Stats are a good measure of quantity – quantity of runs, the quantity of innings played and quantity of big knocks. However, they rarely tell you the quality of an innings, for example, of the hard-fought 30 on a seaming track that probably saved the match for your team.This argument rarely holds for greats who have had long careers.
Over a protracted career, things almost always even out, giving us a pattern. Those patterns offer great insights – the batsmen who score under pressure in the 4th innings, the batsmen who dominate from the start and score big runs in the first innings to set up matches for their team and the batsmen whose runs almost always influence big wins.
In this piece, we are going to look at some of the batsmen who have scored tons of runs in winning causes for their teams. Mind you, some of these batsmen like Ricky Ponting need to share credit for some of those runs with their incredible teams that helped win more games than lose. Others like Sachin Tendulkar have been seminal in the sense that when they scored big runs, their teams tended to win more often.
Stats courtesy: Cricinfo
Rahul Dravid – 5131 runs
Three Indians hold the record for most runs in drawn Test matches. Dravid comes third behind Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar with 5379 runs. The Wall, who also holds the record, for most balls faced in Test cricket, an astounding 31258 in 286 innings, Dravid scored 5131 runs in 56 Test wins at an impressive average close to 66 with 15 centuries.
Overall, Dravid has 13288 runs in 164 Tests at an average of 52.31 runs with 36 centuries. A massive number of Dravid’s centuries have come in lone-hand efforts saving matches for India in tough conditions. 3757 of the 5131 runs have come in the first and second innings of Tests with 12 centuries where his average touches 72.25.
Mahela Jayawardene – 5173 runs
The man with the silken touch and Sangakkara’s best mate, Jayawardene was one of the three pillars of the Sri Lankan team that became a world beater in the first decade of the 21st century. Jayawardene scored 11814 runs at 49.84 in 149 Tests with 34 centuries. However, in winning causes, he accumulated 5173 runs at an impressive 64.66.
In 58 Test wins, Jayawardene managed 17 of his 34 centuries as well. He scored 4003 runs, 6th most in Test victories in the first and second innings of victorious Tests regularly setting up victories for his team. In these innings, his average rose to 71.48 with 15 of his 17 centuries being scored here as well.
Graeme Smith – 5214 runs
Smith was known for his aggressive style of play and leading-from-the-front mannerisms. The former South African skipper managed 5214 runs in 60 Test wins, most of them as an opener, ensuring he took his team, battered by a shock World Cup exit and match fixing allegations, to the pinnacle of Test cricket. These runs came at an average of 61.34 with 18 centuries.
Overall, the left-hander averaged 48.25 scoring 9265 runs in 117 Tests with 27 centuries. Smith though, holds the world record for most runs in victorious campaigns in the fourth innings of Tests – 1141 runs at 87.76 with 4 centuries – a phenomenal achievement showing his resolve and determination to see his team through in tough pressure cooker conditions, especially during chases.
Justin Langer – 5229 runs
The mellowed, mature half of the feared Hayden – Langer opening pair, Justin Langer scored 5229 of his 7696 runs in winning causes. Interestingly, his average doesn’t take a significant jump in victories going from around 45 to 48.
The left-hander, like other Australians on the list, formed an important part of the invincible team, featuring in a massive 70 wins, from his 105 Test appearances whilst scoring 15 of his 23 Test centuries in those wins. Langer stands fifth on the list of most runs in the fourth innings of victorious Tests – 849 at close to 50 showing how his grit and gumption came to the fore in tougher situations.
Kumar Sangakkara – 5449 runs
Sangakkara, like Tendulkar, was part of a mediocre side for a long time, which is why the number of runs he scored in winning Tests is fewer than what it could and should have been. The man, who boasts of a Bradmanesque average of 57.4 when taking only contemporary cricket into consideration has scored 5449 of his 12400 runs in victorious Tests.
These runs came in just 84 innings and 54 Tests at a phenomenal average of 71.69. No one with more than 5000 runs in winning Tests has a better average than that of Sangakkara. 19 of Sangakkara’s 38 centuries have come in Test wins. 4020 of those runs have come in the first and second innings of Test matches with 15 centuries.
Sachin Tendulkar – 5946 runs
The man with most Test appearances and Test runs in cricket history is surprisingly low in this table, largely because he played for a weaker team during the first half of his career. Tendulkar scored 5946 runs at close to 62 in 72 Test wins and 113 innings. Overall, he piled on 15921 runs in 200 Tests and 329 innings at 53.78.
Only 20 out of his 51 Test centuries came in winning causes, showing how many of Sachin’s innings were lone-ranger efforts. Sachin is fourth on the list of highest run-makers in Test wins, in the first and second innings of a Test – 4561 runs at 67 with 17 centuries. However, Sachin’s contribution in the third and fourth innings of Test match wins is on the lower side.
Matthew Hayden – 6154 runs
One of the most feared Test openers of all time for the great Australian team of the first decade of 21st century, Hayden briefly held the record for the highest Test score of 380 before Brian Lara reclaimed it. Hayden managed 6154 runs at 55.44 in 123 innings from 71 Tests in matches Australia won. That is a big percentage out of a total of 103 Tests in which Hayden scored 8625 runs at an average of 50.73.
23 out of Hayden’s 30 Test centuries have come in wins and he is one of those rare players with more hundreds than fifties in Test cricket as well as in Test wins. The powerful left-hander is marginally behind Ponting with 1505 runs, on the list of most runs in the third innings in winning causes. He is also second on the list of most runs in winning causes in the fourth innings – 913, marginally behind Graeme Smith, who has 1141 showing how Hayden’s aggression always benefited Australia.
Jacques Kallis – 6379 runs
Arguably the greatest all-rounder, at least in terms of stats, Kallis was the ever-reliable rock for South Africa for more than a decade. The elegant right-hander piled on 6379 runs at 62.5 in 124 innings from 82 Tests in winning causes, less than a hundred runs short of Steve Waugh’s mark. Overall, Kallis ended up with almost twice the runs, 13289 at 55.37 in 280 innings and 166 Tests.
In other words, half the Tests he featured in ended up being South African wins. However, Kallis was one of those players whose centuries didn’t always end up in wins. That is seen in his 22 hundreds in wins, of a total of 45. Kallis has 4836 runs in the first and second innings of Tests at 64.48, third in tally behind Ponting and Waugh.
Steve Waugh – 6460 runs
The man who moulded a gritty team in his own image, the very embodiment of Australianism and the architect of several heists, Steve Waugh is on top of a clustered pile of run-makers in winning causes. Waugh’s 6460 runs have come in 120 innings from 86 Test wins at an average of 69.46.
Overall, Waugh has 10927 runs at 51 in 260 innings from 168 Tests. An incredible 25 out of Waugh’s 32 Test centuries have come in victories. Waugh also has the second most number of runs in Test wins scored in the first and second innings of Tests – 5521 with an average of 83.65.
Ricky Ponting – 9157 runs
Playing at No.3 in the team of Invincibles, Ponting set up massive wins for Australia for over a decade. Record holder for most Test wins, Ponting won 108 out of the 168 Test matches he was part of. He, therefore, holds the record for most Test runs in wins too, head and shoulders ahead of everyone else.
The former Australian batting stalwart has scored an astounding 9157 runs at 59.46 in 178 innings in wins out of a total of 13378 runs at close to 52 in 287 innings. 30 of his 41 Test centuries have also come in winning causes.
Ponting averages an incredible 82.8 in the fourth innings of a match in winning causes, showing his prowess in chases. Ponting also holds the record for most runs in the first and second innings of a Test match in wins – 6676 runs at an average close to 63.
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