Best Australian Test Middle Order Batsmen Featured

Top 10 Australian Middle Order Batsmen in Tests

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All Test Ratings on the website are from 01/01/1950 onwards (Know Why). Most of our ratings are dynamic, and as new matches are played, the rating of earlier batsmen may change if current batsmen set new benchmarks. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation). Here are the Top 10 Australian middle order (3-6) batsmen in Test Cricket since 1950.

*Note: All Test Ratings are updated till 2025-02-15

CONTENTS
1. THE CRITERIA
2. QUALIFICATION
3. PRIMARY CRITERIA
3.1. PROLIFIC
3.2. CONSISTENT
3.2.1. Against All Teams
3.2.2. Against Top Teams
3.3. BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL
3.4. ATTACKING
3.5. PRIMARY RATING
4. CONDITIONS CRITERIA
4.1. HOME/AWAY
4.1.1. At Home
4.1.2. Away From Home
4.2. FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS
4.2.1. Familiar Conditions Rating
4.2.1.1. Non Asians Outside Asia
4.2.2. Unfamiliar Conditions Rating
4.2.2.1. Non Asians In Asia
4.3. CONDITIONS RATING
5. SECONDARY CRITERIA
5.1. TOP FORM AT HOME
5.2. TOP FORM AWAY
5.3. DIFFICULT RUNS
5.4. IMPACT INNINGS
5.5. SECONDARY RATING
6. OVERALL RATING
7. TOP TEAMS
7.1. Top Teams In Asia
7.2. Top Teams Outside Asia
Nations Filter

This rating filters the OVERALL Rating to show players only from Australia.

  • The Rating of the players from Australia remains the same as in the original OVERALL Rating.
  • Thus the Trend Setter can be from any nation and is not necessarily from Australia.
Position Filter

This rating filters the OVERALL Rating to include performances of middle order (3-6) batsmen. Innings played only at the specified position are counted in this rating.

THE CRITERIA

CRITERIA CONSTITUENTS
Primary Runs, Average, Top Inns, Strike Rate
Conditions Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary Top Form Home and Away, Difficult Runs, Impact Inns
The Trend Setter (TS)

TS is the player which does the best in a criteria. The rating of all other players are calculated taking the TS as the benchmark. Know All About TS. Here is an example:-

  • TS Runs: 2,000; Player X Runs: 1,000; Section Points: 250.00
  • TS Points: 250.00(Max); Player X Points: Runs/TS Runs X 250 = 1,000/2,000 X 250 = 125.00
  • Ratings of all sections are calculated similarly with Runs being replaced by the Criteria Stat.
Top Teams (TT)

Some sections consider performances only against the top teams. Here is some information about the Top Teams:-

  • Win/Loss Ratio is used to determine top teams.
  • The top teams are calculated by decades.
  • Further, they are divided into In Asia and Outside Asia.
  • A batsman’s performace is counted in TT if it comes in the specific condition and in the specific decade.

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings 50

PRIMARY CRITERIA

The Primary Rating is divided into 4 main sections:-

CRITERIA STAT POINTS
Prolific Runs Scored 200.00
Consistent Average 500.00
Big Innings Potential Top Inns (Runs) 150.00
Attacking Strike Rate 150.00

PROLIFIC

The Eras

The time period from 1950 to present is divided into eras for this section. This is because less cricket was played earlier. To make it fair for earlier players they are compared with players of the same period with a slight reduction in points. Know More About Eras.

Era 1 MP before 1991
Era 2 MP between 1990 And 2016
Era 3 MP greater than 2015

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored

RANK ERA 1 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS AR Border AUS 1978 1994 1986 257 10964 170.00
1 AR Border AUS 1978 1994 1986 257 10964 170.00
2 GS Chappell AUS 1971 1984 1977.5 148 6930 107.45
3 KD Walters AUS 1965 1981 1973 123 5316 82.43
4 IM Chappell AUS 1964 1980 1972 129 5304 82.24
5 DM Jones AUS 1984 1992 1988 87 3578 55.48
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SR Tendulkar IND 1989 2013 2001 324 15789 200.00
1 RT Ponting AUS 1995 2012 2003.5 275 13168 166.80
2 SR Waugh AUS 1985 2004 1994.5 236 10367 131.32
3 MJ Clarke AUS 2004 2015 2009.5 195 8558 108.40
4 MEK Hussey AUS 2005 2013 2009 126 5751 72.85
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS JE Root ENG 2012 2024 2018 266 12555 180.00
1 SPD Smith AUS 2010 2025 2017.5 191 9879 141.63

CONSISTENT

R Ave

Relative Average (R Ave) is a more accurate type of average. Know How It Is Calculated. Briefly, it takes into account:-

  • Strength of Opposition.
  • Positions at which a batsman has played.
  • Venues at which he has played.
  • Time Period in which he has been active

Criteria: Points For Relative Average

Min Qualification For TS
Min Runs 2500

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 135 16 7048 59.23 60.73 250.00
1 SPD Smith 191 22 9879 58.46 59.93 246.71
2 GS Chappell 148 19 6930 53.72 55.50 228.45
3 SR Waugh 236 41 10367 53.16 53.69 221.01
4 AR Border 257 41 10964 50.76 51.64 212.58
5 KD Walters 123 13 5316 48.33 51.17 210.64
6 RT Ponting 275 26 13168 52.88 50.07 206.14
7 MEK Hussey 126 14 5751 51.35 49.19 202.50
8 DM Jones 87 11 3578 47.08 47.50 195.52
9 MJ Clarke 195 21 8558 49.18 46.47 191.31
10 IM Chappell 129 10 5304 44.57 45.52 187.37

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 112 12 5793 57.93 59.40 250.00
1 SPD Smith 174 17 9069 57.76 59.22 249.25
2 GS Chappell 118 16 5250 51.47 53.17 223.79
3 AR Border 231 36 9611 49.29 50.14 211.04
4 SR Waugh 207 34 8494 49.10 49.58 208.67
5 RT Ponting 220 18 10259 50.79 48.09 202.40
6 KD Walters 95 8 3879 44.59 47.21 198.69
7 DM Jones 74 9 3007 46.26 46.67 196.42
8 MJ Clarke 162 14 7263 49.07 46.37 195.16
9 MEK Hussey 100 9 4355 47.86 45.85 192.96
10 IM Chappell 108 10 4256 43.43 44.35 186.65

BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL

Ave HS

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 scores of the batsman in the specific condition. Average High Score (Ave HS) is simply the total runs in the 7 innings divided by 7.

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored In The Top 7 Inns

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS BC Lara 400* 375 277 226 221 216 213 275.43 150.00
1 MJ Clarke 329* 259* 230 210 187 168 166 221.29 120.51
2 RT Ponting 257 242 221 209 207 206 197 219.86 119.74
3 SPD Smith 239 215 211 200* 199 192 178* 204.86 111.57
4 GS Chappell 247* 235 204 201 182* 182 176 203.86 111.02
5 AR Border 205 200* 196 163 162 153 152* 175.86 95.77
6 SR Waugh 200 199 177* 170 164 160 157* 175.29 95.46
7 DM Jones 216 210 184* 157 150* 122 121* 165.71 90.25
8 IM Chappell 196 192 165 156 151 145 138 163.29 88.93
9 KD Walters 250 242 155 118 115 112 112 157.71 85.89
10 MEK Hussey 195 182 150* 146 145* 142 134* 156.29 85.11

ATTACKING

R SR

Relative Strike Rate (R SR) is calculated using the same method as R Ave with average being replaced with SR. Batsman who were active in earlier times benefit from this as SR was generally low earlier.

R4BF

Balls played by batsmen for many inns is not available for earlier times. When such is the case, we have used Runs For Balls Faced (R4BF) to determine the Strike Rate. This is the runs scored by the batsman for the available data of balls.

Criteria: Points For R SR

Min Qualification For TS
Min Runs 2500
Min Average 25
RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS IVA Richards 6609 9580 68.99 75.84 150.00
1 GS Chappell 6560 12653 51.85 59.97 118.60
2 KD Walters 4500 9240 48.70 57.86 114.43
3 RT Ponting 13168 22404 58.78 57.68 114.08
4 DM Jones 3578 7177 49.85 54.23 107.24
5 IM Chappell 4152 9229 44.99 54.20 107.19
6 MJ Clarke 8558 15278 56.02 53.84 106.48
7 SR Waugh 10367 21217 48.86 51.49 101.84
8 SPD Smith 9879 18506 53.38 50.81 100.48
9 MEK Hussey 5751 11433 50.30 48.41 95.73
10 AR Border 10886 26534 41.03 45.60 90.18

PRIMARY RATING

The total of the above four criteria comes out to be 1,000.00 points. The Primary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is half of the OVERALL Rating, i.e. 500.00 pts.

RANK BATSMAN PRO CON BIP ATT RAT PRI PTS
1 SPD Smith 141.63 495.96 111.57 100.48 849.64 424.82
2 RT Ponting 166.80 408.53 119.74 114.08 809.15 404.57
3 GS Chappell 107.45 452.24 111.02 118.60 789.31 394.66
4 AR Border 170.00 423.62 95.77 90.18 779.57 389.79
5 SR Waugh 131.32 429.68 95.46 101.84 758.30 379.15
6 MJ Clarke 108.40 386.47 120.51 106.48 721.87 360.93
7 KD Walters 82.43 409.33 85.89 114.43 692.08 346.04
8 IM Chappell 82.24 374.03 88.93 107.19 652.38 326.19
9 MEK Hussey 72.85 395.46 85.11 95.73 649.15 324.58
10 DM Jones 55.48 391.94 90.25 107.24 644.91 322.45

CONDITIONS CRITERIA

The Conditions

The Conditions Ratings are calculated by applying the four criteria of the Primary Rating to diffirent conditions. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points. Click on the Rating Titles to see how they were calculated.

The four conditions criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
Home 250.00
Away 1,000.00
Familiar Conditions 250.00
Unfamiliar Conditions 1,000.00

HOME/AWAY

HOME/AWAY RATING

Points to note:-

  • U.A.E. is considered as a second Home for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
  • All Home and Away stats of Pakistani and Afghani batsmen are calculated accordingly.

At Home

Min Innings: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 RT Ponting 146 7404 57.84 59.84 806.80 201.70
2 SPD Smith 94 4823 59.54 54.44 763.25 190.81
3 MJ Clarke 86 4654 62.05 57.92 757.45 189.36
4 GS Chappell 93 4335 54.19 51.71 739.70 184.92
5 KD Walters 60 3024 58.15 50.13 718.18 179.55
6 AR Border 139 5579 45.73 39.94 663.72 165.93
7 MEK Hussey 69 3499 61.39 51.96 651.19 162.80
8 SR Waugh 132 5420 47.54 48.86 642.48 160.62
9 IM Chappell 63 2685 45.51 48.28 603.24 150.81
10 DM Jones 48 2044 48.67 49.35 593.37 148.34

Away From Home

Min Innings: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 SPD Smith 97 5056 57.45 52.42 787.94 787.94
2 AR Border 118 5385 57.29 42.24 778.54 778.54
3 SR Waugh 104 4947 61.07 48.87 769.99 769.99
4 GS Chappell 55 2595 52.96 52.10 694.37 694.37
5 RT Ponting 129 5764 47.64 57.46 670.18 670.18
6 IM Chappell 66 2619 43.65 41.13 581.95 581.95
7 MJ Clarke 109 3904 39.43 53.90 570.21 570.21
8 DM Jones 39 1534 45.12 50.54 565.45 565.45
9 KD Walters 63 2292 39.52 46.69 546.67 546.67
10 MEK Hussey 57 2252 40.95 47.93 522.97 522.97

FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS

FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS RATING

Points to note:-

  • Unfamiliar Conditions (UC) is Outside Asia for Asians and In Asia for Non Asians.
  • Familiar Conditions (FC) are the opposite.

Familiar Conditions Rating

Non Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 SPD Smith 149 7885 60.19 55.70 813.67 203.42
2 RT Ponting 230 11293 54.56 59.55 803.97 200.99
3 SR Waugh 208 9288 54.32 49.23 745.49 186.37
4 GS Chappell 142 6483 52.71 51.37 740.84 185.21
5 AR Border 218 9165 50.08 40.46 732.45 183.11
6 MJ Clarke 159 7303 52.54 56.74 728.02 182.01
7 KD Walters 115 5030 48.83 49.40 671.15 167.79
8 IM Chappell 121 4980 44.46 45.93 626.36 156.59
9 DM Jones 70 2887 46.56 50.20 593.36 148.34
10 MEK Hussey 109 4613 48.56 49.41 583.58 145.90

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 AR Border 39 1799 54.52 44.25 727.66 727.66
2 RT Ponting 45 1875 44.64 54.52 670.48 670.48
3 SPD Smith 42 1994 52.47 45.84 669.63 669.63
4 MEK Hussey 17 1138 66.94 54.27 651.02 651.02
5 SR Waugh 28 1079 44.96 45.91 537.56 537.56
6 MJ Clarke 36 1255 35.86 52.14 535.17 535.17
7 DM Jones 17 691 49.36 48.46 503.35 503.35
8 IM Chappell 8 324 46.29 31.26 500.00 500.00
8 KD Walters 8 286 40.86 40.23 500.00 500.00
8 GS Chappell 6 447 74.50 59.28 500.00 500.00

CONDITIONS RATING

The total of the above four criteria comes out to be 2,500.00 points. The Conditions Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is one-fourth of the OVERALL Rating, i.e. 250 pts.

RANK BATSMAN AWAY HOME UC FC TOT CON PTS
1 AR Border 778.54 165.93 727.66 183.11 1,855.24 185.52
2 SPD Smith 787.94 190.81 669.63 203.42 1,851.79 185.18
3 RT Ponting 670.18 201.70 670.48 200.99 1,743.35 174.34
4 SR Waugh 769.99 160.62 537.56 186.37 1,654.54 165.45
5 GS Chappell 694.37 184.92 500.00 185.21 1,564.51 156.45
6 MEK Hussey 522.97 162.80 651.02 145.90 1,482.68 148.27
7 MJ Clarke 570.21 189.36 535.17 182.01 1,476.74 147.67
8 KD Walters 546.67 179.55 500.00 167.79 1,394.00 139.40
9 IM Chappell 581.95 150.81 500.00 156.59 1,389.35 138.93
10 DM Jones 565.45 148.34 503.35 148.34 1,365.48 136.55

SECONDARY CRITERIA

The Secondary Rating consists of four parts. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points. Click on the Rating Titles to see how they were calculated.

The four secondary criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
Top Form Home 200.00
Top Form Away 800.00
Difficult Runs 500.00
Impact Innings 1,000.00
TOP FORM RATING

Points to note about Top Form Rating:-

  • Top Form is calculated by taking the best 30 consecutive innings of a batsman.
  • There are two TF Ratings used in our OVERALL Rating: Home and Away.

TOP FORM AT HOME

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 MJ Clarke 30 2170 83.46 65.94 868.02 173.60
2 RT Ponting 30 2065 89.78 60.61 837.71 167.54
3 SPD Smith 30 2146 89.42 58.62 831.17 166.23
4 GS Chappell 30 1764 70.56 53.21 702.58 140.52
5 KD Walters 30 1738 69.52 45.42 695.79 139.16
6 SR Waugh 30 1589 72.23 47.69 666.23 133.25
7 IM Chappell 30 1651 55.03 49.89 641.92 128.38
8 AR Border 30 1617 59.89 42.97 634.50 126.90
9 DM Jones 30 1518 60.72 48.48 633.63 126.73
10 MEK Hussey 30 1596 61.38 56.02 623.06 124.61

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 RT Ponting 30 1966 75.62 66.49 826.74 661.39
2 SPD Smith 30 1879 72.27 54.85 824.90 659.92
3 SR Waugh 30 1753 76.22 46.13 777.49 621.99
4 AR Border 30 1637 71.17 47.48 741.79 593.43
5 IM Chappell 30 1664 59.43 44.99 704.68 563.75
6 GS Chappell 30 1409 52.19 52.77 686.96 549.57
7 KD Walters 30 1347 51.81 55.23 655.70 524.56
8 MJ Clarke 30 1381 47.62 57.81 612.94 490.35
9 DM Jones 30 1238 47.62 51.07 594.82 475.86
10 MEK Hussey 30 1243 42.86 46.99 548.48 438.79

DIFFICULT RUNS

DIFF RNS RATING

Points to note:-

  • Difficult Runs are runs scored in the first and fourth innings after losing the toss.
  • Only performances against Top Teams are considered in this rating.

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 RT Ponting 40 1772 55.38 62.97 889.69 444.84
2 SPD Smith 35 1422 43.09 49.41 773.13 386.56
3 GS Chappell 25 964 50.74 54.87 745.62 372.81
4 AR Border 47 1400 33.33 35.64 701.32 350.66
5 DM Jones 12 580 64.44 46.62 666.22 333.11
6 SR Waugh 39 1204 36.48 45.97 641.24 320.62
7 KD Walters 17 633 45.21 49.24 633.58 316.79
8 IM Chappell 22 758 42.11 38.36 586.45 293.23
9 MEK Hussey 15 633 52.75 52.44 581.19 290.60
10 MJ Clarke 28 883 32.70 54.71 578.21 289.11

IMPACT INNINGS

Impact Innings (II)

Impact Innings are those innings which have an impact in terms of runs or Strike Rate. Know All About II. Points to note about II:-

  • 1st & 2nd and 3rd & 4th innings are clubbed together.
  • A Batsman should score at least 30 runs to qualify.
  • An Inn is included in II if it is 20% of the total runs of the higher total or
  • The runs are more than 12.5% of the total runs and
  • The SR is high or in a successful chase while being Not Out.

Min Innings: 50

RANK BATSMAN DIS II II/Dis% RAT WTG
1 SR Waugh 195 57 29.23 724.44 724.44
2 SPD Smith 169 50 29.59 708.25 708.25
3 AR Border 216 55 25.46 697.70 697.70
4 KD Walters 110 34 30.91 665.91 665.91
5 RT Ponting 249 65 26.10 640.65 640.65
6 GS Chappell 129 36 27.91 629.83 629.83
7 DM Jones 76 19 25.00 584.86 584.86
8 MEK Hussey 112 29 25.89 549.49 549.49
9 MJ Clarke 174 41 23.56 533.02 533.02
10 IM Chappell 119 24 20.17 497.30 497.30

SECONDARY RATING

The total of the above four criteria comes out to be 2,500.00 points. Secondary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is one-fourth of the OVERALL Rating, i.e. 250.00 pts.

RANK BATSMAN TF HM TF AW DIF RNS II TOT SEC RAT
1 SPD Smith 166.23 659.92 386.56 708.25 1,920.97 192.10
2 RT Ponting 167.54 661.39 444.84 640.65 1,914.43 191.44
3 SR Waugh 133.25 621.99 320.62 724.44 1,800.30 180.03
4 AR Border 126.90 593.43 350.66 697.70 1,768.69 176.87
5 GS Chappell 140.52 549.57 372.81 629.83 1,692.72 169.27
6 KD Walters 139.16 524.56 316.79 665.91 1,646.42 164.64
7 DM Jones 126.73 475.86 333.11 584.86 1,520.56 152.06
8 MJ Clarke 173.60 490.35 289.11 533.02 1,486.08 148.61
9 IM Chappell 128.38 563.75 293.23 497.30 1,482.65 148.27
10 MEK Hussey 124.61 438.79 290.60 549.49 1,403.49 140.35

OVERALL RATING

The OVERALL Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000 Pts. Half the points are for Primary Criteria; one-fourth for Conditions; and one-fourth for Secondary Criteria.

RANK OV RANK BATSMAN NAT PRI RAT CON RAT SEC RAT FIN RAT
1 5 SPD Smith AUS 424.82 185.18 192.10 802.09
2 9 RT Ponting AUS 404.57 174.34 191.44 770.35
3 14 AR Border AUS 389.79 185.52 176.87 752.18
4 17 SR Waugh AUS 379.15 165.45 180.03 724.63
5 19 GS Chappell AUS 394.66 156.45 169.27 720.38
6 30 MJ Clarke AUS 360.93 147.67 148.61 657.22
7 31 KD Walters AUS 346.04 139.40 164.64 650.08
8 45 IM Chappell AUS 326.19 138.93 148.27 613.39
9 46 MEK Hussey AUS 324.58 148.27 140.35 613.19
10 50 DM Jones AUS 322.45 136.55 152.06 611.06

TOP TEAMS

Top Teams In Asia

DECADE OF MAT 1 2 3 4 5 6
1950s AUS WI PAK IND ENG
1960s WI AUS PAK IND NZ ENG
1970s PAK ENG IND WI SA
1980s PAK WI ENG NZ IND
1990s IND PAK SA AUS SL WI
2000s AUS IND SL PAK SA ENG
2010s IND PAK SL ENG NZ SA
2020s IND AUS PAK NZ ENG SL

Top Teams Outside Asia

DECADE OF MAT 1 2 3 4 5 6
1950s AUS ENG WI SA
1960s ENG AUS WI SA NZ
1970s SA ENG WI AUS IND
1980s WI NZ AUS ENG PAK
1990s AUS SA WI PAK ENG NZ
2000s AUS ENG SA IND NZ PAK
2010s SA AUS ENG NZ IND PAK
2020s AUS ENG NZ SA IND WI

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