Published By: Saksham Mishra

Trivia track: Half-century or nothing cricketers

There are quite a few cricketers who are very pleasing on the eye when they are at the crease and seem to have the gift of batting. However, you are left scratching your head often as they fail to contribute on a regular basis and get in only occasionally. One such player who could handle himself with the bat but failed to make good use of his batting ability is West Indies' Michael Holding, who scored 6 half centuries in test cricket from 76 innings but had an average of just 13.78.

Holding managed just 910 runs from 60 matches with the best of 73 and was dismissed on a duck 15 times. He has the most half centuries (cutoff: 5) for a batsman in test cricket with the worst average.

Next on the list is Pakistan wicketkeeper Wasim Bari who had a career spanning from 1967 to 1984. Not known for his batting ability, Bari played 81 test matches and scored just 1366 runs at an average of 15.8.

Although he had the highest of 85 and scored 6 half centuries, he was dismissed on a duck on as many as 19 occasions while remaining unbeaten on 26 other occasions.

On the third place in the list of batsmen, rather bowlers, with at least 5 half centuries and the worst average is Australia's Shane Warne who made 3154 runs from 145 matches at an average of 17.32. He is also the cricketer with most runs in test cricket without a century.

Warne scored 12 centuries, with the best of 99 against New Zealand, but could not go one better. He was dismissed for a duck on 34 occasions and is the holder of a unique record.

On the fourth place is Tim Southee, who is an active test cricketer. From 75 matches, Southee has scored 1690 runs and five half centuries but has an average of just 17.42, with the best of 77 not out. Southee would have liked to average at least in the mid 20s but his 10 ducks have meant that he is far off from that.

To round off this top 5 list, we have Anil Kumble at number 5. Kumble played test cricket from 1990 to 2008 but could manage just one century. He struck 5 half centuries at an average of 17.77, including 17 ducks and would have wanted to do a lot better given his batting talent.