5 Records that will probably soon be broken

#2. Highest Innings by a No. 11 (Currently held by Ashton Agar with 98)

Agar nearly became the first number 11 to score a century

A major development in modern cricket has been the improvement of bowlers ability with the bat. Players are now expected to carry a much wider skill set than before, as it was once commonplace to see big pace bowlers who were inept in the field and with the bat.

Even some of the game's greats were terrible batsmen. Glenn McGrath, Courtney Walsh, Lance Gibbs and Monty Panesar all averaged comfortably below ten with the bat. Then there is, of course, Chris Martin who averaged just 2.37 over 104 innings.

Apart from Gibbs, all these players are fairly recent examples. However, the current generation of cricketers sees fewer players of this type.

Trent Boult, for example, currently averages 14.97 in the innings he has played at number 11, while Nathan Lyon also averages 14.90 in that position. Both are also accomplished fielders, ensuring that their bowling is not their only benefit to the team.

If these players have been influenced by the demands of modern cricket, then Ashton Agar is the epitome of modern cricketer. He is a natural athlete, primarily a bowler, but an allrounder in his own right. He has two first-class hundreds to his name and is also a superb fielder.

His 98 on debut, where Australia made the bizarre selection of picking him above Nathan Lyon, was the closest a number 11 has gotten to making a century, with every other batting position has had multiple centurions.

Australia's decision to bat Agar at 11 was perhaps more indicative of the selectors' lack of knowledge of him as a player, rather than his ability with the bat, but he is not the only number 11 to come close to a century.

It was just over a year earlier, in 2012, that Tino Best blasted 95, also against England, while in 2014, James Anderson managed 81 against a strong Indian attack.

The fact that all these innings took place so recently emphasizes that this is a modern trend. It is therefore likely that Agar's record will soon be broken, and that before long Test cricket will have its first number 11 centurion.