ODIs - Best English Opening Batsmen

Top 7 English Opening Batsmen In ODIs

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Our One Day International (ODI) ratings take into account all matches from the first ODI match on January 5, 1971 till the below mentioned last update date. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation). Here are the Top 7 English opening batsmen in ODI Cricket of all time.

*Note: All ODI Ratings are updated till 2025-09-15

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. ATTACKING
3.3.1. Against All Teams
3.3.2. Against Top Teams
3.4. BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL (NWT)
3.5. QUICK INNINGS POTENTIAL (NWT)
3.6. 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. WORLD CUP
5.2. IMPACT INNINGS
5.3. TOP FORM
5.4. SECONDARY RATING
6. OVERALL RATING
7. NON WEAK TEAMS
8. TOP TEAMS
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 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 (Runs and SR)
Conditions Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary World Cup, Top Form, 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.
TT and NWT

Some sections consider performances only against the top teams (TT) and non weak teams (NWT). Here is some information:-

  • Win/Loss Ratio is used to determine TT and NWT.
  • They are calculated by decades.
  • A batsman's performace is counted in TT or NWT if it comes against that team in the specific decade.
  • Knock Out and Super Six matches of ODI World Cup are also counted.
  • TT and NWT may be found in the last section.

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings (TT) 30
Min Overall Runs 1000

PRIMARY CRITERIA

The Primary Rating is divided into 5 main sections:-

CRITERIA STAT POINTS
Prolific Runs Scored 200.00
Consistent Average 300.00
Attacking Strike Rate 300.00
Big Innings Potential Top Inns (Runs) 100.00
Quick Innings Potential Top Inns (SR) 100.00

PROLIFIC

The Eras

The time period of ODI cricket 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 1996
Era 2 MP between 1995 And 2011
Era 3 MP greater than 2010

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored

RANK ERA 1 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS DL Haynes WI 1978 1994 1986 237 8648 160.00
1 GA Gooch ENG 1978 1995 1986.5 99 3828 70.82
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SR Tendulkar IND 1994 2012 2003 340 15310 200.00
1 ME Trescothick ENG 2000 2006 2003 122 4335 56.63
2 NV Knight ENG 1996 2003 1999.5 92 3345 43.70
3 AJ Strauss ENG 2003 2011 2007 83 3053 39.88
4 IR Bell ENG 2004 2015 2009.5 76 2932 38.30
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS RG Sharma IND 2011 2025 2018 184 9138 160.00
1 JJ Roy ENG 2015 2023 2019 110 4271 74.78
2 JM Bairstow ENG 2017 2023 2020 76 3221 56.40

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
Min Runs (TT) 2000

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS 50s AVE R AVE RAT
TS S Gill 50 8 2509 14 59.74 57.35 150.00
1 JM Bairstow 76 3 3221 12 44.12 43.21 113.03
2 GA Gooch 99 4 3828 21 40.29 43.10 112.73
3 IR Bell 76 7 2932 21 42.49 42.35 110.78
4 NV Knight 92 9 3345 23 40.30 41.22 107.83
5 AJ Strauss 83 3 3053 21 38.16 38.95 101.88
6 JJ Roy 110 3 4271 21 39.92 38.81 101.52
7 ME Trescothick 122 6 4335 21 37.37 38.25 100.04

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS 50s AVE R AVE RAT
TS RG Sharma 134 10 6848 30 55.23 53.53 150.00
1 GA Gooch 81 3 3101 16 39.76 43.01 120.53
2 NV Knight 72 4 2707 17 39.81 41.34 115.84
3 JM Bairstow 58 0 2422 8 41.76 41.33 115.81
4 IR Bell 63 5 2315 13 39.91 40.24 112.77
5 JJ Roy 90 2 3422 17 38.89 38.25 107.17
6 ME Trescothick 88 4 2878 13 34.26 36.00 100.88
7 AJ Strauss 63 1 1935 13 31.21 32.65 91.50

ATTACKING

R SR

Relative Strike Rate (R SR) is calculated using the same method as R Ave with average being replaced with SR.

Criteria: Points For R SR

Min Qualification For TS
Min Runs 2500
Min Runs (TT) 2000
Min Average 25

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN RUNS BF SR R SR RAT
TS V Sehwag 7518 7169 104.87 102.03 150.00
1 JJ Roy 4271 4047 105.53 93.23 137.07
2 JM Bairstow 3221 3039 105.99 93.12 136.90
3 ME Trescothick 4335 5084 85.27 84.91 124.83
4 AJ Strauss 3053 3658 83.46 79.76 117.26
5 NV Knight 3345 4575 73.11 74.48 109.50
6 IR Bell 2932 3689 79.48 73.92 108.68
7 GA Gooch 3828 6168 62.06 73.36 107.86

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN RUNS BF SR R SR RAT
TS V Sehwag 5601 5455 102.68 100.52 150.00
1 JJ Roy 3422 3291 103.98 91.95 137.22
2 JM Bairstow 2422 2335 103.73 91.19 136.08
3 ME Trescothick 2878 3534 81.44 81.52 121.65
4 NV Knight 2707 3747 72.24 73.92 110.32
5 IR Bell 2315 2911 79.53 73.90 110.28
6 AJ Strauss 1935 2527 76.57 73.70 109.99
7 GA Gooch 3101 5041 61.52 73.23 109.29

BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL (NWT)

Ave HS

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 scores of the batsman against Non Weak Teams of all time. 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 ERA 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS DL Haynes 152* 148 145* 142* 138* 133* 123* 140.14 100.00
1 GA Gooch 142 136 129* 117* 115 115 112* 123.71 88.28
RANK ERA 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS SR Tendulkar 200* 186* 175 163* 143 141* 141 164.14 100.00
1 AJ Strauss 158 154 152 126 105 98 87 125.71 76.59
2 ME Trescothick 137 130 121 121 114* 109 108* 120.00 73.11
3 NV Knight 125* 122 113 111* 105 94 90 108.57 66.14
4 IR Bell 141 126 113* 91 88* 88 85 104.57 63.71
RANK ERA 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS RG Sharma 264 209 208* 171* 162 159 152* 189.29 100.00
1 JJ Roy 180 162 153 132 123 120 114 140.57 74.26
2 JM Bairstow 141* 139 138 128 124 112 111 127.57 67.40

QUICK INNINGS POTENTIAL (NWT)

QI SR

In this criteria, we have taken the top 5 innings of the batsman with highest strike rate against Non Weak Teams. Quick Innings Strike Rate (QI SR) is the Relative SR of the batsmen in the 5 innings.

Criteria: Points For R SR In The Top 5 Inns by SR

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 QI SR RAT
TS BB McCullum 77/25 80/28 51/22 59/26 55/25 238.41 100.00
1 JM Bairstow 30/13 43/21 43/23 42/24 104/60 163.25 68.48
2 ME Trescothick 86/55 82/57 82/60 100/76 85/65 138.39 58.05
3 JJ Roy 48/30 41/26 123/85 63/45 76/55 128.67 53.97
4 GA Gooch 129/118 45/42 142/134 108/113 91/102 119.60 50.17
5 AJ Strauss 50/37 79/61 152/128 154/140 158/145 110.90 46.52
6 IR Bell 26/18 41/33 141/125 45/41 126/117 105.54 44.27
7 NV Knight 84/69 73/70 70/68 65/67 122/130 104.39 43.79

PRIMARY RATING

The total of the above five criteria comes out to be 1,000.00 points. The Primary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the five criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 40 percent.

RANK BATSMAN PRO CON ATT BIP QIP TOT PRI PTS
1 JM Bairstow 56.40 228.84 272.98 67.40 68.48 694.09 277.64
2 JJ Roy 74.78 208.70 274.29 74.26 53.97 686.00 274.40
3 GA Gooch 70.82 233.26 217.15 88.28 50.17 659.67 263.87
4 ME Trescothick 56.63 200.92 246.48 73.11 58.05 635.19 254.08
5 NV Knight 43.70 223.67 219.82 66.14 43.79 597.12 238.85
6 IR Bell 38.30 223.55 218.95 63.71 44.27 588.78 235.51
7 AJ Strauss 39.88 193.38 227.24 76.59 46.52 583.61 233.45

CONDITIONS CRITERIA

The Conditions Rating is calculated by applying the five criteria of Primary Rating to various 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 20.00
Away 80.00
Familiar Conditions 20.00
Unfamiliar Conditions 80.00

HOME/AWAY

HM/AW RATING

Points to note:-

  • U.A.E. and India are considered as Home for Afghanistan.
  • U.A.E. is also considered as a second home for Pakistan.
  • 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 JM Bairstow 44 2005 48.90 104.70 630.71 12.61
2 ME Trescothick 60 2423 44.87 85.20 626.88 12.54
3 JJ Roy 59 2359 41.39 108.11 625.95 12.52
4 GA Gooch 35 1571 47.61 61.42 611.42 12.23
5 AJ Strauss 40 1761 45.15 87.09 564.60 11.29
6 IR Bell 33 1263 42.10 79.58 503.15 10.06
7 NV Knight 21 778 40.95 71.51 488.66 9.77

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 JJ Roy 51 1912 38.24 102.52 684.31 54.74
2 JM Bairstow 32 1216 38.00 108.19 667.40 53.39
3 GA Gooch 64 2257 36.40 62.52 657.76 52.62
4 NV Knight 71 2567 40.11 73.62 628.99 50.32
5 IR Bell 43 1669 42.79 79.40 611.50 48.92
6 ME Trescothick 62 1912 30.84 85.36 572.50 45.80
7 AJ Strauss 43 1292 31.51 78.97 527.34 42.19

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 JM Bairstow 61 2732 47.10 107.22 756.53 15.13
2 JJ Roy 90 3450 39.66 106.28 726.96 14.54
3 ME Trescothick 99 3567 38.35 85.68 706.36 14.13
4 NV Knight 79 2930 41.86 72.83 667.33 13.35
5 GA Gooch 71 2612 38.99 59.31 664.86 13.30
6 IR Bell 61 2414 43.89 80.76 653.42 13.07
7 AJ Strauss 66 2426 37.91 83.89 633.23 12.66

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 GA Gooch 28 1216 43.43 68.93 728.27 58.26
2 JJ Roy 20 821 41.05 102.50 675.15 54.01
3 ME Trescothick 23 768 33.39 83.39 567.61 45.41
4 JM Bairstow 15 489 32.60 99.59 554.65 44.37
5 AJ Strauss 17 627 39.19 81.85 548.33 43.87
6 NV Knight 13 415 31.92 75.18 487.54 39.00
7 IR Bell 15 518 37.00 74.00 485.55 38.84

CONDITIONS RATING

The Conditions Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 20%.

RANK BATSMAN AWAY HOME UC FC CON PTS
1 GA Gooch 52.62 12.23 58.26 13.30 136.41
2 JJ Roy 54.74 12.52 54.01 14.54 135.82
3 JM Bairstow 53.39 12.61 44.37 15.13 125.51
4 ME Trescothick 45.80 12.54 45.41 14.13 117.87
5 NV Knight 50.32 9.77 39.00 13.35 112.44
6 IR Bell 48.92 10.06 38.84 13.07 110.90
7 AJ Strauss 42.19 11.29 43.87 12.66 110.01

SECONDARY CRITERIA

The Secondary Rating consists of three 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 three secondary criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
World Cup 150.00
Impact Innings 150.00
Top Form 100.00

WORLD CUP

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 5

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 GA Gooch 16 687 42.94 63.03 721.97 108.30
2 JJ Roy 7 443 63.29 115.36 684.17 102.62
3 JM Bairstow 20 747 37.35 91.54 608.13 91.22
4 NV Knight 5 103 20.60 76.87 500.00 75.00
4 ME Trescothick 5 116 23.20 77.33 500.00 75.00
4 AJ Strauss 8 341 42.63 92.41 500.00 75.00
7 IR Bell 10 371 41.22 75.10 498.65 74.80
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:-

  • Both Inns are clubbed together.
  • A Batsman should score at least 25 runs to qualify.
  • An Inn is included in II if it is 30.00% of the total runs of the higher total or
  • The runs are 10.00% of the total runs and
  • The SR is high or in a successful chase while being Not Out.

IMPACT INNINGS

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 30

RANK BATSMAN DIS II II/Dis % RAT WTG
1 ME Trescothick 116 38 32.76 557.01 83.55
2 JM Bairstow 73 24 32.88 547.13 82.07
3 NV Knight 83 24 28.92 484.74 72.71
4 AJ Strauss 80 24 30.00 470.11 70.52
5 GA Gooch 95 21 22.11 451.57 67.73
6 JJ Roy 107 26 24.30 444.61 66.69
7 IR Bell 69 16 23.19 379.56 56.93
TOP FORM RATING

Points to note:-

  • Top Form is calculated by taking the best 50 consecutive innings of a batsman.
  • Only Inns against Non Weak Teams are considered in the rating.
  • Non Weak Teams may be found in the last section.

TOP FORM

Min Innings Vs Non Weak Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 GA Gooch 50 2439 53.02 64.88 791.24 79.12
2 JM Bairstow 50 2452 52.17 107.50 768.59 76.86
3 JJ Roy 50 2356 47.12 109.58 737.93 73.79
4 ME Trescothick 50 1956 40.75 87.67 685.56 68.56
5 IR Bell 50 2062 45.82 82.32 662.39 66.24
6 AJ Strauss 50 1936 39.51 83.59 661.44 66.14
7 NV Knight 50 1801 39.15 71.05 607.86 60.79

SECONDARY RATING

The Secondary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the three criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 40%.

RANK BATSMAN WC TF II SEC RAT
1 GA Gooch 108.30 79.12 67.73 255.15
2 JM Bairstow 91.22 76.86 82.07 250.15
3 JJ Roy 102.62 73.79 66.69 243.11
4 ME Trescothick 75.00 68.56 83.55 227.11
5 AJ Strauss 75.00 66.14 70.52 211.66
6 NV Knight 75.00 60.79 72.71 208.50
7 IR Bell 74.80 66.24 56.93 197.97

OVERALL RATING

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 PTS CON PTS SEC PTS FIN RAT
1 25 GA Gooch ENG 263.87 136.41 255.15 655.43
2 26 JJ Roy ENG 274.40 135.82 243.11 653.33
3 27 JM Bairstow ENG 277.64 125.51 250.15 653.29
4 37 ME Trescothick ENG 254.08 117.87 227.11 599.06
5 45 NV Knight ENG 238.85 112.44 208.50 559.79
6 48 AJ Strauss ENG 233.45 110.01 211.66 555.12
7 52 IR Bell ENG 235.51 110.90 197.97 544.38

NON WEAK TEAMS

DECADE OF MAT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1970s WI ENG AUS NZ PAK SL IND
1980s WI ENG AUS PAK IND NZ SL ZIM
1990s SA AUS PAK WI IND SL ENG NZ ZIM
2000s AUS SA SL PAK IND NZ ENG WI BAN
2010s IND SA AUS ENG NZ PAK SL BAN WI
2020s IND NZ SL AUS PAK SA BAN ENG WI AFG

TOP TEAMS

DECADE OF MAT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1970s WI ENG AUS NZ PAK
1980s WI ENG AUS PAK IND NZ
1990s SA AUS PAK WI IND SL ENG
2000s AUS SA SL PAK IND NZ ENG
2010s IND SA AUS ENG NZ PAK SL
2020s IND NZ SL AUS PAK SA BAN

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