Tests - Best English Opening Batsmen

Top 10 English 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 English 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 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
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 G Boycott ENG 1964 1982 1973 191 8091 230.00
2 JH Edrich ENG 1963 1976 1969.5 82 3430 97.50
3 DL Amiss ENG 1972 1977 1974.5 69 3276 93.13
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SM Gavaskar IND 1971 1987 1979 203 9607 240.00
1 GA Gooch ENG 1978 1995 1986.5 184 7811 195.13
2 AJ Stewart ENG 1990 1999 1994.5 77 3348 83.64
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS AN Cook ENG 2006 2018 2012 278 11845 250.00
1 AN Cook ENG 2006 2018 2012 278 11845 250.00
2 MA Atherton ENG 1990 2001 1995.5 197 7476 157.79
3 AJ Strauss ENG 2004 2012 2008 171 6741 142.28
4 ME Trescothick ENG 2000 2006 2003 142 5824 122.92
RANK ERA 4 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS DA Warner AUS 2011 2024 2017.5 202 8747 240.00
1 BM Duckett ENG 2016 2026 2021 76 2972 81.55

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 DL Amiss 69 8 3276 53.70 55.89 153.34
2 G Boycott 191 23 8091 48.16 50.28 137.97
3 AJ Stewart 77 2 3348 44.64 48.20 132.26
4 GA Gooch 184 6 7811 43.88 47.22 129.56
5 JH Edrich 82 5 3430 44.55 46.54 127.71
6 ME Trescothick 142 9 5824 43.79 45.75 125.54
7 BM Duckett 76 3 2972 40.71 45.06 123.64
8 AN Cook 278 14 11845 44.87 44.69 122.61
9 MA Atherton 197 6 7476 39.14 42.84 117.55
10 AJ Strauss 171 6 6741 40.85 40.03 109.84

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 AJ Stewart 69 2 3066 45.76 50.44 201.65
2 G Boycott 137 17 5499 45.83 48.90 195.49
3 BM Duckett 54 1 2016 38.04 45.05 180.10
4 JH Edrich 65 4 2579 42.28 44.75 178.89
5 AN Cook 176 6 7148 42.05 44.03 176.01
6 GA Gooch 150 4 5757 39.43 43.82 175.21
7 DL Amiss 27 2 1047 41.88 43.66 174.54
8 MA Atherton 165 5 5998 37.49 42.04 168.07
9 AJ Strauss 102 2 3982 39.82 41.53 166.04
10 ME Trescothick 97 5 3454 37.54 41.32 165.21

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 BM Duckett 2972 3428 86.70 80.36 39.19
2 GA Gooch 7811 15619 50.01 56.97 27.78
3 ME Trescothick 5824 10684 54.51 56.15 27.38
4 AJ Stewart 3348 6852 48.86 55.27 26.95
5 DL Amiss 2891 6772 42.69 53.46 26.07
6 JH Edrich 2890 7643 37.81 47.27 23.05
7 AJ Strauss 6741 13748 49.03 46.84 22.84
8 AN Cook 11845 25236 46.94 45.03 21.96
9 G Boycott 7498 21104 35.53 43.16 21.05
10 MA Atherton 7476 19863 37.64 41.96 20.46

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS V Sehwag 5890 7098 82.98 81.97 60.00
1 BM Duckett 2016 2350 85.79 81.24 59.47
2 DL Amiss 1047 2308 45.36 55.86 40.88
3 GA Gooch 5757 11908 48.35 55.57 40.67
4 AJ Stewart 3066 6369 48.14 54.84 40.14
5 ME Trescothick 3454 6601 52.33 54.50 39.89
6 AJ Strauss 3982 8295 48.00 46.62 34.13
7 JH Edrich 2115 5975 35.40 44.65 32.68
8 AN Cook 7148 15967 44.77 43.56 31.89
9 G Boycott 5107 14405 35.45 43.05 31.51
10 MA Atherton 5998 16002 37.48 41.96 30.72

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 AN Cook 294 263 244* 243 235* 190 189 236.86 74.85
2 DL Amiss 262* 203 188 183 179 174 164* 193.29 61.08
3 GA Gooch 333 196 183 174 154* 154 153 192.43 60.81
4 ME Trescothick 219 194 193 180 161 151 132 175.71 55.53
5 JH Edrich 310* 175 164 155 146 130 120 171.43 54.18
6 G Boycott 246* 191 155 142* 137 131 128* 161.43 51.02
7 MA Atherton 185* 160 151 144 136 135 131 148.86 47.04
8 AJ Strauss 169 161 147 142 142 141 137 148.43 46.91
9 AJ Stewart 190 170 148 143 119 118 107 142.14 44.92
10 BM Duckett 182 153 149 140 114 107 98 134.71 42.57

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 AN Cook 294 263 244* 235* 190 189 176 227.29 152.64
2 GA Gooch 183 154* 154 153 146 135 133 151.14 101.50
3 ME Trescothick 219 193 180 132 117 99 90 147.14 98.81
4 MA Atherton 185* 160 151 144 135 125 113 144.71 97.18
5 AJ Stewart 190 170 148 143 118 107 107 140.43 94.31
6 G Boycott 191 142* 137 128* 128 119* 116 137.29 92.20
7 AJ Strauss 161 147 136 129 128 128 126 136.43 91.62
8 JH Edrich 175 164 146 130 120 96 96 132.43 88.93
9 BM Duckett 153 149 107 98 94 92 84 111.00 74.54
10 DL Amiss 203 188 90 86* 79 56 56 108.29 72.72

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 AN Cook 250.00 298.63 227.49 53.84 829.96 331.98
2 G Boycott 230.00 333.46 143.21 52.56 759.23 303.69
3 GA Gooch 195.13 304.76 162.31 68.45 730.66 292.26
4 MA Atherton 157.79 285.62 144.23 51.18 638.81 255.52
5 ME Trescothick 122.92 290.75 154.35 67.27 635.28 254.11
6 AJ Stewart 83.64 333.91 139.23 67.09 623.86 249.55
7 DL Amiss 93.13 327.88 133.80 66.95 621.76 248.70
8 AJ Strauss 142.28 275.89 138.53 56.97 613.66 245.46
9 JH Edrich 97.50 306.60 143.11 55.73 602.94 241.18
10 BM Duckett 81.55 303.74 117.12 98.65 601.05 240.42

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.

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 GA Gooch 110 5117 47.82 52.06 804.74 24.14
2 G Boycott 100 4356 48.40 37.99 775.18 23.26
3 AN Cook 142 5941 43.36 48.11 742.81 22.28
4 ME Trescothick 75 3472 51.06 57.05 672.19 20.17
5 MA Atherton 112 4515 41.42 39.35 667.60 20.03
6 DL Amiss 28 1342 55.92 45.77 662.24 19.87
7 JH Edrich 58 2514 45.71 38.35 650.71 19.52
8 AJ Stewart 27 1322 50.85 55.73 633.85 19.02
9 AJ Strauss 104 4023 39.83 49.50 633.53 19.01
10 BM Duckett 32 1469 48.97 86.92 609.93 18.30

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 AN Cook 136 5904 46.49 45.81 845.08 101.41
2 G Boycott 91 3735 47.88 32.92 718.83 86.26
3 GA Gooch 74 2694 37.94 46.53 595.54 71.47
4 AJ Stewart 50 2026 41.35 45.22 583.76 70.05
5 MA Atherton 85 2961 36.11 35.30 580.18 69.62
6 AJ Strauss 67 2718 42.47 48.35 578.42 69.41
7 BM Duckett 44 1503 34.95 86.48 570.76 68.49
8 ME Trescothick 67 2352 36.18 51.15 555.80 66.70
9 JH Edrich 24 916 41.64 34.59 505.70 60.68
10 DL Amiss 41 1934 52.27 40.34 500.00 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: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 AN Cook 223 9135 42.89 47.62 836.94 25.11
2 GA Gooch 160 6942 44.50 50.20 818.31 24.55
3 G Boycott 176 7385 47.34 35.78 802.13 24.06
4 MA Atherton 183 6991 39.28 38.07 705.54 21.17
5 AJ Stewart 71 3202 46.41 50.30 705.22 21.16
6 AJ Strauss 147 5944 41.86 50.07 681.06 20.43
7 ME Trescothick 109 4519 44.74 56.36 662.80 19.88
8 JH Edrich 75 3224 45.41 37.81 653.25 19.60
9 DL Amiss 48 2363 56.26 44.46 639.92 19.20
10 BM Duckett 52 2002 40.04 87.54 576.25 17.29

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 5

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 AN Cook 55 2710 53.14 44.77 826.51 99.18
2 DL Amiss 21 913 48.05 36.24 709.93 85.19
3 BM Duckett 24 970 42.17 85.01 600.65 72.08
4 G Boycott 15 706 58.83 33.30 580.00 69.60
5 GA Gooch 24 869 39.50 48.55 540.16 64.82
6 ME Trescothick 33 1305 40.78 48.95 540.00 64.80
7 AJ Strauss 24 797 34.65 42.48 408.06 48.97
8 MA Atherton 14 485 37.31 32.31 340.48 40.86
9 JH Edrich 7 206 34.33 NK 295.93 35.51
10 AJ Stewart 6 146 24.33 30.04 211.91 25.43

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 AN Cook 101.41 22.28 99.18 25.11 247.98
2 G Boycott 86.26 23.26 69.60 24.06 203.18
3 GA Gooch 71.47 24.14 64.82 24.55 184.98
4 DL Amiss 60.00 19.87 85.19 19.20 184.26
5 BM Duckett 68.49 18.30 72.08 17.29 176.15
6 ME Trescothick 66.70 20.17 64.80 19.88 171.55
7 AJ Strauss 69.41 19.01 48.97 20.43 157.81
8 MA Atherton 69.62 20.03 40.86 21.17 151.67
9 AJ Stewart 70.05 19.02 25.43 21.16 135.65
10 JH Edrich 60.68 19.52 35.51 19.60 135.31

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 GA Gooch 101 3141 31.73 46.33 947.01 47.35
2 G Boycott 89 2379 29.01 33.80 810.15 40.51
3 AN Cook 115 2767 24.27 42.91 749.12 37.46
4 MA Atherton 104 2561 25.11 34.88 746.15 37.31
5 ME Trescothick 61 1625 27.54 47.24 714.45 35.72
6 AJ Stewart 44 1423 33.88 46.02 686.34 34.32
7 JH Edrich 39 1024 26.95 33.62 584.29 29.21
8 BM Duckett 36 894 25.54 82.47 581.50 29.08
9 AJ Strauss 59 1263 22.16 41.89 509.44 25.47
10 DL Amiss 36 694 21.03 37.57 463.90 23.20

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 AN Cook 30 1775 63.39 46.12 780.65 78.06
2 G Boycott 30 1638 71.22 36.97 711.19 71.12
3 GA Gooch 30 1591 54.86 50.65 668.38 66.84
4 AJ Stewart 30 1457 50.24 49.22 632.52 63.25
5 JH Edrich 30 1412 52.30 37.61 599.15 59.92
6 MA Atherton 30 1460 48.67 40.02 589.77 58.98
7 ME Trescothick 30 1337 44.57 54.71 585.54 58.55
8 AJ Strauss 30 1330 45.86 50.34 581.89 58.19
9 BM Duckett 30 1218 42.00 85.96 576.15 57.62
10 DL Amiss 27 1047 41.88 45.36 516.19 51.62

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 G Boycott 168 66 39.29 696.03 104.40
2 GA Gooch 178 68 38.20 637.44 95.62
3 AN Cook 264 89 33.71 633.11 94.97
4 AJ Stewart 75 33 44.00 609.24 91.39
5 MA Atherton 191 69 36.13 600.95 90.14
6 DL Amiss 61 23 37.70 511.89 76.78
7 JH Edrich 77 25 32.47 475.51 71.33
8 AJ Strauss 165 48 29.09 472.75 70.91
9 ME Trescothick 133 44 33.08 455.30 68.29
10 BM Duckett 73 24 32.88 442.46 66.37

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 G Boycott 40.51 71.12 104.40 216.03
2 AN Cook 37.46 78.06 94.97 210.49
3 GA Gooch 47.35 66.84 95.62 209.81
4 AJ Stewart 34.32 63.25 91.39 188.95
5 MA Atherton 37.31 58.98 90.14 186.43
6 ME Trescothick 35.72 58.55 68.29 162.57
7 JH Edrich 29.21 59.92 71.33 160.46
8 AJ Strauss 25.47 58.19 70.91 154.57
9 BM Duckett 29.08 57.62 66.37 153.06
10 DL Amiss 23.20 51.62 76.78 151.60

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 3 AN Cook ENG 331.98 247.98 210.49 790.45
2 5 G Boycott ENG 303.69 203.18 216.03 722.90
3 10 GA Gooch ENG 292.26 184.98 209.81 687.05
4 24 MA Atherton ENG 255.52 151.67 186.43 593.62
5 25 ME Trescothick ENG 254.11 171.55 162.57 588.23
6 27 DL Amiss ENG 248.70 184.26 151.60 584.56
7 35 AJ Stewart ENG 249.55 135.65 188.95 574.15
8 38 BM Duckett ENG 240.42 176.15 153.06 569.64
9 40 AJ Strauss ENG 245.46 157.81 154.57 557.85
10 45 JH Edrich ENG 241.18 135.31 160.46 536.95

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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