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 South African middle order (3-6) batsmen in Test Cricket since 1950.

*Note: All Test Ratings are updated till 2025-09-10

CONTENTS

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. IMPACT INNS

5.4. 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 South Africa.

The Rating of the players from South Africa remains the same as in the original OVERALL Rating.
Thus the Trend Setter can be from any nation and is not necessarily from South Africa.

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, Top Inns, Strike Rate
Conditions	Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary	Top Form (Home & Away), Min 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 (TT)	50
Min Career Runs	1000

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	AR Border	AUS	1978	1994	1986	257	10964	170.00
1	RA McLean	SA	1951	1964	1957.5	66	1995	30.93

RANK	ERA 2	NAT	FP	LP	MP	INNS	RUNS	RAT
TS	SR Tendulkar	IND	1989	2013	2001	324	15789	200.00
1	JH Kallis	SA	1995	2013	2004	276	13120	166.19
2	HM Amla	SA	2004	2019	2011.5	211	9167	116.12
3	AB de Villiers	SA	2005	2018	2011.5	149	7348	93.08
4	DJ Cullinan	SA	1993	2001	1997	112	4542	57.53
5	WJ Cronje	SA	1992	2000	1996	108	3608	45.70
6	AG Prince	SA	2002	2011	2006.5	88	3176	40.23
7	JN Rhodes	SA	1992	2000	1996	73	2447	31.00

RANK	ERA 3	NAT	FP	LP	MP	INNS	RUNS	RAT
TS	JE Root	ENG	2012	2026	2019	286	13526	190.00
1	F du Plessis	SA	2012	2021	2016.5	110	3921	55.08
2	T Bavuma	SA	2014	2025	2019.5	107	3562	50.04

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

Against All Teams

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	NO	RUNS	AVE	R AVE	RAT
TS	GS Sobers	135	16	7048	59.23	61.04	250.00
1	AB de Villiers	149	16	7348	55.25	54.97	225.14
2	JH Kallis	276	40	13120	55.59	54.25	222.19
3	HM Amla	211	16	9167	47.01	46.19	189.18
4	DJ Cullinan	112	10	4542	44.53	44.51	182.32
5	AG Prince	88	15	3176	43.51	41.51	170.03
6	F du Plessis	110	12	3921	40.01	40.34	165.21
7	JN Rhodes	73	8	2447	37.65	39.74	162.76
8	T Bavuma	107	14	3562	38.30	39.42	161.47
9	WJ Cronje	108	8	3608	36.08	37.76	154.66
10	RA McLean	66	3	1995	31.67	37.75	154.61

Against Top Teams

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	NO	RUNS	AVE	R AVE	RAT
TS	GS Sobers	119	14	6492	61.83	64.21	250.00
1	JH Kallis	199	23	9071	51.54	52.29	203.62
2	AB de Villiers	120	8	5685	50.76	51.76	201.53
3	HM Amla	155	11	6840	47.50	48.62	189.33
4	JN Rhodes	51	6	1786	39.69	43.37	168.87
5	T Bavuma	66	11	1988	36.15	40.12	156.24
6	AG Prince	61	8	2036	38.42	39.01	151.89
7	RA McLean	59	2	1815	31.84	38.73	150.79
8	DJ Cullinan	68	5	2243	35.60	37.52	146.10
9	F du Plessis	81	6	2518	33.57	35.73	139.13
10	WJ Cronje	75	4	2170	30.56	33.25	129.47

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	BC Lara	400*	375	277	226	221	216	213	275.43	150.00
1	HM Amla	311*	253*	208	201	196	176*	159	214.86	117.01
2	JH Kallis	224	201*	189*	186	182*	177	173	190.29	103.63
3	AB de Villiers	278*	217*	174	169	164	163	160*	189.29	103.09
4	DJ Cullinan	275*	168	153*	152	134	122*	120	160.57	87.45
5	AG Prince	162*	149	139*	138	131	123*	121	137.57	74.92
6	F du Plessis	199	137	135*	134	120	118*	112*	136.43	74.30
7	WJ Cronje	135	126	122	122	112	101	88	115.14	62.71
8	T Bavuma	172	113	106	102*	95*	93	86	109.57	59.67
9	RA McLean	142	113	109	101	100	93	81	105.57	57.49
10	JN Rhodes	117	103*	101*	95	91	87	86	97.14	52.90

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 Average	25

RANK	BATSMAN	R4BF	BF	SR	R SR	RAT
TS	IVA Richards	6609	9580	68.99	75.59	150.00
1	RA McLean	340	616	55.19	71.21	141.31
2	AB de Villiers	7348	13313	55.19	53.26	105.68
3	DJ Cullinan	4542	9274	48.98	51.95	103.09
4	JN Rhodes	2447	5382	45.47	49.87	98.95
5	WJ Cronje	3608	8130	44.38	48.54	96.32
6	HM Amla	9167	18411	49.79	48.01	95.28
7	T Bavuma	3562	7263	49.04	45.81	90.90
8	JH Kallis	13120	28525	45.99	45.68	90.65
9	F du Plessis	3921	8419	46.57	44.70	88.69
10	AG Prince	3176	7191	44.17	42.68	84.70

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	JH Kallis	166.19	425.81	103.63	90.65	786.29	314.51
2	AB de Villiers	93.08	426.67	103.09	105.68	728.51	291.41
3	HM Amla	116.12	378.51	117.01	95.28	706.92	282.77
4	DJ Cullinan	57.53	328.41	87.45	103.09	576.48	230.59
5	RA McLean	30.93	305.40	57.49	141.31	535.14	214.05
6	F du Plessis	55.08	304.35	74.30	88.69	522.42	208.97
7	AG Prince	40.23	321.92	74.92	84.70	521.78	208.71
8	T Bavuma	50.04	317.71	59.67	90.90	518.32	207.33
9	JN Rhodes	31.00	331.63	52.90	98.95	514.48	205.79
10	WJ Cronje	45.70	284.13	62.71	96.32	488.86	195.54

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	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: 20

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	RUNS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	JH Kallis	141	6970	57.13	47.84	790.86	23.73
2	AB de Villiers	82	4034	53.08	58.13	665.46	19.96
3	HM Amla	114	5082	47.50	51.30	662.57	19.88
4	T Bavuma	57	2147	45.68	52.89	597.32	17.92
5	DJ Cullinan	58	2361	44.55	50.20	551.47	16.54
6	F du Plessis	64	2482	43.54	48.94	525.12	15.75
7	AG Prince	51	1923	48.08	45.82	521.11	15.63
8	JN Rhodes	40	1404	37.95	44.67	484.04	14.52
9	WJ Cronje	58	1847	33.58	45.14	443.02	13.29
10	RA McLean	32	955	30.81	NK	434.92	13.05

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	RUNS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	JH Kallis	135	6150	53.95	44.06	682.70	81.92
2	AB de Villiers	67	3314	58.14	52.00	681.29	81.76
3	HM Amla	97	4085	46.42	48.03	639.23	76.71
4	RA McLean	34	1040	32.50	63.25	520.75	62.49
5	DJ Cullinan	54	2181	44.51	47.71	508.36	61.00
6	JN Rhodes	33	1043	37.25	46.58	460.85	55.30
7	WJ Cronje	50	1761	39.13	43.61	456.95	54.83
8	AG Prince	37	1253	37.97	41.85	430.51	51.66
9	F du Plessis	46	1439	35.10	42.98	422.19	50.66
10	T Bavuma	50	1415	30.76	44.16	391.94	47.03

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	JH Kallis	232	11062	55.59	46.38	815.28	24.46
2	HM Amla	169	7370	46.94	52.03	716.66	21.50
3	AB de Villiers	114	5648	55.37	55.22	713.07	21.39
4	DJ Cullinan	90	3775	46.04	49.51	588.04	17.64
5	F du Plessis	84	3348	46.50	47.87	582.52	17.48
6	AG Prince	68	2635	47.91	45.29	558.43	16.75
7	T Bavuma	90	3158	40.49	49.94	554.40	16.63
8	RA McLean	66	1995	31.67	55.19	547.24	16.42
9	JN Rhodes	60	2082	38.56	45.80	531.86	15.96
10	WJ Cronje	91	3102	36.49	44.79	503.19	15.10

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	RUNS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	AB de Villiers	35	1700	54.84	55.11	714.56	85.75
2	JH Kallis	44	2058	55.62	44.05	707.85	84.94
3	HM Amla	42	1797	47.29	42.33	654.51	78.54
4	RA McLean	0	0	NA	NA	500.00	60.00
5	DJ Cullinan	22	767	38.35	46.48	463.55	55.63
6	WJ Cronje	17	506	33.73	41.99	381.64	45.80
7	JN Rhodes	13	365	33.18	43.66	350.55	42.07
8	AG Prince	20	541	30.06	39.40	329.81	39.58
9	T Bavuma	17	404	26.93	43.02	304.57	36.55
10	F du Plessis	26	573	22.04	40.21	296.27	35.55

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	JH Kallis	81.92	23.73	84.94	24.46	215.05
2	AB de Villiers	81.76	19.96	85.75	21.39	208.86
3	HM Amla	76.71	19.88	78.54	21.50	196.63
4	RA McLean	62.49	13.05	60.00	16.42	151.96
5	DJ Cullinan	61.00	16.54	55.63	17.64	150.81
6	WJ Cronje	54.83	13.29	45.80	15.10	129.02
7	JN Rhodes	55.30	14.52	42.07	15.96	127.84
8	AG Prince	51.66	15.63	39.58	16.75	123.62
9	F du Plessis	50.66	15.75	35.55	17.48	119.44
10	T Bavuma	47.03	17.92	36.55	16.63	118.13

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
Top Form Home	30.00
Top Form Away	120.00
Impact Innings	150.00

TF RATING

Points to note about Top Form Rating:-

Top Form (TF) 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 Vs All Teams: 15

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	RUNS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	JH Kallis	30	2212	92.17	54.27	843.01	25.29
2	AB de Villiers	30	2019	72.11	57.10	731.08	21.93
3	HM Amla	30	1753	62.61	54.59	670.85	20.13
4	AG Prince	30	1398	69.90	46.48	616.30	18.49
5	DJ Cullinan	30	1354	50.15	52.20	556.51	16.70
6	F du Plessis	30	1368	52.62	47.47	539.54	16.19
7	T Bavuma	30	1321	48.93	54.16	525.70	15.77
8	WJ Cronje	30	1041	37.18	44.24	446.72	13.40
9	JN Rhodes	30	1041	37.18	46.66	439.68	13.19
10	RA McLean	30	919	31.69	NK	424.29	12.73

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 15

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	RUNS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	HM Amla	30	2039	81.56	53.46	897.43	107.69
2	AB de Villiers	30	1795	78.04	53.87	833.62	100.03
3	JH Kallis	30	1811	86.24	45.13	805.62	96.67
4	DJ Cullinan	30	1408	54.15	50.74	658.85	79.06
5	WJ Cronje	30	1261	46.70	47.46	555.10	66.61
6	RA McLean	30	928	33.14	65.91	534.95	64.19
7	AG Prince	30	1102	39.36	41.58	489.67	58.76
8	F du Plessis	30	1049	41.96	39.78	487.12	58.45
9	JN Rhodes	30	960	38.40	47.93	481.09	57.73
10	T Bavuma	30	823	31.65	44.41	395.47	47.46

IMPACT INNS

II Rating

Impact Innings (II) are those innings which have a minimum 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 16.67% of the total runs of the higher total or
The runs are more than 10.00% of the total runs and
The SR is high or in a successful chase while being Not Out.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 50

RANK	BATSMAN	DIS	II	II/Dis%	RAT	WTG
1	JH Kallis	236	90	38.14	763.58	114.54
2	AB de Villiers	133	56	42.11	746.11	111.92
3	HM Amla	195	72	36.92	724.98	108.75
4	T Bavuma	93	34	36.56	634.93	95.24
5	AG Prince	73	23	31.51	527.10	79.07
6	DJ Cullinan	102	31	30.39	526.90	79.03
7	JN Rhodes	65	19	29.23	516.73	77.51
8	F du Plessis	98	27	27.55	471.40	70.71
9	WJ Cronje	100	23	23.00	399.91	59.99
10	RA McLean	63	13	20.63	362.86	54.43

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	TF HM	TF AW	II	SEC RAT
1	HM Amla	20.13	107.69	108.75	236.56
2	JH Kallis	25.29	96.67	114.54	236.50
3	AB de Villiers	21.93	100.03	111.92	233.88
4	DJ Cullinan	16.70	79.06	79.03	174.79
5	T Bavuma	15.77	47.46	95.24	158.47
6	AG Prince	18.49	58.76	79.07	156.31
7	JN Rhodes	13.19	57.73	77.51	148.43
8	F du Plessis	16.19	58.45	70.71	145.35
9	WJ Cronje	13.40	66.61	59.99	140.00
10	RA McLean	12.73	64.19	54.43	131.35

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	10	JH Kallis	SA	314.51	215.05	236.50	766.07
2	16	AB de Villiers	SA	291.41	208.86	233.88	734.15
3	19	HM Amla	SA	282.77	196.63	236.56	715.96
4	72	DJ Cullinan	SA	230.59	150.81	174.79	556.20
5	105	RA McLean	SA	214.05	151.96	131.35	497.36
6	106	AG Prince	SA	208.71	123.62	156.31	488.65
7	109	T Bavuma	SA	207.33	118.13	158.47	483.93
8	111	JN Rhodes	SA	205.79	127.84	148.43	482.07
9	116	F du Plessis	SA	208.97	119.44	145.35	473.76
10	121	WJ Cronje	SA	195.54	129.02	140.00	464.56

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	ENG	SA
1970s	PAK	ENG	IND	WI	SA	AUS
1980s	PAK	WI	ENG	NZ	AUS
1990s	IND	PAK	SA	AUS	WI
2000s	AUS	IND	SL	PAK	SA	ENG
2010s	IND	PAK	SL	ENG	SA	AUS
2020s	IND	AUS	PAK	NZ	SA	ENG