The World's Most Consistent Batsman

Since we discussed the most consistent batsman in the history of Indian test cricket in my last post, let us take one step further and try to find out the most consistent batsman of the world in the present day.

Again we use the same statistic as we used in the last post, namely the number of innings taken per fifty plus innings.

Again, the results that we get are very predictable in terms of ranking of the class of batsmen, and the method proves to be a great way to come up with comparisons.


The statistics and results shown here is a good way to distinguish class from mere hype and perception.

I have considered 39 batsmen of the modern era (current players) who have been recognized as a batsman or an allrounder and has at least 1500 test runs to his credit.

Sl No.	Name	Tests	Inngs	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	C	F	6s	Ct	Inn/C	Inn/50+
1	Yousuf	73	122	9	6402	223	56.65	23	26	46	59	5.30	2.49
2	Dravid	104	176	22	9049	270	58.75	23	46	13	146	7.65	2.55
3	Ponting	107	179	25	9239	257	59.99	33	35	57	121	5.42	2.63
4	Kallis	102	172	28	8033	189	55.78	24	40	55	98	7.17	2.69
5	Inzamam	116	192	21	8615	329	50.38	25	45	48	79	7.68	2.74
6	Tendulkar	132	211	22	10469	248	55.39	35	41	41	82	6.03	2.78
7	Lara	131	232	6	11953	400	52.88	34	48	88	164	6.82	2.83
8	Pietersen	20	38	1	1865	158	50.40	6	7	32	13	6.33	2.92
9	Hayden	86	154	12	7414	380	52.21	26	26	76	112	5.92	2.96
10	Jayawardene	83	136	10	6250	374	49.60	16	29	31	111	8.50	3.02
11	Martyn	66	109	14	4406	165	47.20	13	23	10	34	8.38	3.03
12	Younis Khan	50	89	5	4065	267	48.39	12	17	18	55	7.42	3.07
13	Chanderpaul	101	173	22	6736	203	44.60	14	40	16	44	12.36	3.20
14	Gilchrist	86	125	18	5188	204	48.48	16	23	93	324	7.81	3.21
15	Sangakkara	62	103	5	4796	287	48.93	10	22	14	142	10.30	3.22
16	Samaraweera	39	58	8	2089	142	41.78	5	13	1	30	11.60	3.22
17	Trescothick	76	143	10	5825	219	43.79	14	29	42	95	10.21	3.33
18	Langer	101	177	11	7586	250	45.69	23	30	40	69	7.70	3.34
19	Smith	48	84	5	3891	277	49.25	11	14	13	59	7.64	3.36
20	Sarwan	65	118	8	4268	261	38.80	9	26	8	46	13.11	3.37
21	Sehwag	49	81	3	4066	309	52.12	12	12	41	38	6.75	3.38
22	Gayle	64	113	3	4259	317	38.71	7	26	31	66	16.14	3.42
23	Fleming	102	173	10	6545	274	40.15	9	41	21	152	19.22	3.46
24	Afridi	26	46	1	1683	156	37.40	5	8	50	10	9.20	3.54
25	Laxman	77	124	14	4698	281	42.70	10	25	4	81	12.40	3.54
26	Strauss	32	62	2	2668	147	44.46	10	7	6	40	6.20	3.65
27	Farhat	24	45	1	1521	128	34.56	2	10	1	29	22.50	3.75
28	Gibbs	79	135	6	5728	228	44.40	14	22	46	72	9.64	3.75
29	Ganguly	88	140	12	5221	173	40.78	12	25	41	59	11.67	3.78
30	Astle	79	133	10	4650	222	37.80	11	24	39	69	12.09	3.80
31	Flintoff	63	104	6	3543	167	34.39	5	22	74	44	20.80	3.85
32	Vaughn	64	115	8	4595	197	42.94	15	14	22	37	7.67	3.97
33	Jayasuriya	105	178	14	6745	340	41.12	14	30	56	78	12.71	4.05
34	Dilshan	39	63	7	2056	168	36.71	4	9	4	44	15.75	4.85
35	Atapattu	88	152	15	5330	249	38.90	16	15	3	57	9.50	4.90
36	Boucher	96	136	17	3582	125	30.10	4	23	11	350	34.00	5.04
37	Dippenar	37	60	5	1715	177	31.18	3	7	5	27	20.00	6.00
38	Razzaq	46	77	9	1946	134	28.61	3	7	23	15	25.67	7.70
39	Pollock	102	147	37	3515	111	31.95	2	15	33	68	73.50	8.65

As before, our technique gives us wonderful results.
Again, in the top bracket are nine batsmen who take less than 3 innings to play a substantial innings. And these people are accepted as the leading batters of the world.

Mohammad Yousuf, with the great year behind him, heads the list at 2.49 innings per 50+ innings, followed closely by Dravid, Ponting, Kallis, Inzamam, Tendulkar, Lara, Pietersen and Hayden.

Most people will agree that today, these are the most consistent batsmen in the world. True, it can be argued that for Pietersen it is still early days.

Following these best players are a clutch of very good batsmen, from Jayawardene to Laxman, with Gilchrist and Sangakkara right in the middle of them. No surprise that, but it does underline the value of the wicketkeepers who are also leading batsmen of the world. Sangakkara is now concentrating on batting, but Gilchrist will always be donning the gloves.
And with five Aussie batters there in the top 20, with Hussey failing the selection criteria of 1500 runs, there is no reason why Gilchrist needs to give up keeping for his batting. It also reflects why Australians are the number 1 in the world - without even discussing McGrath and Warne.

The minor surprise in this group might be the name of Samaraweera, who, almost unnoticed, has gone on to be a force to reckon with in world cricket.
However, the major surprise is that the slam bang tactics of Afridi, while giving the indication of hit or miss, are in fact more consistent than the efforts of the classy VVS Laxman.

The not so consistent players make up the third group, and the surprise inclusion here is the name of Herschelle Gibbs. While Astle, Ganguly, Jayasuriya and Vaughn are bracketed together with surprisingly consistent allrounder Flintoff, Gibbs' inclusion in this category does reflect on the unfulfilled promise of this flashy performer with oodles of talent.

Atapattu, with five double hundreds, must have a high standard deviation in his scores, with his name bracketed with inconsistent performers like Dippenar, Dilshan and the great scrapper of South Africa, Mark Boucher; with Razzaq and Pollock, the allrounders, bringing up the rear.

So who is the best batsman? In my opinion, there is very little to choose in terms of consistency and run scoring capability of Yousuf, Dravid and Ponting. Perhaps , right now, Dravid and Ponting have a slight edge because of longevity, but a couple of decent years from Yousuf may tilt the balance.

In future, however, provided he can maintain the consistency and do justice to his great talent, Kevin Peitersen is the man to watch for.

The table also shows that the time tested performers Lara, Sachin, Kallis and Inzy are great in the true sense of the word, according to perception as well as statistics.

Hayden, with his current slump, may slip out of the top bracket by the end of the Ashes series, and with increasing maturity, Jayawardene may soon get into the top bracket.

Sourav Ganguly, however, continues to end up at the lower end, but he can take heart from just about edging out his arch rival Andrew Flintoff.