Tests - Best Kiwi Middle Order Batsmen

Top 10 New Zealand 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 Kiwi 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 New Zealand.

  • The Rating of the players from New Zealand remains the same as in the original OVERALL Rating.
  • Thus the Trend Setter can be from any nation and is not necessarily from New Zealand.
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 BE Congdon NZ 1965 1978 1971.5 98 3147 98.23
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS AR Border AUS 1978 1994 1986 257 10964 230.00
1 MD Crowe NZ 1982 1995 1988.5 128 5390 113.07
2 GP Howarth NZ 1975 1985 1980 60 1982 41.58
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SR Tendulkar IND 1989 2013 2001 324 15789 250.00
1 LRPL Taylor NZ 2007 2022 2014.5 196 7683 121.65
2 SP Fleming NZ 1994 2008 2001 174 6669 105.60
3 NJ Astle NZ 1996 2006 2001 131 4523 71.62
4 BB McCullum NZ 2004 2016 2010 78 2935 46.47
RANK ERA 4 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS JE Root ENG 2012 2026 2019 286 13526 240.00
1 KS Williamson NZ 2010 2025 2017.5 190 9449 167.66
2 DJ Mitchell NZ 2021 2025 2023 49 1937 34.37
3 BJ Watling NZ 2010 2021 2015.5 44 1627 28.87

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 KS Williamson 190 19 9449 55.26 55.24 137.86
2 MD Crowe 128 11 5390 46.07 46.97 117.22
3 DJ Mitchell 49 3 1937 42.11 45.57 113.75
4 BJ Watling 44 5 1627 41.72 43.52 108.62
5 LRPL Taylor 196 24 7683 44.67 43.22 107.88
6 SP Fleming 174 9 6669 40.42 40.08 100.03
7 GP Howarth 60 4 1982 35.39 38.34 95.70
8 NJ Astle 131 8 4523 36.77 37.80 94.35
9 BB McCullum 78 3 2935 39.13 36.51 91.12
10 BE Congdon 98 7 3147 34.58 36.04 89.96

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 DJ Mitchell 34 3 1403 45.26 50.76 178.73
2 KS Williamson 120 9 5204 46.88 49.49 174.27
3 MD Crowe 92 9 3527 42.49 45.79 161.24
4 BJ Watling 34 3 1275 41.13 44.45 156.51
5 GP Howarth 42 3 1534 39.33 44.00 154.92
6 BB McCullum 47 2 1925 42.78 42.92 151.12
7 SP Fleming 103 6 3896 40.16 42.81 150.72
8 NJ Astle 79 6 2697 36.95 40.65 143.14
9 LRPL Taylor 125 11 4218 37.00 38.37 135.11
10 BE Congdon 74 5 2515 36.45 38.35 135.04

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 BB McCullum 2935 4311 68.08 64.68 32.72
2 LRPL Taylor 7683 12958 59.29 56.96 28.81
3 NJ Astle 4523 9085 49.79 53.04 26.83
4 KS Williamson 9449 18160 52.03 50.00 25.29
5 MD Crowe 5390 12059 44.70 49.78 25.18
6 DJ Mitchell 1937 3652 53.04 48.93 24.75
7 SP Fleming 6669 14582 45.73 48.40 24.48
8 GP Howarth 1743 4493 38.79 45.04 22.78
9 BE Congdon 1423 4273 33.30 41.56 21.02
10 BJ Watling 1627 3949 41.20 39.91 20.19

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS HC Brook 2361 2689 87.80 81.53 60.00
1 BB McCullum 1925 2859 67.33 64.42 47.41
2 LRPL Taylor 4218 7149 59.00 57.76 42.51
3 NJ Astle 2697 5055 53.35 57.35 42.21
4 SP Fleming 3896 8570 45.46 48.75 35.87
5 MD Crowe 3527 8353 42.22 47.82 35.19
6 KS Williamson 5204 10682 48.72 47.61 35.04
7 DJ Mitchell 1403 2768 50.69 47.37 34.86
8 GP Howarth 1534 3896 39.37 45.93 33.80
9 BE Congdon 1395 4180 33.37 41.77 30.74
10 BJ Watling 1275 3160 40.35 39.60 29.14

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 KS Williamson 251 242* 238 215 200* 200* 192 219.71 63.82
2 SP Fleming 274* 262 202 192 174* 130 129 194.71 56.56
3 LRPL Taylor 290 217* 200 173* 154* 151 142 189.57 55.06
4 MD Crowe 299 188 188 174 143 142 140 182.00 52.86
5 BB McCullum 302 224 195 145 113 97 96 167.43 48.63
6 NJ Astle 222 156* 141 128 125 114 114 142.86 41.49
7 BE Congdon 176 175 166* 132 126 107* 104 140.86 40.91
8 GP Howarth 147 137* 123 122 114 102 94 119.86 34.81
9 DJ Mitchell 190 109 108 102 84 82 81 108.00 31.37
10 BJ Watling 205 120 105* 85 83* 77* 77 107.43 31.20

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 KS Williamson 200* 192 176 166 156 140 139 167.00 111.90
2 SP Fleming 274* 262 192 130 105 99 97 165.57 110.94
3 LRPL Taylor 290 154* 151 142 138 120 113 158.29 106.06
4 MD Crowe 188 188 174 137 119 108* 107 145.86 97.73
5 BB McCullum 302 224 145 97 96 80 74 145.43 97.44
6 BE Congdon 176 175 166* 132 126 107* 104 140.86 94.38
7 NJ Astle 222 156* 125 103 103 93 77 125.57 84.14
8 BJ Watling 205 120 105* 85 77* 77 63 104.57 70.07
9 GP Howarth 147 123 122 102 94 67 65 102.86 68.92
10 DJ Mitchell 190 109 108 84 82 62* 60 99.29 66.53

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 KS Williamson 167.66 312.13 175.71 60.33 715.84 286.34
2 MD Crowe 113.07 278.47 150.59 60.37 602.50 241.00
3 LRPL Taylor 121.65 242.99 161.12 71.32 597.09 238.83
4 SP Fleming 105.60 250.75 167.50 60.36 584.20 233.68
5 BB McCullum 46.47 242.24 146.07 80.13 514.91 205.96
6 BE Congdon 98.23 224.99 135.29 51.77 510.29 204.11
7 NJ Astle 71.62 237.49 125.63 69.04 503.77 201.51
8 DJ Mitchell 34.37 292.48 97.90 59.61 484.36 193.74
9 GP Howarth 41.58 250.61 103.73 56.58 452.51 181.00
10 BJ Watling 28.87 265.13 101.27 49.33 444.60 177.84

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 KS Williamson 93 5327 65.77 55.28 738.99 22.17
2 BB McCullum 38 1888 53.94 70.37 613.69 18.41
3 LRPL Taylor 87 3905 53.49 60.24 591.28 17.74
4 MD Crowe 51 2381 50.66 44.49 556.40 16.69
5 BJ Watling 13 570 43.85 41.45 500.00 15.00
6 NJ Astle 60 2158 40.72 51.52 497.01 14.91
7 GP Howarth 35 1231 38.47 37.54 450.25 13.51
8 SP Fleming 85 2911 35.07 45.50 440.50 13.21
9 BE Congdon 53 1577 31.54 34.74 430.78 12.92
10 DJ Mitchell 25 834 36.26 51.42 356.42 10.69

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 KS Williamson 97 4122 45.80 48.36 635.78 76.29
2 SP Fleming 89 3758 45.83 45.92 631.80 75.82
3 MD Crowe 77 3009 42.99 44.86 588.40 70.61
4 DJ Mitchell 24 1103 47.96 54.33 558.99 67.08
5 LRPL Taylor 109 3778 38.16 58.34 554.02 66.48
6 BE Congdon 45 1570 38.29 32.26 509.55 61.15
7 NJ Astle 71 2365 33.79 48.30 453.95 54.47
8 BJ Watling 31 1057 40.65 41.06 403.60 48.43
9 GP Howarth 25 751 31.29 40.88 385.44 46.25
10 BB McCullum 40 1047 26.18 64.31 338.49 40.62

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 KS Williamson 145 7320 57.19 53.32 710.33 21.31
2 LRPL Taylor 149 6282 49.86 59.98 642.90 19.29
3 MD Crowe 105 4661 48.05 45.19 622.94 18.69
4 BB McCullum 71 2775 40.81 68.52 544.18 16.33
5 SP Fleming 147 5171 36.42 45.57 541.76 16.25
6 BE Congdon 83 2846 37.45 33.30 539.60 16.19
7 NJ Astle 112 3983 38.30 52.44 533.65 16.01
8 DJ Mitchell 32 1452 50.07 51.71 517.29 15.52
9 GP Howarth 55 1919 37.63 38.79 470.42 14.11
10 BJ Watling 34 1262 39.44 42.14 424.21 12.73

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 SP Fleming 27 1498 65.13 46.31 747.28 89.67
2 KS Williamson 45 2129 49.51 48.05 700.96 84.12
3 LRPL Taylor 47 1401 30.46 56.38 524.51 62.94
4 GP Howarth 5 63 12.60 NK 500.00 60.00
4 BB McCullum 7 160 22.86 61.30 500.00 60.00
6 MD Crowe 23 729 36.45 41.78 414.71 49.77
7 BJ Watling 10 365 52.14 38.26 372.72 44.73
8 DJ Mitchell 17 485 28.53 57.46 321.49 38.58
9 NJ Astle 19 540 28.42 36.27 319.02 38.28
10 BE Congdon 15 301 20.07 NK 256.32 30.76

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 KS Williamson 76.29 22.17 84.12 21.31 203.89
2 SP Fleming 75.82 13.21 89.67 16.25 194.96
3 LRPL Taylor 66.48 17.74 62.94 19.29 166.45
4 MD Crowe 70.61 16.69 49.77 18.69 155.75
5 BB McCullum 40.62 18.41 60.00 16.33 135.35
6 GP Howarth 46.25 13.51 60.00 14.11 133.87
7 DJ Mitchell 67.08 10.69 38.58 15.52 131.87
8 NJ Astle 54.47 14.91 38.28 16.01 123.68
9 BE Congdon 61.15 12.92 30.76 16.19 121.02
10 BJ Watling 48.43 15.00 44.73 12.73 120.88

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 LRPL Taylor 101 2482 25.59 56.56 656.83 32.84
2 MD Crowe 70 1742 26.80 39.31 618.97 30.95
3 DJ Mitchell 24 835 37.95 48.18 609.32 30.47
4 SP Fleming 92 2390 26.56 40.53 590.61 29.53
5 BJ Watling 23 723 34.43 37.93 555.85 27.79
6 KS Williamson 89 1877 21.57 42.90 551.90 27.59
7 BE Congdon 63 1371 22.48 28.79 534.97 26.75
8 NJ Astle 70 1626 23.91 48.54 529.52 26.48
9 BB McCullum 38 890 23.42 58.67 484.85 24.24
10 GP Howarth 35 796 24.12 35.22 469.39 23.47

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 MD Crowe 50 2522 58.65 44.01 694.91 69.49
2 KS Williamson 50 2421 52.63 54.00 671.75 67.17
3 SP Fleming 50 2149 45.72 51.15 637.77 63.78
4 LRPL Taylor 50 2109 44.87 57.80 589.37 58.94
5 BB McCullum 47 1925 42.78 67.33 586.33 58.63
6 BE Congdon 50 1974 43.87 35.56 568.29 56.83
7 NJ Astle 50 1898 42.18 52.21 546.33 54.63
8 DJ Mitchell 34 1403 45.26 50.69 490.11 49.01
9 GP Howarth 42 1534 39.33 39.37 479.81 47.98
10 BJ Watling 34 1275 41.13 40.35 453.05 45.31

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 KS Williamson 171 74 43.27 691.20 103.68
2 DJ Mitchell 46 19 41.30 624.01 93.60
3 SP Fleming 165 61 36.97 620.02 93.00
4 BJ Watling 39 16 41.03 607.76 91.16
5 MD Crowe 117 42 35.90 607.13 91.07
6 LRPL Taylor 172 65 37.79 581.18 87.18
7 NJ Astle 123 38 30.89 488.97 73.35
8 BE Congdon 91 26 28.57 479.92 71.99
9 GP Howarth 56 17 30.36 476.58 71.49
10 BB McCullum 75 22 29.33 444.36 66.65

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 KS Williamson 27.59 67.17 103.68 198.45
2 MD Crowe 30.95 69.49 91.07 191.51
3 SP Fleming 29.53 63.78 93.00 186.31
4 LRPL Taylor 32.84 58.94 87.18 178.96
5 DJ Mitchell 30.47 49.01 93.60 173.08
6 BJ Watling 27.79 45.31 91.16 164.26
7 BE Congdon 26.75 56.83 71.99 155.57
8 NJ Astle 26.48 54.63 73.35 154.45
9 BB McCullum 24.24 58.63 66.65 149.53
10 GP Howarth 23.47 47.98 71.49 142.94

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 23 KS Williamson NZ 286.34 203.89 198.45 688.67
2 42 SP Fleming NZ 233.68 194.96 186.31 614.95
3 47 MD Crowe NZ 241.00 155.75 191.51 588.26
4 48 LRPL Taylor NZ 238.83 166.45 178.96 584.24
5 90 DJ Mitchell NZ 193.74 131.87 173.08 498.69
6 96 BB McCullum NZ 205.96 135.35 149.53 490.85
7 102 BE Congdon NZ 204.11 121.02 155.57 480.70
8 104 NJ Astle NZ 201.51 123.68 154.45 479.64
9 115 BJ Watling NZ 177.84 120.88 164.26 462.98
10 118 GP Howarth NZ 181.00 133.87 142.94 457.81

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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