Interesting percentages – Joe Root among the 5 Test batters with the most second-innings runs

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The leading run scorers in Test are quite well known. Sachin Tendulkar tops the list, Ricky Ponting is second, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid and Joe Root round out the top five.

But if you break it down by innings, does it follow logically that they are all in the top five list of top second-innings-run scorers? The answer is no, it doesn’t.

While three of the top five overall scorers feature on the list of second innings achievers, the other places are occupied by different, perhaps even unexpected players.

Why is that? It could be for several reasons. Some teams are so good they only bat once in a game. As games go on and the pitch wears, it tends to be more susceptible to spin – so top second innings scorers must be good at facing spin.

Concentration is a factor – batting on the final day of a Test when you have been in the field for four days can be very demanding. So, who are the guys with the record for bringing it home?

Let’s have a look at the five highest scoring second innings batsmen of all time (and by way of clarification, when we say second innings, we are not talking about the second innings of four in a Test, we are talking about the second innings of a player’s team – IE: the third or fourth innings of a Test)

5. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) – 4,569 second-innings runs in a total of 12,400 (36.85%)

A mainstay of the Sri Lankan batting along with Mahela Jayawardene for the first 15 years of the century, Sangakkara made 14 of his 34 Test centuries in second innings knocks.

A man with great powers of concentration, Sangakkara had an overall Test average of 57.40, which was better than the likes of Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting and Kallis.

His second innings average 51.92 is a tad lower than his career average, which is to be expected, but it is nevertheless hugely impressive, bettered only by Kallis, Garfield Sobers and Allan Border of batsmen in the top 50 of second innings scorers.

4. Sachin Tendulkar (India) – 4,621 second-innings runs in a total of 15,921 (29.02%)

There are very few lists of batting records that don’t feature the name of Tendulkar. In this instance he makes the list by virtue of volume.

He has the lowest ratio of second innings runs to total runs of any player on this list – which, given his total of 4621 second innings runs, is not to say he was poor second time round, it simply suggests that he was exceptional in the first dig.

Tendulkar was a sensational batsman who could do it all. He averages 53.78 overall but 42.64 in the second innings – not a bad showing at all.

3. Jacques Kallis (South Africa) – 4,726 second-innings runs in a total of 13,289 (35.56%)

South Africa’s Kallis was known to love the second innings – indeed his second innings average of 56.26 is higher than his career average of 55.37. While there isn’t much in it, it is a remarkable achievement, given that it is generally easier to score runs in the first innings when the wicket is more true and less worn.

The fact that Tendulkar’s average is 11 runs less in the second innings gives an indication of just what a battler Kallis was. Remember, that as an allrounder and a key member of South Africa’s bowling unit, by the time he got to bat a second time, he had already bowled in one, perhaps even two innings.

2. Alastair Cook (England) – 4,947 second-innings runs in a total of 12,472 (39,66%)

An England great who probably deserves more plaudits than he gets, Cook was a man who simply got on with the business of scoring runs.

Sixth on the list of all time Test run scorers, his numbers are remarkable, especially when considering that as an opener he was facing the new ball throughout his career.

With a highest ever test score of 294, his second innings best was an unbeaten 235. He averaged 42.64 in the second innings with an overall career average of 45.35.

1. Joe Root (England) – 5,145 second-innings runs in a total of 12,972 (39,66%)

Still going strong, at just 34 years old Joe Root has plenty of time to add to his volume of runs.

With a highest second innings score of 180 and a second innings average of 45.93 his numbers are excellent. Root is currently fifth overall on the Test run scorers list but with none of the players ahead of playing anymore he could soon be moving his way up the list.

It will take some doing to reach Sachin Tendulkar, but he’s already ahead of the ‘Little Master’ in terms of second innings contributions, so there is no reason why he might not go all the way to the top of the list if he can last another five years, especially with the volume of Tests England are playing at the moment.

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