The Greatest ‘Come-From-Behind’ Batsmen in Cricket History

4 Mar, 2024

In this sequel to ‘Australia’s great come-from-behind batsmen’, we look abroad to examine the world’s finest exponents in this genre, in the 145-year history of Test cricket.

For those unfamiliar with the methodology, data is collected from two particular situations: one, performances in matches lost (excluding the game’s first innings); two, performances in matches won after trailing by one hundred at the halfway mark.

The objective is to capture as many come-from-behind situations as possible while at the same time eliminating bias.

Of course, this system is not without flaw and it is acknowledged that approximately 20 per cent of innings collected in this way do not belong in the category of a come-from-behind.

Roughly 15 per cent of the data set represents matches lost after leading for most of the game, and another five per cent signifies positions so lop-sided that the contest was effectively over (like trailing by 400 in a match that will be decided).

Another difficulty is what to do with batsmen who are part of a very mediocre line-up. Since I have chosen to compare each batsman directly with peers, cricketers like George Headley and Aubrey Faulkner, whose colleagues averaged 15.6 and 18.7, respectively, have a massive advantage.

My analysis of over 50 players reveals that in strong teams, peer averages are north of 24. Apart from these two, others who belong in this category include Andy Flower (peers 22.7), David Warner (23.1), David Gower (22.3), Kane Williamson (23.5) and AB De Villiers (22.9).

Consequently, I have decided to ameliorate this anomaly in the following way: when the peer average is below 24, I will substitute a peer average of 25 (to simulate a strong line-up).

For example, rather than compare Headley’s 30.8 with the 15.6 of his West Indian colleagues, I will compare him with a decent line-up, who would, presumably, average something close to 25. In the table, this will appear as a peer average of 25*.

Here are the 20 best batsmen in come-from-behind situations, in the history of Test cricket.

 

Batsman Matches Runs- dismissals Average Scores above 150 (%) above peers
Star Peers Star Peers
VT Trumper 16 1122-18 3228-130 62,3 24,8 214*, 185*, 166, 159, sticky wicket 74 151,3%
L Hutton 20 1429-28 4201-162 51,0 25,9 202*, 156 96,8%
GA Faulkner 15 1028-22 2096-112 46,7 25* 204 86,8%
H Sutcliffe 11 949-19 2568-94 49,9 27,3 176 82,8%
A Flower 35 1943-43 5448-240 45,2 25* 176 82,8%
JB Hobbs 21 1612-34 4831-170 47,4 28,4 154 66,8%
V Kohli 26 1642-39 4494-178 42,1 25,3 153 66,8%
DG Bradman 12 916-20 2834-102 45,8 27,8 167 64,6%
SM Gavaskar 33 1932-46 5863-229 42,0 25,6 64,1%
DA Warner 26 1614-41 4833-209 39,4 25* 57,6%
SR Tendulkar 55 3046-80 10947-419 38,1 26,1 169, 154 45,8%
BC Lara 63 3076-92 11478-464 35,1 24,7 202, 153*, 153 42,0%
KS Williamson 27 1339-38 5262-225 35,2 25* 242* 40,9%
AR Border 47 2072-61 8605-356 34,0 24,2 152* 39,3%
AB de Villiers 30 1571-45 5232-229 34,8 25* 39,2%
DL Haynes 14 731-21 2706-108 34,8 25,1 38,9%
K Sanggakara 41 2138-57 8175-295 37,5 27,7 203, 192 35,4%
A Ranatunga 37 1729-54 6665-281 32,0 25* 35,0%
SR Waugh 36 1396-42 6184-251 32,2 24,6 30,9%
An Iqbal 13 692-18 3162-107 38,4 29,6 30,1%
DI Gower 44 1877-58 6862-308 32,4 25* 29,6

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