Stats: Most deliveries faced by a No.11 batsman in fourth innings of a Test match

England No.11 James Anderson in action in the 4th innings of the 2nd Test match against Sri Lanka at Leeds

The second Test match between England and Sri Lanka ended in a dramatic fashion after a brave James Anderson hung on with Moeen Ali for more than an hour, only to fail on the penultimate ball of the match to send Sri Lankan players in jubiliation, having completed their first series win in England consisting of two or more matches. The Headingly crowd was entertained richly by the two teams yet again after an equally sensational match that ended in a draw at Lord’s.

The England No.11 Anderson, walked out when his team was at 228-9 in the 97th over of their innings and gave solid support to Ali that saw him make his way into the top-10 of an interesting list. His 55-ball innings that stretched over 81 minutes puts him on the seventh place for the maximum number of balls faced by a No. 11 batsman in the fourth innings of a Test match.

Ewen Chatfield of New Zealand tops the list as he faced 84 deliveries and remained not out for his 21 runs against Sri Lanka in 2006 at Dunedin. Ashish Nehra of India finds his name in the list for his innings against England at Lord’s 2002 and is one of the only two Asians in the list that is filled with 5 Australians who seem to be the ‘Masters of survival’.

When considering the amount of time a No.11 survived in the 4th innings, Anderson’s effort is ranked No.6, while Jeff Thomson who batted for 129 minutes against England at Melbourne, 1982, holds the record at the top.

# Player Balls Faced Runs Scored Minutes Opposition Venue Year
1 Ewen Chatfield (NZ) 84 21* 104 Sri Lanka Dunedin 1985
2 Jeff Thomson (Aus) 62 21 129 England Melbourne 1982
3 Mervyn Dillon (WI) 60 36 65 South Africa Cape Town 1999
4 Alan Connolly (Aus) 58 25 48 South Africa Cape Town 1970
5 Craig McDermott (Aus) 57 18 88 Adelaide West Indies 1993
6 James Pattinson (Aus) 57 25* 70 England Nottingham 2013
7 James Anderson (Eng) 55 0 81 Sri Lanka Leeds 2014
8 Ashish Nehra (Ind) 54 19 68 England Lord’s 2002
9 Tim May (Aus) 48 11 66 South Africa Johannesburg 1994
10 Aamer Nazir (Pak) 46 11 79 Sri Lanka Sialkot 1995

*Stats updated on June 25, 2014

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Edited by Staff Editor