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 opening 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 opening 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)	25
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	SM Gavaskar	IND	1971	1987	1979	203	9607	180.00
1	TL Goddard	SA	1955	1970	1962.5	74	2460	46.09
2	DJ McGlew	SA	1952	1962	1957	57	2316	43.39
3	EJ Barlow	SA	1961	1970	1965.5	52	2290	42.91
4	KC Wessels	SA	1982	1993	1987.5	37	1383	25.91

RANK	ERA 2	NAT	FP	LP	MP	INNS	RUNS	RAT
TS	AN Cook	ENG	2006	2018	2012	278	11845	200.00
1	GC Smith	SA	2002	2014	2008	196	9030	152.47
2	G Kirsten	SA	1993	2002	1997.5	149	5726	96.68
3	HH Gibbs	SA	1998	2008	2003	116	5242	88.51
4	AC Hudson	SA	1992	1997	1994.5	56	1855	31.32

RANK	ERA 3	NAT	FP	LP	MP	INNS	RUNS	RAT
TS	DA Warner	AUS	2011	2024	2017.5	202	8747	170.00
1	D Elgar	SA	2014	2024	2019	141	5121	99.53
2	AK Markram	SA	2017	2025	2021	85	3083	59.92

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	1000

Against All Teams

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	NO	RUNS	AVE	R AVE	RAT
TS	RB Simpson	70	4	3664	55.52	56.94	250.00
1	DJ McGlew	57	5	2316	44.54	52.78	231.74
2	GC Smith	196	12	9030	49.08	48.75	214.05
3	HH Gibbs	116	5	5242	47.23	46.75	205.27
4	EJ Barlow	52	2	2290	45.80	46.60	204.61
5	G Kirsten	149	12	5726	41.80	44.51	195.43
6	D Elgar	141	9	5121	38.80	41.12	180.57
7	KC Wessels	37	2	1383	39.51	40.84	179.31
8	TL Goddard	74	5	2460	35.65	39.99	175.60
9	AK Markram	85	2	3083	37.14	39.35	172.79
10	AC Hudson	56	3	1855	35.00	36.89	161.97

Against Top Teams

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	NO	RUNS	AVE	R AVE	RAT
TS	RB Simpson	65	4	3349	54.90	56.91	250.00
1	DJ McGlew	45	3	1642	39.10	47.98	210.76
2	EJ Barlow	52	2	2290	45.80	46.60	204.71
3	GC Smith	138	8	5850	45.00	46.59	204.65
4	G Kirsten	108	8	3960	39.60	43.90	192.85
5	AC Hudson	31	3	1019	36.39	40.91	179.72
6	HH Gibbs	79	0	3025	38.29	40.09	176.13
7	TL Goddard	74	5	2460	35.65	39.99	175.68
8	D Elgar	100	5	3223	33.93	37.95	166.70
9	KC Wessels	27	1	925	35.58	37.67	165.48
10	AK Markram	47	0	1477	31.43	35.88	157.62

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	V Sehwag	319	309	293	254	201*	201	195	253.14	150.00
1	GC Smith	277	259	234	232	200	183	157	220.29	130.53
2	HH Gibbs	228	211*	196	192	183	179	161	192.86	114.28
3	G Kirsten	275	220	210	180	153	150	134	188.86	111.91
4	D Elgar	199	185	160	141*	140	136	129	155.71	92.27
5	DJ McGlew	255*	133	127*	120	108	105	104*	136.00	80.59
6	AK Markram	152	143	143	136	125	115	108	131.71	78.05
7	EJ Barlow	201	138	114	110	109	96	92	122.86	72.80
8	KC Wessels	179	162	141	95*	92	70	70	115.57	68.48
9	AC Hudson	163	146	135	102	90	90	80	115.14	68.23
10	TL Goddard	112	99	93	90	84	80	74	90.29	53.50

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	1000
Min Average	25

RANK	BATSMAN	R4BF	BF	SR	R SR	RAT
TS	V Sehwag	8207	9875	83.11	79.95	150.00
1	GC Smith	9030	15015	60.14	57.71	108.27
2	KC Wessels	1383	2710	51.03	57.66	108.18
3	EJ Barlow	602	1280	47.03	56.91	106.78
4	AK Markram	3083	5134	60.05	56.01	105.08
5	HH Gibbs	5242	10026	52.28	51.50	96.63
6	D Elgar	5121	10706	47.83	45.97	86.26
7	TL Goddard	612	1714	35.71	45.64	85.63
8	AC Hudson	1855	4700	39.47	44.71	83.89
9	G Kirsten	5726	13758	41.62	44.62	83.72
10	DJ McGlew	367	1452	25.28	33.22	62.33

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	GC Smith	152.47	418.70	130.53	108.27	809.97	323.99
2	HH Gibbs	88.51	381.40	114.28	96.63	680.82	272.33
3	G Kirsten	96.68	388.29	111.91	83.72	680.59	272.24
4	EJ Barlow	42.91	409.32	72.80	106.78	631.80	252.72
5	DJ McGlew	43.39	442.50	80.59	62.33	628.81	251.53
6	D Elgar	99.53	347.27	92.27	86.26	625.33	250.13
7	AK Markram	59.92	330.41	78.05	105.08	573.46	229.38
8	KC Wessels	25.91	344.79	68.48	108.18	547.36	218.94
9	TL Goddard	46.09	351.28	53.50	85.63	536.51	214.60
10	AC Hudson	31.32	341.70	68.23	83.89	525.14	210.06

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: 10

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	RUNS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	D Elgar	75	3276	48.18	50.49	695.12	20.85
2	GC Smith	96	3777	41.97	64.71	658.47	19.75
3	HH Gibbs	61	2674	46.10	56.94	649.76	19.49
4	G Kirsten	78	2804	39.49	41.83	606.25	18.19
5	AK Markram	53	2202	43.18	65.42	605.00	18.15
6	DJ McGlew	26	1078	44.92	25.25	588.03	17.64
7	KC Wessels	26	988	41.17	53.58	558.09	16.74
8	EJ Barlow	31	1284	41.42	45.79	548.60	16.46
9	TL Goddard	39	1318	34.68	33.37	491.41	14.74
10	AC Hudson	32	943	30.42	40.56	438.29	13.15

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	RUNS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	GC Smith	100	5253	55.88	57.23	865.60	103.87
2	G Kirsten	71	2922	44.27	41.42	668.10	80.17
3	EJ Barlow	21	1006	52.95	48.85	648.52	77.82
4	HH Gibbs	55	2568	48.45	48.18	635.92	76.31
5	DJ McGlew	31	1238	44.21	NK	604.54	72.55
6	AC Hudson	24	912	41.45	38.40	540.54	64.86
7	TL Goddard	35	1142	36.84	38.04	518.76	62.25
8	D Elgar	66	1845	28.83	43.75	502.88	60.35
9	KC Wessels	11	395	35.91	45.61	500.00	60.00
10	AK Markram	32	881	27.53	49.83	439.92	52.79

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: 10

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	RUNS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	GC Smith	162	7325	48.83	60.94	833.89	25.02
2	HH Gibbs	98	4687	50.40	52.97	746.09	22.38
3	G Kirsten	130	4866	40.89	41.98	701.84	21.06
4	D Elgar	114	4380	40.93	48.21	671.63	20.15
5	EJ Barlow	52	2290	45.80	47.03	668.66	20.06
6	DJ McGlew	57	2316	44.54	25.28	666.06	19.98
7	AK Markram	62	2514	41.90	64.21	642.57	19.28
8	TL Goddard	74	2460	35.65	35.71	569.30	17.08
9	KC Wessels	31	1054	36.34	52.70	548.19	16.45
10	AC Hudson	45	1432	33.30	40.30	517.14	15.51

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 5

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	RUNS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	GC Smith	34	1705	50.15	56.93	649.34	77.92
2	G Kirsten	19	860	47.78	39.69	520.17	62.42
3	DJ McGlew	0	0	NA	NA	500.00	60.00
3	TL Goddard	0	0	NA	NA	500.00	60.00
3	EJ Barlow	0	0	NA	NA	500.00	60.00
6	KC Wessels	6	329	54.83	46.34	460.34	55.24
7	D Elgar	27	741	29.64	45.71	425.24	51.03
8	AC Hudson	11	423	42.30	36.88	400.45	48.05
9	HH Gibbs	18	555	30.83	47.11	355.27	42.63
10	AK Markram	23	569	24.74	46.68	354.76	42.57

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	GC Smith	103.87	19.75	77.92	25.02	226.56
2	G Kirsten	80.17	18.19	62.42	21.06	181.84
3	EJ Barlow	77.82	16.46	60.00	20.06	174.34
4	DJ McGlew	72.55	17.64	60.00	19.98	170.17
5	HH Gibbs	76.31	19.49	42.63	22.38	160.82
6	TL Goddard	62.25	14.74	60.00	17.08	154.07
7	D Elgar	60.35	20.85	51.03	20.15	152.38
8	KC Wessels	60.00	16.74	55.24	16.45	148.43
9	AC Hudson	64.86	13.15	48.05	15.51	141.58
10	AK Markram	52.79	18.15	42.57	19.28	132.79

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 20 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: 5

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	RUNS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	HH Gibbs	20	1439	84.65	61.34	851.91	25.56
2	D Elgar	20	1161	64.50	53.14	677.50	20.33
3	GC Smith	20	1110	61.67	63.39	665.86	19.98
4	G Kirsten	20	1046	58.11	42.54	651.51	19.55
5	AK Markram	20	1068	53.40	66.25	628.93	18.87
6	EJ Barlow	20	945	47.25	56.56	550.53	16.52
7	KC Wessels	20	786	41.37	58.09	515.61	15.47
8	DJ McGlew	20	833	46.28	25.25	509.09	15.27
9	TL Goddard	20	796	41.89	35.11	475.56	14.27
10	AC Hudson	20	647	34.05	44.78	403.01	12.09

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 5

RANK	BATSMAN	INNS	RUNS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	GC Smith	20	1270	70.56	60.13	807.90	96.95
2	HH Gibbs	20	1225	68.06	44.40	738.57	88.63
3	DJ McGlew	20	1040	57.78	NK	731.19	87.74
4	G Kirsten	20	1094	64.35	43.34	725.15	87.02
5	EJ Barlow	20	988	54.89	48.85	659.67	79.16
6	TL Goddard	20	838	52.38	38.22	594.96	71.39
7	D Elgar	20	767	38.35	46.48	540.78	64.89
8	AC Hudson	20	703	39.06	39.01	510.95	61.31
9	AK Markram	20	713	35.65	52.12	489.83	58.78
10	KC Wessels	11	395	35.91	45.61	406.86	48.82

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: 25

RANK	BATSMAN	DIS	II	II/Dis%	RAT	WTG
1	GC Smith	184	64	34.78	799.40	119.91
2	DJ McGlew	52	22	42.31	798.51	119.78
3	EJ Barlow	50	19	38.00	772.11	115.82
4	HH Gibbs	111	35	31.53	648.63	97.29
5	G Kirsten	137	39	28.47	632.58	94.89
6	TL Goddard	69	20	28.99	582.29	87.34
7	AC Hudson	53	16	30.19	576.88	86.53
8	AK Markram	83	26	31.33	575.72	86.36
9	D Elgar	132	36	27.27	545.34	81.80
10	KC Wessels	35	9	25.71	427.90	64.18

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	GC Smith	19.98	96.95	119.91	236.83
2	DJ McGlew	15.27	87.74	119.78	222.79
3	EJ Barlow	16.52	79.16	115.82	211.49
4	HH Gibbs	25.56	88.63	97.29	211.48
5	G Kirsten	19.55	87.02	94.89	201.45
6	TL Goddard	14.27	71.39	87.34	173.01
7	D Elgar	20.33	64.89	81.80	167.02
8	AK Markram	18.87	58.78	86.36	164.00
9	AC Hudson	12.09	61.31	86.53	159.94
10	KC Wessels	15.47	48.82	64.18	128.48

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	4	GC Smith	SA	323.99	226.56	236.83	787.38
2	21	G Kirsten	SA	272.24	181.84	201.45	655.52
3	24	HH Gibbs	SA	272.33	160.82	211.48	644.63
4	25	DJ McGlew	SA	251.53	170.17	222.79	644.48
5	28	EJ Barlow	SA	252.72	174.34	211.49	638.55
6	55	D Elgar	SA	250.13	152.38	167.02	569.53
7	67	TL Goddard	SA	214.60	154.07	173.01	541.68
8	73	AK Markram	SA	229.38	132.79	164.00	526.18
9	76	AC Hudson	SA	210.06	141.58	159.94	511.57
10	82	KC Wessels	SA	218.94	148.43	128.48	495.85

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