5 Test batsmen with most runs scored in losing causes

Alastair Cook; England

With 3048 runs in 51 Test matches, former England skipper Alastair Cook finds a place in the list of the highest run-scorers in losses. His average of 29.88 with five hundreds when his side failed to cross the line is in sharp contrast to his overall average of 46.52 with 32 centuries.

Against Australia, he has averaged just 27.17 in defeats and in Australia, it further dips to 23.21, which only highlights the role that the mainstay is expected to play in the side.

One need not look further than the current Ashes series to ponder Cook’s importance to the English line-up. When he failed to get going in the first three matches of the series, the English team was convincingly thrashed by the hosts only to manage a face-saving draw in the Boxing Day Test match, in which the left-hander remained unbeaten on 244.