Guide
Positions in a Test XI
Six jobs, eleven players. What each one is for, and how the game uses them.
A Test team has to score runs, take twenty wickets and hold its catches over up to five days. Selectors therefore think in jobs rather than names. The Beat My 11 draft uses the same idea: the eleven spots are fixed, and each one accepts only players who do that job.
Openers (2 spots)
The two batters who face the new ball. The ball is hardest to play when it is new: it moves in the air and off the pitch, and the fielders are fresh. A good opener sees off that period so the batters behind can play against an older, softer ball. Patience matters as much as strokeplay, and an opening pair that survives the first hour is a gift to the team.
Middle order (3 spots)
Numbers three, four and five. This is where a team’s biggest innings usually come from. The number three often walks in early if an opener falls, so the role needs both solid defence and the ability to take the game on once the bowlers tire. In the game these three spots are for specialist batters.
Wicketkeeper (1 spot)
The keeper stands behind the stumps for every ball, takes the catches and stumpings that come his way and runs the field with a view of the whole game. A keeper who also bats well is worth a great deal, because he gives the side a sixth specialist batter without costing a place. In Beat My 11 the keeper is scored on his batting, with fielding counted for the whole team.
All-rounders and spinners (2 flex spots)
An all-rounder bats and bowls well enough to hold a place in either department. One lets a captain pick an extra bowler or an extra batter without weakening the other side. A spinner bowls slow and turns the ball, which matters most on dry, worn pitches late in a match. The two flex spots in the game take either type, which gives three legal shapes: two all-rounders, one all-rounder and one spinner, or two spinners. All-rounders are scored on both batting and bowling.
Fast bowlers (3 spots)
Pace bowlers take most of their wickets with the new ball and in short, sharp spells later on. Three is the usual core of an attack: enough to rotate through a day of bowling without anyone running out of legs, with the spinner and the all-rounder sharing the rest. Fast bowlers are scored on bowling only.
Why the shape matters in the game
You cannot fill an XI with eleven batters, because the spots do not allow it. This is what makes the draft a puzzle: a spin may hand you a brilliant middle-order batter when every middle-order spot is already filled, and you have to decide whether to pick him anyway for another place or take the best bowler instead. Read the tips for building a balanced XI, or see how teams are scored.
Last updated 8 October 2026.