Regulars

Ricky Ponting wanted it, Kumar Sangakkara wanted it, Don Bradman averaged over 100 at it. Now Ian Bell wants it, No.3 in the order. It is the shades-wearing, Fonz-talking, look-at-me position.

Yet England players as a rule do not seem to want it – or to do well at it. The table opposite shows that England’s leading scorer at No.3, Wally Hammond, is only 13th on the all-time list yet played fewer than half his Tests there. Indeed, only three of England’s top 10 did while all the top eight of the world list were specialist No.3s. The top three players – Rahul Dravid, Ponting and Sangakkara – have all played most of their cricket since the turn of the century. England’s best No.3 in the last decade – Mark Butcher – is 19th. 

England’s last recognised great at three, David Gower, averaged 49.41 there but is only 23rd on the list – one place above Bangladesh’s Habibul Bashar. England have used more No.3s than anyone in all but two of the past six decades – averaging 17.5 per 10 years. That is more Eddie the Eagle than Fonzie.

Why have England struggled to produce stability and excellence at No.3? Perhaps it is best first to find out what makes someone great in that position. Butcher started life as an opener but ended up preferring batting at three to opening. “You have to deal with the new ball but you also have to be able to play your shots,” says Butcher. “There were periods when I went out there to try and dominate and other times when the ball was moving around that I just dropped anchor and allowed people to bat around me.”

Ted Dexter knows a few things about batting at three and is the last England batsman to average over 50 there. “The first requisite is to be a bloody good player,” he says. “I loved it at three because I was a better player of quick bowling than the twiddly stuff. I reckoned I was a good player of the new ball because I played the bouncer very well, I could leave the ball and take advantage of the scoring opportunities that generally come when you bat at three with the field generally set to attack. I think it’s important to have a No.3 that can take advantage of those situations if you do lose an early wicket.”

But it is not just about being a batsman who can deal with all situations; it is also a case of who is batting around you.

“Australia aren’t worried that their No.1 player goes in at three because four, five and six can all bat aggressively, so it doesn’t matter if he’s out cheaply,” says Butcher. “Where the dynamic lies is important. Kevin Pietersen is far and away England’s best player but, because we’ve had a shaky time with the middle order, KP can’t bat at three. If he gets nicked out early to the new ball, then you’ve wasted your best player, so you need someone more solid going out at three in front of him who might not play as aggressively.”

England’s regularly weak middle order appears to negate having great number threes. Dexter is in agreement. So is Angus Fraser, though he has another theory, too.
Throughout his England career Fraser bowled to Brian Lara, David Boon, Hansie Cronje, Jacques Kallis and Richie Richardson at first down – all regular, cemented No.3s. Yet in his 46 Test matches Fraser played with 12 different No.3s – a new one fewer than every four Tests.

“Oh bloody hell, really?” he says. “Your best batsman bats at three. It’s an ambitious attitude [wanting to bat at three]. While it’s a position that earns a lot of kudos, it’s a tough place to bat. You’ve got to face the best bowlers when they’ve just taken their first wicket. The batsman needs to want a challenge, it has to be something they want to do. Which isn’t always the English way. We’re rather unassuming and maybe our batsmen like to slip into the side at four or five rather than being brash about really wanting to make No.3 their position.”

Ponting, Dravid and Sangakkara all started out coveting the No.3 position. This does not seem to be the English custom. The last England batsman to target No.3 successfully and specifically was Nasser Hussain – and he had the kind of self-belief in his own ability that appears lacking, at least publicly, in many English players.

“You do have to be strong mentally and to love batting there,” Dexter says. “My whole batting ethos was how quickly can you turn the table on the bowlers. Because when you go in it doesn’t matter who you are, they are the aggressors. You feel the whole side is against you, the umpire, too. It’s a case of getting in and then gearing it up a bit and taking the battle to the bowlers. It is unbelievable in cricket how quickly it can change and a No.3 should be able to turn things around in 30 or 40 minutes by getting stuck into them.”

So how will Bell focus under this kind of pressure? Neal Abberley of Warwickshire, who has coached him for more than a decade, always thought he would bat three, as he does for the county, or four. “You have to be technically sound to bat there and Bell is probably England’s best player technically,” Abberley says. “From that point of view he could do the job.” So far he has batted there in 13 of his 43 Tests, averaging 33.96 against his overall 42.36.

Dexter believes Bell is vulnerable to the bouncing ball – especially when trying to pull – but does think he is the only natural choice to bat there at the moment. Butcher sees Bell as a lower-order batsman and believes Robert Key and Owais Shah are more suited to the role. Fraser predicts Bell has the allround game to make a good No.3 if he handles the pressure.

They may not be in harmony about Bell’s prospects but they are in synch when asked to name the top five England run-scorers of all time at three. Tellingly, none of them can name more than two. Three may be the magic number for most countries but England have yet to find the right potions.

Top 10 leading run-scorers at No.3 – world

R Dravid* India
99 out of 125 Tests     7864@55.77
RT Ponting* Aus
78/119     7594@65.46
KC Sangakkara* SL
69/76    5737@57.94
DG Bradman Aus
40/52    5078@103.63
RB Richardson WI
67/86    4711@47.11
RB Kanhai WI
57/79    4689@52.68
DC Boon Aus
66/107     4412@45.48
IM Chappell Aus
54/75    4279@50.94
BC Lara WI
45/131     3749@60.46
IVA Richards WI
45/121    3508 @61.54

Top 10 leading run-scorers at No.3 – England

WR Hammond (13th overall)
37/85    3440@74.78
ER Dexter (18)
38/62    2798@51.81
MA Butcher (19)
45/71    2796@38.30
KF Barrington (22)
27/82    2626@77.23
DI Gower (23)
35/117    2619@49.41
N Hussain (29)
40/96    2352@40.55
WJ Edrich (32)
25/39    2049@51.22
PBH May (34)
28/66    1891@42.02
TW Graveney (39)
27/79    1632@49.45
MC Cowdrey (40)
25/114    1565@44.71

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