Top 5 number 5s in Tests for West Indies

The West Indies have been one of the most fascinating cricketing entities in history, considering the fact that they are a collection of different Caribbean islands and not actually a country.

Despite that, it has been one of the most successful teams in history and no other team has come close to the sort of dominance that they enjoyed in the late 1970s and 1980s. Although the West Indies are best known for their plethora of outstanding fast bowlers, they could also boast of plenty of superb batsmen and many of them played for them at number 5 in the middle-order.

Most of them were superb stoke-makers, capable of taking any attack apart on their day and had the capability of defending stolidly when the situation demanded.

Here is a look at 5 of the best.

#5 Carl Hooper

The former captain and all-rounder represented the West Indies for around 15 years from 1987 to 2002 and went on to become one of the most important middle-order batsmen in the team.

Carl Hooper played 102 Test matches in his career and batted at number 5 in 50 of them. Hooper's gifts was a batsman are beyond question but it is often said that he did not quite make full use of his considerable prowess.

He was excellent against pace and hardly ever faced any difficulties in handling the best fast bowlers. On the other hand, spin bowling did not faze him either and hence a career average of 35.34 is a bit unflattering for a batsman of such calibre.

However, while batting at number 5, he fared much better and remains West Indies' third most successful batsman with an aggregate of 2911 runs in 50 Tests.

He averaged 42.18 in the position and made 7 hundreds, in addition to 13 half-centuries.

#4 Clive Lloyd

The former West Indian great is famed for having created one of the most fearsome cricket teams in the history of the game in the 1970s, but what is often forgotten is that he was among the finest batsmen in the world as well and Clive Lloyd was particularly superb when he batted at number 5.

Lloyd played in 110 Test matches in a career spanning more than 18 years from 1966 to 1985 and batted at the number 5 position in 54 games.

He was first and foremost an attacking batsman, who was well known for belting the fastest of bowlers for boundaries and in addition to that, he was largely untroubled by spin bowlers.

On the other hand, Lloyd possessed the gift of timing as well and looked extremely elegant when he leaned on to those drives on the offside. In those 54 Tests, he scored 3049 runs and remains the second highest run scorer at the position for the West Indies.

He averaged 46.19 at number 5 and slammed 8 centuries, along with 14 half-centuries.

#3 Viv Richards

Viv Richards is arguably the finest batsmen to have played for the West Indies and among the best batsman to have ever played the game. Throughout the course of his 17-year-long career (1974-1991) Richards played in 121 Tests and batted primarily at numbers 3, 4 and 5.

He is the fourth highest run scorer at number 5 for the West Indies with a tally of 2720 runs and had he batted at the position for more Tests, then he would definitely have been the biggest run scorer at that position.

Richards played the game to dominate bowlers, irrespective of their reputation or the state of the pitch and more often than not, he succeeded in pummeling the opposition into submission.

As a number 5, Richards averaged 47.71 and scored 7 centuries, in addition to as many as 18 half-centuries.

#2 Sir Garry Sobers

He is quite simply the greatest cricketer to have played the game and hence, it is not a surprise that Sir Garry Sobers finds himself among the highest scoring number 5 batsmen for the West Indies even though he batted at the position in only 29 out of the 93 Tests that he played.

Sobers' calibre as a batsman remains unparalleled and the greatness of is batting lay in the fact that there was hardly any weakness in his play. He was perfectly capable of playing on both the front foot and the backfoot, while he had no trouble in playing horizontal bat shots or the crunching drives.

There was very little that a bowler could do to keep him quiet and that made him a batsman, who could take the game away from the opposition very quickly.

As a number 5, he made 1895 runs but it is his average of 59.21 that shows the sort of command the left-hander had when he batted at the position. Sobers made 7 centuries and 8 half-centuries while batting at number 5.

#1 Shivnarine Chanderpaul

When he first made his Test debut for the West Indies back in 1996, no one quite thought that the left-hander with an awkward stance and an even more awkward batting style would end up becoming one of the modern greats of the game.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul played for the West Indies for 21 years in 164 Test matches and became one of the most dependable batsmen in the side when the cricket team went through its darkest periods.

Chanderpaul batted at many positions but it was at number 5 where he batted in 99 Test matches and that remained his preferred position.

He might have appeared innocuous but he was an extremely tough batsman to dislodge and he was perfectly at home against all kings of bowling, across the world.

Neither express pace or exaggerated seam movement or extreme spin could really trouble him when he was in fine form and it is no wonder that over the course of his career, he became the most prolific number 5 in West Indian cricket history.

He scored 6883 runs at an excellent average of 56.41 and also hit 19 centuries, along with 35 half-centuries. There is no doubt, that Chanderpaul is the greatest number 5 West Indies have ever had.