Tests - Best English Middle Order Batsmen

Top 10 English Middle Order 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 English middle order (3-6) 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 England.

  • The Rating of the players from England remains the same as in the original OVERALL Rating.
  • Thus the Trend Setter can be from any nation and is not necessarily from England.
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, Strike Rate, Top Inns
Conditions Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary Top Form, Low Scoring Inns, Impact Inns

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings (TT) 30
Min Runs 1000

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 GS Sobers WI 1955 1974 1964.5 135 7048 220.00
1 KF Barrington ENG 1955 1968 1961.5 125 6569 205.05
2 MC Cowdrey ENG 1954 1975 1964.5 148 5963 186.13
3 PBH May ENG 1951 1961 1956 105 4525 141.25
4 ER Dexter ENG 1958 1968 1963 100 4432 138.34
5 AW Greig ENG 1972 1977 1974.5 85 3399 106.10
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS AR Border AUS 1978 1994 1986 257 10964 230.00
1 DI Gower ENG 1978 1992 1985 199 8042 168.70
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SR Tendulkar IND 1989 2013 2001 324 15789 250.00
1 KP Pietersen ENG 2005 2014 2009.5 180 8169 129.35
2 GP Thorpe ENG 1993 2005 1999 176 6616 104.76
RANK ERA 4 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS JE Root ENG 2012 2026 2019 286 13526 240.00
1 JE Root ENG 2012 2026 2019 286 13526 240.00
2 HC Brook ENG 2022 2026 2024 60 3178 56.39

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 2000
Min Runs (TT) 1600

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 135 16 7048 59.23 64.11 160.00
1 KF Barrington 125 14 6569 59.18 61.04 152.35
2 HC Brook 60 2 3178 54.79 59.48 148.46
3 JE Root 286 24 13526 51.63 54.83 136.85
4 PBH May 105 9 4525 47.14 52.64 131.38
5 ER Dexter 100 8 4432 48.17 50.55 126.17
6 MC Cowdrey 148 12 5963 43.85 47.41 118.34
7 GP Thorpe 176 27 6616 44.40 46.31 115.59
8 DI Gower 199 16 8042 43.95 46.27 115.49
9 AW Greig 85 4 3399 41.96 46.20 115.32
10 KP Pietersen 180 8 8169 47.49 46.02 114.85

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 105 11 5806 61.77 68.16 240.00
1 HC Brook 43 1 2361 56.21 63.84 224.80
2 PBH May 60 5 2670 48.55 58.06 204.42
3 JE Root 202 18 9173 49.85 55.12 194.07
4 KF Barrington 69 6 2987 47.41 52.32 184.22
5 KP Pietersen 118 5 5166 45.72 46.35 163.22
6 GP Thorpe 126 15 4590 41.35 45.29 159.47
7 ER Dexter 43 0 1628 37.86 43.46 153.02
8 MC Cowdrey 96 6 3475 38.61 43.06 151.64
9 AW Greig 47 2 1707 37.93 42.28 148.89
10 DI Gower 151 10 5449 38.65 42.16 148.44

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 2000
Min Runs (TT) 1600
Min Average 25

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS HC Brook 3178 3660 86.83 79.08 40.00
1 HC Brook 3178 3660 86.83 79.08 40.00
2 KP Pietersen 8169 13246 61.67 59.71 30.20
3 AW Greig 3186 6891 46.23 56.70 28.68
4 DI Gower 8042 15961 50.39 56.37 28.52
5 JE Root 13526 23228 58.23 55.87 28.26
6 ER Dexter 1150 2730 42.12 54.78 27.71
7 KF Barrington 2202 5123 42.98 53.34 26.98
8 PBH May 1709 4555 37.52 51.45 26.03
9 GP Thorpe 6616 14365 46.06 49.56 25.07
10 MC Cowdrey 2525 6945 36.36 47.15 23.85

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS HC Brook 2361 2689 87.80 81.53 60.00
1 HC Brook 2361 2689 87.80 81.53 60.00
2 KP Pietersen 5166 8477 60.94 59.95 44.11
3 AW Greig 1707 3483 49.01 59.34 43.67
4 ER Dexter 957 2291 41.77 55.59 40.91
5 JE Root 9173 16060 57.12 55.42 40.79
6 DI Gower 5449 11227 48.53 54.65 40.22
7 KF Barrington 1594 3709 42.98 54.08 39.79
8 PBH May 1294 3406 37.99 52.43 38.58
9 GP Thorpe 4590 10300 44.56 48.84 35.94
10 MC Cowdrey 2275 6354 35.80 46.52 34.23

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 BC Lara 400* 375 277 226 221 216 213 275.43 80.00
1 JE Root 262 254 228 226 218 200* 190 225.43 65.48
2 KP Pietersen 227 226 202* 186 175 158 158 190.29 55.27
3 DI Gower 215 200* 173* 166 157* 157 154* 174.57 50.71
4 HC Brook 317 186 171 158 153 123 111 174.14 50.58
5 KF Barrington 256 172 163 151* 148* 148 143 168.71 49.00
6 ER Dexter 205 180 174 172 172 141 136* 168.57 48.96
7 PBH May 285* 138 135 124* 117 113* 113 146.43 42.53
8 MC Cowdrey 160 154 152 151 148 119 113 142.43 41.37
9 GP Thorpe 200* 138 138 124 123 123 119* 137.86 40.04
10 AW Greig 148 148 139 121 116 110 106 126.86 36.85

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS DPMD Jayawardena 374 275 242 240 237 213* 195 253.71 170.00
1 JE Root 226 218 190 180* 176 160 154* 186.29 124.82
2 KP Pietersen 227 202* 186 175 158 158 152 179.71 120.42
3 HC Brook 186 171 158 153 123 111 111 144.71 96.97
4 DI Gower 173* 154* 152 136 131 123 114 140.43 94.09
5 KF Barrington 256 143 132* 115 102 101 94 134.71 90.26
6 GP Thorpe 138 138 124 123 119* 118* 118 125.43 84.04
7 PBH May 135 117 113 112 104 101 97 111.29 74.57
8 MC Cowdrey 148 113 105 104 104 102 101 111.00 74.38
9 ER Dexter 180 174 99 93 76 73 70 109.29 73.23
10 AW Greig 116 110 106 96 91 89 76* 97.71 65.47

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 JE Root 240.00 330.91 190.30 69.05 830.26 332.10
2 KF Barrington 205.05 336.57 139.27 66.78 747.67 299.07
3 HC Brook 56.39 373.26 147.55 100.00 677.20 270.88
4 PBH May 141.25 335.80 117.10 64.61 658.76 263.50
5 KP Pietersen 129.35 278.07 175.69 74.32 657.42 262.97
6 DI Gower 168.70 263.92 144.80 68.73 646.16 258.46
7 MC Cowdrey 186.13 269.98 115.74 58.08 629.94 251.98
8 ER Dexter 138.34 279.20 122.19 68.62 608.35 243.34
9 GP Thorpe 104.76 275.06 124.08 61.01 564.92 225.97
10 AW Greig 106.10 264.20 102.32 72.35 544.97 217.99

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: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 JE Root 137 6990 56.83 60.95 818.47 24.55
2 PBH May 57 2865 57.30 35.97 692.87 20.79
3 KP Pietersen 88 4525 53.24 66.09 690.03 20.70
4 KF Barrington 70 3169 50.30 42.29 656.20 19.69
5 DI Gower 112 4449 43.19 51.91 590.37 17.71
6 ER Dexter 52 2125 43.37 42.15 567.30 17.02
7 MC Cowdrey 63 2551 43.98 37.94 557.56 16.73
8 GP Thorpe 83 3229 44.23 50.46 534.66 16.04
9 HC Brook 31 1300 43.33 79.41 506.48 15.19
10 AW Greig 43 1494 36.44 49.88 486.13 14.58

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 JE Root 149 6536 47.02 55.58 786.86 94.42
2 HC Brook 29 1878 67.07 92.83 745.27 89.43
3 KF Barrington 55 3400 70.83 45.15 740.46 88.86
4 DI Gower 87 3593 44.91 48.61 637.06 76.45
5 MC Cowdrey 85 3412 43.74 35.73 607.58 72.91
6 KP Pietersen 92 3644 41.89 56.95 577.25 69.27
7 GP Thorpe 93 3387 44.57 42.52 534.42 64.13
8 PBH May 48 1660 36.09 39.32 529.79 63.58
9 ER Dexter 48 2307 53.65 42.06 500.00 60.00
9 AW Greig 42 1905 47.63 43.43 500.00 60.00

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: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 JE Root 227 10815 52.50 58.29 842.32 25.27
2 KF Barrington 112 5666 56.10 42.98 747.90 22.44
3 KP Pietersen 138 6596 49.59 61.43 696.07 20.88
4 PBH May 105 4525 47.14 37.52 688.19 20.65
5 MC Cowdrey 140 5521 42.80 36.36 648.38 19.45
6 DI Gower 177 6954 42.40 51.34 639.97 19.20
7 HC Brook 50 2337 48.69 84.89 629.16 18.87
8 ER Dexter 87 3720 45.37 42.12 601.37 18.04
9 GP Thorpe 152 5659 43.87 47.31 589.03 17.67
10 AW Greig 65 2462 39.08 49.25 522.53 15.68

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 JE Root 59 2711 48.41 57.99 849.56 101.95
2 KF Barrington 13 903 90.30 NK 718.38 86.21
3 HC Brook 10 841 84.10 92.72 712.97 85.56
4 KP Pietersen 42 1573 40.33 62.72 632.89 75.95
5 DI Gower 22 1088 57.26 45.03 607.74 72.93
6 ER Dexter 13 712 71.20 NK 592.76 71.13
7 AW Greig 20 937 52.06 38.27 580.13 69.62
8 PBH May 0 0 NA NA 500.00 60.00
8 MC Cowdrey 8 442 63.14 NK 500.00 60.00
10 GP Thorpe 24 957 47.85 39.81 483.44 58.01

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 JE Root 94.42 24.55 101.95 25.27 246.19
2 KF Barrington 88.86 19.69 86.21 22.44 217.18
3 HC Brook 89.43 15.19 85.56 18.87 209.06
4 KP Pietersen 69.27 20.70 75.95 20.88 186.80
5 DI Gower 76.45 17.71 72.93 19.20 186.29
6 MC Cowdrey 72.91 16.73 60.00 19.45 169.09
7 ER Dexter 60.00 17.02 71.13 18.04 166.19
8 PBH May 63.58 20.79 60.00 20.65 165.01
9 AW Greig 60.00 14.58 69.62 15.68 159.88
10 GP Thorpe 64.13 16.04 58.01 17.67 155.85

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: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 MC Cowdrey 79 2380 31.32 34.99 820.63 41.03
2 PBH May 58 1906 34.04 38.72 813.09 40.65
3 DI Gower 113 3181 29.73 47.72 810.05 40.50
4 JE Root 141 3663 26.93 50.86 786.79 39.34
5 KF Barrington 55 1682 32.35 43.02 717.50 35.87
6 GP Thorpe 84 2268 28.71 42.58 669.79 33.49
7 AW Greig 47 1370 30.44 45.47 659.27 32.96
8 KP Pietersen 73 1920 26.67 54.27 651.81 32.59
9 HC Brook 25 753 31.38 82.03 613.30 30.66
10 ER Dexter 43 1068 25.43 44.00 570.50 28.52

TOP FORM

TF RATING

Points to note about Top Form Rating:-

  • TF is calculated by taking the best 50 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: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 JE Root 50 2562 55.70 56.39 726.79 72.68
2 HC Brook 43 2361 56.21 87.80 720.68 72.07
3 KP Pietersen 50 2552 53.17 64.82 720.66 72.07
4 KF Barrington 50 2455 53.37 44.35 666.89 66.69
5 PBH May 50 2385 51.85 38.15 638.78 63.88
6 MC Cowdrey 50 2184 48.53 40.05 590.35 59.04
7 DI Gower 50 2046 43.53 50.96 579.12 57.91
8 GP Thorpe 50 1952 46.48 40.46 555.79 55.58
9 ER Dexter 43 1628 37.86 41.77 506.03 50.60
10 AW Greig 47 1707 37.93 49.01 498.81 49.88

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: 30

RANK BATSMAN DIS II II/Dis% RAT WTG
1 KF Barrington 111 57 51.35 888.57 133.29
2 JE Root 262 113 43.13 812.23 121.83
3 PBH May 96 41 42.71 741.05 111.16
4 MC Cowdrey 136 54 39.71 708.35 106.25
5 DI Gower 183 70 38.25 698.32 104.75
6 GP Thorpe 149 62 41.61 687.61 103.14
7 HC Brook 58 25 43.10 661.98 99.30
8 AW Greig 81 32 39.51 648.06 97.21
9 ER Dexter 92 35 38.04 620.31 93.05
10 KP Pietersen 172 62 36.05 592.58 88.89

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 KF Barrington 35.87 66.69 133.29 235.85
2 JE Root 39.34 72.68 121.83 233.85
3 PBH May 40.65 63.88 111.16 215.69
4 MC Cowdrey 41.03 59.04 106.25 206.32
5 DI Gower 40.50 57.91 104.75 203.16
6 HC Brook 30.66 72.07 99.30 202.03
7 KP Pietersen 32.59 72.07 88.89 193.54
8 GP Thorpe 33.49 55.58 103.14 192.21
9 AW Greig 32.96 49.88 97.21 180.05
10 ER Dexter 28.52 50.60 93.05 172.17

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 JE Root ENG 332.10 246.19 233.85 812.15
2 10 KF Barrington ENG 299.07 217.18 235.85 752.10
3 24 HC Brook ENG 270.88 209.06 202.03 681.97
4 29 DI Gower ENG 258.46 186.29 203.16 647.91
5 32 PBH May ENG 263.50 165.01 215.69 644.20
6 34 KP Pietersen ENG 262.97 186.80 193.54 643.31
7 38 MC Cowdrey ENG 251.98 169.09 206.32 627.38
8 49 ER Dexter ENG 243.34 166.19 172.17 581.70
9 54 GP Thorpe ENG 225.97 155.85 192.21 574.03
10 61 AW Greig ENG 217.99 159.88 180.05 557.92

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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