Best South African Batsmen In Tests Featured

Top 10 South African Batsmen In Tests Since 1950

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All Test Ratings on the website are from 01/01/1950 onwards (Know Why). They are updated till 2026-02-05. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation) and in the last section. Here are the Top 10 South African batsmen in Test Cricket since 1950.

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
3.4.1. Against All Teams
3.4.2. Against Top Teams
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. LOW SCORING INNS
5.2. TOP FORM
5.3. IMPACT INNS
5.4. SECONDARY RATING
6. OVERALL RATING
6.1. BRIEF EXPLANATION
6.1.1. Dynamic Nature
6.1.2. Trend Setter (TS)
6.1.3. Top Teams (TT)
6.1.4. Abbreviations
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.

THE CRITERIA

CRITERIA CONSTITUENTS
Primary Runs, Average, Strike Rate, Top Inns
Conditions Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary Top Form, Low Scoring Inns, Impact Inns

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings (TT) 30
Min Career Runs 1000

PRIMARY CRITERIA

The Primary Rating is divided into 4 main sections:-

CRITERIA STAT POINTS
Prolific Runs Scored 250.00
Consistent Average 400.00
Attacking Strike Rate 100.00
Big Innings Potential Top Inns (Runs) 250.00

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 1976
Era 2 MP between 1975 And 1996
Era 3 MP between 1995 And 2016
Era 4 MP greater than 2015

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored

RANK ERA 1 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS G Boycott ENG 1964 1982 1973 193 8114 230.00
1 EJ Barlow SA 1961 1970 1965.5 57 2516 71.32
2 DJ McGlew SA 1951 1962 1956.5 64 2440 69.16
3 RG Pollock SA 1963 1970 1966.5 41 2256 63.95
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS AR Border AUS 1978 1994 1986 265 11174 240.00
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SR Tendulkar IND 1989 2013 2001 329 15921 250.00
1 JH Kallis SA 1995 2013 2004 280 13289 208.67
2 HM Amla SA 2004 2019 2011.5 215 9282 145.75
3 GC Smith SA 2002 2014 2008 205 9265 145.48
4 AB de Villiers SA 2004 2018 2011 191 8765 137.63
5 G Kirsten SA 1993 2004 1998.5 176 7289 114.46
6 HH Gibbs SA 1996 2008 2002 154 6167 96.84
7 DJ Cullinan SA 1993 2001 1997 115 4554 71.51
RANK ERA 4 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS JE Root ENG 2012 2026 2019 298 13943 240.00

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 2000
Min Runs (TT) 1600

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 160 21 8032 57.78 62.64 160.00
1 RG Pollock 41 4 2256 60.97 62.37 159.32
2 JH Kallis 280 40 13289 55.37 54.89 140.19
3 AB de Villiers 191 18 8765 50.66 49.51 126.45
4 DJ McGlew 64 6 2440 42.07 48.45 123.74
5 GC Smith 205 13 9265 48.26 47.08 120.27
6 EJ Barlow 57 2 2516 45.75 46.85 119.66
7 G Kirsten 176 15 7289 45.27 46.84 119.65
8 DJ Cullinan 115 12 4554 44.21 44.88 114.65
9 HM Amla 215 16 9282 46.64 44.84 114.52
10 HH Gibbs 154 7 6167 41.95 42.79 109.29

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 124 16 6474 59.94 66.47 240.00
1 RG Pollock 39 4 2203 62.94 64.68 233.53
2 JH Kallis 166 21 7539 51.99 54.35 196.23
3 EJ Barlow 42 2 1891 47.28 48.79 176.16
4 AB de Villiers 132 10 5791 47.47 48.20 174.04
5 HM Amla 145 11 6095 45.49 46.13 166.56
6 DJ McGlew 39 2 1290 34.86 44.96 162.35
7 G Kirsten 93 6 3416 39.26 44.17 159.48
8 GC Smith 125 9 4934 42.53 43.58 157.34
9 HH Gibbs 92 2 3324 36.93 40.46 146.07
10 DJ Cullinan 52 5 1621 34.49 37.84 136.64

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 2000
Min Runs (TT) 1600
Min Average 25

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS N Kapil Dev 4481 5580 80.30 90.81 40.00
1 RG Pollock 1122 2007 55.90 69.85 30.77
2 GC Smith 9265 15453 59.96 58.37 25.71
3 EJ Barlow 752 1695 44.37 55.57 24.48
4 DJ Cullinan 4554 9322 48.85 53.32 23.49
5 AB de Villiers 8765 16048 54.62 52.76 23.24
6 HH Gibbs 6167 12270 50.26 52.01 22.91
7 HM Amla 9282 18574 49.97 47.97 21.13
8 G Kirsten 7289 16781 43.44 47.13 20.76
9 JH Kallis 13289 28899 45.98 46.52 20.49
10 DJ McGlew 437 1700 25.71 33.09 14.57

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS N Kapil Dev 3559 4345 81.91 93.76 60.00
1 RG Pollock 1122 2007 55.90 70.11 44.86
2 EJ Barlow 739 1685 43.86 55.55 35.55
3 GC Smith 4934 8774 56.23 55.08 35.25
4 DJ Cullinan 1621 3368 48.13 53.45 34.20
5 AB de Villiers 5791 10889 53.18 51.54 32.98
6 HH Gibbs 3324 7025 47.32 50.02 32.01
7 G Kirsten 3416 8128 42.03 46.61 29.83
8 HM Amla 6095 12721 47.91 46.52 29.77
9 JH Kallis 7539 16635 45.32 46.00 29.44
10 DJ McGlew 387 1500 25.80 34.51 22.08

BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL

Ave HS

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 scores of the batsman. 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

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS BC Lara 400* 375 277 226 221 216 213 275.43 80.00
1 GC Smith 277 259 234 232 200 183 157 220.29 63.98
2 HM Amla 311* 253* 208 201 196 176* 159 214.86 62.41
3 HH Gibbs 228 211* 196 192 183 179 161 192.86 56.02
4 G Kirsten 275 220 210 180 160 153 150 192.57 55.93
5 AB de Villiers 278* 217* 178 174 169 164 163 191.86 55.73
6 JH Kallis 224 201* 189* 186 182* 177 173 190.29 55.27
7 RG Pollock 274 209 175 137 125 122 105 163.86 47.59
8 DJ Cullinan 275* 168 153* 152 134 122* 120 160.57 46.64
9 DJ McGlew 255* 133 127* 120 108 105 104* 136.00 39.50
10 EJ Barlow 201 138 127 114 110 109 96 127.86 37.14

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS DPMD Jayawardena 374 275 242 240 237 213* 195 253.71 170.00
1 HM Amla 311* 253* 201 196 159 140 139* 199.86 133.91
2 AB de Villiers 278* 217* 174 169 164 163 129 184.86 123.86
3 JH Kallis 201* 182* 173 162 161 155 150* 169.14 113.33
4 RG Pollock 274 209 175 137 125 122 105 163.86 109.79
5 GC Smith 234 183 154* 151 133 131 125* 158.71 106.35
6 G Kirsten 153 150 137 134 133 118 108* 133.29 89.31
7 EJ Barlow 201 138 127 114 110 109 96 127.86 85.67
8 HH Gibbs 228 161 104 98 98 94 94 125.29 83.95
9 DJ Cullinan 168 153* 134 122* 103 82 77 119.86 80.31
10 DJ McGlew 133 108 105 104* 70 69 68 93.86 62.89

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 JH Kallis 208.67 336.43 168.60 49.93 763.63 305.45
2 RG Pollock 63.95 392.85 157.39 75.63 689.81 275.92
3 HM Amla 145.75 281.09 196.32 50.90 674.06 269.62
4 AB de Villiers 137.63 300.50 179.59 56.22 673.94 269.58
5 GC Smith 145.48 277.61 170.33 60.96 654.38 261.75
6 G Kirsten 114.46 279.13 145.24 50.59 589.41 235.76
7 EJ Barlow 71.32 295.82 122.81 60.02 549.97 219.99
8 HH Gibbs 96.84 255.36 139.96 54.92 547.08 218.83
9 DJ Cullinan 71.51 251.29 126.95 57.69 507.43 202.97
10 DJ McGlew 69.16 286.09 102.39 36.66 494.31 197.72

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: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 JH Kallis 143 7035 56.73 47.73 762.28 22.87
2 RG Pollock 26 1513 68.77 55.88 697.60 20.93
3 HM Amla 117 5135 46.68 51.32 598.40 17.95
4 AB de Villiers 109 4788 47.41 57.44 598.18 17.95
5 GC Smith 103 3986 41.52 64.02 543.24 16.30
6 HH Gibbs 79 3055 41.28 55.68 536.11 16.08
7 DJ McGlew 29 1152 44.31 25.82 500.00 15.00
8 G Kirsten 88 3384 42.30 44.30 482.12 14.46
9 EJ Barlow 35 1434 40.97 42.38 476.04 14.28
10 DJ Cullinan 59 2363 44.58 50.20 470.60 14.12

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 JH Kallis 137 6254 53.91 44.17 689.38 82.73
2 GC Smith 102 5279 54.99 57.21 673.59 80.83
3 AB de Villiers 82 3977 55.24 51.56 672.70 80.72
4 HM Amla 98 4147 46.60 48.40 659.05 79.09
5 G Kirsten 88 3905 48.21 42.71 609.12 73.09
6 EJ Barlow 22 1082 54.10 48.85 556.23 66.75
7 RG Pollock 15 743 49.53 55.96 500.00 60.00
8 HH Gibbs 75 3112 42.63 45.88 488.54 58.62
9 DJ McGlew 35 1288 40.25 25.23 471.79 56.61
10 DJ Cullinan 56 2191 43.82 47.48 471.21 56.55

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 JH Kallis 236 11231 55.33 46.36 799.36 23.98
2 RG Pollock 41 2256 60.97 55.90 707.77 21.23
3 HM Amla 172 7423 46.39 52.04 673.76 20.21
4 GC Smith 170 7537 48.01 60.66 660.05 19.80
5 AB de Villiers 155 7019 49.78 54.45 648.12 19.44
6 HH Gibbs 131 5532 44.61 50.96 594.80 17.84
7 G Kirsten 153 6158 43.99 43.75 581.02 17.43
8 EJ Barlow 57 2516 45.75 44.37 566.08 16.98
9 DJ Cullinan 93 3787 45.63 49.36 514.82 15.44
10 DJ McGlew 64 2440 42.07 25.71 507.54 15.23

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 AB de Villiers 36 1746 54.56 55.29 690.59 82.87
2 JH Kallis 44 2058 55.62 44.05 679.54 81.54
3 GC Smith 35 1728 49.37 57.09 649.56 77.95
4 HM Amla 43 1859 47.67 43.14 649.03 77.88
5 G Kirsten 23 1131 53.86 41.78 555.37 66.64
6 DJ McGlew 0 0 NA NA 500.00 60.00
6 EJ Barlow 0 0 NA NA 500.00 60.00
6 RG Pollock 0 0 NA NA 500.00 60.00
9 DJ Cullinan 22 767 38.35 46.48 429.36 51.52
10 HH Gibbs 23 635 27.61 44.91 331.98 39.84

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 JH Kallis 82.73 22.87 81.54 23.98 211.12
2 AB de Villiers 80.72 17.95 82.87 19.44 200.98
3 HM Amla 79.09 17.95 77.88 20.21 195.13
4 GC Smith 80.83 16.30 77.95 19.80 194.88
5 G Kirsten 73.09 14.46 66.64 17.43 171.63
6 RG Pollock 60.00 20.93 60.00 21.23 162.16
7 EJ Barlow 66.75 14.28 60.00 16.98 158.01
8 DJ McGlew 56.61 15.00 60.00 15.23 146.84
9 DJ Cullinan 56.55 14.12 51.52 15.44 137.63
10 HH Gibbs 58.62 16.08 39.84 17.84 132.39

SECONDARY CRITERIA

Secondary Rating

It 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
Low Scoring Inns 50.00
Top Form 100.00
Impact Innings 150.00

LOW SCORING INNS

LSI RATING

Low Scoring Inns (LSI) are those inns in which batting average is less than 30.

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 AB de Villiers 76 2537 34.75 48.89 686.96 34.35
2 DJ Cullinan 56 1595 31.90 47.36 650.75 32.54
3 HM Amla 87 2242 26.38 43.16 645.37 32.27
4 JH Kallis 109 2655 25.53 41.69 634.83 31.74
5 DJ McGlew 44 1116 27.22 23.23 563.98 28.20
6 HH Gibbs 56 1400 25.00 45.13 547.01 27.35
7 GC Smith 69 1651 25.40 54.92 523.60 26.18
8 EJ Barlow 22 620 28.18 41.98 503.97 25.20
9 G Kirsten 77 1633 22.37 35.89 501.52 25.08
10 RG Pollock 13 492 37.85 55.48 500.00 25.00

TOP FORM

TF RATING

Points to note about Top Form Rating:-

  • TF is calculated by taking the best 50 consecutive innings of a batsman.
  • The inns are taken such that his points are maximum.
  • Only innings against Top Teams are considered.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 HM Amla 50 3103 70.52 52.79 812.97 81.30
2 JH Kallis 50 2808 65.30 52.28 751.01 75.10
3 AB de Villiers 50 2668 59.29 53.77 726.20 72.62
4 RG Pollock 39 2203 62.94 55.90 706.56 70.66
5 GC Smith 50 2446 53.17 57.51 655.51 65.55
6 HH Gibbs 50 2307 48.06 48.77 601.72 60.17
7 EJ Barlow 42 1891 47.28 43.86 560.98 56.10
8 G Kirsten 50 1970 42.83 44.30 556.95 55.70
9 DJ Cullinan 50 1612 35.82 48.03 490.27 49.03
10 DJ McGlew 39 1290 34.86 25.80 429.41 42.94

IMPACT INNS

II RATING

Impact Inns are those innings which have an impact in terms of runs or strike rate. Know All About II. Points to note about II:-

  • A Batsman should score at least 30 runs to qualify.
  • An Inn is included in II if it is 15 percent of the total runs or
  • The SR is high or in a successful chase while being Not Out.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 30

RANK BATSMAN DIS II II/Dis% RAT WTG
1 JH Kallis 240 106 44.17 814.99 122.25
2 AB de Villiers 173 74 42.77 708.39 106.26
3 EJ Barlow 55 23 41.82 703.38 105.51
4 HM Amla 199 82 41.21 697.88 104.68
5 RG Pollock 37 18 48.65 695.99 104.40
6 G Kirsten 161 60 37.27 616.83 92.52
7 GC Smith 192 68 35.42 590.63 88.59
8 DJ McGlew 58 23 39.66 587.90 88.18
9 DJ Cullinan 103 36 34.95 501.82 75.27
10 HH Gibbs 147 43 29.25 485.19 72.78

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 LSI TF II SEC RAT
1 JH Kallis 31.74 75.10 122.25 229.09
2 HM Amla 32.27 81.30 104.68 218.25
3 AB de Villiers 34.35 72.62 106.26 213.23
4 RG Pollock 25.00 70.66 104.40 200.05
5 EJ Barlow 25.20 56.10 105.51 186.80
6 GC Smith 26.18 65.55 88.59 180.33
7 G Kirsten 25.08 55.70 92.52 173.30
8 HH Gibbs 27.35 60.17 72.78 160.30
9 DJ McGlew 28.20 42.94 88.18 159.32
10 DJ Cullinan 32.54 49.03 75.27 156.84

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 11 JH Kallis SA 305.45 211.12 229.09 745.66
2 23 AB de Villiers SA 269.58 200.98 213.23 683.79
3 24 HM Amla SA 269.62 195.13 218.25 683.01
4 39 RG Pollock SA 275.92 162.16 200.05 638.14
5 41 GC Smith SA 261.75 194.88 180.33 636.95
6 67 G Kirsten SA 235.76 171.63 173.30 580.69
7 81 EJ Barlow SA 219.99 158.01 186.80 564.80
8 128 HH Gibbs SA 218.83 132.39 160.30 511.52
9 137 DJ McGlew SA 197.72 146.84 159.32 503.89
10 144 DJ Cullinan SA 202.97 137.63 156.84 497.44

BRIEF EXPLANATION

Dynamic Nature

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.

Trend Setter (TS)

  1. TS is the player who does the best in a criteria.
  2. The rating of all other players are calculated taking the TS as the benchmark. Example:-
  3. TS Runs: 2,000; Player X Runs: 1,000; Section Points: 250.00
  4. TS Points: 250.00 (Max)
  5. Player X Points: Runs/TS Runs X 250 = 1,000/2,000 X 250 = 125.00.
  6. Ratings of all sections are calculated similarly with Runs being replaced by the Criteria Stat.
  7. Know All About the Trend Setter
    8. .

Top Teams (TT)

  1. An opposition is counted as a TT considering its Win/Loss (WL) Ratios in last 7 years.
  2. Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia and Overall WL Ratio is considered.
  3. The WL Ratio should be more than a certain value overall or in specific condition.

Abbreviations

  1. AVE - Average or Runs/(Inns - Not Out)
  2. BF - Balls Faced
  3. FP - First Played by Year
  4. INF - Infinite
  5. LP - Last Played by Year
  6. MP - Middle Played or (FP+LP)/2
  7. NA - Not Applicable
  8. NI - Not In Top
  9. NK - Not Known
  10. NO, * - Not Out
  11. NQ - Not Qualified
  12. OPP - Opposition
  13. R4BF - Runs for available data of balls
  14. SR - Strike Rate or Runs/Balls
  15. TS - Trend Setter
  16. TT - Top Teams

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