I have to say I love watching tail-enders bat - on condition that they are allowed to attack. Many of them are hopeless at defence anyway, and aren't going to last long, so they may as well have a swipe and see if they can hit a few.

I used to love watching Devon Malcolm bat - especially when he managed to pick Shane Warne's googly and smack it over midwicket for six. And watching Steve Harmison plonking a leg down the pitch and smashing West Indian quicks back over their heads was always fun - especially since I grew up on Windies fast bowlers terrifying the life out of our regular batsmen, it was seriously satisfying to see a tail-ender taking them on.

And as for who's the truly worst batsman I have ever seen: While there's strong competition from Phil Tufnell, Devon Malcolm, Alan Mullally and Chris Martin, I have to give the award to... Pat Patterson. While he was in the West Indies side, Courtney Walsh batted at ten: there can be no worse insult to Patterson's batting.

for me i think going back to 90s when wasim, waqar and saqlain used to bat to back in all those disaster situations, those were also great moment in pakistan's history. 1992s english series, 1996,s zimbabwe series at home, 1999 australian tour where waqar and saqlain stood up in almost every match were also remarkable feats.

Ahh, the tailenders. Being one myself in my playing days, I can relate. The tailender's role has changed somewhat and I'm not sure that it has changed for the better. Like Vipul, I used to love the "hit 'em hard or get out" attitude that the tail of the 70's and 80's used to possess.

My motto was "If the batsman can't score them, why should I?" I just wanted to have a crack at their opening bats late in the day, and with a 15 minute turn around, why waste time?

Of course big money, corporate sponsorship and professionalism has changed that somewhat. The tail is expected to put in, cop the bruises, save the game and help the "batsmen" make their century if required.

Still, there were great moments - Mike Whitney holding the great Richard Hadlee out (remember Hadlee's bowling action?), Walsh's heroics as detailed on the article, Kasprowicz and Lee almost winning "the greatest game of all" in 2005, McGrath and Gillespie frustrating the Kiwis.

Great article - cheers!

I was there that afternoon at the MCG when Whitney and McDermott held out against Hadlee who, if I recall correctly was refreshed after a spell, and took the new ball. They kept their stumps intact to force a draw and win the series. It was hands down the most enthralling session I've ever seen - every ball was a potential disaster and every ball disaster was averted. Special mention must be made of Big Merv's 72 and
Glenn McGrath's 61 - both hilarious innings, well they made me laugh. As did Gillespie's double ton.

Well, if Gillespie's double ton made you laugh, you indeed must have ended up with a sore jaw.

I'll never forget Murali playing a pullshot off Gough and hitting it for six... oh yeah, it went over the SWEEPER'S head on the OFF side! Hilarious!
Also, when he came down the track and presented his BUM to a ball off Ganguly. Needless to say the Prince of Kolkata was not amused! :)

Mebbe the best in business now are Murali and Harbhajan. Bhajji is a better bat, but the way he pulls and chops the balls is extremely funny, yet efficient.

How about Murali? A simple delight to watch! Usually, after someone like sanga or Mahela get out, I impatiently wait for Murali to come and bat because he always has a smile on his face, and manages to bring a smile to the faces of the fielding side. The way his eyes grow bigger as the ball comes, the wide grin that appears on his face when he hits a four, the crazy 'helicopter pull' he tries to execute, but ends up getting nowhere near the ball, but infact, falls to the ground, really bring a heartly laugh to me! Wish there were more tailenders like Murali who have such a happy-go-lucky attitude to batting!

For me, the most fun I've had at a cricket match was a county game several moons ago in the days when Courtney Walsh was a fixture in the Gloucestershire side. It was a losing cause, but he and Jack Russell had a very entertaining 20 minute thrash... Little applause but howls of laughter from the crowd!

I think, the reason that it's so much fun is that you're watching a relative amateur (the tailender) competing in top class sport. Most of sport does not have this characteristic - you dont see a caddy going for a big putt in golf.

Tailenders are a treat to watch. They look nasty when they fail, and funny when they succeed. The best part when they succeed is they lift the spirit of the whole team and the mood in the dressing room is cheerful. A good example would be when India visited South Africa and VRV Singh scored some 30 quickfire runs to boost India total. To me that was the period which changed the game, leading to India first test win in South Africa

Who could forget Sreesanth hitting Andre Nel straight over his head for a six in the first test ? I absolutely loved 'The Bhangra' that he did on this follow through ! I reckon that is the 'best' six he will ever hit in his career ! Bhajji and Murali are in a class of their own !

For me there are some tailenders who are exquisite. Sohail tanveer's batting excites me very much. He has not a physique of steve harmisson but he could still hit the ball a long, long way back as does Zaheer Khan, Muralidharan and Bhajji. Tanveer and Zaheer are much accomplished than the other two but the latter duo really makes that up with their out of book body movements that look really weird, funny and above all heartening.

Yeah i agree with everyone so far... watching Murali bat is a joy. He has no idea! But i still think nothing beats watching Mitchell Johnson bat now.... You know where he is going to go whenever a spinner is bowling - cow corner. Don't know if anyone remembers his innings against india at the WACA last summer, but even when Kumble put 2 fielders plus a midwicket in to try and get him he just kept going for the shot and most of the time he was actually pulling it off! (ended up with 50 as well if I'm not mistaken... with almost all his runs coming exclusively in that little area!)

how did u forget chaminda vasses 4th innings ,zaheer khans 1st innings in 1st innings
in recent 3rd test india srilanka..
remember glen mccgrath greateast bowler wld give much attention to his batting.
tailenders add the comic and more spirited and talking about bhajji watch 20-20 ipl hes shown his true spirit in batting there.
a 20 runs treat by a tailender is as delightful
as aton by a leading batsmen.

India Needs to Move from Fab Four to Group Dyanmics in Test

India need to move from Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly & Laxman to Group Dynamics as performer should stay irrespective of youth or experience. India didnt have bad series and most of the sides could have struggled against Mendis and Murali. However the expertise to handle spin was with the FAB four however we found Gambhir and Laxman was the only one who showed resistance. Its time to do some homework for India if they want to look ahead 5 years down the line with Cricket generating more players to replace the irreplaceble.

Super article Vipul... I completely agree with you. Of late our tailenders too have started backing up especially with the famous 4 failing in Lanka. I watched Zaheer & Ishant battle it out... Regards Ajay