Best Sri Lankan Test Middle Order Batsmen Featured

Top 10 Sri Lankan Middle Order Batsmen in Tests

by

Kindly switch to Landscape Mode for better viewing experience

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 Sri Lankan 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. Asians In Asia
4.2.2. Unfamiliar Conditions Rating
4.2.2.1. Asians Outside 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 Sri Lanka.

  • The Rating of the players from Sri Lanka remains the same as in the original OVERALL Rating.
  • Thus the Trend Setter can be from any nation and is not necessarily from Sri Lanka.
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
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SR Tendulkar IND 1989 2013 2001 324 15789 200.00
1 KC Sangakkara SL 2000 2015 2007.5 223 12138 153.75
2 DPMD Jayawardena SL 1997 2014 2005.5 250 11781 149.23
3 PA de Silva SL 1984 2002 1993 144 6025 76.32
4 TT Samaraweera SL 2002 2013 2007.5 118 4821 61.07
5 A Ranatunga SL 1982 2000 1991 141 4774 60.47
6 HP Tillakaratne SL 1989 2004 1996.5 109 3823 48.43
7 TM Dilshan SL 1999 2012 2005.5 78 2955 37.43
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS JE Root ENG 2012 2024 2018 266 12555 180.00
1 AD Mathews SL 2009 2025 2017 197 7638 109.51
2 LD Chandimal SL 2012 2025 2018.5 136 5366 76.93
3 DM de Silva SL 2016 2025 2020.5 91 3287 47.13

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 KC Sangakkara 223 15 12138 58.36 54.39 223.90
2 DPMD Jayawardena 250 15 11781 50.13 46.93 193.18
3 AD Mathews 197 26 7638 44.67 44.76 184.27
4 PA de Silva 144 10 6025 44.96 44.75 184.22
5 LD Chandimal 136 13 5366 43.63 44.04 181.29
6 TT Samaraweera 118 15 4821 46.81 43.89 180.68
7 HP Tillakaratne 109 17 3823 41.55 43.01 177.06
8 TM Dilshan 78 8 2955 42.21 41.89 172.42
9 DM de Silva 91 6 3287 38.67 40.03 164.77
10 A Ranatunga 141 9 4774 36.17 37.64 154.96

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 KC Sangakkara 167 11 8365 53.62 49.98 210.34
2 DPMD Jayawardena 188 8 8511 47.28 44.26 186.28
3 PA de Silva 123 7 5130 44.22 44.02 185.25
4 AD Mathews 154 17 5816 42.45 42.55 179.06
5 TT Samaraweera 87 12 3302 44.03 41.29 173.76
6 LD Chandimal 96 5 3519 38.67 39.04 164.30
7 A Ranatunga 123 8 4027 35.02 36.45 153.39
8 HP Tillakaratne 78 8 2335 33.36 34.53 145.31
9 DM de Silva 59 4 1821 33.11 34.27 144.23
10 TM Dilshan 54 5 1660 33.88 33.61 141.47

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 DPMD Jayawardena 374 275 242 240 237 213* 203* 254.86 138.80
2 KC Sangakkara 319 287 270 232 230 222* 221 254.43 138.56
3 PA de Silva 267 206 168 167 152 148 146 179.14 97.56
4 TT Samaraweera 231 214 159 143 142 138 137* 166.29 90.56
5 AD Mathews 200* 199 160 157* 145* 141 122 160.57 87.45
6 LD Chandimal 206* 164 162* 155* 151 138 132 158.29 86.20
7 TM Dilshan 168 163* 162 145 143 125* 104 144.29 78.58
8 DM de Silva 173 166 155* 127 122 119* 109 138.71 75.54
9 HP Tillakaratne 204* 144 126* 119 116 115 108 133.14 72.51
10 A Ranatunga 135* 131 127 111 90 90 88 110.29 60.06

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 TM Dilshan 2955 4655 63.48 62.59 123.78
2 A Ranatunga 4201 8165 51.45 55.92 110.60
3 PA de Silva 5673 11098 51.12 54.14 107.07
4 DM de Silva 3287 5719 57.48 53.90 106.60
5 KC Sangakkara 12138 22299 54.43 53.43 105.68
6 DPMD Jayawardena 11781 22911 51.42 50.64 100.15
7 LD Chandimal 5366 10837 49.52 46.71 92.38
8 TT Samaraweera 4821 10206 47.24 46.13 91.22
9 AD Mathews 7638 15808 48.32 46.08 91.13
10 HP Tillakaratne 3823 9509 40.20 42.95 84.94

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 KC Sangakkara 153.75 434.24 138.56 105.68 832.23 416.12
2 DPMD Jayawardena 149.23 379.46 138.80 100.15 767.64 383.82
3 AD Mathews 109.51 363.34 87.45 91.13 651.42 325.71
4 PA de Silva 76.32 369.47 97.56 107.07 650.42 325.21
5 LD Chandimal 76.93 345.59 86.20 92.38 601.11 300.55
6 TT Samaraweera 61.07 354.44 90.56 91.22 597.30 298.65
7 TM Dilshan 37.43 313.89 78.58 123.78 553.69 276.84
8 A Ranatunga 60.47 308.35 60.06 110.60 539.49 269.74
9 DM de Silva 47.13 309.01 75.54 106.60 538.27 269.14
10 HP Tillakaratne 48.43 322.38 72.51 84.94 528.25 264.13

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 DPMD Jayawardena 127 7134 60.46 52.39 824.26 206.07
2 KC Sangakkara 118 6714 62.17 55.86 800.97 200.24
3 PA de Silva 67 3197 54.19 53.07 650.09 162.52
4 LD Chandimal 59 2660 52.16 52.68 589.55 147.39
5 AD Mathews 101 3880 45.65 49.18 582.68 145.67
6 TM Dilshan 35 1563 52.10 68.52 571.55 142.89
7 TT Samaraweera 57 2490 49.80 46.59 549.68 137.42
8 A Ranatunga 69 2648 41.38 57.16 548.93 137.23
9 HP Tillakaratne 54 2232 51.91 41.55 521.68 130.42
10 DM de Silva 41 1397 36.76 57.97 454.56 113.64

Away From Home

Min Innings: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 KC Sangakkara 105 5424 54.24 52.76 735.29 735.29
2 AD Mathews 96 3758 43.70 47.46 608.08 608.08
3 DPMD Jayawardena 123 4647 39.72 49.99 585.81 585.81
4 PA de Silva 77 2828 37.71 49.05 545.35 545.35
5 TT Samaraweera 61 2331 43.98 47.95 533.39 533.39
6 DM de Silva 50 1890 40.21 57.12 519.81 519.81
7 LD Chandimal 77 2706 37.58 46.75 515.97 515.97
8 HP Tillakaratne 55 1591 32.47 38.46 440.70 440.70
9 TM Dilshan 43 1392 34.80 58.64 439.97 439.97
10 A Ranatunga 72 2126 31.26 45.62 432.51 432.51

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

Asians In Asia

Min Innings: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 KC Sangakkara 158 9209 63.08 55.36 829.75 207.44
2 DPMD Jayawardena 177 9366 56.76 52.52 807.81 201.95
3 AD Mathews 139 5467 46.33 48.47 648.63 162.16
4 LD Chandimal 88 3880 49.74 51.01 626.82 156.71
5 PA de Silva 96 4133 47.51 50.17 605.03 151.26
6 TT Samaraweera 80 3634 51.91 47.96 593.67 148.42
7 TM Dilshan 55 2336 47.67 69.26 558.42 139.60
8 DM de Silva 59 2262 41.89 59.20 525.10 131.27
9 HP Tillakaratne 70 2689 46.36 41.82 507.57 126.89
10 A Ranatunga 105 3454 35.24 54.15 503.48 125.87

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 KC Sangakkara 65 2929 47.24 51.72 748.24 748.24
2 AD Mathews 58 2171 40.96 47.95 644.55 644.55
3 PA de Silva 48 1892 40.26 53.13 635.44 635.44
4 DPMD Jayawardena 73 2415 34.50 47.56 554.75 554.75
5 LD Chandimal 48 1486 33.02 46.01 502.02 502.02
6 A Ranatunga 36 1320 38.82 46.40 492.51 492.51
7 DM de Silva 32 1025 33.06 54.00 481.94 481.94
8 TT Samaraweera 38 1187 35.97 45.15 476.15 476.15
9 HP Tillakaratne 39 1134 33.35 36.83 463.67 463.67
10 TM Dilshan 23 619 29.48 48.28 387.55 387.55

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 KC Sangakkara 735.29 200.24 748.24 207.44 1,891.21 189.12
2 AD Mathews 608.08 145.67 644.55 162.16 1,560.46 156.05
3 DPMD Jayawardena 585.81 206.07 554.75 201.95 1,548.58 154.86
4 PA de Silva 545.35 162.52 635.44 151.26 1,494.56 149.46
5 LD Chandimal 515.97 147.39 502.02 156.71 1,322.08 132.21
6 TT Samaraweera 533.39 137.42 476.15 148.42 1,295.37 129.54
7 DM de Silva 519.81 113.64 481.94 131.27 1,246.67 124.67
8 A Ranatunga 432.51 137.23 492.51 125.87 1,188.12 118.81
9 HP Tillakaratne 440.70 130.42 463.67 126.89 1,161.69 116.17
10 TM Dilshan 439.97 142.89 387.55 139.60 1,110.02 111.00

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 KC Sangakkara 30 2460 94.62 59.84 919.31 183.86
2 DPMD Jayawardena 30 2423 89.74 56.45 897.52 179.50
3 PA de Silva 30 1944 77.76 53.35 735.84 147.17
4 TT Samaraweera 30 1608 67.00 51.87 636.00 127.20
5 HP Tillakaratne 30 1378 59.91 44.39 587.15 117.43
6 TM Dilshan 30 1359 54.36 69.34 583.50 116.70
7 A Ranatunga 30 1395 49.82 60.27 575.32 115.06
8 LD Chandimal 30 1396 55.84 54.34 567.04 113.41
9 AD Mathews 30 1343 67.15 48.59 561.82 112.36
10 DM de Silva 30 1201 44.48 59.66 522.48 104.50

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 KC Sangakkara 30 1974 70.50 50.65 815.77 652.62
2 TT Samaraweera 30 1662 69.25 54.10 737.89 590.31
3 DPMD Jayawardena 30 1571 54.17 53.65 713.52 570.82
4 AD Mathews 30 1514 60.56 43.93 688.51 550.81
5 PA de Silva 30 1242 41.40 54.50 603.84 483.08
6 LD Chandimal 30 1306 46.64 47.32 580.28 464.23
7 DM de Silva 30 1219 43.54 57.26 543.70 434.96
8 TM Dilshan 30 1078 37.17 68.06 538.07 430.45
9 HP Tillakaratne 30 1142 42.30 40.95 523.49 418.79
10 A Ranatunga 30 988 35.29 49.42 456.59 365.27

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 DPMD Jayawardena 34 1213 39.13 48.99 666.52 333.26
2 AD Mathews 26 960 45.71 53.10 647.64 323.82
3 KC Sangakkara 32 1106 34.56 54.03 621.16 310.58
4 TT Samaraweera 16 666 47.57 46.48 568.23 284.11
5 TM Dilshan 15 618 44.14 61.19 567.62 283.81
6 PA de Silva 19 548 30.44 46.92 467.35 233.67
7 A Ranatunga 23 560 28.00 49.62 430.00 215.00
8 HP Tillakaratne 16 410 29.29 42.71 406.68 203.34
9 DM de Silva 11 269 29.89 53.16 383.02 191.51
10 LD Chandimal 13 214 16.46 42.46 259.15 129.57

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 KC Sangakkara 208 65 31.25 722.69 722.69
2 PA de Silva 134 39 29.10 639.81 639.81
3 DPMD Jayawardena 235 54 22.98 501.62 501.62
4 TT Samaraweera 103 25 24.27 498.98 498.98
5 AD Mathews 171 35 20.47 469.32 469.32
6 HP Tillakaratne 92 21 22.83 437.99 437.99
7 A Ranatunga 132 28 21.21 429.30 429.30
8 LD Chandimal 123 23 18.70 417.77 417.77
9 DM de Silva 85 16 18.82 417.06 417.06
10 TM Dilshan 70 15 21.43 408.89 408.89

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 KC Sangakkara 183.86 652.62 310.58 722.69 1,869.74 186.97
2 DPMD Jayawardena 179.50 570.82 333.26 501.62 1,585.20 158.52
3 PA de Silva 147.17 483.08 233.67 639.81 1,503.72 150.37
4 TT Samaraweera 127.20 590.31 284.11 498.98 1,500.61 150.06
5 AD Mathews 112.36 550.81 323.82 469.32 1,456.31 145.63
6 TM Dilshan 116.70 430.45 283.81 408.89 1,239.85 123.99
7 HP Tillakaratne 117.43 418.79 203.34 437.99 1,177.56 117.76
8 DM de Silva 104.50 434.96 191.51 417.06 1,148.02 114.80
9 LD Chandimal 113.41 464.23 129.57 417.77 1,124.98 112.50
10 A Ranatunga 115.06 365.27 215.00 429.30 1,124.63 112.46

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 6 KC Sangakkara SL 416.12 189.12 186.97 792.21
2 23 DPMD Jayawardena SL 383.82 154.86 158.52 697.20
3 35 AD Mathews SL 325.71 156.05 145.63 627.39
4 36 PA de Silva SL 325.21 149.46 150.37 625.04
5 61 TT Samaraweera SL 298.65 129.54 150.06 578.25
6 74 LD Chandimal SL 300.55 132.21 112.50 545.26
7 98 TM Dilshan SL 276.84 111.00 123.99 511.83
8 102 DM de Silva SL 269.14 124.67 114.80 508.60
9 106 A Ranatunga SL 269.74 118.81 112.46 501.02
10 107 HP Tillakaratne SL 264.13 116.17 117.76 498.05

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

Leave a Comment