Top 10 English Batsmen Vs South Africa In Test Cricket

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 batsmen from England against South Africa in Test cricket.

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

CONTENTS

5. BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL

6. ATTACKING

7. TEAM VEN OPP RATING

TVO RATING

This rating considers performances of players from specific teams in particular nations or against particular oppositions.

Team (T)	ENG
Venue (V)	ALL
Oposition (O)	SA

THE CRITERIA

The TVO Rating is divided into 4 main sections:-

CRITERIA	STAT	POINTS
Prolific	Runs Scored	300.00
Consistent	Average	300.00
Big Innings Potential	Top Scores	250.00
Attacking	Strike Rate	150.00

The Trend Setter (TS)

TS is the player who 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 a simple 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.

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings

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	MC Cowdrey	ENG	1955	1965	1960	27	1021	270.00
1	MC Cowdrey	ENG	1955	1965	1960	27	1021	270.00
2	KF Barrington	ENG	1955	1965	1960	23	989	261.54
3	PBH May	ENG	1951	1957	1954	22	906	239.59

RANK	ERA 2	NAT	FP	LP	MP	INNS	RUNS	RAT
TS	AJ Stewart	ENG	1994	2003	1998.5	39	1450	300.00
1	AJ Stewart	ENG	1994	2003	1998.5	39	1450	300.00
2	MA Atherton	ENG	1994	2000	1997	32	1315	272.07
3	ME Trescothick	ENG	2003	2005	2004	20	935	193.45
4	KP Pietersen	ENG	2008	2012	2010	18	817	169.03

RANK	ERA 3	NAT	FP	LP	MP	INNS	RUNS	RAT
TS	JE Root	ENG	2015	2022	2018.5	27	1210	280.00
1	JE Root	ENG	2015	2022	2018.5	27	1210	280.00
2	BA Stokes	ENG	2015	2022	2018.5	26	1177	272.36
3	JM Bairstow	ENG	2012	2022	2017	22	915	211.74

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	500

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	NO	RUNS	100s	AVE	R AVE	RAT
TS	PD Collingwood	12	2	576	1	57.60	61.76	300.00
1	ME Trescothick	20	2	935	3	51.94	54.72	265.80
2	KF Barrington	23	3	989	2	49.45	53.83	261.49
3	JE Root	27	1	1210	2	46.54	53.55	260.12
4	BA Stokes	26	0	1177	4	45.27	52.02	252.67
5	JM Bairstow	22	2	915	1	45.75	51.90	252.09
6	PBH May	22	1	906	3	43.14	50.66	246.10
7	MA Atherton	32	2	1315	3	43.83	48.85	237.29
8	KP Pietersen	18	0	817	3	45.39	48.65	236.31
9	MC Cowdrey	27	1	1021	3	39.27	44.42	215.77
10	AJ Stewart	39	2	1450	1	39.19	42.96	208.66

BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL

Ave HS

In this criteria, the top 5 scores of the batsman have been taken. Average High Score (Ave HS) is simply the total runs in the 5 innings divided by 5.

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored In The Top 5 Inns

RANK	BATSMAN	1	2	3	4	5	AVE HS	RAT
TS	BA Stokes	258	120	112	103	72	133.00	250.00
1	BA Stokes	258	120	112	103	72	133.00	250.00
2	ME Trescothick	219	180	132	69*	59	131.80	247.74
3	MA Atherton	185*	108	103	99	98*	118.60	222.93
4	KP Pietersen	152	149	100	94	81	115.20	216.54
5	PBH May	138	117	112	97	89*	110.60	207.89
6	KF Barrington	148*	121	93	91	80	106.60	200.38
7	JE Root	190	110	78	76	73	105.40	198.12
8	AJ Stewart	164	95	89	86	81	103.00	193.61
9	MC Cowdrey	155	105	101	78*	67	101.20	190.23
10	JM Bairstow	150*	99	95	79	63	97.20	182.71

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	500
Min Average	25

RANK	BATSMAN	R4BF	BF	SR	R SR	RAT
TS	BA Stokes	1177	1589	74.07	70.51	150.00
1	BA Stokes	1177	1589	74.07	70.51	150.00
2	KP Pietersen	817	1208	67.63	64.91	138.08
3	JM Bairstow	915	1360	67.28	64.51	137.24
4	JE Root	1210	1923	62.92	59.93	127.49
5	ME Trescothick	935	1724	54.23	52.51	111.71
6	AJ Stewart	1450	2976	48.72	51.03	108.56
7	KF Barrington	15	40	NA	NA	106.37
8	MC Cowdrey	3	50	NA	NA	106.37
9	PBH May	138	394	35.03	44.43	94.52
10	MA Atherton	1315	3672	35.81	38.38	81.65

TEAM VEN OPP RATING

The TEAM VEN OPP (TVO) Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000.

RANK	BATSMAN	PRO	CON	BIP	ATT	TVO RAT
1	BA Stokes	272.36	252.67	250.00	150.00	925.04
2	JE Root	280.00	260.12	198.12	127.49	865.73
3	KF Barrington	261.54	261.49	200.38	106.37	829.77
4	ME Trescothick	193.45	265.80	247.74	111.71	818.70
5	MA Atherton	272.07	237.29	222.93	81.65	813.95
6	AJ Stewart	300.00	208.66	193.61	108.56	810.83
7	PBH May	239.59	246.10	207.89	94.52	788.11
8	JM Bairstow	211.74	252.09	182.71	137.24	783.77
9	MC Cowdrey	270.00	215.77	190.23	106.37	782.37
10	KP Pietersen	169.03	236.31	216.54	138.08	759.97