All Time Best Batsmen of the World

Taking our theme of judging consistency of batsmen across nations and across time, the next natural step will be to turn our attention to the most consistent batsmen ever.

I have carried out the analysis and taken it a bit further, to arrive at the best batsmen of all time in terms of prolificacy as well as consistency.

Let us complete our consistency discussion first.
For this analysis again I used the same measure: nos. of innings for per fifty plus contribution. Here too, the performance of this measure is amazing if we compare the results with the accepted stature and quality of batsmen.

I have performed the analysis on 152 batsmen across the world and eras. The qualification criteria are a trifle fuzzy.

On the whole, I have gone ahead with at least 3500 runs as the minimum requirement. However, for certain players I have relaxed the criterion for a number of reasons.

For example, I included Bill Ponsford in the analysis in spite of his 2122 runs since he played just 29 tests , handicapped by the frequency of test matches at his time. In fact, if Bradman was just a very good batsman instead of being the freakish phenomenon that he was, in all his 52 tests and 70 completed innings, he might have scored just 3400 runs at a very impressive average of nearly 49 and would not have qualified if I had maintained a strict criteria for selection.

Kepler Wessels is another person I have included because although he scored less than 3000 runs, he did so in spite of a long gap in his career between his days in Australia and South Africa.

I have considered batsmen and allrounders. For some of the allrounders/wicket keepers, like Hadlee and Jacobs, I have relaxed the bar a bit … because of mere whim.

I have included Clem Hill and Victor Trumper, but the reader is well advised to stick to the analysis of post world war 1 batsmen, since before that pitches were vastly different to merit comparisons and even the best of batsmen, including WG and Trumper, had an average which would seem ordinary today.


A lot of South Africans figure in the list … great players all, having truncated test careers because of the long 22 year ban on them.

How do we proceed to rank these batsmen now?

We have already shown that number of iinnings per fifty plus innings is a very good way of separating the grain from the chaff. It is a very good judge of the consistency of the batsman. Generally we would go ahead and say people with less than 3 innings per 50+ innings are great players, 3-3.6 very good ones and so on.

Ranking these batsmen according to consistency does produce excellent results. Don Bradman is definitely at the top, with a phenomenal 1.9 innings per fifty. What is amazing is that while we are trying to equate greatness with a less than 3 innings for each 50+ innings, the Don takes 2.76 innings to score each century. His conversion rate – 29 centuries to 13 fifties is another awesome statistic.

Just behind the Don, although not quite on his heels, is the English opener of the ’20s, Herbert Sutcliffe. He also has a stupendously low 2.16 innings per 50. The top consistent batsmen read like a roll of honor, with Greame Pollock, Ken Barrington, Everton Weekes following the top two. However, it has its share of surprises, with Saeed Anwar at number 8 being an example.

As for the Indians in the consistency list, Dravid comes in at number 9 followed by Gavaskar at 18, Tendulkar at 23. They are followed by Visvanath (49), M. Amarnath (58), Hazare (59), Sehwag(73), Azharuddin (80), Laxman (93), Vengsarkar(95) and Umrigar (100) in the top hundred.

We have already done an analysis for the modern day batsmen, so I am just listing the ones who make it to the 100 most consistent batsmen of all time –
Yousuf(8), Dravid(9), Ponting(12), Kallis(15), Inzamam(19), Sachin(23), Lara(24), Hayden(32), Jayawerdene (37), Martyn (39), Younis Khan ( 43), Gilchrist and Sangakkara at 55 and 57, Greame Smith (63), Trecothick (70), Langer (71), Sarwan (72), Sehwag (73), Gayle (84), Fleming (87) and Laxman (93).

The measure of 3.6 innings per 50 as an indicator of a consistent performer is vindicated by the last three names in the list who make it under 3.6, Gower(97), Boon(98) and Hanif(99). They are followed by Umrigar(100), Hussain(101), McMillan(102) and so on as the less consistent players.

Incidentally, Sourav Ganguly makes it at 112.

Now the question is how to rank the batsmen in terms of overall rating. Consistency is definitely a big factor, but the average is a defining measure as well – capturing the run scoring ability, ability to play a big innings and so on. So, I have made a simple rating scheme based on consistency and average.

For players playing on different teams, affecting the result of the match with his scores will never make sense, since Simon Katich will always be a better match winner than Brian Lara, since he played for a much better side. So, match winning capability, with its complexity in measurement, has not been considered in the rating.

In ranking the batsmen, I have gone by the standardization concept of the ICSE board examinations. The best batsman in both categories is obviously Sir Don Bradman. In both the categories we consider Bradman to be the ideal or 100. Next we try to place the others in terms of Bradman in the area of average and consistency. Having done this, we place 65% weightage on average and 35% on consistency.

Where did I get these numbers? 65 and 35? Out of thin air, really. It seemed to me they would be a good ratio in which run making ability and consistency will be appreciated in a batsman.
So, each batsman is rated on this and here is what we get:

	Rank	Conistency Rank	Player	Tests	Runs	HS	Ave	C	F	Inn/100	Inn/50	Ave Rate	Cnty Rate	Rating
	1	1	Bradman	52	6996	334	99.94	29	13	2.76	1.9	100	100	100
	2	2	Sutcliffe	54	4555	194	60.73	16	23	5.25	2.15	60.77	88.44	70.45
	3	3	G Pollock	23	2256	274	60.97	7	11	5.86	2.28	61.01	83.62	68.92
	4	5	Barrington	82	6806	256	58.67	20	35	6.55	2.38	58.71	79.97	66.15
	5	6	Weekes	48	4455	207	58.61	15	19	5.4	2.38	58.65	79.95	66.1
	6	4	Hobbs	61	5410	211	56.94	15	28	6.8	2.37	56.97	80.3	65.14
	7	16	G Headley	22	2190	270*	60.83	10	5	4	2.67	60.87	71.43	64.56
	8	9	Dravid	104	9049	270	58.75	23	46	7.65	2.55	58.79	74.68	64.35
	9	12	Ponting	107	9239	257	59.99	33	35	5.42	2.63	60.03	72.36	64.34
	10	7	Yousuf	73	6402	223	56.65	23	26	5.3	2.49	56.68	76.5	63.62
	11	10	Walcott	44	3798	220	56.68	15	14	4.93	2.55	56.71	74.65	62.99
	12	14	Hutton	79	6971	364	56.67	19	33	7.26	2.65	56.7	71.77	61.98
	13	15	Kallis	101	7950	189*	55.59	24	40	7.08	2.66	55.62	71.71	61.25
	14	27	Sobers	93	8032	365*	57.78	26	30	6.15	2.86	57.81	66.67	60.91
	15	23	Tendulkar	132	10469	248*	55.39	35	41	6.03	2.78	55.42	68.61	60.04
	16	41	Hammond	85	7249	336*	58.45	22	24	6.36	3.04	58.49	62.59	59.92
	17	17	Nourse	34	2960	231	53.81	9	14	6.89	2.7	53.84	70.66	59.73
	18	21	Greg Chappel	87	7110	247*	53.86	24	31	6.29	2.75	53.89	69.38	59.31
	19	24	Lara	130	11912	400*	53.17	34	48	6.76	2.8	53.2	67.91	58.35
	20	13	Richards	121	8540	291	50.23	24	45	7.58	2.64	50.26	72.21	57.94
	21	18	Gavaskar	125	10122	236*	51.12	34	45	6.29	2.71	51.15	70.32	57.86
	22	19	Inzamam	115	8614	329	50.97	25	45	7.6	2.71	51	70.18	57.71
	23	28	Miandad	124	8832	280*	52.57	23	43	8.22	2.86	52.6	66.52	57.47
	24	11	Walters	74	5357	250	48.26	15	33	8.33	2.6	48.29	73.14	56.99
	25	29	A Flower	63	4794	232*	51.54	12	27	9.33	2.87	51.57	66.33	56.74
	26	32	Hayden	86	7414	380	52.21	26	26	5.92	2.96	52.24	64.32	56.47
	27	8	Saeed Anwar	55	4052	188*	45.52	11	25	8.27	2.53	45.55	75.35	55.98
	28	22	Mitchell	42	3471	189*	48.88	8	21	10	2.76	48.91	69.05	55.96
	29	25	Worrell	51	3860	261	49.48	9	22	9.67	2.81	49.51	67.87	55.94
	30	31	Border	156	11174	205	50.56	27	63	9.81	2.94	50.59	64.69	55.53
	31	30	Compton	78	5807	278	50.06	17	28	7.71	2.91	50.09	65.43	55.46
	32	26	Dexter	62	4502	205	47.89	9	27	11.33	2.83	47.92	67.23	54.68
	33	37	Jayawardene	83	6250	374	49.6	16	29	8.5	3.02	49.63	63.03	54.32
	34	20	Barlow	30	2516	201	45.74	6	15	9.5	2.71	45.77	70.18	54.31
	35	51	S Waugh	168	10927	200	51.06	32	50	8.13	3.17	51.09	60.07	54.23
	36	73	Sehwag	49	4066	309	52.12	12	12	6.75	3.38	52.15	56.44	53.65
	37	33	Hendren	51	3525	205*	47.63	7	21	11.86	2.96	47.66	64.26	53.47
	38	42	Harvey	79	6149	205	48.41	21	24	6.52	3.04	48.44	62.57	53.38
	39	43	Younus Khan	50	4065	267	48.39	12	17	7.42	3.07	48.42	62.07	53.2
	40	35	Boycott	108	8114	246*	47.72	22	42	8.77	3.02	47.75	63.16	53.14
	41	63	Smith	47	3879	277	50.37	11	14	7.45	3.28	50.4	58.07	53.09
	42	34	Simpson	62	4869	311	46.81	10	27	11.1	3	46.84	63.49	52.67
	43	57	Sangakkaraa	62	4796	287	48.93	10	22	10.3	3.22	48.96	59.18	52.54
	44	36	Lloyd	110	7515	242*	46.67	19	39	9.21	3.02	46.7	63.13	52.45
	45	40	May	66	4537	285*	46.77	13	22	8.15	3.03	46.8	62.89	52.43
	46	44	Lawry	67	5234	210	47.15	13	27	9.46	3.08	47.18	61.94	52.35
	47	55	Gilchrist	87	5188	204*	48.48	16	23	7.81	3.21	48.51	59.43	52.33
	48	39	Martyn	67	4406	165	46.37	13	23	8.38	3.03	46.4	62.91	52.18
	49	52	Kanhai	79	6227	256	47.53	15	28	9.13	3.19	47.56	59.78	51.84
	50	62	McCabe	39	2748	232	48.21	6	13	10.33	3.26	48.24	58.37	51.79

As expected, Bradman comes out right at the top – a good 30 points clear of the next in line.

Herbert Sutcliffe too manages a great 70 points to end up as number 2. Pollock, Barrington, Weekes, Jack Hobbs and the Black Bradman (George Headly 10 centuries in 22 matches) make up numbers 2 to 7.

The good news for the present era is that Dravid, Ponting and Yousuf make up numbers 8, 9 and 10.

After Walcott and Len Hutton in the next two positions, Kallis takes up no 13 and Sobers number 14. The amazing feature about these two batsmen is that they also have more than 200 wickets in Test Cricket.
Sachin Tendulkar comes in at number 15, Hammond, little known South African AD Nourse, and the current Indian coach Greg Chappel separating him from Biran Lara, who is followed by Viv Richards.
The list reads like a roll call of greatness.

The Indian batsmen among the top hundred happen to be Dravid(7), Tendulkar(15), Gavaskar(21), Sehwag(36), Hazare(51), Azharuddin(68), Visvanath(74), Mohinder Amarnath(75), Laxman(91), Vengsarkar(98) and Umrigar(100)

Among the current players, Dravid(8), Ponting(9), Yousuf(10), Kallis(13), Tendulkar(15), Lara(19), Inzamam(23), Hayden(26), Sehwag(36), Younis Khan(39), Greame Smith(41), Sangakkara(43), Gilchrist(47), Martyn(48), Chanderpaul(60), Langer(61), Trescothick(70), Strauss(86), Laxman(91) make the top 100.

A good indicator of a border line between a very good performer and a medium to good performer can be derived from the academic standards of 45% being the pass mark. If Bradman is 100, then Aravind De Silva, Stephen Fleming, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Andrew Jones and Clem Hill bring up the last few batsmen above 45%. Hill played during the turn of the previous century and so his result is more appreciable.
Similarly, 55% can be a border separating the very good from the great. A look at the table will tell you that it is a very good indicator in more senses than one.

Among the wicket keeper batsmen, Gilchrist and Sangakkara are right up there with the best. However, South Africa’s not so well known Bruce Mitchell beats them by a handy margin to end up at number 28, but Andy Flower emerges the best of the lot. However, both Flower and Mitchell, and now Sangakkara, are full time batsmen in their own right. Alec Stewart finishes surprisingly low down at 117 followed by Knott(141), Boucher(146), Dujon(147), Healey(150) and Marsh(152).

Apart from Kallis and Sobers, who are genuine batsmen who also happen to be excellent bowlers, one allrounder who proves to be an excellent batsman is Tony Greig at 95, pipping stalwarts like Zaheer Abbas(96), Haynes(97) and Vengsarkar(98) in the process. The other all rounders do not end up very high when compared to the batsmen, with Miller(130), Flintoff(135), Imran(140), Botham(142), Shastri(144), Kapil(148) and Hadlee(151) completing the list.

There are not too many surprises apart from Aravinda De Silva(103) ending up quite low in the list, but for a long time he had struggled with a weak side. However, the pleasant surprise is that of Robin Smith ending up as high as number 55.

Some not so well known names do paint a prominent picture. These include South African AD Nourse(17), Bruce Mitchell(28), Eddie Barlow(34) and Herbie Taylor(80). However that is more to do with lack of cross cultural exchange that made us unaware of these excellent players.

Sourav Ganguly finishes with 44.14 points at number 111, between Chris Gayle and Mike Atherton. Well … so it goes.