All time greatest cricketers
Based on my analysis the best all time test cricketers are: DG Bradman, GS Sobers, TL Goddard, MH Mankad and HJ Hayfield. The best One Day International players are AB de Villiers, JP Faulkner, Viv Richards, HM Amla and MS Dhoni.
After a summer analyzing the collective history of test match and one day international cricket (e.g. read hardest place to tour, Who is the best touring nation, bat of field first in Test matches, or ODI) I have had a crack at trying to answer ‘who is the best cricket player ever’ by coming up with a combination of each players’ batting, bowling and fielding stats to produce a ranking for the top 150 players for both test and ODI cricket.
Top five Test and ODI players of all time
| Test Cricket | One Day Internationals (Top Tier Nations) | |||||||
| Rank | Player | Career | Matches | Truii Score | Player | Career | Matches | Truii Score |
| 1 | DG Bradman (Aus) | 1928-1948 | 52 | 105.1 | AB de Villiers (SA) | 2005-2015 | 161 | 75.7 |
| 2 | GS Sobers (WI) | 1954-1974 | 93 | 102.6 | JP Faulkner (Aus) | 2013-2015 | 39 | 71.8 |
| 3 | TL Goddard (SA) | 1955-1970 | 41 | 100.5 | IVA Richards (WI) | 1975-1991 | 185 | 71.1 |
| 4 | MH Mankad (India) | 1946-1959 | 44 | 99.3 | HM Amla (SA) | 2008-2015 | 101 | 66.2 |
| 5 | HJ Tayfield (SA) | 1949-1960 | 37 | 94.1 | MS Dhoni (India) | 2005-2015 | 240 | 64.4 |
After hours of listening to cricket commentators bang on during a pretty lackluster summer of Australian test cricket, my son Zach asked ‘so who is the best cricketer ever?’. Pretty fair question, and quick as flash I said, ‘the Don’. ‘so who is number two?’ He asked. Rating myself as a bit of a data guy I consulted the collective cricket archives on ESPN cricinfo and cooked up a method of comparison explained below. But first a little background…
How do you define a great cricketer?
Traditionally, players get described as a batsman, bowler or all-rounder (you could also include keeper-batsman as well). So how do you put all these categories into one ranked list to be able to compare batsmen and bowlers? I have tried to develop a ‘runs’ equivalent and combine a player’s overall runs gained through the bat plus runs saved through their bowling and fielding contribution.
How do you compare Batters, Bowlers and Fielders?
To be a good cricketer you have to be a great batsman, a bowler or on the rare occasion a true all-rounder (bat, bowl and field). Player rankings, generally compare all the batsmen, or the bowlers. In my mind this discounts the value of a great all-rounder, or even a middling batsman who is handy with the ball. I haven’t seen a simple method where the collective contribution of batting, bowling and fielding has been combined to give an overall ranking. No doubt someone will point a method out to me after this post.
My approach is to come up with a score for every player (who has played at least 25 tests or ODIs) where that score can roughly be considered as a per innings runs equivalent contribution to their team. The following method is pretty straightforward, and the approach is debatable but I’m happy with the general principles of combining the credit of batting, bowling and fielding to give an overall assessment of a player’s contribution to the team. To score well in the ranking you have to consistently contribute to your teams score – either directly through the bat, or indirectly by taking wickets while bowling or fielding – truly great players do all of these things.
Batting
This is straight forward, and is simply the batting average for the player (number of runs / number of dismissals). I break this down to a per innings contribution as late order batsmen often don’t get a chance to bat or are not dismissed in every innings, so rather than divide total runs by total innings, it is total runs by total dismissals.
Bowling
Bowlers play two key roles, first and foremost they have to take wickets, you can have the greatest batting lineup in the world but to win a test match you have to take 20 wickets (sporting declarations aside). Secondly, bowlers have to restrict the scoring rate to create pressure on the batsmen. There is often an important role for a bowler who can tie up one end and create wicket taking pressure for their partner bowler (think Glen McGrath). A truly great bowler is one who can both take wickets and have a good economy rate.
To get a score for the wicket taking performance I simply used the average number of wickets per innings. This was scaled by the proportion of innings that they actually bowled in. This is to ensure that the occasional lucky part-time bowler doesn’t get a disproportionally high wicket taking score. But how many runs is a wicket was worth? For a batsman, their wicket is worth their batting average, to keep with the same theme I would argue that the average value of a batsmen to the fielding team is the overall average batting average. Ideally we would attribute more value to higher order batsmen, but that requires a whole lot more data wrangling. I have attributed the runs for taking a wicket across the bowler and the fielder.
The overall batting average of all test players (who have played at least 25 tests) is 29.6 runs. We cannot give all of these runs to the bowler, as there is often someone else involved in the wicket such as a catcher, wicket keeper, or simply the pressure placed by a full slips cordon that results in a nervous batsman being clean-bowled. So I have given the bowler half the batting average for each wicket they take. For example if a bowler takes 2 wickets on average per innings, then their bowling wicket score is 29.6.
To get a score for bowling economy, I have simply considered how many runs are being saved (or not) due to the bowlers economy. I compare their average economy with the overall average bowling economy of all test bowlers (2.9 runs per over) and multiply the difference by the average number of overs they bowl per innings. Again this is scaled by the number of innings that they have bowled in to account to part timers. For example Glen McGrath has a bowling economy of 2.49 and bowled an average of 20 overs per innings and bowled in 243 of the 244 innings that his team fielded. Glen McGrath’s economy score is therefore (2.9-2.49) x 20 x (243 / 244) = 8.17. This implies that his economical bowling contributed about 8.2 runs per innings to his teams score (actually restricted the other teams score) that they wouldn’t have got if they had an ‘average’ bowler.
Fielding
The traditional rankings of players don’t really consider a fielders performance. Every schoolboy knows that ‘catches win matches’ so I wanted to credit those players with their fielding performance. The best fielders are placed in catching positions, and ultimately should get some credit for those great catches.
To provide a score for fielding performance I have used the average number of fielding dismissals (catch and runout) per innings for each player. I have then multiplied this by half of the average value of a wicket (29.6/2). This follows the same logic as giving the bowler half credit for being part of a dismissal. For example Ricky Ponting was involved in 196 dismissals (catches and runouts) as a fielder in his 328 innings as a fielder, so his average fielding contribution to the innings score was 196/328 x 29.6/2 = 8.84 runs.
What about keepers? They obviously get more opportunity to take catches than a regular fielder, but arguably they have earned that right by being good glovemen. I apply the same approach as for fielders taking a catch, although because catching with gloves is easier, I only give the keepers half the score of a fielder, or ¼ the value of a wicket. For example, Adam Gilchrest took 379 catches and 37 stumpings from 191 fielding innings or 2.17 wickets per innings so his wicket keeping contribution to the inning score would be 2.17 x 29.6/4 = 16.06.
One Day Cricket
What about one day cricket? I have applied the above method for one day cricket as well as test cricket. Unlike test cricket, there have been plenty of ODI games between minnow nations which can skew the result so I have only included the stats from ODI games played between the top tier nations (Australia, England, India, West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Pakistan).
Another key difference for one day cricket is that because the game is limited by the number of overs, a batsman’s ability to score quickly is an important asset. To account for batting strike rate in one day cricket I compared the batsman’s strike rate with the average strike rate of all players, multiplied by the average number of balls they face per game. For example James Faulkner has a strike rate of 112 (hits 112 runs for every 100 balls faced), the average strike rate is 71.3. Faulkner has faced an average of 24 balls per innings, so therefore his contribution due to strike rate (over and above and average batsman) is (112-71.3)/100 *24 = 9.8.
Unlike test cricket, you don’t need to get the other team all-out to win a match. Hence it is no great surprise that bowlers do not feature as high up the ODI rankings as batsmen in the tables below.
Greatest cricketer rankings
Each individual players score for batting, bowling and fielding are added together to give an overall player score as a ‘runs contribution per innings’. Great batsmen who don’t bowl will excel because they have a high batting average, similarly good bowlers who cannot bat will do well if they take wickets and are economical, similarly a great all-rounder who is handy with the bat and can bowl get credit.
There is a league table of the top 150 players at the end of the post, but a couple of summary tables first.
The tables are for all test and ODI cricket played up until Dec 2015 and only includes those players who have played at least 25 test matches.
Greatest cricket players ever
No surprises to see the Don at the top of the list for test players or AB de Villiers for ODI. In fact the top ten for both tests and ODI are all fantastic players with formidable stats. What is reassuring is that there is a mix of batsmen, bowlers and all-rounders in the list indicating that the ‘best ever cricketer’ method might have some merit.
| Test Cricket | One Day Internationals (Top Tier Nations) | |||
| Rank | Player | Strength | Player | Strength |
| 1 | DG Bradman (Aus) | Batsman | AB de Villiers (SA) | Batsman |
| 2 | GS Sobers (WI) | All-rounder | JP Faulkner (Aus) | All-rounder |
| 3 | TL Goddard (SA) | All-rounder | IVA Richards (WI) | Batsman |
| 4 | MH Mankad (India) | All-rounder | HM Amla (SA) | Batsman |
| 5 | HJ Tayfield (SA) | Bowler (offspin) | MS Dhoni (India) | Batsman |
| 6 | MW Tate (Eng) | Bowler (seem) | V Kohli (India) | Batsman |
| 7 | WJ O’Reilly (Aus) | Bowler (spin) | GS Chappell (Aus) | Batsman |
| 8 | CV Grimmett (Aus) | Bowler (spin) | L Klusener (SA) | All-rounder |
| 9 | AK Davidson (Aus) | All-rounder | Q de Kock (SA) | Batsman |
| 10 | R Benaud (Aus) | All-rounder | GJ Maxwell (Aus) | Batsman |
What does surprise me is that there are no recent players in the best test player rankings until you get to number 13 (Muralitharan), and then Kallis at 17 and no current players until Ravi Ashwin at number 19. Does this imply that the current and recent players cannot hold a candle to the old guard. Or that perhaps the method is applied to individual player stats which suits earlier eras of cricket with batsmen grinding out large totals which resulted in a lot more drawn games .
What is disappointing for me as a big fan is that the ‘Little Master’ Sachin Tendulka comes in at a lowly 127th best test cricketer ever (21th best one day player). I guess I could have massaged the method to make sure Tendulka came out at the top of the list. However that largely defeats the point of the exercise which is to create a method which is independent of my personal bias – this blog is about data after all. What is a glaring omission in the method is ‘team play’. There is no account of selfless team play or great captaincy which I’m sure Sachin Tendulka would score well at if I could think of a way to represent it.
Greatest cricketers: current players
So who is the best of the current crop? I have left in those players who have recently retired (e.g Michael Clarke, Ryan Harris) partly to keep some Aussies in the top 20 current test players. Based on the Truii score, Shane Watson is the only current Aussie in the top 20 test players.
You might be surprised that James Faulkner is right up there in the ODI rankings. However his player profile fits right in with the method, he has a high batting average (46 compared to average 23) a high strike rate (112 runs per 100 balls compared to the average of 71 runs per 100 balls), and he takes wickets when bowling (1.5 wickets per innings compared to 0.7 per innings average).
| Test Cricket | One Day Internationals (Top Tier Nations) | |||||
| Rank | Player | Matches | Truii Score | Player | Matches | Truii Score |
| 1 | R Ashwin (India) | 32 | 79.5 | AB de Villiers (SA) | 161 | 75.7 |
| 2 | Shakib Al Hasan (Ban) | 42 | 73.6 | JP Faulkner (Aus) | 39 | 71.8 |
| 3 | KC Sangakkara (SL) | 134 | 64.9 | HM Amla (SA) | 101 | 66.2 |
| 4 | Younis Khan (Pak) | 104 | 63.1 | MS Dhoni (India) | 240 | 64.4 |
| 5 | VD Philander (SA) | 32 | 61.4 | V Kohli (India) | 143 | 62.9 |
| 6 | AD Mathews (SL) | 56 | 60.6 | Q de Kock (SA) | 41 | 60.4 |
| 7 | RJ Harris (Aus) | 27 | 60.4 | GJ Maxwell (Aus) | 49 | 60.2 |
| 8 | MJ Clarke (Aus) | 115 | 60.1 | KS Williamson (NZ) | 72 | 59.4 |
| 9 | KS Williamson (NZ) | 46 | 59.8 | AD Russell (WI) | 39 | 58.6 |
| 10 | LRPL Taylor (NZ) | 69 | 58.6 | SPD Smith (Aus) | 53 | 58.3 |
| 11 | Mohammad Hafeez (Pak) | 47 | 57.5 | GJ Bailey (Aus) | 58 | 57.2 |
| 12 | Harbhajan Singh (India) | 103 | 56.2 | SR Watson (Aus) | 164 | 56.8 |
| 13 | HMRKB Herath (SL) | 67 | 55.4 | CJ Anderson (NZ) | 29 | 56.3 |
| 14 | S Chanderpaul (WI) | 164 | 55.0 | AD Mathews (SL) | 147 | 55.4 |
| 15 | LD Chandimal (SL) | 25 | 54.6 | S Dhawan (India) | 56 | 55.0 |
| 16 | Misbah-ul-Haq (Pak) | 61 | 54.5 | MJ Clarke (Aus) | 208 | 54.8 |
| 17 | CA Pujara (India) | 32 | 53.4 | JE Root (Eng) | 59 | 54.7 |
| 18 | SR Watson (Aus) | 59 | 52.5 | JC Buttler (Eng) | 60 | 54.6 |
| 19 | BJ Watling (NZ) | 36 | 52.1 | RA Jadeja (India) | 102 | 52.4 |
| 20 | SJ Benn (WI) | 26 | 52.0 | LRPL Taylor (NZ) | 141 | 51.8 |
What’s missing
This method is pretty simple and there are arguably more factors that you might want to include. For example;
- Career length: Is it fair to compare the batting average of someone who has played 25 tests with someone who has played 200?
- Era: is it fair to compare the form of someone who played in the 1930’s with someone from the 1970’s? arguably the style of game has changed quite a bit.
- Batting strike rate: I intentionally excluded the rate of scoring from the analysis for test cricket. However my personal feeling is that aggressive batting plays an important role in modern test cricket.
- Bowling opponents: Getting an opening batsmen out is much more valuable than getting out a lower order bunny. Digging out these stats is possible but a lot of work, so I have resisted scaling the value of a wicket by the quality of the batsmen dismissed.
- Runs saved: Unfortunately there is no basic stat to measure how many runs where saved by a fielder. It would be great to give credit for those dramatic dives into the advertising hoardings to save a run.
Aside: Following a review of the method by some statistically minded and cricket tragic colleagues I tested an alternative approach based on deviation from the mean. Rather than an aggregate ‘runs per innings’ equivalent I simply averaged each players deviations from the mean player (number of standard deviations) for batting, bowling and fielding. You get an average number of standard deviations from the mean for each player. The approach is appealing because there is no arbitrary allocation of runs for a wicket. The overall rankings change a fair bit with this method (you can check it out via the data on Truii). However I find the result of the standard deviation approach more a measure of the ‘best all-rounder’ because you combine each skill with equal weighting, whereas the method described above requires players simply to be excellent at a single skill to be ranked highly.
You can get all the basic data from ESPN cricinfo. I have also included the manipulated data in Truii – just log in and join the ‘Example data’ library and look under ‘blog data’. The Truii data includes the manipulations that I done as well as the Truii ‘best cricketer score’ for all 600 odd test players and 800 odd ODI players who have played at least 25 matches. Feel free to do your own analysis.
Top 150 all time greatest cricket players
| Test Cricket | One Day Internationals (Top tier Nations) | |||||||
| Rank | Player | Career | Matches | Truii Score | Player | Career | Matches | Truii Score |
| 1 | DG Bradman (Aus) | 1928-1948 | 52 | 105.1 | AB de Villiers (SA) | 2005-2015 | 161 | 75.7 |
| 2 | GS Sobers (WI) | 1954-1974 | 93 | 102.6 | JP Faulkner (Aus) | 2013-2015 | 39 | 71.8 |
| 3 | TL Goddard (SA) | 1955-1970 | 41 | 100.5 | IVA Richards (WI) | 1975-1991 | 185 | 71.1 |
| 4 | MH Mankad (India) | 1946-1959 | 44 | 99.3 | HM Amla (SA) | 2008-2015 | 101 | 66.2 |
| 5 | HJ Tayfield (SA) | 1949-1960 | 37 | 94.1 | MS Dhoni (India) | 2005-2015 | 240 | 64.4 |
| 6 | MW Tate (Eng) | 1924-1935 | 39 | 92.5 | V Kohli (India) | 2008-2015 | 143 | 62.9 |
| 7 | WJ O’Reilly (Aus) | 1932-1946 | 27 | 91.1 | GS Chappell (Aus) | 1971-1983 | 74 | 62.3 |
| 8 | CV Grimmett (Aus) | 1925-1936 | 37 | 89.2 | L Klusener (SA) | 1996-2004 | 150 | 61.1 |
| 9 | AK Davidson (Aus) | 1953-1963 | 44 | 86.5 | Q de Kock (SA) | 2013-2015 | 41 | 60.4 |
| 10 | R Benaud (Aus) | 1952-1964 | 63 | 84.5 | GJ Maxwell (Aus) | 2012-2015 | 49 | 60.2 |
| 11 | Imran Khan (Pak) | 1971-1992 | 88 | 82.5 | A Symonds (Aus) | 1998-2009 | 168 | 59.9 |
| 12 | WR Hammond (Eng) | 1927-1947 | 85 | 82.1 | MG Bevan (Aus) | 1994-2004 | 203 | 59.7 |
| 13 | M Muralitharan (ICC/SL) | 1992-2010 | 133 | 82.0 | KS Williamson (NZ) | 2010-2016 | 72 | 59.4 |
| 14 | H Verity (Eng) | 1931-1939 | 40 | 81.7 | MEK Hussey (Aus) | 2004-2012 | 162 | 59.3 |
| 15 | SF Barnes (Eng) | 1901-1914 | 27 | 80.1 | Zaheer Abbas (Pak) | 1974-1985 | 61 | 59.1 |
| 16 | H Trumble (Aus) | 1890-1904 | 32 | 79.9 | AD Russell (WI) | 2011-2015 | 39 | 58.6 |
| 17 | JH Kallis (ICC/SA) | 1995-2013 | 166 | 79.8 | JH Kallis (SA) | 1996-2014 | 285 | 58.6 |
| 18 | DA Allen (Eng) | 1960-1966 | 39 | 79.6 | SPD Smith (Aus) | 2010-2015 | 53 | 58.3 |
| 19 | R Ashwin (India) | 2011-2015 | 32 | 79.5 | CL Hooper (WI) | 1987-2003 | 215 | 57.4 |
| 20 | Sir RJ Hadlee (NZ) | 1973-1990 | 86 | 79.1 | GJ Bailey (Aus) | 2012-2015 | 58 | 57.2 |
| 21 | SM Pollock (SA) | 1995-2008 | 108 | 78.9 | SR Tendulkar (India) | 1989-2012 | 399 | 57.0 |
| 22 | Fazal Mahmood (Pak) | 1952-1962 | 34 | 78.8 | SR Watson (Aus) | 2002-2015 | 164 | 56.8 |
| 23 | KR Miller (Aus) | 1946-1956 | 55 | 78.0 | A Flintoff (Eng) | 1999-2009 | 110 | 56.3 |
| 24 | AV Bedser (Eng) | 1946-1955 | 51 | 75.4 | CJ Anderson (NZ) | 2013-2015 | 29 | 56.3 |
| 25 | FJ Titmus (Eng) | 1955-1975 | 53 | 75.2 | AD Mathews (SL) | 2009-2016 | 147 | 55.4 |
| 26 | FMM Worrell (WI) | 1948-1963 | 51 | 75.0 | S Dhawan (India) | 2010-2015 | 56 | 55.0 |
| 27 | RG Nadkarni (India) | 1955-1968 | 41 | 74.7 | MJ Clarke (Aus) | 2003-2015 | 208 | 54.8 |
| 28 | AW Greig (Eng) | 1972-1977 | 58 | 74.7 | JE Root (Eng) | 2013-2015 | 59 | 54.7 |
| 29 | IT Botham (Eng) | 1977-1992 | 102 | 74.2 | JC Buttler (Eng) | 2012-2015 | 60 | 54.6 |
| 30 | Shakib Al Hasan (Ban) | 2007-2015 | 42 | 73.6 | IJL Trott (Eng) | 2009-2013 | 61 | 54.1 |
| 31 | GS Chappell (Aus) | 1970-1984 | 87 | 73.3 | Imran Khan (Pak) | 1974-1992 | 172 | 54.1 |
| 32 | RB Simpson (Aus) | 1957-1978 | 62 | 73.0 | SM Pollock (SA) | 1996-2008 | 254 | 53.0 |
| 33 | GA Faulkner (SA) | 1906-1924 | 25 | 72.8 | AC Voges (Aus) | 2007-2013 | 29 | 52.9 |
| 34 | MHN Walker (Aus) | 1972-1977 | 34 | 72.5 | V Sehwag (India) | 1999-2013 | 208 | 52.9 |
| 35 | GAR Lock (Eng) | 1952-1968 | 49 | 72.4 | WJ Cronje (SA) | 1992-2000 | 171 | 52.6 |
| 36 | BM McMillan (SA) | 1992-1998 | 38 | 71.9 | AC Gilchrist (Aus) | 1996-2008 | 247 | 52.5 |
| 37 | LR Gibbs (WI) | 1958-1976 | 79 | 71.2 | RA Jadeja (India) | 2009-2015 | 102 | 52.4 |
| 38 | C Kelleway (Aus) | 1910-1928 | 26 | 71.2 | KP Pietersen (Eng) | 2005-2013 | 116 | 52.3 |
| 39 | JH Wardle (Eng) | 1948-1957 | 28 | 70.6 | LRPL Taylor (NZ) | 2006-2016 | 141 | 51.8 |
| 40 | RM Cowper (Aus) | 1964-1968 | 27 | 70.5 | CJ Ferguson (Aus) | 2009-2011 | 28 | 51.5 |
| 41 | DG Phadkar (India) | 1947-1959 | 31 | 70.2 | ML Hayden (Aus) | 1993-2008 | 136 | 51.2 |
| 42 | WW Armstrong (Aus) | 1902-1921 | 50 | 69.5 | ST Jayasuriya (SL) | 1989-2011 | 374 | 50.9 |
| 43 | CL Walcott (WI) | 1948-1960 | 44 | 69.0 | N Kapil Dev (India) | 1978-1994 | 214 | 50.9 |
| 44 | DL Vettori (ICC/NZ) | 1997-2014 | 113 | 68.6 | KC Sangakkara (SL) | 2000-2015 | 330 | 50.9 |
| 45 | AR MacGibbon (NZ) | 1951-1958 | 26 | 68.4 | Sir RJ Hadlee (NZ) | 1973-1990 | 114 | 50.4 |
| 46 | BS Bedi (India) | 1966-1979 | 67 | 68.4 | MM Ali (Eng) | 2014-2015 | 29 | 50.4 |
| 47 | SK Warne (Aus) | 1992-2007 | 145 | 68.3 | SP O’Donnell (Aus) | 1985-1991 | 84 | 49.9 |
| 48 | SJ McCabe (Aus) | 1930-1938 | 39 | 67.9 | RT Ponting (Aus) | 1995-2012 | 323 | 49.9 |
| 49 | AL Valentine (WI) | 1950-1962 | 36 | 67.5 | CH Lloyd (WI) | 1973-1985 | 85 | 49.7 |
| 50 | JC Laker (Eng) | 1948-1959 | 46 | 67.4 | IT Botham (Eng) | 1976-1992 | 114 | 49.7 |
| 51 | KF Barrington (Eng) | 1955-1968 | 82 | 67.3 | TM Dilshan (SL) | 2000-2016 | 274 | 49.6 |
| 52 | EJ Barlow (SA) | 1961-1970 | 30 | 67.0 | MA Starc (Aus) | 2010-2015 | 40 | 49.6 |
| 53 | RJ Shastri (India) | 1981-1992 | 80 | 66.7 | CH Gayle (WI) | 1999-2015 | 205 | 49.5 |
| 54 | ED Weekes (WI) | 1948-1958 | 48 | 66.6 | AJ Finch (Aus) | 2013-2015 | 47 | 49.2 |
| 55 | GE Gomez (WI) | 1939-1954 | 29 | 66.6 | DM Jones (Aus) | 1984-1994 | 160 | 49.2 |
| 56 | A Kumble (India) | 1990-2008 | 132 | 66.5 | MJ Guptill (NZ) | 2009-2016 | 107 | 49.0 |
| 57 | N Kapil Dev (India) | 1978-1994 | 131 | 66.4 | SB Styris (NZ) | 1999-2011 | 158 | 48.8 |
| 58 | Iqbal Qasim (Pak) | 1976-1988 | 50 | 66.4 | RG Sharma (India) | 2007-2015 | 122 | 48.7 |
| 59 | Wasim Akram (Pak) | 1985-2002 | 104 | 66.3 | ME Waugh (Aus) | 1988-2002 | 228 | 48.7 |
| 60 | S Ramadhin (WI) | 1950-1961 | 43 | 66.0 | JD Ryder (NZ) | 2008-2014 | 37 | 48.3 |
| 61 | RR Lindwall (Aus) | 1946-1960 | 61 | 65.8 | Yuvraj Singh (India) | 2000-2013 | 247 | 48.2 |
| 62 | JE Root (Eng) | 2012-2016 | 37 | 65.6 | Mohammad Hafeez (Pak) | 2003-2015 | 133 | 48.2 |
| 63 | HJ Howarth (NZ) | 1969-1977 | 30 | 65.4 | Shoaib Malik (Pak) | 1999-2015 | 182 | 48.1 |
| 64 | BL D’Oliveira (Eng) | 1966-1972 | 44 | 65.0 | CL Cairns (NZ) | 1991-2006 | 189 | 47.8 |
| 65 | KC Sangakkara (SL) | 2000-2015 | 134 | 64.9 | CM Old (Eng) | 1973-1981 | 30 | 47.8 |
| 66 | SPD Smith (Aus) | 2010-2016 | 39 | 64.9 | Misbah-ul-Haq (Pak) | 2002-2015 | 118 | 47.8 |
| 67 | WA Johnston (Aus) | 1947-1955 | 40 | 64.7 | BC Lara (WI) | 1990-2007 | 257 | 47.7 |
| 68 | JR Reid (NZ) | 1949-1965 | 58 | 64.7 | Shahid Afridi (Pak) | 1996-2015 | 327 | 47.5 |
| 69 | JE Emburey (Eng) | 1978-1995 | 64 | 64.6 | EJG Morgan (Eng) | 2009-2015 | 118 | 47.3 |
| 70 | SP Gupte (India) | 1951-1961 | 36 | 64.5 | GD Elliott (NZ) | 2008-2015 | 63 | 47.3 |
| 71 | H Sutcliffe (Eng) | 1924-1935 | 54 | 64.3 | DS Lehmann (Aus) | 1996-2005 | 98 | 47.1 |
| 72 | B Mitchell (SA) | 1929-1949 | 42 | 64.3 | F du Plessis (SA) | 2011-2015 | 68 | 47.0 |
| 73 | CL Vincent (SA) | 1927-1935 | 25 | 64.2 | N Boje (SA) | 1996-2005 | 102 | 46.9 |
| 74 | GRJ Matthews (Aus) | 1983-1993 | 33 | 64.2 | SC Ganguly (India) | 1992-2007 | 246 | 46.2 |
| 75 | CG Macartney (Aus) | 1907-1926 | 35 | 64.1 | PD Collingwood (Eng) | 2001-2011 | 165 | 45.9 |
| 76 | MA Noble (Aus) | 1898-1909 | 42 | 64.1 | Abdul Razzaq (Pak) | 1997-2011 | 227 | 45.8 |
| 77 | G Giffen (Aus) | 1881-1896 | 31 | 63.8 | SR Patel (Eng) | 2008-2013 | 34 | 45.6 |
| 78 | AC Gilchrist (Aus) | 1999-2008 | 96 | 63.7 | GA Hick (Eng) | 1991-2001 | 104 | 45.6 |
| 79 | B Yardley (Aus) | 1978-1983 | 33 | 63.4 | SK Raina (India) | 2005-2015 | 199 | 45.6 |
| 80 | FS Trueman (Eng) | 1952-1965 | 67 | 63.3 | L Ronchi (Aus/NZ) | 2008-2016 | 58 | 45.5 |
| 81 | DL Underwood (Eng) | 1966-1982 | 86 | 63.3 | NH Fairbrother (Eng) | 1987-1999 | 69 | 45.4 |
| 82 | PM Pollock (SA) | 1961-1970 | 28 | 63.3 | NV Knight (Eng) | 1996-2003 | 84 | 45.4 |
| 83 | Saeed Ajmal (Pak) | 2009-2014 | 35 | 63.3 | SR Waugh (Aus) | 1986-2002 | 307 | 45.4 |
| 84 | KD Mackay (Aus) | 1956-1963 | 37 | 63.1 | DJ Hussey (Aus) | 2008-2013 | 62 | 45.3 |
| 85 | Younis Khan (Pak) | 2000-2015 | 104 | 63.1 | G Gambhir (India) | 2003-2013 | 131 | 45.2 |
| 86 | AB de Villiers (SA) | 2004-2016 | 104 | 63.0 | ME Trescothick (Eng) | 2000-2006 | 99 | 45.1 |
| 87 | BC Lara (ICC/WI) | 1990-2006 | 131 | 63.0 | SE Bond (NZ) | 2002-2010 | 73 | 45.1 |
| 88 | A Flower (Zim) | 1992-2002 | 63 | 62.9 | JR Hopes (Aus) | 2005-2010 | 79 | 45.0 |
| 89 | R Dravid (ICC/India) | 1996-2012 | 164 | 62.8 | MD Crowe (NZ) | 1982-1995 | 137 | 44.9 |
| 90 | MD Marshall (WI) | 1978-1991 | 81 | 62.7 | GC Smith (SA) | 2002-2013 | 164 | 44.9 |
| 91 | ER Dexter (Eng) | 1958-1968 | 62 | 62.7 | NM Hauritz (Aus) | 2002-2011 | 55 | 44.7 |
| 92 | R Illingworth (Eng) | 1958-1973 | 61 | 62.6 | JV Coney (NZ) | 1979-1987 | 88 | 44.6 |
| 93 | PH Edmonds (Eng) | 1975-1987 | 51 | 62.6 | RR Sarwan (WI) | 2000-2013 | 142 | 44.5 |
| 94 | AR Border (Aus) | 1978-1994 | 156 | 62.6 | B Lee (Aus) | 2000-2012 | 193 | 44.4 |
| 95 | IVA Richards (WI) | 1974-1991 | 121 | 62.6 | AJ Lamb (Eng) | 1982-1992 | 121 | 44.3 |
| 96 | JDP Oram (NZ) | 2002-2009 | 33 | 62.5 | CG Greenidge (WI) | 1975-1991 | 127 | 44.3 |
| 97 | L Hutton (Eng) | 1937-1955 | 79 | 62.0 | Wasim Akram (Pak) | 1984-2003 | 314 | 44.3 |
| 98 | OG Smith (WI) | 1955-1959 | 26 | 62.0 | R Dravid (India) | 1996-2011 | 281 | 44.2 |
| 99 | J Garner (WI) | 1977-1987 | 58 | 62.0 | BJ Haddin (Aus) | 2004-2015 | 111 | 44.2 |
| 100 | SR Waugh (Aus) | 1985-2004 | 168 | 61.8 | PA de Silva (SL) | 1984-2003 | 276 | 43.9 |
| 101 | GP Swann (Eng) | 2008-2013 | 60 | 61.8 | CL White (Aus) | 2005-2015 | 76 | 43.9 |
| 102 | VD Philander (SA) | 2011-2015 | 32 | 61.4 | BL Cairns (NZ) | 1974-1985 | 78 | 43.8 |
| 103 | DPMD Jayawardene (SL) | 1997-2014 | 149 | 61.3 | Saeed Anwar (Pak) | 1989-2003 | 216 | 43.8 |
| 104 | NJN Hawke (Aus) | 1963-1968 | 27 | 61.2 | CZ Harris (NZ) | 1990-2004 | 221 | 43.6 |
| 105 | EAS Prasanna (India) | 1962-1978 | 49 | 61.1 | NJ Astle (NZ) | 1995-2007 | 191 | 43.6 |
| 106 | GD McKenzie (Aus) | 1961-1971 | 60 | 61.1 | HH Dippenaar (SA) | 1999-2006 | 87 | 43.5 |
| 107 | W Rhodes (Eng) | 1899-1930 | 58 | 61.0 | S Lee (Aus) | 1995-2001 | 43 | 43.5 |
| 108 | RT Ponting (Aus) | 1995-2012 | 168 | 61.0 | DR Martyn (Aus) | 1992-2006 | 178 | 43.4 |
| 109 | VS Hazare (India) | 1946-1953 | 30 | 60.9 | IR Bell (Eng) | 2005-2015 | 142 | 43.3 |
| 110 | Saqlain Mushtaq (Pak) | 1995-2004 | 49 | 60.6 | Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak) | 1991-2007 | 322 | 43.3 |
| 111 | AD Mathews (SL) | 2009-2015 | 56 | 60.6 | C Kieswetter (Eng) | 2010-2013 | 38 | 43.3 |
| 112 | PR Umrigar (India) | 1948-1962 | 59 | 60.6 | RJ Shastri (India) | 1981-1992 | 145 | 43.2 |
| 113 | RJ Harris (Aus) | 2010-2015 | 27 | 60.4 | Javed Miandad (Pak) | 1975-1996 | 223 | 43.2 |
| 114 | CL Hooper (WI) | 1987-2002 | 102 | 60.4 | MN Samuels (WI) | 2000-2015 | 133 | 43.2 |
| 115 | MEK Hussey (Aus) | 2005-2013 | 79 | 60.3 | M Azharuddin (India) | 1985-2000 | 300 | 43.2 |
| 116 | DK Lillee (Aus) | 1971-1984 | 70 | 60.3 | RA Smith (Eng) | 1988-1996 | 70 | 43.1 |
| 117 | Javed Miandad (Pak) | 1976-1993 | 124 | 60.2 | AF Milne (NZ) | 2012-2016 | 26 | 43.1 |
| 118 | MJ Clarke (Aus) | 2004-2015 | 115 | 60.1 | DR Pringle (Eng) | 1982-1993 | 44 | 43.1 |
| 119 | A Flintoff (Eng/ICC) | 1998-2009 | 79 | 59.9 | MS Kasprowicz (Aus) | 1995-2005 | 36 | 43.0 |
| 120 | ML Hayden (Aus) | 1994-2009 | 103 | 59.9 | GM Turner (NZ) | 1973-1983 | 40 | 43.0 |
| 121 | CEL Ambrose (WI) | 1988-2000 | 98 | 59.9 | Fawad Alam (Pak) | 2007-2014 | 28 | 43.0 |
| 122 | KS Williamson (NZ) | 2010-2015 | 46 | 59.8 | YK Pathan (India) | 2008-2012 | 49 | 42.9 |
| 123 | JB Hobbs (Eng) | 1908-1930 | 61 | 59.5 | A Ranatunga (SL) | 1982-1999 | 247 | 42.8 |
| 124 | SA Durani (India) | 1960-1973 | 29 | 59.5 | JP Duminy (SA) | 2004-2015 | 114 | 42.8 |
| 125 | Mushtaq Mohammad (Pak) | 1959-1979 | 57 | 59.4 | GP Thorpe (Eng) | 1993-2002 | 67 | 42.8 |
| 126 | KD Walters (Aus) | 1965-1981 | 74 | 59.2 | DA Warner (Aus) | 2009-2015 | 59 | 42.8 |
| 127 | SR Tendulkar (India) | 1989-2013 | 200 | 59.2 | DJ Bravo (WI) | 2004-2014 | 137 | 42.7 |
| 128 | Sarfraz Nawaz (Pak) | 1969-1984 | 55 | 59.2 | JN Rhodes (SA) | 1992-2003 | 222 | 42.5 |
| 129 | V Sehwag (ICC/India) | 2001-2013 | 104 | 59.1 | AC Dale (Aus) | 1997-2000 | 26 | 42.5 |
| 130 | GC Smith (ICC/SA) | 2002-2014 | 117 | 59.1 | G Kirsten (SA) | 1993-2003 | 167 | 42.5 |
| 131 | HH Streak (Zim) | 1993-2005 | 65 | 58.9 | Saleem Malik (Pak) | 1982-1999 | 262 | 42.4 |
| 132 | M Prabhakar (India) | 1984-1995 | 39 | 58.9 | AN Cook (Eng) | 2006-2014 | 88 | 42.3 |
| 133 | CL Cairns (NZ) | 1989-2004 | 62 | 58.8 | S Chanderpaul (WI) | 1994-2011 | 219 | 42.3 |
| 134 | BL Cairns (NZ) | 1974-1985 | 43 | 58.8 | JDP Oram (NZ) | 2001-2012 | 130 | 42.2 |
| 135 | WPUJC Vaas (SL) | 1994-2009 | 111 | 58.8 | JM Kemp (SA) | 2001-2007 | 66 | 41.9 |
| 136 | DJ Nash (NZ) | 1992-2001 | 32 | 58.6 | HH Gibbs (SA) | 1996-2010 | 207 | 41.9 |
| 137 | LRPL Taylor (NZ) | 2007-2015 | 69 | 58.6 | T Thushara (SL) | 2008-2010 | 27 | 41.8 |
| 138 | FE Woolley (Eng) | 1909-1934 | 64 | 58.6 | Umar Akmal (Pak) | 2009-2015 | 93 | 41.7 |
| 139 | SM Gavaskar (India) | 1971-1987 | 125 | 58.5 | AJ Hollioake (Eng) | 1996-1999 | 34 | 41.6 |
| 140 | NAT Adcock (SA) | 1953-1962 | 26 | 58.4 | DA Reeve (Eng) | 1991-1996 | 29 | 41.4 |
| 141 | AN Connolly (Aus) | 1963-1971 | 29 | 58.2 | DJG Sammy (WI) | 2004-2015 | 98 | 41.2 |
| 142 | TE Bailey (Eng) | 1949-1959 | 61 | 58.1 | PV Simmons (WI) | 1987-1999 | 139 | 41.0 |
| 143 | Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) | 1998-2010 | 90 | 58.0 | IK Pathan (India) | 2004-2012 | 109 | 40.9 |
| 144 | AA Mallett (Aus) | 1968-1980 | 38 | 57.8 | GA Gooch (Eng) | 1976-1995 | 121 | 40.9 |
| 145 | HM Amla (SA) | 2004-2016 | 90 | 57.8 | DA Miller (SA) | 2010-2015 | 68 | 40.8 |
| 146 | S Venkataraghavan (India) | 1965-1983 | 57 | 57.6 | C Sharma (India) | 1983-1994 | 64 | 40.8 |
| 147 | PR Reiffel (Aus) | 1992-1998 | 35 | 57.5 | DPMD Jayawardene (SL) | 1998-2015 | 372 | 40.7 |
| 148 | Mohammad Hafeez (Pak) | 2003-2015 | 47 | 57.5 | BM McMillan (SA) | 1991-1998 | 72 | 40.6 |
| 149 | CH Gayle (WI) | 2000-2014 | 103 | 57.3 | HDRL Thirimanne (SL) | 2010-2016 | 94 | 40.5 |
| 150 | J Briggs (Eng) | 1884-1899 | 33 | 57.1 | AM Rahane (India) | 2011-2015 | 49 | 40.4 |
