Top 10 South African Batsmen In Tests In England

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 batsmen from South Africa in England in Test cricket.

*Note: All Test Ratings are updated till 2025-02-15

CONTENTS

5. BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL

6. ATTACKING

7. TEAM VEN OPP RATING

TVO RATING

This rating considers performances of players from specific teams in particular nations or against particular oppositions.

Team (T)	SA
Venue (V)	ENG
Oposition (O)	ALL

THE CRITERIA

The TVO Rating is divided into 4 main sections:-

CRITERIA	STAT	POINTS
Prolific	Runs Scored	300.00
Consistent	Average	300.00
Big Innings Potential	Top Scores	250.00
Attacking	Strike Rate	150.00

The Trend Setter (TS)

TS is the player who 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 a simple 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.

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings

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	DJ McGlew	SA	1951	1960	1955.5	24	715	250.00
1	DJ McGlew	SA	1951	1960	1955.5	24	715	250.00
2	JHB Waite	SA	1951	1960	1955.5	27	684	239.16
2	RA McLean	SA	1951	1960	1955.5	24	684	239.16

RANK	ERA 2	NAT	FP	LP	MP	INNS	RUNS	RAT
TS	GC Smith	SA	2003	2012	2007.5	22	1355	300.00
1	GC Smith	SA	2003	2012	2007.5	22	1355	300.00
2	HM Amla	SA	2008	2017	2012.5	20	1086	240.44
3	G Kirsten	SA	1994	2003	1998.5	21	909	201.25
4	JH Kallis	SA	1998	2012	2005	25	848	187.75
5	AB de Villiers	SA	2008	2012	2010	10	545	120.66
6	HH Gibbs	SA	2003	2003	2003	9	478	105.83

RANK	ERA 3	NAT	FP	LP	MP	INNS	RUNS	RAT
TS	D Elgar	SA	2017	2022	2019.5	13	398	230.00
1	D Elgar	SA	2017	2022	2019.5	13	398	230.00

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	250

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	NO	RUNS	100s	AVE	R AVE	RAT
TS	GC Smith	22	2	1355	5	67.75	70.81	300.00
1	GC Smith	22	2	1355	5	67.75	70.81	300.00
2	HM Amla	20	2	1086	3	60.33	64.90	274.96
3	AB de Villiers	10	0	545	1	54.50	57.61	244.07
4	HH Gibbs	9	0	478	2	53.11	54.87	232.46
5	G Kirsten	21	1	909	3	45.45	46.30	196.17
6	DJ McGlew	24	2	715	2	32.50	38.65	163.72
7	JH Kallis	25	1	848	2	35.33	36.68	155.39
8	RA McLean	24	1	684	2	29.74	35.89	152.03
9	JHB Waite	27	4	684	1	29.74	35.76	151.51
10	D Elgar	13	0	398	1	30.62	34.23	145.00

BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL

Ave HS

In this criteria, the top 5 scores of the batsman have been taken. Average High Score (Ave HS) is simply the total runs in the 5 innings divided by 5.

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored In The Top 5 Inns

RANK	BATSMAN	1	2	3	4	5	AVE HS	RAT
TS	GC Smith	277	259	154*	131	107	185.60	250.00
1	GC Smith	277	259	154*	131	107	185.60	250.00
2	HM Amla	311*	121	104*	87	83	141.20	190.19
3	G Kirsten	210	130	108	90	72	122.00	164.33
4	JH Kallis	182*	132	66	64	61	101.00	136.05
5	HH Gibbs	183	179	49	28	19	91.60	123.38
6	RA McLean	142	109	68	67	50	87.20	117.46
7	AB de Villiers	174	97	47	44	43	81.00	109.11
8	DJ McGlew	133	104*	68	51	48	80.80	108.84
9	JHB Waite	113	77	76	60	60	77.20	103.99
10	D Elgar	136	80	54	47	36	70.60	95.10

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	250
Min Average	25

RANK	BATSMAN	R4BF	BF	SR	R SR	RAT
TS	HH Gibbs	478	737	64.86	61.14	150.00
1	RA McLean	215	365	58.90	70.79	150.00
2	HH Gibbs	478	737	64.86	61.14	150.00
3	GC Smith	1355	2262	59.90	56.66	138.99
4	HM Amla	1086	1982	54.79	52.33	128.38
5	DJ McGlew	50	203	NA	NA	122.66
6	D Elgar	398	798	49.87	47.76	117.17
7	AB de Villiers	545	1096	49.73	47.14	115.66
8	JH Kallis	848	1835	46.21	44.74	109.77
9	G Kirsten	909	2160	42.08	41.72	102.35
10	JHB Waite	152	638	23.82	28.65	70.29

TEAM VEN OPP RATING

The TEAM VEN OPP (TVO) Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000.

RANK	BATSMAN	PRO	CON	BIP	ATT	TVO RAT
1	GC Smith	300.00	300.00	250.00	138.99	988.99
2	HM Amla	240.44	274.96	190.19	128.38	833.98
3	G Kirsten	201.25	196.17	164.33	102.35	664.10
4	RA McLean	239.16	152.03	117.46	150.00	658.65
5	DJ McGlew	250.00	163.72	108.84	122.66	645.22
6	HH Gibbs	105.83	232.46	123.38	150.00	611.68
7	AB de Villiers	120.66	244.07	109.11	115.66	589.50
8	JH Kallis	187.75	155.39	136.05	109.77	588.96
9	D Elgar	230.00	145.00	95.10	117.17	587.27
10	JHB Waite	239.16	151.51	103.99	70.29	564.95