Sporting legend bats at Oval, vain when bagging runs (11)

'sporting legend' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'bats at oval vain when bagging runs' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'at' is present in the answer.
an anagram of 'oval' is 'lova' which is present in the answer.
'runs' could be 'r' (cricket abbreviation) and 'r' is present in the answer.
an anagram of 'vain' is 'navi' which is present in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?