Best English Batsmen In Tests Featured

Top 10 English Batsmen In Tests Since 1950

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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 English 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 England.

  • The Rating of the players from England remains the same as in the original OVERALL Rating.
  • Thus the Trend Setter can be from any nation and is not necessarily from England.

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 265 11174 170.00
1 GA Gooch ENG 1975 1995 1985 215 8900 135.40
2 DI Gower ENG 1978 1992 1985 204 8231 125.23
3 G Boycott ENG 1964 1982 1973 193 8114 123.45
4 MC Cowdrey ENG 1954 1975 1964.5 188 7624 115.99
5 KF Barrington ENG 1955 1968 1961.5 131 6806 103.55
6 PBH May ENG 1951 1961 1956 106 4537 69.03
7 ER Dexter ENG 1958 1968 1963 102 4502 68.49
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SR Tendulkar IND 1989 2013 2001 329 15921 200.00
1 AN Cook ENG 2006 2018 2012 291 12472 156.67
2 KP Pietersen ENG 2005 2014 2009.5 181 8181 102.77
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS JE Root ENG 2012 2024 2018 278 12972 180.00
1 JE Root ENG 2012 2024 2018 278 12972 180.00

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 2500

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 160 21 8032 57.78 60.14 250.00
1 KF Barrington 131 15 6806 58.67 57.98 241.04
2 JE Root 278 23 12972 50.87 52.98 220.25
3 PBH May 106 9 4537 46.77 51.76 215.19
4 G Boycott 193 23 8114 47.73 49.82 207.11
5 ER Dexter 102 8 4502 47.89 48.55 201.84
6 MC Cowdrey 188 15 7624 44.07 46.47 193.19
7 AN Cook 291 16 12472 45.35 46.06 191.49
8 DI Gower 204 18 8231 44.25 45.03 187.20
9 GA Gooch 215 6 8900 42.58 45.01 187.11
10 KP Pietersen 181 8 8181 47.29 44.55 185.19

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 132 17 6450 56.09 58.37 250.00
1 KF Barrington 111 12 5639 56.96 56.29 241.08
2 JE Root 238 19 11167 50.99 53.11 227.45
3 PBH May 80 6 3458 46.73 51.72 221.49
4 G Boycott 172 20 6930 45.59 47.59 203.82
5 ER Dexter 90 7 3804 45.83 46.46 199.00
6 MC Cowdrey 159 12 6356 43.24 45.60 195.28
7 DI Gower 178 14 7063 43.07 43.83 187.70
8 AN Cook 227 7 9388 42.67 43.34 185.63
9 KP Pietersen 144 5 6193 44.55 41.97 179.76
10 GA Gooch 190 4 7333 39.42 41.67 178.47

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 AN Cook 294 263 244* 243 235* 190 189 236.86 128.99
2 JE Root 262 254 228 226 218 200* 190 225.43 122.77
3 GA Gooch 333 210 196 183 174 154* 154 200.57 109.23
4 KP Pietersen 227 226 202* 186 175 158 158 190.29 103.63
5 DI Gower 215 200* 173* 166 157* 157 154* 174.57 95.07
6 KF Barrington 256 172 163 151* 148* 148 143 168.71 91.88
7 ER Dexter 205 180 174 172 172 141 136* 168.57 91.80
8 G Boycott 246* 191 155 142* 137 131 128* 161.43 87.91
9 MC Cowdrey 182 160 159 155 154 152 151 159.00 86.59
10 PBH May 285* 138 135 124* 117 113* 113 146.43 79.75

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 N Kapil Dev 4481 5580 80.30 88.85 150.00
1 KP Pietersen 8181 13254 61.72 59.29 100.11
2 GA Gooch 8900 18061 49.28 55.90 94.38
3 DI Gower 8231 16266 50.60 55.82 94.25
4 ER Dexter 1220 2820 43.26 54.45 91.93
5 JE Root 12972 22568 57.48 54.27 91.63
6 KF Barrington 2359 5485 43.01 52.05 87.87
7 PBH May 1709 4555 37.52 51.11 86.28
8 MC Cowdrey 2861 7942 36.02 45.88 77.46
9 AN Cook 12472 26562 46.95 45.25 76.39
10 G Boycott 7521 21193 35.49 42.63 71.98

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 JE Root 180.00 447.70 122.77 91.63 842.10 421.05
2 KF Barrington 103.55 482.12 91.88 87.87 765.42 382.71
3 AN Cook 156.67 377.12 128.99 76.39 739.18 369.59
4 GA Gooch 135.40 365.58 109.23 94.38 704.60 352.30
5 G Boycott 123.45 410.92 87.91 71.98 694.26 347.13
6 DI Gower 125.23 374.90 95.07 94.25 689.45 344.72
7 PBH May 69.03 436.68 79.75 86.28 671.73 335.86
8 KP Pietersen 102.77 364.94 103.63 100.11 671.45 335.72
9 MC Cowdrey 115.99 388.46 86.59 77.46 668.50 334.25
10 ER Dexter 68.49 400.84 91.80 91.93 653.07 326.54

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 JE Root 137 6758 54.94 59.73 799.45 199.86
2 PBH May 57 2865 57.30 35.97 743.25 185.81
3 GA Gooch 131 5917 46.23 51.56 725.01 181.25
4 KP Pietersen 89 4537 52.76 66.19 675.66 168.92
5 AN Cook 155 6568 44.38 48.03 668.35 167.09
6 G Boycott 100 4356 48.40 37.99 650.54 162.63
7 DI Gower 113 4454 42.83 51.94 632.87 158.22
8 KF Barrington 73 3347 50.71 42.36 625.78 156.45
9 MC Cowdrey 88 3537 43.13 36.51 588.11 147.03
10 ER Dexter 54 2195 43.04 43.76 537.34 134.33

Away From Home

Min Innings: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 KF Barrington 58 3459 69.18 45.15 784.65 784.65
2 JE Root 141 6214 47.08 55.22 767.35 767.35
3 AN Cook 136 5904 46.49 45.81 696.30 696.30
4 ER Dexter 48 2307 53.65 42.06 650.76 650.76
5 DI Gower 91 3777 46.06 49.11 643.80 643.80
6 MC Cowdrey 100 4087 44.91 35.76 634.84 634.84
7 G Boycott 93 3758 46.98 32.86 617.67 617.67
8 KP Pietersen 92 3644 41.89 56.95 568.84 568.84
9 GA Gooch 84 2983 36.83 45.29 549.98 549.98
10 PBH May 49 1672 35.57 39.32 489.89 489.89

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 JE Root 218 10183 51.43 57.49 800.21 200.05
2 KF Barrington 118 5903 55.69 43.01 702.87 175.72
3 AN Cook 236 9762 43.58 47.60 697.19 174.30
4 GA Gooch 191 8031 42.95 49.36 696.56 174.14
5 G Boycott 178 7408 46.89 35.73 670.91 167.73
6 KP Pietersen 139 6608 49.31 61.49 666.61 166.65
7 DI Gower 180 7093 42.73 51.66 659.56 164.89
8 PBH May 106 4537 46.77 37.52 654.23 163.56
9 MC Cowdrey 180 7182 43.27 36.02 646.07 161.52
10 ER Dexter 89 3790 45.12 43.26 593.59 148.40

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 JE Root 60 2789 48.93 57.46 830.95 830.95
2 AN Cook 55 2710 53.14 44.77 799.91 799.91
3 KF Barrington 13 903 90.30 NK 689.61 689.61
4 KP Pietersen 42 1573 40.33 62.72 592.38 592.38
5 DI Gower 24 1138 56.90 44.86 592.10 592.10
6 ER Dexter 13 712 71.20 NK 573.77 573.77
7 MC Cowdrey 8 442 63.14 NK 500.00 500.00
7 PBH May 0 0 NA NA 500.00 500.00
9 G Boycott 15 706 58.83 33.30 478.61 478.61
10 GA Gooch 24 869 39.50 48.55 476.15 476.15

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 JE Root 767.35 199.86 830.95 200.05 1,998.21 199.82
2 AN Cook 696.30 167.09 799.91 174.30 1,837.59 183.76
3 KF Barrington 784.65 156.45 689.61 175.72 1,806.42 180.64
4 DI Gower 643.80 158.22 592.10 164.89 1,559.01 155.90
5 ER Dexter 650.76 134.33 573.77 148.40 1,507.26 150.73
6 KP Pietersen 568.84 168.92 592.38 166.65 1,496.78 149.68
7 MC Cowdrey 634.84 147.03 500.00 161.52 1,443.39 144.34
8 G Boycott 617.67 162.63 478.61 167.73 1,426.65 142.66
9 GA Gooch 549.98 181.25 476.15 174.14 1,381.53 138.15
10 PBH May 489.89 185.81 500.00 163.56 1,339.26 133.93

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 GA Gooch 30 2247 77.48 54.87 832.34 166.47
2 PBH May 30 2020 80.80 38.10 770.10 154.02
3 KF Barrington 30 1923 73.96 41.93 732.83 146.57
4 JE Root 30 1741 64.48 68.19 707.25 141.45
5 KP Pietersen 30 1862 62.07 69.40 691.40 138.28
6 G Boycott 30 1777 68.35 38.41 671.76 134.35
7 DI Gower 30 1569 54.10 55.25 623.17 124.63
8 AN Cook 30 1521 52.45 48.58 594.20 118.84
9 ER Dexter 30 1490 51.38 44.98 585.99 117.20
10 MC Cowdrey 30 1407 54.12 36.95 569.25 113.85

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 AN Cook 30 2113 81.27 48.95 879.08 703.26
2 KF Barrington 30 2097 87.38 NK 830.92 664.73
3 JE Root 30 1748 58.27 56.51 772.58 618.06
4 ER Dexter 30 1737 66.81 43.81 728.12 582.49
5 MC Cowdrey 30 1763 70.52 39.08 727.44 581.96
6 G Boycott 30 1862 74.48 33.48 720.76 576.61
7 KP Pietersen 30 1505 53.75 61.35 647.36 517.89
8 DI Gower 30 1473 54.56 47.18 626.53 501.22
9 GA Gooch 30 1373 49.04 51.31 605.44 484.35
10 PBH May 30 1022 35.24 40.54 486.12 388.90

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 KP Pietersen 34 1583 52.77 61.52 829.83 414.92
2 G Boycott 36 1316 47.00 34.63 716.23 358.12
3 JE Root 49 1443 35.20 49.01 710.60 355.30
4 GA Gooch 36 1139 32.54 54.37 678.89 339.44
5 DI Gower 37 1176 35.64 51.26 643.06 321.53
6 ER Dexter 13 503 50.30 34.23 535.29 267.64
7 AN Cook 47 1169 25.98 43.41 524.22 262.11
8 PBH May 16 524 37.43 41.21 512.08 256.04
9 MC Cowdrey 28 752 32.70 31.90 477.96 238.98
10 KF Barrington 16 438 36.50 46.87 465.95 232.97

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 KF Barrington 116 42 36.21 900.07 900.07
2 JE Root 255 80 31.37 816.94 816.94
3 G Boycott 170 54 31.76 789.11 789.11
4 DI Gower 186 53 28.49 739.47 739.47
5 MC Cowdrey 173 47 27.17 679.31 679.31
6 GA Gooch 209 54 25.84 657.79 657.79
7 PBH May 97 30 30.93 613.86 613.86
8 KP Pietersen 173 45 26.01 586.25 586.25
9 ER Dexter 94 21 22.34 551.11 551.11
10 AN Cook 275 58 21.09 547.19 547.19

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 KF Barrington 146.57 664.73 232.97 900.07 1,944.34 194.43
2 JE Root 141.45 618.06 355.30 816.94 1,931.76 193.18
3 G Boycott 134.35 576.61 358.12 789.11 1,858.19 185.82
4 DI Gower 124.63 501.22 321.53 739.47 1,686.85 168.69
5 KP Pietersen 138.28 517.89 414.92 586.25 1,657.33 165.73
6 GA Gooch 166.47 484.35 339.44 657.79 1,648.05 164.81
7 AN Cook 118.84 703.26 262.11 547.19 1,631.41 163.14
8 MC Cowdrey 113.85 581.96 238.98 679.31 1,614.09 161.41
9 ER Dexter 117.20 582.49 267.64 551.11 1,518.44 151.84
10 PBH May 154.02 388.90 256.04 613.86 1,412.81 141.28

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 3 JE Root ENG 421.05 199.82 193.18 814.05
2 12 KF Barrington ENG 382.71 180.64 194.43 757.79
3 18 AN Cook ENG 369.59 183.76 163.14 716.49
4 32 G Boycott ENG 347.13 142.66 185.82 675.61
5 34 DI Gower ENG 344.72 155.90 168.69 669.31
6 36 GA Gooch ENG 352.30 138.15 164.81 655.26
7 37 KP Pietersen ENG 335.72 149.68 165.73 651.14
8 42 MC Cowdrey ENG 334.25 144.34 161.41 640.00
9 48 ER Dexter ENG 326.54 150.73 151.84 629.11
10 60 PBH May ENG 335.86 133.93 141.28 611.07

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
FULL RATING WITH ALL NATIONS

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