List of cricket batting averages

This is a list of Test and One Day International cricket batting averages.

Career Test average leaders

Current as of 16 June 2008 — "Qualification = 20 innings" — (1,879 Tests – Source Cricinfo Statsguru).

Top 20 retired Test batsmen

{| class="wikitable"{| border="1" cellpadding="1" style="border-collapse: collapse;"
- bgcolor="#D8BFD8" color=white align="center"
width="15px" | Rank
width="180px" | Batsman
width="30px" | Tests
width="30px" | Inns
width="30px" | n.o.
width="50px" | Runs
width="30px" | Highest
width="40px" | Ave
width="130px" | Career dates
-
1
flagicon|Australia D.G. Bradman
52
80
10
6996
334
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 99.94
1928 – 1948
-
2
flagicon|South Africa|1928 R.G. Pollock
23
41
4
2256
274
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 60.97
1963 – 1970
-
3
flagicon|West Indies G.A. Headley
22
40
4
2190
270*
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 60.83
1930 – 1954
-
4
flagicon|England H. Sutcliffe
54
84
9
4555
194
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 60.73
1924 – 1935
-
5
flagicon|England E. Paynter
20
31
5
1540
243
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 59.23
1931 – 1939
-
6
flagicon| England K.F. Barrington
82
131
15
6806
256
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 58.67
1955 – 1968
-
7
flagicon|West Indies E.D. Weekes
48
81
5
4455
207
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 58.61
1948 – 1958
-
8
flagicon|England W.R. Hammond
85
140
16
7249
336*
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 58.45
1927 – 1947
-
9
flagicon|West Indies G.S. Sobers
93
160
21
8032
365*
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 57.78
1954 – 1974
-
10
flagicon| England J.B. Hobbs
61
102
7
5410
211
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 56.94
1908 – 1930
-
11
flagicon|West Indies C.L. Walcott
44
74
7
3798
220
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 56.68
1948 – 1960
-
12
flagicon|England L. Hutton
79
138
15
6971
364
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 56.67
1937 – 1955
-
13
flagicon|England G.E. Tyldesley
14
20
2
990
122
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 55.00
1921 – 1929
-
14
flagicon|West Indies C.A. Davis
15
29
5
1301
183
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 54.20
1968 – 1973
-
15
flagicon|India V.G. Kambli
17
21
1
1084
227
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 54.20
1993 – 1995
-
16
flagicon|Australia G.S. Chappell
87
151
19
7110
247*
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 53.86
1970 – 1984
-
17
flagicon|South Africa|1928 A.D. Nourse
34
62
7
2960
231
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 53.81
1935 – 1951
-
18
flagicon|West Indies B.C. Lara
131
232
6
11953
400*
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 52.88
1990 – 2006
-
19
flagicon|Pakistan Javed Miandad
124
189
21
8832
280*
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 52.57
1976 – 1993
-
20
flagicon|Australia J. Ryder
20
32
5
1394
201*
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 51.62
1920 – 1929
-

* denotes not out






Ryder is #29 on all-time list
-
-}

Top 10 active Test batsmen

{| class="wikitable"{| border="1" cellpadding="1" style="border-collapse: collapse;"
- bgcolor="#FF00FF" color=white align="center"
width="15px" | Rank
width="180px" | Batsman
width="30px" | Tests
width="30px" | Inns
width="30px" | n.o.
width="50px" | Runs
width="30px" | Highest
width="40px" | Ave
width="130px" | Date of debut
-
1
flagicon|Australia M.E.K. Hussey
25
42
8
2325
182
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 68.38
3 November 2005
-
2
flagicon|Australia R.T. Ponting
119
199
26
10099
257
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 58.37
8 December 1995
-
3
flagicon|Pakistan Mohammad Yousuf
79
134
12
6770
223
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 55.49
26 February 1998
-
4
flagicon|South Africa J. H. Kallis †
123
209
33
9761
189*
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 55.46
14 December 1995
-
5
flagicon|Sri Lanka K. C. Sangakkara †
76
125
9
6356
287
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 54.79
20 July 2000|
-
6
flagicon|India S. R. Tendulkar
150
244
25
11877
248*
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 54.23
15 November 1989
-
7
flagicon|India R. S. Dravid †
125
216
26
10246
270
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 53.92
20 June 1994
-
8
flagicon|Australia M. L. Hayden
94
167
13
8242
380
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 53.51
4 March 1994
-
9
flagicon|India V. Sehwag †
60
102
4
5157
319
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 52.62
3 November 2001
-
10
flagicon|Sri Lanka D.P.M.D. Jayawardene
98
160
12
7757
374
bgcolor="#FFF0F5"| 52.41
2 August 1997
-|
† played for ICC XI






* denotes not out
-
-}

There are some striking differences between the two groups:
*English and West Indian players are prominent in the retired list.
*The top retired players have played significantly fewer Tests than the top active players. The most notable exception among active players is Michael Hussey, who did not make his Test debut until age 30, unusual in the modern era of cricket. The retired players who have played in a number of Tests comparable to today's top active players generally had very long Test careers (for example, Garry Sobers' Test career spanned 20 years).

However, at the same time, some equally striking similarities can be seen:
*Both the retired and active lists have one player well ahead of all others. Among retired players, the late Donald Bradman owns a batting average nearly 40 runs higher than any other player. Among active players, Michael Hussey once had a batting average more than 20 runs higher than any other active player, but his advantage has more recently dropped to about 10 runs.
*Apart from Bradman and Hussey, the two lists cluster around very similar averages, with the retired batsmen being slightly higher than the active ones.

Career One Day International average leaders

The first ODI was on 5 January 1971, but it was a year or two before the genre took off elsewhere than England.

Current as of 17 June 2008 — "Qualification = 20 innings" — (2,708 ODIs – Source Cricinfo Statsguru).

Top 10 retired ODI batsmen sequenced by average

{| class="wikitable"{| border="1" cellpadding="1" style="border-collapse: collapse;"
- bgcolor="#FFA07A" color=white align="center"
width="15px" | Rank
width="180px" | Batsman
width="30px" | ODIs
width="30px" | Inns
width="30px" | n.o.
width="50px" | Runs
width="30px" | Highest
width="40px" | Ave
width="40px" | S.R.
width="130px" | Career dates
-
1
flagicon|Australia M.G. Bevan
232
196
67
6912
108*
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 53.58
74.16
1994 – 2004
-
2
flagicon|Pakistan Zaheer Abbas
62
60
6
2572
123
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 47.62
84.80
1974 – 1985
-
3
flagicon|West Indies I.V.A. Richards
187
167
24
6721
189*
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 47.00
90.20
1975 – 1991
-
4
flagicon|New Zealand G.M. Turner
41
40
6
1598
171*
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 47.00
68.05
1973 – 1983
-
5
flagicon|West Indies C.G. Greenidge
128
127
13
5134
133*
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 45.03
64.92
1975 – 1991
-
6
flagicon|Australia D.M. Jones
164
161
25
6068
145
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 44.61
72.56
1984 – 1994
-
7
flagicon|South Africa H.H. Dippenaar
107
95
14
3421
125*
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 42.23
67.78
1999 – 2007
-
8
flagicon|Pakistan Javed Miandad
233
218
41
7381
119*
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 41.70
66.99
1975 – 1996
-
9
flagicon|West Indies D.L. Haynes
238
237
28
8648
152*
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 41.37
63.09
1978 – 1994
-
10
flagicon|South Africa L. Klusener
171
137
50
3576
103*
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 41.10
89.91
1996 – 2004
-

* denotes not out





|
S.R. = strike rate
-
-}

Top 10 active ODI batsmen sequenced by average

{| class="wikitable"{| border="1" cellpadding="1" style="border-collapse: collapse;"
- bgcolor="#FF4500" color=white align="center"
width="15px" | Rank
width="180px" | Batsman
width="30px" | ODIs
width="30px" | Inns
width="30px" | n.o.
width="50px" | Runs
width="30px" | Highest
width="40px" | Ave
width="40px" | S.R.
width="130px" | Date of debut
-
1
flagicon|Australia M.E.K. Hussey
85
64
26
2113
109*
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 55.60
86.99
1 February 2004
-
2
flagicon|England K.P. Pietersen †
72
66
13
2664
116
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 50.26
87.51
28 November 2004
-
3
flagicon|India M.S. Dhoni ‡
109
97
25
3273
183*
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 45.45
92.27
23 December 2004
-
4
flagicon|South Africa J. H. Kallis †
274
260
49
9541
139
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 45.21
71.35
9 January 1996
-
5
flagicon|India S.R. Tendulkar
417
407
38
16361
186*
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 44.33
85.49
18 December 1989
-
6
flagicon|West Indies R.R. Sarwan
127
119
25
4148
115*
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 44.12
76.60
20 July 2000
-
7
flagicon|Australia M.J. Clarke
132
116
27
3920
130
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 44.04
81.47
19 January 2003
-
8
flagicon|Australia M.L. Hayden †
161
155
15
6133
181*
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 43.80
78.96
19 May 1993
-
9
flagicon|Pakistan Mohammad Yousuf ‡
264
250
40
9144
141*
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 43.54
75.16
28 March 1998
-
10
flagicon|Australia R. T. Ponting †
298
289
35
11026
164
bgcolor="#FFE4E1"| 43.40
80.50
15 February 1995
-

* denotes not out





|
-

† played for ICC XI







-

‡ played for Asia XI







S.R. = strike rate
-
-}

There is very little difference in the averages for retired and active batsmen.

Top 10 ODI batsmen sequenced by career run aggregate

There are two alternatives to simple batting average to measure the quality of batsmen playing in One-day Internationals, career run aggregate and career strike rate. The following table omits the disgraced Indian batsman Mohammad Azharuddin, who would have been in tenth place.

{| class="wikitable"{| border="1" cellpadding="1" style="border-collapse: collapse;"
- bgcolor="#FF8C00" color=white align="center"
width="15px" | Rank
width="180px" | Batsman
width="30px" | ODIs
width="30px" | Inns
width="30px" | n.o.
width="50px" | Runs
width="30px" | Highest
width="40px" | Ave
width="40px" | S.R.
width="130px" | Date of debut
-
1
flagicon|India S.R. Tendulkar
417
407
38
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 16361
186*
44.33
85.49
18 December 1989
-
2
flagicon|Sri Lanka S.T. Jayasuriya ‡
411
399
18
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 12310
189
32.30
90.39
18 December 1989
-
3
flagicon|Pakistan Inzamam-ul-Haq ‡
378
350
53
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 11739
137*
39.52
74.24
22 November 1991
-
4
flagicon|India S.C. Ganguly ‡
311
300
23
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 11363
183
41.02
73.70
11 January 1992
-
5
flagicon|Australia R. T. Ponting †
298
289
35
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 11026
164
43.40
80.50
15 February 1995
-
6
flagicon|India R. S. Dravid ‡ †
333
308
40
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 10585
153
39.49
71.22
3 April 1996
-
7
flagicon|West Indies B.C. Lara †
299
289
32
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 10405
169
40.48
79.51
9 November 1990
-
8
flagicon|Australia A.C. Gilchrist †
287
279
11
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 9619
172
35.89
96.94
25 October 1996
-
9
flagicon|South Africa J. H. Kallis †
274
260
49
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 9541
139
45.21
71.35
9 January 1996
-
10
flagicon|Sri Lanka P.A. de Silva
308
296
30
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 9284
145
34.90
81.13
31 March 1984
-

* denotes not out





|
-

† played for ICC XI







-

‡ played for Asia XI







S.R. = strike rate
-
-}

Top 10 ODI batsmen sequenced by Strike Rate

There are two alternatives to simple average to measure the quality of batsmen playing in One-day Internationals, career run aggregate and career strike rate. Strike rate is defined as the number of runs scored per hundred deliveries faced. The following table includes only players from Test-playing countries with 20 completed innings, and includes many unfamiliar players; only Shahid Afridi, Virender Sehwag and Adam Gilchrist are established "names". Strike rate is not a particularly useful statistic in itself, but as Twenty/20 cricket becomes established internationally, it will become probably the most important measure of a batsman's value. At present not enough Twenty/20 games have been played internationally to provide meaningful comparative statistics.

{| class="wikitable"{| border="1" cellpadding="1" style="border-collapse: collapse;"
- bgcolor="#FFA500" color=white align="center"
width="15px" | Rank
width="180px" | Batsman
width="30px" | ODIs
width="30px" | Inns
width="30px" | n.o.
width="50px" | Runs
width="30px" | Highest
width="40px" | Ave
width="40px" | S.R.
width="130px" | Date of debut
-
1
flagicon|Pakistan Shahid Afridi † ‡
261
246
16
5466
109
23.76
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 111.30
2 October 1996
-
2
flagicon|Zimbabwe A.M. Blignaut
51
40
8
625
63*
19.53
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 106.65
2 September 1999
-
3
flagicon|New Zealand B.L. Cairns
78
65
6
987
60
16.72
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 104.88
30 May 1974
-
4
flagicon|West Indies D.R. Smith
71
56
3
791
68
14.92
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 101.54
25 January 2004
-
5
flagicon|New Zealand A.R. Adams
42
34
10
419
45
17.45
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 100.47
10 April 2001
-
6
flagicon|New Zealand I.D.S. Smith
98
77
16
1055
62
17.29
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 99.43
25 November 1980
-
7
flagicon|South Africa|1928 R.P. Snell
42
28
8
322
63
16.10
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 97.57
10 November 1991
-
8
flagicon|India V. Sehwag † ‡
186
181
7
5462
130
31.39
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 97.22
1 April 1999
-
9
flagicon|Australia A.C. Gilchrist †
287
279
11
9619
172
35.89
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 96.94
25 October 1996
-
10
flagicon|West Indies R. Powell
109
100
16
2085
124
24.82
bgcolor="#FAEBD7"| 96.66
16 May 1999
-

* denotes not out





|
-

† played for ICC XI







-

‡ played for Asia XI







S.R. = strike rate
-
-}

External links

* [http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/282910.html Test averages at Cricinfo]
* [http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/282911.html ODI averages at Cricinfo]