10 great cricketers who were not great at running between the wickets
In life, as in sport, everyone has some sort of failing, and even the greatest of sportspersons are not immune to those. The same holds for cricketers. All the great cricketers of the past have had certain shortcomings in their game that became apparent as their careers progressed.
However, this article is related to a particular failing and seems a bit surprising that it had taken hold of some of the finest cricketers in the game.
It relates to running between the wickets, and terrible running is not merely restricted to running fast. Judging when to run, when not to run, communicating with the partner, and not being in two minds are some of the essential aspects of running between the wickets.
So, the great players who were terrible at running were not precisely slow runners but lacked some of the qualities that go into the making of a good runner. More importantly, this is an exercise to demonstrate that some of the great cricketers of the past could have made even more runs or won even more games for their nations had they been a bit better at running.
#10 Mark Waugh
Former Australian batsman Mark Waugh was one of the most majestic batsmen to watch in international cricket. In a career that lasted around 14 years, he became one of Australia's most essential batsmen in both formats of the game. He was destructive as an opener in one-dayers and an equally sublime presence in the middle order in Test cricket. In total, he scored 38 international centuries and 97 half-centuries to become one of Australia's renowned match winners during the 1990s.
However, he was pretty weak when it came to running between the wickets and used to be involved in run-outs quite often. In his one day international career, he was run out as many as 32 times, which is the 5th highest in the history of one-day cricket.
#9 Geoffrey Boycott
If there is ever any discussion on the greatest opening batsmen to have played Test cricket, then former England great Geoffrey Boycott's name will definitely figure in it. Boycott was a batsman who was one of the world's most technically gifted through the mid-1960s and the 1970s.
However, despite all those runs and all those centuries, he suffered from the inability to run well between the wickets. For a batsman who was so famously cautious, Boycott was run out seven times in Test cricket. However, what is even more startling is that he ran out his partners 13 times in Test cricket.
It is alleged that he had once run Ian Botham out deliberately to settle a personal score.
#8 Wasim Akram
Pakistan legend Wasim Akram is the finest left-arm pace bowler to have ever played the game and even to this day, there are few bowlers that can match his ability to swing the ball. On the other hand, Akram was a decent lower-order batsman as well and helped the team plenty of times with his timely intervention.
That said, he was also guilty of being a pretty average runner between the wickets and that saw him get dismissed run out seven times in Test cricket and an astonishing 38 times in one-day internationals. However, the high number of run-outs in one-dayers is primarily down to the fact that Akram batted lower down the order and was often forced to take risks in order to score runs quickly.
#7 Sanath Jayasuriya
During the 1990s, Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka emerged as one of the most dangerous opening batsmen in one-day international cricket but at the same time he was an excellent Test match batsman as well. The left-hander remains one of the modern day greats of the game. However, he was not as gifted a runner between the wickets and he was not only run out plenty of times but also ran his partners out quite frequently.
In ODIs, he was run out 27 times in 335 innings, while in Test cricket the same figure stood at 5. On the other hand, it seems Jayasuriya was not a decisive runner either. He had run his partner out a staggering 31 times in one dayers, while the same figure stood at 10 in Test cricket.
#6 Sourav Ganguly
Among India's greatest batsmen of all time, former skipper Sourav Ganguly's biggest fault was his poor running between wickets. This would often lead to his partners being run out as well.
Ganguly often hesitated when setting off for a run and often backtracked to his crease while his partner was often left stranded. In one day internationals, he ran his partner out 30 times while the same figure stood at 10 in Test matches.
On the other hand, he was dismissed run out 27 times in one-day internationals and four times in Tests, to cement his place among the worst runners between the wickets.