Tail Tale: Top 5 Test knocks by tail-enders in 2014

2014 was a great year for tail-enders in Test cricket. The average of tail-enders in the year just gone by was 1.5 runs higher than what has been the standard in the last 5 years.Let’s visit the most heroic performances by tail-enders in 2014.Note: Jimmy Neesham, JP Duminy and Kithuruwan Vithanage have smashed hundreds batting at No. 8 in 2014; however, these players are proper batsmen, and thus haven’t made it to the list.Mitchell Johnson’s whirlwind knock against India in Brisbane, Vernon Philander’s gritty effort against Australia at Cape Town and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja’s brilliant displays against England at Nottingham and Lord’s respectively don’t make it to the list either, as all these batsmen don’t exactly fall into the tail-enders category.

#5 Ryan Harris: 74 (88) v India, Melbourne

Having chosen to bat first, Australia were in trouble at 216 for 5 in Melbourne. Australian captain Steven Smith, along with Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson, lifted the score to 376 for 7. The score was still below par, and India were eyeing to wrap up the Australian tail quickly.

In came Ryan Harris.

Harris smashed the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground scoring 74 off just 88 deliveries. His innings included powerful straight drives past the bowler, intelligent sweep shots and elegant late cuts. Before being dismissed, he was involved in a 106-run partnership with Smith putting Australia in the driver’s seat.