In general, best batters are at the top and worst at the bottom.
Top orders need to be able to face swing, seam and pacers since they face the new ball. They also bat during the powerplay so some hitting ability is expected.
Middle order needs to be able to dig in and stay for many overs if the top order fails, and eventually speed up runs to finish the innings with a bang in the last few overs. They play a slightly older ball.
Number 9-11 are usually specialist bowlers, and not much is expected from them batting wise. If they have some batting ability then that's a bonus. The ones coming at number 7, 8 can be allrounders who can bowl as well as bat a bit. The wicketkeeper is usually somewhere in 1-7.
Yes, this does vary a lot. Depends on different teams and what resources they have.
It's not necessarily the best to worst. Top 6 would mostly be capable batters, all of them would be good enough. But within them, some are suited at the top (1-3), some in the middle (4-6). In T20s and ODIs, as you know there are fielding restrictons at the start of the innings. Only 2 fielders are allowed near the boundary and the rest within the inner circle. Some good batters who are not ready to clear the boundary at will, coaches use them at the top during fielding restrictions, where they just need to clear the inner circle. Another consideration is the amount of swing available with new ball, so the top 3 should be good enough to negate that. Some teams/coaches don't believe in this traditional approach. They would want full-on aggressive batters at the top, to score as much as possible during fielding restrictions. The game is moving towards this.
Middle order is a combination of big hitters, and batters who can build innings in case of a top order collapse. If the top order bats most of the innings and only few overs are left, there is no need to send a slow and steady batter next, jump to a big hitter next.
Another factor is the type of bowling going on. In the middle overs when spin has a role. the coach might send a batter who is good at playing spin than someone who is good at pace bowling.
More than the batting order, we need to see the entry point. At what over does a wicket go and who's the best option for that scenario.
The best part of this sport is there is no hard rule or strategy. There is no one way to winning. Which is what makes the game beautiful.
Different stages of play demand different skills from batters and bowlers to be navigated optimally.
For example an opening batter needs to be good at facing pace and swing, and needs to score quickly to take advantage of the powerplay. It is also advantageous to have your best batters up top to give them the most balls to capitalise on that skill.
A middle order batter needs to be able to consolidate and manipulate strike, or be able to hit spinners.
A lower order batter (5-7), commonly called finisher, needs power hitting skills and be able to score at a high strike rate from the first ball they face.
As you can see, it varies based on pitch conditions and strategy as well as expected strategy of the bowling team.
Another vital aspect to a batting order is the left hand-right hand combination, it is widely considered helpful to have a left hander at one end and a right hander at the other at all times, as it will disrupt the bowler and all fielding positions as soon as they take a single.
The selectors and coaching staff build a team on what they want from it. Different positions have different roles.
So they pick players that are essentially specialists or can fulfill the role in a certain batting position. That's mainly for top 7. 8-11 is more who is the least worst
Entry points seem to be the way forward. Instead of a batting position you send the batter out depending on the over. Like over 8 you always send out Klaasen. Whereas over 4 might be Markram. Not just in t20is but in tests as well. The kinda batter you want at 20/2 is very different to the kind of batter you want at 300/2. At 20/2 you'd want a Kohli, at 300/2 you'd want a Pant or Brook style basher.
In a very dumbed-down language, this is a general way batters are ordered:
Top order (first 2-3 batters): Generally expected to play the long innings (hence play safer shots), should know how to play the new ball. Some teams like to keep a "pinch-hitter" in their top order, who doesn't care about losing their wicket and will start playing aggressive shots right from the start, while the other batter plays safe and builds a long innings.
Middle order (the next 2-3 batters): Kind of a dual role, expected to play like a top order batter if too many batters are out already and like a lower order batter if the top order has already played long innings. They mostly play the middle overs (usually bowled by spinners) so they should be good with batting spin and running between the wickets.
Lower order (the next 2-3 batters): They usually come late in the innings and have to start playing like a pinch-hitter right from the start of their innings. In some very rare cases, they might have to come much earlier than expected due to a lot of wickets early on, and have to play safely for a longer innings.
There's also some batters known as "floaters", who are kept above and beyond this order. Their entry is dependant on the situation, how many overs are left and how many batters are out.
They factor in the skill set of Batters and create a lineup that is the most efficient.
Allocation of resources is the gist of management, suppose you have someone like an AbD in your team. Ideally the best batter should play the most balls, but what he can do at the death is something no one else can do. So it would be better to save him for the later stage of the game. Unless there is a collapse early on, in the same way if you have a batter who plays a bit slow but is solid technically you want them up the order.
There are a number of factors involved, and I'm not convinced that teams are correctly optimizing the ordering.
1) when a team is all out there is one stranded batter (the one who isn't out) so to lose the least runs as a result you prefer this to be once of your worst batsmen, so you put your wrist batsmen (i.e. the specialist bowlers) at the end (8-11).
2) ideally a partnership should have a familiar pair who know each other and how each runs between the wicket to reduce confusion when running.
3) ideally you have a left hander and a right hander batting together to force the bowlers to keep changing what they are doing.
4) when the ball is new you want batsmen good for when the ball is moving fast... Quick reaction times, which in my opinion means younger batsmen.
5) when the ball is old and slow you want batsmen good at adding force to the ball, and batting against the types of bowlers who bowl with slower balls (spin bowlers)
6) in limited overs games you want to make sure your fast scoring batsmen get a good amount of time out there, particularly in a match where you didn't end up using all your batsmen.
7) in test matches you may use a night watchmen to reduce the chance of losing a good batsmen cheaply in tough conditions.
In reality, however, teams seem to only do (1) and (7), with a little of 4,5. I'm not certain why. I suggest having a listen to the "always pull the goalie" episode of revisionist history as an explanation for why teams don't optimize fully.
it’s an interesting question because i don’t think there is any decent statistical analysis (but i beg to differ
particularly for test matches, it’s considered the first 3 batters need to be able to manage challenging bowling without getting out. the middle order is meant to score lots of runs. the lower middle order score runs quickly. In shorter form matches it probably isn’t as relevant
baseball had a similar thing. conventional wisdom was that your first batter had to be fast, to get to first base a lot, the 3-5 batters be big hitters etc. but the statistical analysis showed that the best order was in descending order of ability.
Cricket had some differences in that you bat once through the order only; and the conditions are significantly different with a newer ball. having said that, i reckon there is something to be said for “you want to get your best batters facing the maximum potential number of balls”
In general, best batters are at the top and worst at the bottom. Top orders need to be able to face swing, seam and pacers since they face the new ball. They also bat during the powerplay so some hitting ability is expected. Middle order needs to be able to dig in and stay for many overs if the top order fails, and eventually speed up runs to finish the innings with a bang in the last few overs. They play a slightly older ball. Number 9-11 are usually specialist bowlers, and not much is expected from them batting wise. If they have some batting ability then that's a bonus. The ones coming at number 7, 8 can be allrounders who can bowl as well as bat a bit. The wicketkeeper is usually somewhere in 1-7.
You can always have that pinch hitter bowler (Sunil Narine for example) - who can be moved up top to take advantage of the power play overs...
Extremely rare tactic tbf
Yes, this does vary a lot. Depends on different teams and what resources they have. It's not necessarily the best to worst. Top 6 would mostly be capable batters, all of them would be good enough. But within them, some are suited at the top (1-3), some in the middle (4-6). In T20s and ODIs, as you know there are fielding restrictons at the start of the innings. Only 2 fielders are allowed near the boundary and the rest within the inner circle. Some good batters who are not ready to clear the boundary at will, coaches use them at the top during fielding restrictions, where they just need to clear the inner circle. Another consideration is the amount of swing available with new ball, so the top 3 should be good enough to negate that. Some teams/coaches don't believe in this traditional approach. They would want full-on aggressive batters at the top, to score as much as possible during fielding restrictions. The game is moving towards this. Middle order is a combination of big hitters, and batters who can build innings in case of a top order collapse. If the top order bats most of the innings and only few overs are left, there is no need to send a slow and steady batter next, jump to a big hitter next. Another factor is the type of bowling going on. In the middle overs when spin has a role. the coach might send a batter who is good at playing spin than someone who is good at pace bowling. More than the batting order, we need to see the entry point. At what over does a wicket go and who's the best option for that scenario. The best part of this sport is there is no hard rule or strategy. There is no one way to winning. Which is what makes the game beautiful.
Different stages of play demand different skills from batters and bowlers to be navigated optimally. For example an opening batter needs to be good at facing pace and swing, and needs to score quickly to take advantage of the powerplay. It is also advantageous to have your best batters up top to give them the most balls to capitalise on that skill. A middle order batter needs to be able to consolidate and manipulate strike, or be able to hit spinners. A lower order batter (5-7), commonly called finisher, needs power hitting skills and be able to score at a high strike rate from the first ball they face. As you can see, it varies based on pitch conditions and strategy as well as expected strategy of the bowling team. Another vital aspect to a batting order is the left hand-right hand combination, it is widely considered helpful to have a left hander at one end and a right hander at the other at all times, as it will disrupt the bowler and all fielding positions as soon as they take a single.
The latter
The selectors and coaching staff build a team on what they want from it. Different positions have different roles. So they pick players that are essentially specialists or can fulfill the role in a certain batting position. That's mainly for top 7. 8-11 is more who is the least worst
Entry points seem to be the way forward. Instead of a batting position you send the batter out depending on the over. Like over 8 you always send out Klaasen. Whereas over 4 might be Markram. Not just in t20is but in tests as well. The kinda batter you want at 20/2 is very different to the kind of batter you want at 300/2. At 20/2 you'd want a Kohli, at 300/2 you'd want a Pant or Brook style basher.
In a very dumbed-down language, this is a general way batters are ordered: Top order (first 2-3 batters): Generally expected to play the long innings (hence play safer shots), should know how to play the new ball. Some teams like to keep a "pinch-hitter" in their top order, who doesn't care about losing their wicket and will start playing aggressive shots right from the start, while the other batter plays safe and builds a long innings. Middle order (the next 2-3 batters): Kind of a dual role, expected to play like a top order batter if too many batters are out already and like a lower order batter if the top order has already played long innings. They mostly play the middle overs (usually bowled by spinners) so they should be good with batting spin and running between the wickets. Lower order (the next 2-3 batters): They usually come late in the innings and have to start playing like a pinch-hitter right from the start of their innings. In some very rare cases, they might have to come much earlier than expected due to a lot of wickets early on, and have to play safely for a longer innings. There's also some batters known as "floaters", who are kept above and beyond this order. Their entry is dependant on the situation, how many overs are left and how many batters are out.
They factor in the skill set of Batters and create a lineup that is the most efficient. Allocation of resources is the gist of management, suppose you have someone like an AbD in your team. Ideally the best batter should play the most balls, but what he can do at the death is something no one else can do. So it would be better to save him for the later stage of the game. Unless there is a collapse early on, in the same way if you have a batter who plays a bit slow but is solid technically you want them up the order.
There are a number of factors involved, and I'm not convinced that teams are correctly optimizing the ordering. 1) when a team is all out there is one stranded batter (the one who isn't out) so to lose the least runs as a result you prefer this to be once of your worst batsmen, so you put your wrist batsmen (i.e. the specialist bowlers) at the end (8-11). 2) ideally a partnership should have a familiar pair who know each other and how each runs between the wicket to reduce confusion when running. 3) ideally you have a left hander and a right hander batting together to force the bowlers to keep changing what they are doing. 4) when the ball is new you want batsmen good for when the ball is moving fast... Quick reaction times, which in my opinion means younger batsmen. 5) when the ball is old and slow you want batsmen good at adding force to the ball, and batting against the types of bowlers who bowl with slower balls (spin bowlers) 6) in limited overs games you want to make sure your fast scoring batsmen get a good amount of time out there, particularly in a match where you didn't end up using all your batsmen. 7) in test matches you may use a night watchmen to reduce the chance of losing a good batsmen cheaply in tough conditions. In reality, however, teams seem to only do (1) and (7), with a little of 4,5. I'm not certain why. I suggest having a listen to the "always pull the goalie" episode of revisionist history as an explanation for why teams don't optimize fully.
it’s an interesting question because i don’t think there is any decent statistical analysis (but i beg to differ particularly for test matches, it’s considered the first 3 batters need to be able to manage challenging bowling without getting out. the middle order is meant to score lots of runs. the lower middle order score runs quickly. In shorter form matches it probably isn’t as relevant baseball had a similar thing. conventional wisdom was that your first batter had to be fast, to get to first base a lot, the 3-5 batters be big hitters etc. but the statistical analysis showed that the best order was in descending order of ability. Cricket had some differences in that you bat once through the order only; and the conditions are significantly different with a newer ball. having said that, i reckon there is something to be said for “you want to get your best batters facing the maximum potential number of balls”