Ian Chappell said, “I haven’t seen better batting in the fourth innings than Virat Kohli’s enterprising century at Adelaide Oval, where he narrowly missed guiding India to an incredible victory in 2014.”
Batting in the fourth innings is special.
Why should it be so? After all, batting first in a Test match should be tough too. The bowlers are rested and can make best use of early morning freshness of the wicket, when it has more juice.
WG Grace famously said, “When you win the toss, bat. If you are in doubt, think about it, then bat. If you have very big doubts, consult a colleague, then bat.”
Sunil Gavaskar said, “Bat first, give one hour to the bowlers, next five hours are yours.”
Therefore after the initial storm has been weathered, one can enjoy batting as the wicket will help the batsman. This suggests that batting first has advantages. Statistically too if we see the batting averages of almost all great batsmen, their batting averages in the first innings is distinctly higher than their batting averages in the fourth innings of a Test match.
What about batting in a Test’s second and third innings? Conventionally speaking, the wicket on the morning of the first day of a Test match offers some assistance to the quick bowlers and then eases out. On the second and third day of the Test match, the wicket is at its best, and then on the fourth day it starts assisting the spinners. Finally, on the fifth day, batting becomes difficult. Therefore, classically speaking, batting is easier in the second and third innings of a Test match than in the first.
What is different about the fourth innings of a Test match? A wearing pitch, turn, unpredictable bounce, target to chase, past history, demons in mind and so on. Due to a combination of these factors, we see fewer scores in the fourth innings than in others.
In the history of Test cricket, only 27 batsmen have scored more than 1000 runs in the fourth innings, with only six having an Average above 50. These are Graeme Smith (53.7), Ricky Ponting (50.4), Gavaskar (58.5), Gordon Greenidge (53.2), Younis Khan (60.2) and Geoff Boycott (58.7).
Two of the greatest batsmen of all time, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, do not have great fourth innings records at all. Sachin has statistically the maximum Test runs at 1625, but an average of only 36.93. Lara has 1404 Test runs at 35.1.
As far as Test tons scored in fourth innings, Younis Khan has five, while Smith, Gavaskar, Ponting and Ramnaresh Sarwan have four each. Sachin has three, of which his 136 versus Pakistan was probably one of the best ever knocks in a losing cause.
Sir Don Bradman, owner of the enviable Test average of 99.94 that will probably stand the test of time, scored 734 runs in fourth innings with three 100s at 73.40. While 73.4 is awesome, it’s notably less than 99.94, proving that fourth innings batting is the toughest.
Has batting has become easier in the recent past, with pitches remaining true? In the history of Test cricket, there have been 49 scores of 350 or more in the fourth innings, 21 coming in the last 10 years. Nine out of 49 resulted in wins, of which four were in the last ten years. We are also often seeing fourth-day finishes, so has the value of a fourth innings knock slightly decreased? I leave these thoughts for you to reflect on.
( This blog post has been published by The Roar sports community of Australia)
( This blog post has been published by The Roar sports community of Australia)
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