Best South African Test Middle Order Batsmen Featured

Top 10 South African Middle Order Batsmen in Tests

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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 2025-02-15

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 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 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 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 2024 2018 266 12555 180.00
1 F du Plessis SA 2012 2021 2016.5 110 3921 56.22
2 T Bavuma SA 2014 2025 2019.5 101 3358 48.14

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 GS Sobers 135 16 7048 59.23 60.73 250.00
1 AB de Villiers 149 16 7348 55.25 54.16 222.94
2 JH Kallis 276 40 13120 55.59 53.74 221.21
3 HM Amla 211 16 9167 47.01 46.17 190.08
4 DJ Cullinan 112 10 4542 44.53 44.27 182.26
5 AG Prince 88 15 3176 43.51 41.68 171.59
6 F du Plessis 110 12 3921 40.01 40.65 167.34
7 T Bavuma 101 13 3358 38.16 39.89 164.19
8 JN Rhodes 73 8 2447 37.65 39.73 163.54
9 WJ Cronje 108 8 3608 36.08 37.60 154.78
10 RA McLean 66 3 1995 31.67 36.71 151.14

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 112 12 5793 57.93 59.40 250.00
1 AB de Villiers 126 9 6048 51.69 50.67 213.26
2 JH Kallis 215 25 9735 51.24 49.53 208.44
3 HM Amla 172 15 7496 47.75 46.90 197.37
4 DJ Cullinan 84 8 3177 41.80 41.56 174.93
5 JN Rhodes 63 7 2081 37.16 39.21 165.04
6 T Bavuma 73 12 2261 37.07 38.74 163.06
7 AG Prince 66 9 2276 39.93 38.26 161.01
8 RA McLean 59 2 1815 31.84 36.92 155.38
9 WJ Cronje 89 6 2878 34.67 36.13 152.08
10 F du Plessis 89 7 2737 33.38 33.91 142.73

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 2500
Min Average 25
RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS IVA Richards 6609 9580 68.99 75.84 150.00
1 RA McLean 340 616 55.19 70.43 139.29
2 AB de Villiers 7348 13313 55.19 53.13 105.07
3 DJ Cullinan 4542 9274 48.98 52.08 102.99
4 JN Rhodes 2447 5382 45.47 50.21 99.31
5 WJ Cronje 3608 8130 44.38 48.78 96.48
6 HM Amla 9167 18411 49.79 48.05 95.02
7 T Bavuma 3358 6795 49.42 46.07 91.12
8 JH Kallis 13120 28525 45.99 45.89 90.76
9 F du Plessis 3921 8419 46.57 44.52 88.06
10 AG Prince 3176 7191 44.17 42.76 84.57

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 JH Kallis 166.19 429.64 103.63 90.76 790.22 395.11
2 AB de Villiers 93.08 436.21 103.09 105.07 737.44 368.72
3 HM Amla 116.12 387.45 117.01 95.02 715.60 357.80
4 DJ Cullinan 57.53 357.19 87.45 102.99 605.16 302.58
5 RA McLean 30.93 306.52 57.49 139.29 534.23 267.11
6 AG Prince 40.23 332.60 74.92 84.57 532.33 266.16
7 F du Plessis 56.22 310.06 74.30 88.06 528.64 264.32
8 T Bavuma 48.14 327.25 59.67 91.12 526.19 263.10
9 JN Rhodes 31.00 328.58 52.90 99.31 511.79 255.89
10 WJ Cronje 45.70 306.86 62.71 96.48 511.74 255.87

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 JH Kallis 141 6970 57.13 47.84 759.91 189.98
2 AB de Villiers 82 4034 53.08 58.13 647.89 161.97
3 HM Amla 114 5082 47.50 51.30 647.26 161.81
4 T Bavuma 57 2147 45.68 52.89 577.63 144.41
5 DJ Cullinan 58 2361 44.55 50.20 526.53 131.63
6 F du Plessis 64 2482 43.54 48.94 517.44 129.36
7 AG Prince 51 1923 48.08 45.82 514.46 128.61
8 JN Rhodes 40 1404 37.95 44.67 455.57 113.89
9 WJ Cronje 58 1847 33.58 45.14 438.25 109.56
10 RA McLean 32 955 30.81 NK 417.14 104.28

Away From Home

Min Innings: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 AB de Villiers 67 3314 58.14 52.00 701.01 701.01
2 JH Kallis 135 6150 53.95 44.06 693.62 693.62
3 HM Amla 97 4085 46.42 48.03 658.62 658.62
4 DJ Cullinan 54 2181 44.51 47.71 571.23 571.23
5 RA McLean 34 1040 32.50 63.25 528.82 528.82
6 WJ Cronje 50 1761 39.13 43.61 489.45 489.45
7 JN Rhodes 33 1043 37.25 46.58 469.62 469.62
8 AG Prince 37 1253 37.97 41.85 442.42 442.42
9 F du Plessis 46 1439 35.10 42.98 430.43 430.43
10 T Bavuma 44 1211 29.54 44.26 380.74 380.74

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 JH Kallis 232 11062 55.59 46.38 763.14 190.78
2 HM Amla 169 7370 46.94 52.03 683.99 171.00
3 AB de Villiers 114 5648 55.37 55.22 669.24 167.31
4 DJ Cullinan 90 3775 46.04 49.51 581.12 145.28
5 F du Plessis 84 3348 46.50 47.87 545.59 136.40
6 AG Prince 68 2635 47.91 45.29 525.49 131.37
7 T Bavuma 88 3056 40.21 50.05 524.17 131.04
8 RA McLean 66 1995 31.67 55.19 509.06 127.26
9 JN Rhodes 60 2082 38.56 45.80 487.15 121.79
10 WJ Cronje 91 3102 36.49 44.79 486.21 121.55

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 AB de Villiers 35 1700 54.84 55.11 729.20 729.20
2 JH Kallis 44 2058 55.62 44.05 726.24 726.24
3 HM Amla 42 1797 47.29 42.33 679.28 679.28
4 RA McLean 0 0 NA NA 500.00 500.00
5 DJ Cullinan 22 767 38.35 46.48 454.59 454.59
6 WJ Cronje 17 506 33.73 41.99 368.69 368.69
7 JN Rhodes 13 365 33.18 43.66 330.64 330.64
8 AG Prince 20 541 30.06 39.40 321.91 321.91
9 F du Plessis 26 573 22.04 40.21 289.89 289.89
10 T Bavuma 13 302 25.17 43.83 258.67 258.67

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 JH Kallis 693.62 189.98 726.24 190.78 1,800.62 180.06
2 AB de Villiers 701.01 161.97 729.20 167.31 1,759.49 175.95
3 HM Amla 658.62 161.81 679.28 171.00 1,670.71 167.07
4 DJ Cullinan 571.23 131.63 454.59 145.28 1,302.73 130.27
5 RA McLean 528.82 104.28 500.00 127.26 1,260.37 126.04
6 WJ Cronje 489.45 109.56 368.69 121.55 1,089.26 108.93
7 JN Rhodes 469.62 113.89 330.64 121.79 1,035.94 103.59
8 AG Prince 442.42 128.61 321.91 131.37 1,024.31 102.43
9 F du Plessis 430.43 129.36 289.89 136.40 986.08 98.61
10 T Bavuma 380.74 144.41 258.67 131.04 914.86 91.49

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 JH Kallis 30 2212 92.17 54.27 817.08 163.42
2 AB de Villiers 30 2019 72.11 57.10 717.18 143.44
3 HM Amla 30 1753 62.61 54.59 674.92 134.98
4 AG Prince 30 1398 69.90 46.48 601.97 120.39
5 DJ Cullinan 30 1354 50.15 52.20 551.03 110.21
6 F du Plessis 30 1368 52.62 47.47 538.20 107.64
7 T Bavuma 30 1321 48.93 54.16 531.35 106.27
8 WJ Cronje 30 1041 37.18 44.24 445.54 89.11
9 JN Rhodes 30 1041 37.18 46.66 433.74 86.75
10 RA McLean 30 919 31.69 NK 418.79 83.76

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 HM Amla 30 2039 81.56 53.46 893.59 714.87
2 AB de Villiers 30 1795 78.04 53.87 824.10 659.28
3 JH Kallis 30 1811 86.24 45.13 781.37 625.10
4 DJ Cullinan 30 1408 54.15 50.74 667.17 533.74
5 WJ Cronje 30 1261 46.70 47.46 549.07 439.26
6 RA McLean 30 928 33.14 65.91 528.58 422.87
7 AG Prince 30 1102 39.36 41.58 496.08 396.86
8 JN Rhodes 30 960 38.40 47.93 480.20 384.16
9 F du Plessis 30 1049 41.96 39.78 478.25 382.60
10 T Bavuma 30 811 30.04 44.63 372.61 298.09

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 JH Kallis 45 1727 44.28 44.59 782.92 391.46
2 AB de Villiers 24 1128 51.27 43.52 728.36 364.18
3 DJ Cullinan 22 745 39.21 52.35 584.51 292.25
4 WJ Cronje 21 710 39.44 44.63 548.89 274.45
5 JN Rhodes 14 532 40.92 51.50 539.43 269.72
6 RA McLean 13 444 40.36 NK 520.21 260.11
7 HM Amla 33 997 33.23 39.90 510.52 255.26
8 AG Prince 8 257 36.71 36.35 500.00 250.00
9 F du Plessis 21 594 33.00 36.46 497.28 248.64
10 T Bavuma 15 312 28.36 45.81 354.12 177.06

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 AB de Villiers 133 47 35.34 773.90 773.90
2 JH Kallis 236 74 31.36 760.79 760.79
3 HM Amla 195 56 28.72 702.09 702.09
4 DJ Cullinan 102 28 27.45 581.98 581.98
5 JN Rhodes 65 15 23.08 534.47 534.47
6 WJ Cronje 100 20 20.00 485.96 485.96
7 T Bavuma 88 20 22.73 455.64 455.64
8 RA McLean 63 12 19.05 416.80 416.80
9 AG Prince 73 16 21.92 412.19 412.19
10 F du Plessis 98 20 20.41 397.99 397.99

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 AB de Villiers 143.44 659.28 364.18 773.90 1,940.80 194.08
2 JH Kallis 163.42 625.10 391.46 760.79 1,940.76 194.08
3 HM Amla 134.98 714.87 255.26 702.09 1,807.21 180.72
4 DJ Cullinan 110.21 533.74 292.25 581.98 1,518.18 151.82
5 WJ Cronje 89.11 439.26 274.45 485.96 1,288.78 128.88
6 JN Rhodes 86.75 384.16 269.72 534.47 1,275.10 127.51
7 RA McLean 83.76 422.87 260.11 416.80 1,183.53 118.35
8 AG Prince 120.39 396.86 250.00 412.19 1,179.45 117.94
9 F du Plessis 107.64 382.60 248.64 397.99 1,136.87 113.69
10 T Bavuma 106.27 298.09 177.06 455.64 1,037.06 103.71

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 10 JH Kallis SA 395.11 180.06 194.08 769.25
2 16 AB de Villiers SA 368.72 175.95 194.08 738.75
3 22 HM Amla SA 357.80 167.07 180.72 705.59
4 60 DJ Cullinan SA 302.58 130.27 151.82 584.67
5 99 RA McLean SA 267.11 126.04 118.35 511.50
6 110 WJ Cronje SA 255.87 108.93 128.88 493.67
7 114 JN Rhodes SA 255.89 103.59 127.51 487.00
8 115 AG Prince SA 266.16 102.43 117.94 486.54
9 122 F du Plessis SA 264.32 98.61 113.69 476.61
10 130 T Bavuma SA 263.10 91.49 103.71 458.29

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

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