Tests - Best Australian Opening Batsmen

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). They are updated till 2026-02-05. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation) and in the last section. Here are the Top 10 Australian opening batsmen in Test Cricket since 1950.

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. ATTACKING
3.3.1. Against All Teams
3.3.2. Against Top Teams
3.4. BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL
3.4.1. Against All Teams
3.4.2. Against Top Teams
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. LOW SCORING INNS
5.2. TOP FORM
5.3. IMPACT INNS
5.4. SECONDARY RATING
6. OVERALL RATING
6.1. BRIEF EXPLANATION
6.1.1. Dynamic Nature
6.1.2. Trend Setter (TS)
6.1.3. Top Teams (TT)
6.1.4. Abbreviations
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, Strike Rate, Top Inns
Conditions Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary Top Form, Low Scoring Inns, Impact Inns

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings (TT) 25
Min Runs 500

PRIMARY CRITERIA

The Primary Rating is divided into 4 main sections:-

CRITERIA STAT POINTS
Prolific Runs Scored 250.00
Consistent Average 400.00
Attacking Strike Rate 100.00
Big Innings Potential Top Inns (Runs) 250.00

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 1976
Era 2 MP between 1975 And 1996
Era 3 MP between 1995 And 2016
Era 4 MP greater than 2015

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored

RANK ERA 1 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS G Boycott ENG 1964 1982 1973 191 8091 230.00
1 WM Lawry AUS 1961 1971 1966 123 5234 148.79
2 RB Simpson AUS 1960 1967 1963.5 70 3664 104.16
3 CC McDonald AUS 1952 1961 1956.5 81 3073 87.36
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SM Gavaskar IND 1971 1987 1979 203 9607 240.00
1 MA Taylor AUS 1989 1999 1994 186 7525 187.99
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS AN Cook ENG 2006 2018 2012 278 11845 250.00
1 ML Hayden AUS 1994 2009 2001.5 184 8625 182.04
2 MJ Slater AUS 1993 2001 1997 131 5312 112.11
3 JL Langer AUS 1993 2007 2000 115 5112 107.89
4 CJL Rogers AUS 2008 2015 2011.5 48 2015 42.53
RANK ERA 4 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS DA Warner AUS 2011 2024 2017.5 202 8747 240.00
1 DA Warner AUS 2011 2024 2017.5 202 8747 240.00
2 UT Khawaja AUS 2016 2025 2020.5 80 3412 93.62

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 1000
Min Runs (TT) 800

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS RB Simpson 70 4 3664 55.52 58.31 160.00
1 RB Simpson 70 4 3664 55.52 58.31 160.00
2 UT Khawaja 80 9 3412 48.06 53.84 147.73
3 ML Hayden 184 14 8625 50.74 50.87 139.58
4 WM Lawry 123 12 5234 47.15 50.01 137.21
5 JL Langer 115 9 5112 48.23 48.22 132.31
6 DA Warner 202 8 8747 45.09 45.86 125.84
7 CC McDonald 81 3 3073 39.40 45.77 125.58
8 MJ Slater 131 7 5312 42.84 45.21 124.05
9 MA Taylor 186 13 7525 43.50 44.59 122.36
10 CJL Rogers 48 1 2015 42.87 43.54 119.46

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS RB Simpson 45 4 2199 53.63 60.03 240.00
1 RB Simpson 45 4 2199 53.63 60.03 240.00
2 UT Khawaja 52 5 2247 47.81 55.25 220.89
3 WM Lawry 82 7 3583 47.77 52.92 211.58
4 ML Hayden 128 10 5578 47.27 49.58 198.20
5 CC McDonald 54 2 2090 40.19 48.43 193.63
6 JL Langer 86 8 3585 45.96 48.00 191.92
7 MA Taylor 105 7 3868 39.47 44.00 175.91
8 CJL Rogers 48 1 2015 42.87 43.54 174.06
9 MJ Slater 79 4 2803 37.37 41.58 166.25
10 DA Warner 148 3 5674 39.13 41.00 163.92

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 1000
Min Runs (TT) 800
Min Average 25

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS V Sehwag 8207 9875 83.11 82.03 40.00
1 DA Warner 8747 12421 70.42 68.03 33.18
2 ML Hayden 8625 14345 60.13 60.79 29.65
3 RB Simpson 1495 3174 47.10 59.76 29.14
4 MJ Slater 5312 9961 53.33 58.79 28.67
5 JL Langer 5112 8827 57.91 58.08 28.32
6 CC McDonald 1649 4424 37.27 50.88 24.81
7 WM Lawry 3217 8404 38.28 48.39 23.59
8 CJL Rogers 2015 3982 50.60 48.19 23.50
9 MA Taylor 7525 18110 41.55 45.91 22.39
10 UT Khawaja 3412 7334 46.52 44.41 21.66

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS V Sehwag 5890 7098 82.98 81.97 60.00
1 DA Warner 5674 8378 67.72 65.82 48.18
2 JL Langer 3585 6095 58.82 59.64 43.65
3 ML Hayden 5578 9737 57.29 58.79 43.03
4 RB Simpson 1190 2668 44.60 57.56 42.13
5 MJ Slater 2803 5491 51.05 56.99 41.71
6 CC McDonald 1233 3102 39.75 53.91 39.46
7 CJL Rogers 2015 3982 50.60 48.19 35.27
8 WM Lawry 2328 6383 36.47 46.40 33.96
9 MA Taylor 3868 9758 39.64 44.75 32.75
10 UT Khawaja 2247 5066 44.35 42.85 31.36

BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL

Ave HS

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 scores of the batsman. 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

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS V Sehwag 319 309 293 254 201* 201 195 253.14 80.00
1 DA Warner 335* 253 200 180 164 163 154 207.00 65.42
2 ML Hayden 380 203 197 177 153 138 138 198.00 62.57
3 MA Taylor 334* 219 170 169* 164 144 142* 191.71 60.59
4 RB Simpson 311 225 201 153 153 115 109 181.00 57.20
5 JL Langer 250 215 191 166 162 146 126 179.43 56.70
6 UT Khawaja 232 195* 180 160 145 141 141 170.57 53.91
7 WM Lawry 210 205 166 157 151 135 130 164.86 52.10
8 MJ Slater 219 176 169 168 152 143 124 164.43 51.96
9 CC McDonald 170 154 133 127 110 99 91 126.29 39.91
10 CJL Rogers 173 119 116 110 107 95 95 116.43 36.79

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS V Sehwag 319 309 293 254 201* 201 195 253.14 170.00
1 MA Taylor 334* 170 169* 144 123 102* 101* 163.29 109.66
1 ML Hayden 203 197 177 153 138 138 137 163.29 109.66
3 WM Lawry 210 205 166 151 135 130 119 159.43 107.07
4 RB Simpson 311 225 201 94 92 92 91 158.00 106.11
4 JL Langer 250 191 166 146 126 116 111 158.00 106.11
6 UT Khawaja 195* 180 160 145 141 141 104* 152.29 102.27
7 DA Warner 200 180 145 145 135 133 124 151.71 101.88
8 CJL Rogers 173 119 116 110 107 95 95 116.43 78.19
9 MJ Slater 169 113 110 108 106 103 97 115.14 77.33
10 CC McDonald 170 133 127 110 91 89 78 114.00 76.56

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 40 percent.

RANK BATSMAN PRO CON BIP ATT RAT PRI PTS
1 DA Warner 240.00 289.76 167.30 81.35 778.42 311.37
2 ML Hayden 182.04 337.78 172.23 72.67 764.72 305.89
3 RB Simpson 104.16 400.00 163.31 71.27 738.73 295.49
4 WM Lawry 148.79 348.79 159.16 57.56 714.30 285.72
5 MA Taylor 187.99 298.26 170.24 55.14 711.63 284.65
6 UT Khawaja 93.62 368.62 156.17 53.02 671.43 268.57
7 JL Langer 107.89 324.22 162.81 71.98 666.90 266.76
8 MJ Slater 112.11 290.29 129.29 70.38 602.08 240.83
9 CC McDonald 87.36 319.21 116.47 64.27 587.30 234.92
10 CJL Rogers 42.53 293.52 114.98 58.77 509.81 203.92

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.

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

CRITERIA POINTS
Home 30.00
Away 120.00
Familiar Conditions 30.00
Unfamiliar Conditions 120.00

HOME/AWAY

HM/AW 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 Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 DA Warner 100 5427 58.35 72.87 860.51 25.82
2 ML Hayden 98 5210 57.89 62.88 824.92 24.75
3 WM Lawry 54 2818 56.36 40.01 776.27 23.29
4 JL Langer 63 3046 50.77 58.66 711.33 21.34
5 RB Simpson 35 1734 52.55 49.24 689.25 20.68
6 MA Taylor 100 3993 43.40 40.45 682.94 20.49
7 CC McDonald 34 1573 47.67 41.55 640.21 19.21
8 MJ Slater 57 2842 52.63 55.59 640.06 19.20
9 UT Khawaja 34 1202 41.45 47.95 501.90 15.06
10 CJL Rogers 20 899 44.95 54.12 479.41 14.38

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 UT Khawaja 46 2210 52.62 45.78 745.45 89.45
2 RB Simpson 35 1930 58.48 41.99 717.23 86.07
3 MA Taylor 86 3532 43.60 42.87 680.38 81.65
4 ML Hayden 86 3415 42.69 56.35 668.28 80.19
5 DA Warner 102 3320 32.87 66.75 657.91 78.95
6 WM Lawry 69 2416 39.61 34.98 624.86 74.98
7 JL Langer 52 2066 44.91 56.85 575.38 69.05
8 MJ Slater 74 2470 35.29 50.94 538.33 64.60
9 CJL Rogers 28 1116 41.33 48.08 498.76 59.85
10 CC McDonald 47 1500 33.33 31.49 498.52 59.82

FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS

FC/UC 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 Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 DA Warner 161 7470 48.51 71.52 841.53 25.25
2 ML Hayden 149 6962 50.82 60.25 796.29 23.89
3 RB Simpson 62 3104 53.52 47.10 773.65 23.21
4 WM Lawry 105 4682 48.27 39.26 766.31 22.99
5 JL Langer 97 4505 51.19 59.53 737.20 22.12
6 MA Taylor 162 6505 42.80 41.21 735.00 22.05
7 MJ Slater 103 4276 44.08 54.13 636.05 19.08
8 CC McDonald 65 2702 42.89 37.27 635.15 19.05
9 CJL Rogers 44 1927 44.81 52.28 568.80 17.06
10 UT Khawaja 58 1922 36.26 43.47 522.15 15.66

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 5

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 UT Khawaja 22 1490 82.78 51.15 902.67 108.32
2 MA Taylor 24 1020 48.57 43.87 678.25 81.39
3 ML Hayden 35 1663 50.39 59.63 645.78 77.49
4 DA Warner 41 1277 31.93 64.59 588.63 70.64
5 RB Simpson 8 560 70.00 NK 587.72 70.53
6 CJL Rogers 4 88 22.00 29.73 500.00 60.00
7 MJ Slater 28 1036 38.37 50.27 488.82 58.66
8 WM Lawry 18 552 39.43 28.98 427.46 51.29
9 JL Langer 18 607 33.72 48.17 380.94 45.71
10 CC McDonald 16 371 24.73 NK 331.89 39.83

CONDITIONS RATING

The Conditions Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK BATSMAN AWAY HOME UC FC CON PTS
1 UT Khawaja 89.45 15.06 108.32 15.66 228.50
2 ML Hayden 80.19 24.75 77.49 23.89 206.32
3 MA Taylor 81.65 20.49 81.39 22.05 205.57
4 DA Warner 78.95 25.82 70.64 25.25 200.65
5 RB Simpson 86.07 20.68 70.53 23.21 200.48
6 WM Lawry 74.98 23.29 51.29 22.99 172.56
7 MJ Slater 64.60 19.20 58.66 19.08 161.54
8 JL Langer 69.05 21.34 45.71 22.12 158.22
9 CJL Rogers 59.85 14.38 60.00 17.06 151.30
10 CC McDonald 59.82 19.21 39.83 19.05 137.91

SECONDARY CRITERIA

Secondary Rating

It consists of three parts. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points.

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

CRITERIA POINTS
Low Scoring Inns 50.00
Top Form 100.00
Impact Innings 150.00

LOW SCORING INNS

LSI RATING

Low Scoring Inns (LSI) are those inns in which batting average is less than 30.

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 DA Warner 82 2065 26.14 65.08 736.98 36.85
2 MJ Slater 48 1251 26.62 45.31 663.15 33.16
3 CJL Rogers 22 782 35.55 47.37 644.02 32.20
4 MA Taylor 63 1608 25.94 37.60 641.34 32.07
5 CC McDonald 41 1102 27.55 35.04 633.17 31.66
6 WM Lawry 50 1267 27.54 31.65 630.82 31.54
7 RB Simpson 23 610 29.05 52.17 549.77 27.49
8 UT Khawaja 38 820 24.12 40.57 519.68 25.98
9 ML Hayden 46 890 21.19 57.61 499.87 24.99
10 JL Langer 26 469 19.54 50.87 385.39 19.27

TOP FORM

TF RATING

Points to note about Top Form Rating:-

  • TF is calculated by taking the best 30 consecutive innings of a batsman.
  • The inns are taken such that his points are maximum.
  • Only innings against Top Teams are considered.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 ML Hayden 30 2126 78.74 61.96 860.82 86.08
2 UT Khawaja 30 1773 68.19 45.44 785.17 78.52
3 WM Lawry 30 1772 65.63 40.81 769.32 76.93
4 DA Warner 30 1817 62.66 78.45 750.78 75.08
5 RB Simpson 30 1648 61.04 45.66 749.51 74.95
6 JL Langer 30 1611 55.55 55.92 699.99 70.00
7 CC McDonald 30 1333 45.97 40.40 598.30 59.83
8 CJL Rogers 30 1459 50.31 52.90 593.70 59.37
9 MA Taylor 30 1272 47.11 41.98 593.08 59.31
10 MJ Slater 30 1325 45.69 52.79 588.76 58.88

IMPACT INNS

II RATING

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

  • A Batsman should score at least 30 runs to qualify.
  • An Inn is included in II if it is 15 percent of the total runs or
  • The SR is high or in a successful chase while being Not Out.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN DIS II II/Dis% RAT WTG
1 DA Warner 194 77 39.69 681.75 102.26
2 ML Hayden 170 69 40.59 641.15 96.17
3 MA Taylor 173 67 38.73 634.72 95.21
4 WM Lawry 111 46 41.44 630.52 94.58
5 RB Simpson 66 30 45.45 605.92 90.89
6 UT Khawaja 71 28 39.44 557.86 83.68
7 CC McDonald 78 29 37.18 543.07 81.46
8 MJ Slater 124 45 36.29 530.76 79.61
9 JL Langer 106 38 35.85 529.88 79.48
10 CJL Rogers 47 18 38.30 499.49 74.92

SECONDARY RATING

Secondary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the three criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK BATSMAN LSI TF II SEC RAT
1 DA Warner 36.85 75.08 102.26 214.19
2 ML Hayden 24.99 86.08 96.17 207.25
3 WM Lawry 31.54 76.93 94.58 203.05
4 RB Simpson 27.49 74.95 90.89 193.33
5 UT Khawaja 25.98 78.52 83.68 188.18
6 MA Taylor 32.07 59.31 95.21 186.58
7 CC McDonald 31.66 59.83 81.46 172.95
8 MJ Slater 33.16 58.88 79.61 171.65
9 JL Langer 19.27 70.00 79.48 168.75
10 CJL Rogers 32.20 59.37 74.92 166.49

OVERALL RATING

The OVERALL Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000 Pts.

RANK OV RANK BATSMAN NAT PRI RAT CON RAT SEC RAT FIN RAT
1 4 DA Warner AUS 311.37 200.65 214.19 726.20
2 6 ML Hayden AUS 305.89 206.32 207.25 719.46
3 9 RB Simpson AUS 295.49 200.48 193.33 689.30
4 11 UT Khawaja AUS 268.57 228.50 188.18 685.25
5 12 MA Taylor AUS 284.65 205.57 186.58 676.81
6 14 WM Lawry AUS 285.72 172.56 203.05 661.33
7 23 JL Langer AUS 266.76 158.22 168.75 593.73
8 36 MJ Slater AUS 240.83 161.54 171.65 574.02
9 43 CC McDonald AUS 234.92 137.91 172.95 545.78
10 49 CJL Rogers AUS 203.92 151.30 166.49 521.71

BRIEF EXPLANATION

Dynamic Nature

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.

Trend Setter (TS)

  1. TS is the player who does the best in a criteria.
  2. The rating of all other players are calculated taking the TS as the benchmark. Example:-
  3. TS Runs: 2,000; Player X Runs: 1,000; Section Points: 250.00
  4. TS Points: 250.00 (Max)
  5. Player X Points: Runs/TS Runs X 250 = 1,000/2,000 X 250 = 125.00.
  6. Ratings of all sections are calculated similarly with Runs being replaced by the Criteria Stat.
  7. Know All About the Trend Setter
    8. .

Top Teams (TT)

  1. An opposition is counted as a TT considering its Win/Loss (WL) Ratios in last 7 years.
  2. Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia and Overall WL Ratio is considered.
  3. The WL Ratio should be more than a certain value overall or in specific condition.

Abbreviations

  1. AVE - Average or Runs/(Inns - Not Out)
  2. BF - Balls Faced
  3. FP - First Played by Year
  4. INF - Infinite
  5. LP - Last Played by Year
  6. MP - Middle Played or (FP+LP)/2
  7. NA - Not Applicable
  8. NI - Not In Top
  9. NK - Not Known
  10. NO, * - Not Out
  11. NQ - Not Qualified
  12. OPP - Opposition
  13. R4BF - Runs for available data of balls
  14. SR - Strike Rate or Runs/Balls
  15. TS - Trend Setter
  16. TT - Top Teams

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