Who Is The All-Time Greatest Cricket Test Player?
There have been many great cricketers over the 100 plus years of Test cricket history, and determining the greatest ever is never an easy challenge. The discussion below is only about Test cricket players as other forms of the game have only recently become popular and it would not unfair to compare cricketers of the past with player results from one day and 20-20 cricket matches.
Based on the discussions below, we have created two polls, where you can vote for thegreatest batsman and greatest bowler of all time. Once the winners of individual sports is determined, a vote will be had to find what you think is the greatest athlete ever (all
sports). The game is not made up of just batters and bowlers, the
fielders and more importantly the wicketkeeper play very important jobs
in the team. See our discussion about who is the greatest ever fielder.
| Player | Played | Matches | Inns | Runs | Highest | Ave | 100 | 50 | duck | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sachin Tendulkar (India) | 1989 + | 177 | 290 | 14692 | 248* | 56.94 | 51 | 59 | 14 |
| 2 | Ricky Ponting (Aus) | 1995-2010 | 152 | 259 | 12363 | 257 | 53.51 | 39 | 56 | 14 |
| 3 | Rahul Dravid (India) | 1996 + | 153 | 265 | 12314 | 270 | 52.4 | 32 | 60 | 8 |
| 4 | Brian Lara (WI) | 1990-2006 | 131 | 232 | 11953 | 400* | 52.88 | 34 | 48 | 17 |
| 5 | Jacques Kallis (SA) | 1995 + | 145 | 246 | 11947 | 201* | 57.43 | 40 | 54 | 10 |
| 6 | Alan Border (Aus) | 1978-1994 | 156 | 265 | 11174 | 205 | 50.56 | 27 | 63 | 11 |
| 7 | Steve Waugh (Aus) | 1985-2004 | 168 | 260 | 10927 | 200 | 51.06 | 32 | 50 | 22 |
| 8 | Sanil Gavaskar (India) | 1971-1987 | 125 | 214 | 10122 | 236* | 51.12 | 34 | 45 | 12 |
| 9 | Mahela Jayawardene (SL) | 1997 + | 119 | 196 | 9630 | 374 | 52.62 | 28 | 38 | 11 |
| 10 | S Chanderpaul (WI) | 1994 + | 133 | 227 | 9367 | 203* | 49.04 | 23 | 55 | 13 |
Greatest Test Averages
As
the list above of top Test run scorers did not include what many
consider to be the greatest batsman ever, here is a list that does have
him on top. Below are the top test batting averages for players who have
batted for 10 or more innings in Test matches. Now the highest run
scorer does not make the list, though he would not be far off the top 10
with a current average of 56.94 (July 2011).
| Player | Played | Matches | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | 100 | 50 | ducks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DG Bradman (Aus) | 1928-1948 | 52 | 80 | 10 | 6996 | 334 | 99.94 | 29 | 13 | 7 |
| CS Dempster (NZ) | 1930-1933 | 10 | 15 | 4 | 723 | 136 | 65.72 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| SG Barnes (Aus) | 1938-1948 | 13 | 19 | 2 | 1072 | 234 | 63.05 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| Taslim Arif (Pak) | 1980-1980 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 501 | 210* | 62.62 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| IJL Trott (Eng) | 2009 + | 21 | 34 | 4 | 1867 | 226 | 62.23 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| RG Pollock (SA) | 1963-1970 | 23 | 41 | 4 | 2256 | 274 | 60.97 | 7 | 11 | 1 |
| GA Headley (WI) | 1930-1954 | 22 | 40 | 4 | 2190 | 270* | 60.83 | 10 | 5 | 2 |
| H Sutcliffe (Eng) | 1924-1935 | 54 | 84 | 9 | 4555 | 194 | 60.73 | 16 | 23 | 2 |
| E Paynter (Eng) | 1931-1939 | 20 | 31 | 5 | 1540 | 243 | 59.23 | 4 | 7 | 3 |
| KF Barrington (Eng) | 1955-1968 | 82 | 131 | 15 | 6806 | 256 | 58.67 | 20 | 35 | 5 |
| ED Weekes (WI) | 1948-1958 | 48 | 81 | 5 | 4455 | 207 | 58.61 | 15 | 19 | 6 |
| KS Duleepsinhji (Eng) | 1929-1931 | 12 | 19 | 2 | 995 | 173 | 58.52 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| WR Hammond (Eng) | 1927-1947 | 85 | 140 | 16 | 7249 | 336* | 58.45 | 22 | 24 | 4 |
Highest Wicket Takers
The
goal of a cricket bowler is to take as many wickets as possible with
minimal runs taken, so what better way to rank the best test bowlers
than by listing the total number of wickets taken. The greatest ever
cricket bowler will probably come from this list, though there are
other considerations such as the number of matches played and the
conditions played under and the quality of the opposition. The table
below was created in July 2011, and none of this list are currently
playing. Based purely on wickets taken, Muralitharan is the greatest,
though he has had the advantage over Warne of playing more often on
spin-friendly wickets.
| Player | Played | Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | Best | Ave | Econ | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M Muralitharan(SL) | 1992-2010 | 133 | 230 | 44039 | 18180 | 800 | 9/51 | 22.72 | 2.47 | 55 |
| 2 | Shane Warne(Aus) | 1992-2007 | 145 | 273 | 40705 | 17995 | 708 | 8/71 | 25.41 | 2.65 | 57.4 |
| 3 | Anil Kumble (India) | 1990-2008 | 132 | 236 | 40850 | 18355 | 619 | 10/74 | 29.65 | 2.69 | 65.9 |
| 4 | Glenn McGrath(Aus) | 1993-2007 | 124 | 243 | 29248 | 12186 | 563 | 8/24 | 21.64 | 2.49 | 51.9 |
| 5 | Courtney Walsh(WI) | 1984-2001 | 132 | 242 | 30019 | 12688 | 519 | 7/37 | 24.44 | 2.53 | 57.8 |
| 6 | Kapil Dev (India) | 1978-1994 | 131 | 227 | 27740 | 12867 | 434 | 9/83 | 29.64 | 2.78 | 63.9 |
| 7 | Richard Hadlee(NZ) | 1973-1990 | 86 | 150 | 21918 | 9611 | 431 | 9/52 | 22.29 | 2.63 | 50.8 |
| 8 | Shaun Pollock (SA) | 1995-2008 | 108 | 202 | 24353 | 9733 | 421 | 7/87 | 23.11 | 2.39 | 57.8 |
| 9 | Wasim Akram(Pak) | 1985-2002 | 104 | 181 | 22627 | 9779 | 414 | 7/119 | 23.62 | 2.59 | 54.6 |
| 10 | CEL Ambrose (WI) | 1988-2000 | 98 | 179 | 22103 | 8501 | 405 | 8/45 | 20.99 | 2.3 | 54.5 |
Some Great Cricketers
Below
are some of the greatest cricketers ever, compiled using other
published lists and visitor feedback. The players are listed in no
particular order. This list is not complete - if you believe that there
is someone missing from this list, please place a comment below,
including any relevant details about the person.
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