ODIs - Best South African Opening Batsmen

Top 7 South African Opening Batsmen In ODIs

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Our One Day International (ODI) ratings take into account all matches from the first ODI match on January 5, 1971 till the below mentioned last update date. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation). Here are the Top 7 South African opening batsmen in ODI Cricket of all time.

*Note: All ODI Ratings are updated till 2025-09-15

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. ATTACKING
3.3.1. Against All Teams
3.3.2. Against Top Teams
3.4. BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL (NWT)
3.5. QUICK INNINGS POTENTIAL (NWT)
3.6. 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. WORLD CUP
5.2. IMPACT INNINGS
5.3. TOP FORM
5.4. SECONDARY RATING
6. OVERALL RATING
7. NON WEAK TEAMS
8. TOP TEAMS
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 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 (Runs and SR)
Conditions Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary World Cup, Top Form, 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.
TT and NWT

Some sections consider performances only against the top teams (TT) and non weak teams (NWT). Here is some information:-

  • Win/Loss Ratio is used to determine TT and NWT.
  • They are calculated by decades.
  • A batsman's performace is counted in TT or NWT if it comes against that team in the specific decade.
  • Knock Out and Super Six matches of ODI World Cup are also counted.
  • TT and NWT may be found in the last section.

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings (TT) 30
Min Overall Runs 1000

PRIMARY CRITERIA

The Primary Rating is divided into 5 main sections:-

CRITERIA STAT POINTS
Prolific Runs Scored 200.00
Consistent Average 300.00
Attacking Strike Rate 300.00
Big Innings Potential Top Inns (Runs) 100.00
Quick Innings Potential Top Inns (SR) 100.00

PROLIFIC

The Eras

The time period of ODI cricket 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 1996
Era 2 MP between 1995 And 2011
Era 3 MP greater than 2010

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored

RANK ERA 1 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS DL Haynes WI 1978 1994 1986 237 8648 160.00
1 KC Wessels SA 1983 1994 1988.5 82 2788 51.58
2 AC Hudson SA 1991 1997 1994 88 2559 47.35
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SR Tendulkar IND 1994 2012 2003 340 15310 200.00
1 GC Smith SA 2002 2013 2007.5 193 6974 91.10
2 G Kirsten SA 1993 2003 1998 175 6647 86.83
3 HH Gibbs SA 1996 2010 2003 182 6103 79.73
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS RG Sharma IND 2011 2026 2018.5 193 9547 160.00
1 HM Amla SA 2008 2019 2013.5 175 8083 135.46
2 Q de Kock SA 2013 2025 2019 157 7039 117.97

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
Min Runs (TT) 2000

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS 50s AVE R AVE RAT
TS S Gill 56 8 2687 16 55.98 54.46 150.00
1 HM Amla 175 13 8083 39 49.90 48.13 132.56
2 Q de Kock 157 8 7039 32 47.24 45.23 124.59
3 G Kirsten 175 16 6647 45 41.81 42.85 118.02
4 GC Smith 193 10 6974 47 38.11 38.65 106.46
5 KC Wessels 82 3 2788 23 35.29 37.49 103.26
6 HH Gibbs 182 11 6103 24 35.69 36.23 99.80
7 AC Hudson 88 1 2559 18 29.41 30.16 83.06

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS 50s AVE R AVE RAT
TS RG Sharma 143 11 7257 33 54.98 52.66 150.00
1 Q de Kock 119 5 5477 23 48.04 46.81 133.35
2 HM Amla 134 8 5542 30 43.98 43.47 123.82
3 G Kirsten 138 11 5072 33 39.94 41.64 118.62
4 KC Wessels 73 2 2505 21 35.28 37.80 107.67
5 GC Smith 138 6 4646 29 35.20 36.48 103.93
6 HH Gibbs 127 4 3883 15 31.57 32.90 93.71
7 AC Hudson 73 1 2218 18 30.81 32.23 91.81

ATTACKING

R SR

Relative Strike Rate (R SR) is calculated using the same method as R Ave with average being replaced with SR.

Criteria: Points For R SR

Min Qualification For TS
Min Runs 2500
Min Runs (TT) 2000
Min Average 25

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN RUNS BF SR R SR RAT
TS V Sehwag 7518 7169 104.87 102.03 150.00
1 Q de Kock 7039 7255 97.02 85.88 126.26
2 HH Gibbs 6103 7368 82.83 83.11 122.19
3 HM Amla 8083 9118 88.65 80.60 118.49
4 GC Smith 6974 8617 80.93 78.56 115.49
5 G Kirsten 6647 9205 72.21 75.34 110.76
6 AC Hudson 2559 3965 64.54 70.86 104.17
7 KC Wessels 2788 5133 54.32 64.08 94.21

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN RUNS BF SR R SR RAT
TS V Sehwag 5601 5455 102.68 100.52 150.00
1 Q de Kock 5477 5622 97.42 86.47 129.04
2 HH Gibbs 3883 4903 79.20 79.84 119.14
3 HM Amla 5542 6450 85.92 78.28 116.82
4 GC Smith 4646 5795 80.17 78.07 116.51
5 G Kirsten 5072 7186 70.58 73.89 110.27
6 AC Hudson 2218 3513 63.14 69.72 104.05
7 KC Wessels 2505 4605 54.40 64.40 96.10

BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL (NWT)

Ave HS

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 scores of the batsman against Non Weak Teams of all time. 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 ERA 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS DL Haynes 152* 148 145* 142* 138* 133* 123* 140.14 100.00
1 KC Wessels 107 92 90 86 85 81* 79 88.57 63.20
2 AC Hudson 108 94* 93 87 84 79 74 88.43 63.10
RANK ERA 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS SR Tendulkar 200* 186* 175 163* 143 141* 141 164.14 100.00
1 HH Gibbs 153 143 125 119 116* 114 111 125.86 76.68
2 GC Smith 141 134* 125 119* 116 115* 105 122.14 74.41
3 G Kirsten 133* 118* 116 115* 115 112* 106 116.43 70.93
RANK ERA 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS RG Sharma 264 209 208* 171* 162 159 152* 189.29 100.00
1 Q de Kock 178 174 168* 138* 135 135 128 150.86 79.70
2 HM Amla 154 153* 150 140 133 129 127 140.86 74.42

QUICK INNINGS POTENTIAL (NWT)

QI SR

In this criteria, we have taken the top 5 innings of the batsman with highest strike rate against Non Weak Teams. Quick Innings Strike Rate (QI SR) is the Relative SR of the batsmen in the 5 innings.

Criteria: Points For R SR In The Top 5 Inns by SR

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 QI SR RAT
TS BB McCullum 77/25 80/28 51/22 59/26 55/25 238.41 100.00
1 GC Smith 90/55 89/58 72/47 50/37 48/36 145.39 60.98
2 HH Gibbs 97/66 74/53 40/30 38/29 64/52 136.55 57.27
3 Q de Kock 48/26 178/113 62/41 45/30 138/96 136.25 57.15
4 HM Amla 40/23 45/30 38/27 50/36 62/47 131.08 54.98
5 AC Hudson 33/26 57/51 94/86 42/43 27/31 117.20 49.16
6 G Kirsten 52/32 44/38 84/81 101/107 32/34 111.83 46.91
7 KC Wessels 107/123 90/105 39/50 42/56 92/123 95.51 40.06

PRIMARY RATING

The total of the above five criteria comes out to be 1,000.00 points. The Primary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the five criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 40 percent.

RANK BATSMAN PRO CON ATT BIP QIP TOT PRI PTS
1 Q de Kock 117.97 257.94 255.31 79.70 57.15 768.06 307.22
2 HM Amla 135.46 256.38 235.31 74.42 54.98 756.55 302.62
3 GC Smith 91.10 210.39 232.00 74.41 60.98 668.89 267.55
4 G Kirsten 86.83 236.65 221.03 70.93 46.91 662.34 264.94
5 HH Gibbs 79.73 193.51 241.33 76.68 57.27 648.52 259.41
6 KC Wessels 51.58 210.93 190.31 63.20 40.06 556.09 222.43
7 AC Hudson 47.35 174.87 208.22 63.10 49.16 542.69 217.08

CONDITIONS CRITERIA

The Conditions Rating is calculated by applying the five criteria of Primary Rating to various 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 20.00
Away 80.00
Familiar Conditions 20.00
Unfamiliar Conditions 80.00

HOME/AWAY

HM/AW RATING

Points to note:-

  • U.A.E. and India are considered as Home for Afghanistan.
  • U.A.E. is also considered as a second home for Pakistan.
  • 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 Q de Kock 60 3135 54.05 102.32 708.27 14.17
2 HM Amla 69 3498 54.66 90.57 663.50 13.27
3 GC Smith 95 3640 40.00 83.30 633.94 12.68
4 HH Gibbs 76 2448 34.48 86.93 576.09 11.52
5 G Kirsten 58 2036 39.15 71.99 535.38 10.71
6 KC Wessels 39 1433 37.71 53.89 519.87 10.40
7 AC Hudson 35 1097 31.34 59.55 478.37 9.57

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 HM Amla 106 4585 46.79 87.23 766.66 61.33
2 Q de Kock 97 3904 42.90 93.15 744.79 59.58
3 G Kirsten 117 4611 43.09 72.31 691.40 55.31
4 HH Gibbs 106 3655 36.55 80.29 646.53 51.72
5 GC Smith 98 3334 36.24 78.50 618.33 49.47
6 AC Hudson 53 1462 28.12 68.86 538.35 43.07
7 KC Wessels 43 1355 33.05 54.77 535.43 42.83

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 HM Amla 141 6657 51.60 87.82 817.72 16.35
2 Q de Kock 117 5058 45.98 96.77 790.75 15.81
3 GC Smith 149 5425 37.94 82.48 739.85 14.80
4 HH Gibbs 146 4802 34.80 83.22 703.96 14.08
5 G Kirsten 132 4426 36.28 69.45 666.51 13.33
6 KC Wessels 59 2140 37.54 54.05 586.51 11.73
7 AC Hudson 57 1653 29.00 60.26 538.75 10.77

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Q de Kock 40 1981 50.79 97.68 876.48 70.12
2 G Kirsten 43 2221 60.03 78.43 841.26 67.30
3 HM Amla 34 1426 43.21 92.72 736.60 58.93
4 HH Gibbs 36 1301 39.42 81.41 698.93 55.91
5 GC Smith 44 1549 38.73 75.93 684.14 54.73
6 AC Hudson 31 906 30.20 74.14 576.21 46.10
7 KC Wessels 23 648 29.45 55.20 506.56 40.53

CONDITIONS RATING

The Conditions Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 20%.

RANK BATSMAN AWAY HOME UC FC CON PTS
1 Q de Kock 59.58 14.17 70.12 15.81 159.68
2 HM Amla 61.33 13.27 58.93 16.35 149.89
3 G Kirsten 55.31 10.71 67.30 13.33 146.65
4 HH Gibbs 51.72 11.52 55.91 14.08 133.24
5 GC Smith 49.47 12.68 54.73 14.80 131.67
6 AC Hudson 43.07 9.57 46.10 10.77 109.51
7 KC Wessels 42.83 10.40 40.53 11.73 105.49

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
World Cup 150.00
Impact Innings 150.00
Top Form 100.00

WORLD CUP

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 5

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Q de Kock 27 1044 41.76 96.58 774.45 116.17
2 HH Gibbs 15 725 55.77 85.50 722.48 108.37
3 AC Hudson 12 571 47.58 76.85 663.80 99.57
4 GC Smith 20 747 39.32 86.36 639.68 95.95
5 G Kirsten 18 793 52.87 76.47 580.15 87.02
6 KC Wessels 11 396 39.60 52.87 576.38 86.46
7 HM Amla 22 842 42.10 83.20 575.68 86.35
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:-

  • Both Inns are clubbed together.
  • A Batsman should score at least 25 runs to qualify.
  • An Inn is included in II if it is 30.00% of the total runs of the higher total or
  • The runs are 10.00% of the total runs and
  • The SR is high or in a successful chase while being Not Out.

IMPACT INNINGS

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 30

RANK BATSMAN DIS II II/Dis % RAT WTG
1 HM Amla 162 57 35.19 716.70 107.51
2 Q de Kock 149 46 30.87 627.01 94.05
3 HH Gibbs 171 49 28.65 616.72 92.51
4 G Kirsten 159 43 27.04 525.56 78.83
5 GC Smith 183 41 22.40 444.55 66.68
6 KC Wessels 79 14 17.72 398.18 59.73
7 AC Hudson 87 12 13.79 313.82 47.07
TOP FORM RATING

Points to note:-

  • Top Form is calculated by taking the best 50 consecutive innings of a batsman.
  • Only Inns against Non Weak Teams are considered in the rating.
  • Non Weak Teams may be found in the last section.

TOP FORM

Min Innings Vs Non Weak Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 HM Amla 50 2728 59.30 91.51 766.10 76.61
2 Q de Kock 50 2375 51.63 98.88 745.67 74.57
3 G Kirsten 50 2317 50.37 75.37 704.33 70.43
4 HH Gibbs 50 1886 41.00 87.68 686.50 68.65
5 GC Smith 50 1938 43.07 87.34 668.73 66.87
6 KC Wessels 50 1912 39.83 56.87 618.59 61.86
7 AC Hudson 50 1532 31.27 62.51 567.97 56.80

SECONDARY RATING

The Secondary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the three criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 40%.

RANK BATSMAN WC TF II SEC RAT
1 Q de Kock 116.17 74.57 94.05 284.79
2 HM Amla 86.35 76.61 107.51 270.47
3 HH Gibbs 108.37 68.65 92.51 269.53
4 G Kirsten 87.02 70.43 78.83 236.29
5 GC Smith 95.95 66.87 66.68 229.51
6 KC Wessels 86.46 61.86 59.73 208.04
7 AC Hudson 99.57 56.80 47.07 203.44

OVERALL RATING

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 PTS CON PTS SEC PTS FIN RAT
1 7 Q de Kock SA 307.22 159.68 284.79 751.69
2 13 HM Amla SA 302.62 149.89 270.47 722.97
3 24 HH Gibbs SA 259.41 133.24 269.53 662.17
4 28 G Kirsten SA 264.94 146.65 236.29 647.88
5 30 GC Smith SA 267.55 131.67 229.51 628.74
6 61 KC Wessels SA 222.43 105.49 208.04 535.96
7 65 AC Hudson SA 217.08 109.51 203.44 530.02

NON WEAK TEAMS

DECADE OF MAT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1970s WI ENG AUS NZ PAK SL IND
1980s WI ENG AUS PAK IND NZ SL ZIM
1990s SA AUS PAK WI IND SL ENG NZ ZIM
2000s AUS SA SL PAK IND NZ ENG WI BAN
2010s IND SA AUS ENG NZ PAK SL BAN WI
2020s IND NZ AUS PAK SL SA BAN ENG AFG WI

TOP TEAMS

DECADE OF MAT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1970s WI ENG AUS NZ PAK
1980s WI ENG AUS PAK IND NZ
1990s SA AUS PAK WI IND SL ENG
2000s AUS SA SL PAK IND NZ ENG
2010s IND SA AUS ENG NZ PAK SL
2020s IND NZ AUS PAK SL SA BAN

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