Players with the highest scores batting at no. 11 in ODIs: In cricket, players have a specified role coming into a match. The batsmen are expected to score big runs, and the bowlers are banked upon with the task of picking up wickets.
But as a match progresses, players have to adapt to a different role for the team’s cause. A batsman’s rare contribution with the ball and a bowler’s contribution with the bat, many a-times, prove to be a deciding factor in a game.
Today, here, we look at the top 5 scores by No. 11 batsmen in ODIs.
5) Peter Ongondo (Kenya)
In the match against the West Indies in Nairobi, Kenya was reduced to 126-9 when Peter came to the crease. He scored 36 runs off 42 balls to take Kenya to 192. He hit two fours and a six in his small, yet impactful knock.
192 was never enough to be defended against WI, but Kenya’s Martin Suji added life to the game as he picked up three quick wickets to put WI under pressure at 17-3. But a partnership between Samuels and Chanderpaul deprived Kenya of a miraculous victory.
4) Joel Garner (West Indies)
India won the World Cup final in 1983 against the mighty West Indies as underdogs. But to a fewer people’s knowledge, India had already beaten WI once during the league stages. India won the game by 34 runs and Yashpal Sharma was adjudged the man-of-the-match for his innings of 89 runs.
During the chase of 263 runs, the West Indies were almost done and dusted until Joel Garner came into bat at No.11. He gave hope to his team as he scored 37 runs off just 29 deliveries to add 71 runs for the last wicket with Andy Roberts. Unfortunately, he couldn’t pull off the victory for his team as WI lost the game by 34 runs.
3) Makhaya Ntini (South Africa)
In the one-day match played in Napier during South Africa’s tour of New Zealand in 2003-04. The South African side was struggling, having lost 9 wickets and scored 100 odd runs when Ntini came to bat. Makhaya Ntini played a quick innings of 42 runs off 32 runs with the help of 3 fours and 2 sixes.
Ntini’s 42 took South Africa to a total of 186 in the first innings. However, NZ comfortably won the match by 5 wickets as Michael Pepps scored an unbeaten 92 runs to take his team home.
2) Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan)
Pakistan might have lost the league match against England during the ICC World Cup 2003, but Akhtar had some remarkable moments in that encounter. The Pindi Express bowled the fastest ball in cricket history as he touched the 161.3 kmph mark during the match.
With the bat, he wreaked havoc against England with his innings of 43 runs off just 16 deliveries, hitting as many as 5 fours and 3 sixes. However, to his disappointment, he could not save his team from a crushing loss against the English side as the latter won the game by 112 runs.
1) Mohammad Amir (Pakistan)
Mohammad Amir played a blazing knock of 58 runs against the hosts England in 2016. In the game at Nottingham, England broke the record of highest team total in ODI cricket as they sailed to a mammoth score of 444 runs (then record).
Alex Hales played a mind-blowing innings of 171 runs off just 122 deliveries to eventually win the man-of-the-match award. Pakistan was 199-9 when Amir came to the crease and delayed the victory for the hosts.
He became the only player to hit a half-century, batting at No. 11 in ODIs. In his knock of 58 runs, he played 28 deliveries and smashed 5 fours and 4 sixes.
