Best English Test Opening Batsmen Featured

Top 10 English Opening Batsmen in Tests

by

Kindly switch to Landscape Mode for better viewing experience

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 English 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 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, 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 G Boycott ENG 1964 1982 1973 191 8091 151.60
2 GA Gooch ENG 1978 1995 1986.5 184 7811 146.35
3 JH Edrich ENG 1963 1976 1969.5 82 3430 64.27
4 DL Amiss ENG 1972 1977 1974.5 69 3276 61.38
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS AN Cook ENG 2006 2018 2012 278 11845 200.00
1 AN Cook ENG 2006 2018 2012 278 11845 200.00
2 MA Atherton ENG 1990 2001 1995.5 197 7476 126.23
3 AJ Strauss ENG 2004 2012 2008 171 6741 113.82
4 ME Trescothick ENG 2000 2006 2003 142 5824 98.34
5 AJ Stewart ENG 1990 1999 1994.5 77 3348 56.53
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS DA Warner AUS 2011 2024 2017.5 202 8747 170.00
1 BM Duckett ENG 2016 2024 2020 56 2168 42.14

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 DL Amiss 69 8 3276 53.70 54.56 232.50
2 G Boycott 191 23 8091 48.16 50.31 214.36
3 AJ Stewart 77 2 3348 44.64 48.53 206.80
4 GA Gooch 184 6 7811 43.88 46.72 199.08
5 JH Edrich 82 5 3430 44.55 46.34 197.45
6 AN Cook 278 14 11845 44.87 45.97 195.87
7 BM Duckett 56 3 2168 40.91 44.41 189.23
8 ME Trescothick 142 9 5824 43.79 43.05 183.42
9 MA Atherton 197 6 7476 39.14 41.76 177.92
10 AJ Strauss 171 6 6741 40.85 40.42 172.25

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 DL Amiss 57 5 2623 50.44 51.25 211.74
2 JH Edrich 73 5 3341 49.13 51.11 211.17
3 AJ Stewart 74 2 3212 44.61 48.50 200.38
4 G Boycott 170 20 6907 46.05 48.10 198.72
5 BM Duckett 44 2 1708 40.67 44.15 182.41
6 AN Cook 220 7 8985 42.18 43.22 178.56
7 GA Gooch 159 4 6244 40.28 42.89 177.20
8 MA Atherton 171 5 6299 37.95 40.48 167.24
9 AJ Strauss 125 3 4887 40.06 39.64 163.76
10 ME Trescothick 104 5 3955 39.95 39.27 162.25

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 AN Cook 294 263 244* 243 235* 190 189 236.86 140.35
2 DL Amiss 262* 203 188 183 179 174 164* 193.29 114.53
3 GA Gooch 333 196 183 174 154* 154 153 192.43 114.02
4 ME Trescothick 219 194 193 180 161 151 132 175.71 104.12
5 JH Edrich 310* 175 164 155 146 130 120 171.43 101.58
6 G Boycott 246* 191 155 142* 137 131 128* 161.43 95.65
7 MA Atherton 185* 160 151 144 136 135 131 148.86 88.21
8 AJ Strauss 169 161 147 142 142 141 137 148.43 87.95
9 AJ Stewart 190 170 148 143 119 118 107 142.14 84.23
10 BM Duckett 182 153 114 107 98 92 86 118.86 70.43

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 BM Duckett 2168 2516 86.17 76.59 143.15
2 GA Gooch 7811 15619 50.01 56.71 105.99
3 AJ Stewart 3348 6852 48.86 54.71 102.25
4 ME Trescothick 5824 10684 54.51 52.80 98.68
5 DL Amiss 2891 6772 42.69 51.33 95.94
6 JH Edrich 2890 7643 37.81 46.81 87.48
7 AJ Strauss 6741 13748 49.03 46.58 87.06
8 AN Cook 11845 25236 46.94 45.32 84.70
9 G Boycott 7498 21104 35.53 42.70 79.81
10 MA Atherton 7476 19863 37.64 41.21 77.03

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 AN Cook 200.00 374.43 140.35 84.70 799.48 399.74
2 GA Gooch 146.35 376.28 114.02 105.99 742.64 371.32
3 G Boycott 151.60 413.08 95.65 79.81 740.14 370.07
4 DL Amiss 61.38 444.24 114.53 95.94 716.09 358.05
5 JH Edrich 64.27 408.62 101.58 87.48 661.95 330.98
6 AJ Stewart 56.53 407.18 84.23 102.25 650.18 325.09
7 ME Trescothick 98.34 345.66 104.12 98.68 646.80 323.40
8 MA Atherton 126.23 345.16 88.21 77.03 636.63 318.31
9 BM Duckett 42.14 371.64 70.43 143.15 627.36 313.68
10 AJ Strauss 113.82 336.00 87.95 87.06 624.83 312.42

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 GA Gooch 110 5117 47.82 52.06 823.33 205.83
2 AN Cook 142 5941 43.36 48.11 764.61 191.15
3 G Boycott 100 4356 48.40 37.99 756.99 189.25
4 DL Amiss 28 1342 55.92 45.77 714.39 178.60
5 ME Trescothick 75 3472 51.06 57.05 713.54 178.38
6 JH Edrich 58 2514 45.71 38.35 712.34 178.09
7 AJ Stewart 27 1322 50.85 55.73 678.75 169.69
8 MA Atherton 112 4515 41.42 39.35 663.06 165.77
9 AJ Strauss 104 4023 39.83 49.50 637.62 159.41
10 BM Duckett 22 867 43.35 86.79 591.97 147.99

Away From Home

Min Innings: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 AN Cook 136 5904 46.49 45.81 769.12 769.12
2 DL Amiss 41 1934 52.27 40.34 656.89 656.89
3 G Boycott 91 3735 47.88 32.92 652.87 652.87
4 BM Duckett 34 1301 39.42 85.76 604.56 604.56
5 GA Gooch 74 2694 37.94 46.53 580.12 580.12
6 AJ Stewart 50 2026 41.35 45.22 579.50 579.50
7 AJ Strauss 67 2718 42.47 48.35 573.24 573.24
8 MA Atherton 85 2961 36.11 35.30 559.76 559.76
9 ME Trescothick 67 2352 36.18 51.15 531.15 531.15
10 JH Edrich 24 916 41.64 34.59 513.68 513.68

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 AN Cook 223 9135 42.89 47.62 824.79 206.20
2 GA Gooch 160 6942 44.50 50.20 821.83 205.46
3 G Boycott 176 7385 47.34 35.78 813.73 203.43
4 DL Amiss 48 2363 56.26 44.46 782.46 195.62
5 JH Edrich 75 3224 45.41 37.81 745.42 186.35
6 AJ Stewart 71 3202 46.41 50.30 735.42 183.85
7 MA Atherton 183 6991 39.28 38.07 708.37 177.09
8 ME Trescothick 109 4519 44.74 56.36 700.59 175.15
9 AJ Strauss 147 5944 41.86 50.07 692.24 173.06
10 BM Duckett 32 1198 39.93 87.13 619.81 154.95

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 AN Cook 55 2710 53.14 44.77 812.14 812.14
2 BM Duckett 24 970 42.17 85.01 608.94 608.94
3 DL Amiss 21 913 48.05 36.24 603.09 603.09
4 GA Gooch 24 869 39.50 48.55 532.07 532.07
5 ME Trescothick 33 1305 40.78 48.95 529.26 529.26
6 G Boycott 15 706 58.83 33.30 519.06 519.06
7 AJ Stewart 6 146 24.33 30.04 500.00 500.00
7 JH Edrich 7 206 34.33 NK 500.00 500.00
9 AJ Strauss 24 797 34.65 42.48 409.13 409.13
10 MA Atherton 14 485 37.31 32.31 334.45 334.45

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 AN Cook 769.12 191.15 812.14 206.20 1,978.60 197.86
2 DL Amiss 656.89 178.60 603.09 195.62 1,634.19 163.42
3 G Boycott 652.87 189.25 519.06 203.43 1,564.62 156.46
4 GA Gooch 580.12 205.83 532.07 205.46 1,523.48 152.35
5 BM Duckett 604.56 147.99 608.94 154.95 1,516.45 151.65
6 AJ Stewart 579.50 169.69 500.00 183.85 1,433.05 143.30
7 ME Trescothick 531.15 178.38 529.26 175.15 1,413.94 141.39
8 JH Edrich 513.68 178.09 500.00 186.35 1,378.12 137.81
9 AJ Strauss 573.24 159.41 409.13 173.06 1,314.84 131.48
10 MA Atherton 559.76 165.77 334.45 177.09 1,237.07 123.71

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 GA Gooch 30 2247 77.48 54.87 885.73 177.15
2 ME Trescothick 30 1838 68.07 63.93 745.27 149.05
3 G Boycott 30 1777 68.35 38.41 713.35 142.67
4 JH Edrich 30 1642 58.64 42.29 704.34 140.87
5 DL Amiss 28 1342 55.92 45.77 636.89 127.38
6 AN Cook 30 1521 52.45 48.58 632.79 126.56
7 AJ Stewart 27 1322 50.85 55.73 595.67 119.13
8 MA Atherton 30 1418 47.27 41.21 548.44 109.69
9 AJ Strauss 30 1295 44.66 54.73 540.19 108.04
10 BM Duckett 22 867 43.35 86.79 510.20 102.04

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 AN Cook 30 2113 81.27 48.95 924.08 739.27
2 DL Amiss 30 1656 63.69 42.06 791.17 632.93
3 G Boycott 30 1856 74.24 33.60 757.89 606.31
4 MA Atherton 30 1452 50.07 36.35 639.86 511.88
5 GA Gooch 30 1367 48.82 52.04 635.77 508.61
6 BM Duckett 30 1261 43.48 87.63 633.04 506.43
7 AJ Strauss 30 1354 48.36 51.72 628.23 502.58
8 ME Trescothick 30 1232 42.48 54.13 598.32 478.66
9 AJ Stewart 30 1299 44.79 45.12 588.66 470.93
10 JH Edrich 24 916 41.64 34.59 485.75 388.60

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 G Boycott 35 1306 48.37 34.66 801.69 400.84
2 MA Atherton 42 1434 35.85 40.69 762.87 381.44
3 GA Gooch 31 1014 33.80 56.18 734.28 367.14
4 AJ Stewart 17 765 45.00 49.87 731.82 365.91
5 AJ Strauss 30 1067 39.52 44.27 677.46 338.73
6 BM Duckett 11 377 41.89 99.74 593.62 296.81
7 AN Cook 46 1129 25.66 43.03 587.45 293.72
8 ME Trescothick 29 695 25.74 52.85 522.76 261.38
9 JH Edrich 14 424 38.55 30.53 481.61 240.80
10 DL Amiss 15 281 25.55 39.63 367.62 183.81

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 G Boycott 168 54 32.14 903.88 903.88
2 AJ Stewart 75 23 30.67 769.91 769.91
3 GA Gooch 178 49 27.53 761.35 761.35
4 DL Amiss 61 18 29.51 742.97 742.97
5 MA Atherton 191 46 24.08 666.87 666.87
6 AN Cook 264 54 20.45 640.82 640.82
7 BM Duckett 53 13 24.53 591.52 591.52
8 JH Edrich 77 17 22.08 544.65 544.65
9 ME Trescothick 133 28 21.05 519.93 519.93
10 AJ Strauss 165 29 17.58 500.24 500.24

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 G Boycott 142.67 606.31 400.84 903.88 2,053.71 205.37
2 GA Gooch 177.15 508.61 367.14 761.35 1,814.25 181.42
3 AN Cook 126.56 739.27 293.72 640.82 1,800.37 180.04
4 AJ Stewart 119.13 470.93 365.91 769.91 1,725.88 172.59
5 DL Amiss 127.38 632.93 183.81 742.97 1,687.09 168.71
6 MA Atherton 109.69 511.88 381.44 666.87 1,669.88 166.99
7 BM Duckett 102.04 506.43 296.81 591.52 1,496.80 149.68
8 AJ Strauss 108.04 502.58 338.73 500.24 1,449.59 144.96
9 ME Trescothick 149.05 478.66 261.38 519.93 1,409.03 140.90
10 JH Edrich 140.87 388.60 240.80 544.65 1,314.92 131.49

OVERALL RATING

The OVERALL Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000 Pts. 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 3 AN Cook ENG 399.74 197.86 180.04 777.64
2 8 G Boycott ENG 370.07 156.46 205.37 731.90
3 11 GA Gooch ENG 371.32 152.35 181.42 705.09
4 13 DL Amiss ENG 358.05 163.42 168.71 690.17
5 21 AJ Stewart ENG 325.09 143.30 172.59 640.98
6 28 BM Duckett ENG 313.68 151.65 149.68 615.01
7 30 MA Atherton ENG 318.31 123.71 166.99 609.01
8 31 ME Trescothick ENG 323.40 141.39 140.90 605.70
9 32 JH Edrich ENG 330.98 137.81 131.49 600.28
10 36 AJ Strauss ENG 312.42 131.48 144.96 588.86

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

Leave a Comment