The world's greatest No. 11

A batsman may say that he doesn't mind batting at any position for the greater common good of the team, but whether he does reveal his favourite batting position or not, a batsman's numbers paint a picture for him. In its first week, The List brings you the highest run-scorers by their positions in the batting order.

Are you scanning the list for Allan Border, the 11,174-Test-runs heavyweight? Well, he didn't make it. The reason - he never batted long enough at one position. Border played 88 innings at No. 4, scoring 3783 at 50.44, 70 at five (3071 at 52.05) and 63 at six (2556 at 52.16).

Sunil Gavaskar and Geoffrey Boycott, arguably Test cricket's most correct batsmen, take the honours for most runs at the top of the order. A couple of other interesting observations: Steve Waugh is the only player to feature as the highest scorer for two positions in Tests, and Waqar Younis is the most prolific No.10 batsman in both forms of the game. And the best No. 11? That honour belongs to Glenn McGrath, who is a full three runs clear of his nearest rival, West Indies' Courtney Walsh.

Batting regularly at a position is precisely why the one-day list is populated by Sri Lankans. When Sanath Jayasuriya walks in to bat, 85.75% of the time it is to open the innings, a figure that towers over Sachin Tendulkar's 70.20%. Out of Arjuna Ranatunga's 255 innings, 153 have been at No. 5 and 197 of Aravinda de Silva's 296 innings have been at No. 4. Ricky Ponting has played 198 of 226 innings (87.6%) at No. 3, a position he's made his own in the Australian line-up. Thus it's no surprise that, with 7452 runs, he is 3027 runs clear of Jacques Kallis, his closest contemporary competition.

Perhaps the unluckiest batsman to miss out on a top position is Lance Klusener, who has plundered 1056 runs in just 36 innings at an average of 58.66 at No. 8 in one-day internationals. Unfortunately, Klusener is pipped by Wasim Akram, who has played 57 more innings than Klusener for his 1208 runs.