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Top 10 Australian Opening 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 opening 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 opening 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 SM Gavaskar IND 1971 1987 1979 203 9607 180.00
1 WM Lawry AUS 1961 1971 1966 123 5234 98.07
2 RB Simpson AUS 1960 1967 1963.5 70 3664 68.65
3 KR Stackpole AUS 1969 1974 1971.5 64 2390 44.78
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS AN Cook ENG 2006 2018 2012 278 11845 200.00
1 ML Hayden AUS 1994 2009 2001.5 184 8625 145.63
2 MA Taylor AUS 1989 1999 1994 186 7525 127.06
3 MJ Slater AUS 1993 2001 1997 131 5312 89.69
4 JL Langer AUS 1993 2007 2000 115 5112 86.31
5 SM Katich AUS 2008 2010 2009 61 2928 49.44
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS DA Warner AUS 2011 2024 2017.5 202 8747 170.00
1 DA Warner AUS 2011 2024 2017.5 202 8747 170.00
2 UT Khawaja AUS 2016 2025 2020.5 72 3289 63.92

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 UT Khawaja 72 9 3289 52.21 58.67 250.00
1 UT Khawaja 72 9 3289 52.21 58.67 250.00
2 RB Simpson 70 4 3664 55.52 56.03 238.75
3 ML Hayden 184 14 8625 50.74 49.33 210.18
4 SM Katich 61 3 2928 50.48 48.47 206.52
5 WM Lawry 123 12 5234 47.15 48.26 205.64
6 DA Warner 202 8 8747 45.09 47.73 203.36
7 JL Langer 115 9 5112 48.23 46.53 198.26
8 MJ Slater 131 7 5312 42.84 45.93 195.70
9 MA Taylor 186 13 7525 43.50 45.60 194.29
10 KR Stackpole 64 5 2390 40.51 41.43 176.54

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS UT Khawaja 66 9 3069 53.84 60.51 250.00
1 UT Khawaja 66 9 3069 53.84 60.51 250.00
2 RB Simpson 65 4 3349 54.90 55.41 228.93
3 WM Lawry 114 12 4805 47.11 48.22 199.20
4 DA Warner 173 7 7430 44.76 47.38 195.74
5 KR Stackpole 52 5 2156 45.87 46.92 193.84
6 JL Langer 94 8 4170 48.49 46.78 193.29
7 SM Katich 51 3 2307 48.06 46.15 190.65
8 ML Hayden 145 10 6327 46.87 45.57 188.25
9 MJ Slater 112 4 4504 41.70 44.71 184.73
10 MA Taylor 167 11 6640 42.56 44.62 184.35

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 V Sehwag 319 309 293 254 201* 201 195 253.14 150.00
1 DA Warner 335* 253 200 180 164 163 154 207.00 122.66
2 ML Hayden 380 203 197 177 153 138 138 198.00 117.33
3 MA Taylor 334* 219 170 169* 164 144 142* 191.71 113.60
4 RB Simpson 311 225 201 153 153 115 109 181.00 107.25
5 JL Langer 250 215 191 166 162 146 126 179.43 106.32
6 UT Khawaja 232 195* 180 160 145 141 141 170.57 101.07
7 WM Lawry 210 205 166 157 151 135 130 164.86 97.69
8 MJ Slater 219 176 169 168 152 143 124 164.43 97.43
9 KR Stackpole 207 142 136 122 114 103 87 130.14 77.12
10 SM Katich 157 131* 122 113 108 106 102 119.86 71.02

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 V Sehwag 8207 9875 83.11 80.26 150.00
1 DA Warner 8747 12421 70.42 68.00 127.10
2 KR Stackpole 1882 3893 48.34 59.58 111.36
3 ML Hayden 8625 14345 60.13 58.34 109.04
4 MJ Slater 5312 9961 53.33 58.09 108.57
5 RB Simpson 1495 3174 47.10 57.99 108.38
6 JL Langer 5112 8827 57.91 55.44 103.63
7 WM Lawry 3217 8404 38.28 47.43 88.64
8 SM Katich 2928 5935 49.33 46.69 87.27
9 MA Taylor 7525 18110 41.55 46.13 86.22
10 UT Khawaja 3289 6988 47.07 43.98 82.20

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 DA Warner 170.00 399.09 122.66 127.10 818.85 409.43
2 ML Hayden 145.63 398.43 117.33 109.04 770.43 385.21
3 RB Simpson 68.65 467.68 107.25 108.38 751.96 375.98
4 UT Khawaja 63.92 500.00 101.07 82.20 747.20 373.60
5 MA Taylor 127.06 378.64 113.60 86.22 705.51 352.76
6 WM Lawry 98.07 404.84 97.69 88.64 689.24 344.62
7 JL Langer 86.31 391.55 106.32 103.63 687.81 343.91
8 MJ Slater 89.69 380.42 97.43 108.57 676.11 338.06
9 SM Katich 49.44 397.17 71.02 87.27 604.90 302.45
10 KR Stackpole 44.78 370.38 77.12 111.36 603.64 301.82

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 DA Warner 100 5427 58.35 72.87 961.37 240.34
2 ML Hayden 98 5210 57.89 62.88 849.48 212.37
3 MJ Slater 57 2842 52.63 55.59 769.41 192.35
4 WM Lawry 54 2818 56.36 40.01 769.18 192.29
5 JL Langer 63 3046 50.77 58.66 737.81 184.45
6 MA Taylor 100 3993 43.40 40.45 682.14 170.53
7 RB Simpson 35 1734 52.55 49.24 676.18 169.04
8 KR Stackpole 22 965 45.95 50.27 643.52 160.88
9 UT Khawaja 34 1202 41.45 47.95 587.52 146.88
10 SM Katich 22 1071 51.00 54.48 579.55 144.89

Away From Home

Min Innings: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 UT Khawaja 38 2087 61.38 46.57 793.11 793.11
2 RB Simpson 35 1930 58.48 41.99 727.26 727.26
3 MA Taylor 86 3532 43.60 42.87 666.99 666.99
4 ML Hayden 86 3415 42.69 56.35 626.31 626.31
5 DA Warner 102 3320 32.87 66.75 621.45 621.45
6 SM Katich 39 1857 50.19 46.79 571.57 571.57
7 JL Langer 52 2066 44.91 56.85 564.61 564.61
8 WM Lawry 69 2416 39.61 34.98 560.38 560.38
9 MJ Slater 74 2470 35.29 50.94 550.71 550.71
10 KR Stackpole 42 1425 37.50 46.86 526.25 526.25

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 DA Warner 161 7470 48.51 71.52 926.33 231.58
2 ML Hayden 149 6962 50.82 60.25 819.69 204.92
3 RB Simpson 62 3104 53.52 47.10 800.12 200.03
4 JL Langer 97 4505 51.19 59.53 780.65 195.16
5 WM Lawry 105 4682 48.27 39.26 771.78 192.95
6 MA Taylor 162 6505 42.80 41.21 741.36 185.34
7 MJ Slater 103 4276 44.08 54.13 739.20 184.80
8 SM Katich 49 2469 52.53 49.93 670.33 167.58
9 KR Stackpole 54 2022 39.65 49.45 659.64 164.91
10 UT Khawaja 50 1799 39.98 44.15 615.65 153.91

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 UT Khawaja 22 1490 82.78 51.15 872.42 872.42
2 ML Hayden 35 1663 50.39 59.63 642.04 642.04
3 DA Warner 41 1277 31.93 64.59 590.96 590.96
4 MA Taylor 24 1020 48.57 43.87 555.76 555.76
5 RB Simpson 8 560 70.00 NK 500.00 500.00
6 MJ Slater 28 1036 38.37 50.27 495.14 495.14
7 KR Stackpole 10 368 46.00 43.36 407.12 407.12
8 WM Lawry 18 552 39.43 28.98 389.90 389.90
9 JL Langer 18 607 33.72 48.17 381.17 381.17
10 SM Katich 12 459 41.73 46.36 355.56 355.56

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 UT Khawaja 793.11 146.88 872.42 153.91 1,966.32 196.63
2 ML Hayden 626.31 212.37 642.04 204.92 1,685.64 168.56
3 DA Warner 621.45 240.34 590.96 231.58 1,684.33 168.43
4 RB Simpson 727.26 169.04 500.00 200.03 1,596.33 159.63
5 MA Taylor 666.99 170.53 555.76 185.34 1,578.62 157.86
6 MJ Slater 550.71 192.35 495.14 184.80 1,423.00 142.30
7 WM Lawry 560.38 192.29 389.90 192.95 1,335.52 133.55
8 JL Langer 564.61 184.45 381.17 195.16 1,325.40 132.54
9 KR Stackpole 526.25 160.88 407.12 164.91 1,259.16 125.92
10 SM Katich 571.57 144.89 355.56 167.58 1,239.60 123.96

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 DA Warner 30 2329 86.26 76.21 960.77 192.15
2 ML Hayden 30 2195 84.42 72.06 891.60 178.32
3 WM Lawry 30 1881 67.18 46.33 734.82 146.96
4 JL Langer 30 1711 57.03 59.66 710.40 142.08
5 MJ Slater 30 1680 57.93 55.65 703.73 140.75
6 MA Taylor 30 1581 58.56 45.06 640.30 128.06
7 RB Simpson 30 1556 53.66 48.59 618.89 123.78
8 KR Stackpole 22 965 45.95 50.27 526.29 105.26
9 UT Khawaja 30 1081 43.24 47.71 509.48 101.90
10 SM Katich 22 1071 51.00 54.48 502.10 100.42

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 RB Simpson 30 1827 65.25 41.99 825.87 660.70
2 ML Hayden 30 1644 60.89 60.55 747.84 598.27
3 UT Khawaja 30 1632 60.44 45.00 732.61 586.09
4 DA Warner 30 1448 48.27 77.14 684.23 547.39
5 MA Taylor 30 1569 54.10 42.68 678.26 542.61
6 SM Katich 30 1627 58.11 47.13 665.48 532.39
7 JL Langer 30 1332 47.57 56.18 608.29 486.63
8 WM Lawry 30 1272 48.92 33.90 592.13 473.70
9 KR Stackpole 30 1226 45.41 46.93 572.83 458.26
10 MJ Slater 30 1114 39.79 49.93 541.81 433.45

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 ML Hayden 30 1290 53.75 65.72 885.59 442.80
2 MA Taylor 38 1479 43.50 40.89 841.39 420.69
3 DA Warner 32 1140 39.31 71.61 778.78 389.39
4 JL Langer 22 931 49.00 63.72 772.14 386.07
5 KR Stackpole 14 718 71.80 45.57 733.63 366.81
6 WM Lawry 25 766 36.48 38.42 615.02 307.51
7 MJ Slater 22 604 30.20 48.67 534.56 267.28
8 RB Simpson 13 419 38.09 50.73 533.93 266.97
9 SM Katich 8 193 27.57 63.28 500.00 250.00
10 UT Khawaja 16 390 30.00 40.54 463.89 231.94

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 UT Khawaja 63 20 31.75 848.67 848.67
2 RB Simpson 66 21 31.82 793.50 793.50
3 DA Warner 194 55 28.35 743.70 743.70
4 WM Lawry 111 29 26.13 685.49 685.49
5 KR Stackpole 59 15 25.42 683.45 683.45
6 ML Hayden 170 43 25.29 665.49 665.49
7 MA Taylor 173 41 23.70 626.73 626.73
8 MJ Slater 124 29 23.39 567.89 567.89
9 SM Katich 58 14 24.14 564.66 564.66
10 JL Langer 106 22 20.75 543.29 543.29

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 ML Hayden 178.32 598.27 442.80 665.49 1,884.88 188.49
2 DA Warner 192.15 547.39 389.39 743.70 1,872.63 187.26
3 RB Simpson 123.78 660.70 266.97 793.50 1,844.94 184.49
4 UT Khawaja 101.90 586.09 231.94 848.67 1,768.59 176.86
5 MA Taylor 128.06 542.61 420.69 626.73 1,718.10 171.81
6 KR Stackpole 105.26 458.26 366.81 683.45 1,613.79 161.38
7 WM Lawry 146.96 473.70 307.51 685.49 1,613.66 161.37
8 JL Langer 142.08 486.63 386.07 543.29 1,558.07 155.81
9 SM Katich 100.42 532.39 250.00 564.66 1,447.47 144.75
10 MJ Slater 140.75 433.45 267.28 567.89 1,409.36 140.94

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 DA Warner AUS 409.43 168.43 187.26 765.12
2 6 UT Khawaja AUS 373.60 196.63 176.86 747.09
3 7 ML Hayden AUS 385.21 168.56 188.49 742.27
4 10 RB Simpson AUS 375.98 159.63 184.49 720.11
5 15 MA Taylor AUS 352.76 157.86 171.81 682.43
6 22 WM Lawry AUS 344.62 133.55 161.37 639.54
7 24 JL Langer AUS 343.91 132.54 155.81 632.25
8 26 MJ Slater AUS 338.06 142.30 140.94 621.29
9 35 KR Stackpole AUS 301.82 125.92 161.38 589.11
10 44 SM Katich AUS 302.45 123.96 144.75 571.16

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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