
300: Sammy Carter, Aus v Eng 1907-8

Batting at 4-7:
779: Everton Weekes, WI v Ind 1948-9

You could consider non-consecutive batting positions, but I don't really feel like checking all 1992 options. :-)
 
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