Harsh Thakor
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This is my list of the 15 best batsmen in test cricket in order of merit.Excludes any other form of cricket.
15 best test batsmen of all time in order of merit.
1.Don Bradman
In statistical term simply in a different league from anyone or like a creature from another planet.No sportsman let alone cricketer has established such a degree of supremacy over contemporaries of created statistical landmarks which will probably never be challenged,let alone equalled.Bradman mystified or puzzled even the best of mathematicians .His test average of 99.94 can never be equalled.For his era his strike rate too was astonishing .
If I had to scale Bradman for later eras he would possibly have averaged around 70-75 in later eras.Bradman was not at his best against the bodyline bowling not on wet pitches.He also only played in England and Australia. Trumper,Hobb sand Headley overshadowed the Don on bad wickets and I doubt Bradman would have intimidated express pace as brutally as Viv Richards or stood up to it as adeptly as Gavaskar facing the new ball.No doubt Bradman would have been the best in the later eras,but not necessarily against the most lethal bowling or treacherous pitches.
2.Jack Hobbs-
His aggregate of 5410 may not have been that high and if you scale average and Centuries Hutton and Gavaskar may inch ahead.However taking into consideration the state of the wickets Hobbs executed most of his runs and the situation she confronted at his best,Hobbs was the supreme champion.Hobbs pioneered the art of tackling the googly in South Africa,which was unplayable till then.His centuries at the Oval in 1926 and at Melbourne in 1929-30 ranks among the most defining efforts ever in the history of the game,both compiled in the worst of conditions.Hobbs overshadowed Bradman on wet sticklers.
3.Brian Lara
No great batsmen single-handedly turned or won games for his country as Lara,or carried the workload of a team's batting more.The prince from Trinidad could register mammoth scores with more pomp than anyone .Even when reaching three figures or a double hundred Lara would never curb his strike rate .In my view qualitatively he made a great impact in test cricket than Tendulkar if you asess the number of times he resurrected West Indies from the grave .In 1999 his successive scores of 211 and 153n.o took West Indies to reach the pinnacle of glory after looking dead and buried.At Barbados he encountered the trickiest of batting surfaces to take his team across the line,arguably amongst the 3 best test match innings ever.His 277 at Sydney in 1992-93 was also a gem displaying all-round brilliance and domination few overseas batsmen ever surpassed in Australia.In full flow he could be as mercurial as Viv Richards .Lara could produce strokse that were surreal taking cricketing art to regions of divinity.Broke the world record score twice which is remarkable.
However his career did have an ebb and flow where he encountered patches of inconsistency.Many of Lara's centuries were scored in losing causes.Lara also never scored a test century against a great genuinely fast bolwer like Alan Donald,Wasim Akram,Waqar Younus etc.Still he played Glen Mcgrath better than Tendulkar .
4.Gary Sobers
Possessed every component of a perfect batsmen be it power,technical skill or temperament.Blended the explosive power of a cannon with the skill of an engineer and temperament of a soldier.In a crisis would overshadow any batsmen of his age or even Viv,Greg or Sachin.Took to the sword the best bowlers ever like Richie Benaud,Vinoo Mankad,Subash Gupte,Alan Davidson or even Dennis Lillee.It is difficult to conceive many better innings than Sobers's 132 in the 1961 tied test at Brisbane,113 at Kingston v England in 1968-69 and 254 at Melbourne in 1972.Above all Gary averaged over 77 in tests won.Above all he was an epitome of consistency.
Perhaps had an advantage of batting at no 6 for a good part of his career and not at an earlier position.Also lot of his runs scored against weaker attacks of India and Pakistan ,and averaging under 45 in Australia.
5.Sachin Tendulkar
In terms of longevity the supreme champion .Broke the record in terms of age for youngest player to achieve all 1000 run landmarks.Tendulkar arguably faced more pressure than any middle order batsmen ever and in his peak period received minimal support from his contemporaries.He proved himself in any types of conditions and against every type of bowling.Ultimate epitome of consistency of his day averaging over 56 for a great part of his career .Made a Muhammad Ali style comeback after a tennis elbow win in 2007-08 to become his old self again after a loss in form in between.More complete than any batsman ever and to me overseas at his best in South Africa,where he he revealed batting perfection at it's ultimate height.
Not ranked higher than some because he did not turn the course or win games sufficiently ,often not able to deliver the final knockout punch or turn the final screws.In a crisis he could be overshadowed by Rahul Dravid,while Sehwag could win more games at his best.Tendulkar was also not at his best in run chases,where the likes of Lara,Gavaskar or even VVS Laxman overshadowed him.
6=Sunil Gavaskar/Len Hutton
I cannot seperate the two opening stalwarts who were champion s technically and very hard to dislodge.Both could master bad wickets but Gavaskar wa sthe more proven against top class pace .
Gavaskar broke all the batting records facing the best pace bowlers ever and stats wise in official cricket from 1977-80 was 2nd to only Bradman till then.Unlike Viv Richards and Greg Chappell Gavaskar proved himself as a master against great spin bowling or on turning tracks.
Hutton negotiated Lindwall and Miller at their peak and shaped English cricket as few cricketers ever did.Played some of the finest gem son bad wickets like when scoring 37 out of 49 at Sydney .
The main weakness of Gavaskar and Hutton was their relatively slow scoring rate ,often batting laboriously to wear down a possible result.Gavaskar also benefited from staying away from Packer cricket and facing the weaker Australian and West Indies attacks against whom he scored 9 centuries and over 1600 runs from1977-79.
8.Viv Richards
Statistics can hardly do true justice to Viv who intimidated the best of opposition or changed the complexion of game more than any batsmen in the history of the game .In his peak from 1976-81 the best since Bradman when including WSC supertests averaged over 60.Viv was revelation in England in 1976 when he scored 829 run sat an average of around118.In 1977-78 in WSC Supertests he averaged a remarkable 86.20 making him look head and shoulders above other superstars like Barry Richards or the Chappell brothers.No batsmen simply exuberated so much command on a cricket field exhibiting the aura of an emperor.More great bowlers or even great players of later decades prized Viv's wicket than any batsmen.
Later on did not display the same consistency often averaging below 50 in a test series .Viv did not also face his own West Indies pace quartet nor face a crisis often.
9.Walter Hammond
Unfortunate to play in the era of Bradman but for which he would have elevated his status to the scale of a Viv or Tendulkar.The most merciless batsmen morally of his time revealing the authority of a military dictator in full flow.Averaged 58-46 scoring 7249 runs and 22 centuries.Amongst the great match-winners in cricket history.
10.George Headley
A better batsman than even Bradman on wet or bad pitches.Before Lara no batsman so single-handedly bore the brunt of a weak side's batting like Headley.George was an architect of West Indies winning their 1st ever series versus England in 1935 with his 270 as well as sharing the 1929-30 series at home versus England when scoring 2 double hundreds.An epitome of consistency averaging 60.83 which is outstanding considering more than often he had to ressurect his team from the depths of despair.Arguably nobody defined spirit of West Indian cricket as much as Headley.
11.Steve Smith
Statistically the best after Bradman displaying more pomp when batting than anyone of this era.On Australian tracks or conditions the most outstanding performer ever after the Don.Unorthodox stance or style of play but can still take batting domination into regions of the sublime.In term sof average even Viv,Sachin or Lara have not come close to Steve.
However not at his best when the ball is moving in the air or on a green top .Also not faced as good bowling as past greats.
12.Everton Weekes
Looked like a re-incarnation of Bradman when batting .Plundered runs more after the Don more than anyone ,till then..Unorthodox but could tear any bowling attack to pieces displaying mastery of backfoot play.The finest exponent of the pull and hook shot of his time.In India in 1948-49 amassed a record 779 runs,scoring 5 centuries at an average of 111.Averaged a remarkable 58.61 and scored a century every 5 innings.However hardly proved himself in England and Australia.
I can visualize few batsmen resembling a cricketing machine as much or as mercilessly putting opponents to submission.
13.Graeme Pollock
Had the 2nd highest test average of all of 60.97 .His 135 at Trent Bridge in 1965 is ranked in the class of the best of al time.Arguably more talented than even Gary Sobers, but not fully tested.Amassed a record aggregate in a home series against Australia in 1969-70 and also very prolific in 1966 v Australia.A major part of a nucleus that made South Africa arguably the best side in the world.Greats like Chappell brothers rate Polock in the Lara or Tendulkar class,with Greg choosing Graeme in his all-time XI.Pollock gave some of the finest bating exhibition sin testing conditions in Australia and England.
14.Greg Chapell
Statistically the best batsmen of his era,including unofficial games in Packer supertests and against rest of the world.In WSC Supertest cricket boasted of the leading run aggregate of 1416 runs and the highest individual score of 246.No batsmen was more successful in the Carribaen or against them playing the great pace attack as Greg who in 1979 amassed 621 runs with 3 centuries at an avergae of 69.Also scored magnificient centuries in England like 131 at Lords in 1972 or unbeaten 235 at Faisalabad in 1980.Averaged over 70 in tests won which was remarkable.
Greg never played in India and did not prove himself thus against great spin bowling or on turning tracks.He was also at times caught wanting against the rising or bouncing delivery.Neverthless after Barry Richards,the most complete batsmen of his terror who combined watertight technique with attacking strokeplay to perfection.
15.Ricky Ponting
A batting genius in his own right who could devour the best bowling attacks in the manner of Viv,Lara or Sachin.Arguably a better exponent of express pace than even Tendulkar being amaster in pulling deliveries even on the stumps.Statistically at one stage in his career Ponting semed set to even surpass the heights acheived by Tendulkar but law of averages acted against him.Neverthless 43 centuries is a staggering figure as well as a 53+ average.Above all Ponting scored more hundreds in winning causes than any Australian batsmen ever and at his best could even give more flourish to the course of games than any batsmen.One of the major architects in the rise of Australia to a cricketing superpower.
Not ranked close to the top because he was not at his best overseas ,and also represented a champion team.He rarely encountered a crisis as Lara,Dravid or Sachin.Ponting also was not a great player of spin bowling.Ranked below Viv as he played lesser bowling and not as impactful.Greg rated ahead of Ricky considering the great attack she faced.
15 best test batsmen of all time in order of merit.
1.Don Bradman
In statistical term simply in a different league from anyone or like a creature from another planet.No sportsman let alone cricketer has established such a degree of supremacy over contemporaries of created statistical landmarks which will probably never be challenged,let alone equalled.Bradman mystified or puzzled even the best of mathematicians .His test average of 99.94 can never be equalled.For his era his strike rate too was astonishing .
If I had to scale Bradman for later eras he would possibly have averaged around 70-75 in later eras.Bradman was not at his best against the bodyline bowling not on wet pitches.He also only played in England and Australia. Trumper,Hobb sand Headley overshadowed the Don on bad wickets and I doubt Bradman would have intimidated express pace as brutally as Viv Richards or stood up to it as adeptly as Gavaskar facing the new ball.No doubt Bradman would have been the best in the later eras,but not necessarily against the most lethal bowling or treacherous pitches.
2.Jack Hobbs-
His aggregate of 5410 may not have been that high and if you scale average and Centuries Hutton and Gavaskar may inch ahead.However taking into consideration the state of the wickets Hobbs executed most of his runs and the situation she confronted at his best,Hobbs was the supreme champion.Hobbs pioneered the art of tackling the googly in South Africa,which was unplayable till then.His centuries at the Oval in 1926 and at Melbourne in 1929-30 ranks among the most defining efforts ever in the history of the game,both compiled in the worst of conditions.Hobbs overshadowed Bradman on wet sticklers.
3.Brian Lara
No great batsmen single-handedly turned or won games for his country as Lara,or carried the workload of a team's batting more.The prince from Trinidad could register mammoth scores with more pomp than anyone .Even when reaching three figures or a double hundred Lara would never curb his strike rate .In my view qualitatively he made a great impact in test cricket than Tendulkar if you asess the number of times he resurrected West Indies from the grave .In 1999 his successive scores of 211 and 153n.o took West Indies to reach the pinnacle of glory after looking dead and buried.At Barbados he encountered the trickiest of batting surfaces to take his team across the line,arguably amongst the 3 best test match innings ever.His 277 at Sydney in 1992-93 was also a gem displaying all-round brilliance and domination few overseas batsmen ever surpassed in Australia.In full flow he could be as mercurial as Viv Richards .Lara could produce strokse that were surreal taking cricketing art to regions of divinity.Broke the world record score twice which is remarkable.
However his career did have an ebb and flow where he encountered patches of inconsistency.Many of Lara's centuries were scored in losing causes.Lara also never scored a test century against a great genuinely fast bolwer like Alan Donald,Wasim Akram,Waqar Younus etc.Still he played Glen Mcgrath better than Tendulkar .
4.Gary Sobers
Possessed every component of a perfect batsmen be it power,technical skill or temperament.Blended the explosive power of a cannon with the skill of an engineer and temperament of a soldier.In a crisis would overshadow any batsmen of his age or even Viv,Greg or Sachin.Took to the sword the best bowlers ever like Richie Benaud,Vinoo Mankad,Subash Gupte,Alan Davidson or even Dennis Lillee.It is difficult to conceive many better innings than Sobers's 132 in the 1961 tied test at Brisbane,113 at Kingston v England in 1968-69 and 254 at Melbourne in 1972.Above all Gary averaged over 77 in tests won.Above all he was an epitome of consistency.
Perhaps had an advantage of batting at no 6 for a good part of his career and not at an earlier position.Also lot of his runs scored against weaker attacks of India and Pakistan ,and averaging under 45 in Australia.
5.Sachin Tendulkar
In terms of longevity the supreme champion .Broke the record in terms of age for youngest player to achieve all 1000 run landmarks.Tendulkar arguably faced more pressure than any middle order batsmen ever and in his peak period received minimal support from his contemporaries.He proved himself in any types of conditions and against every type of bowling.Ultimate epitome of consistency of his day averaging over 56 for a great part of his career .Made a Muhammad Ali style comeback after a tennis elbow win in 2007-08 to become his old self again after a loss in form in between.More complete than any batsman ever and to me overseas at his best in South Africa,where he he revealed batting perfection at it's ultimate height.
Not ranked higher than some because he did not turn the course or win games sufficiently ,often not able to deliver the final knockout punch or turn the final screws.In a crisis he could be overshadowed by Rahul Dravid,while Sehwag could win more games at his best.Tendulkar was also not at his best in run chases,where the likes of Lara,Gavaskar or even VVS Laxman overshadowed him.
6=Sunil Gavaskar/Len Hutton
I cannot seperate the two opening stalwarts who were champion s technically and very hard to dislodge.Both could master bad wickets but Gavaskar wa sthe more proven against top class pace .
Gavaskar broke all the batting records facing the best pace bowlers ever and stats wise in official cricket from 1977-80 was 2nd to only Bradman till then.Unlike Viv Richards and Greg Chappell Gavaskar proved himself as a master against great spin bowling or on turning tracks.
Hutton negotiated Lindwall and Miller at their peak and shaped English cricket as few cricketers ever did.Played some of the finest gem son bad wickets like when scoring 37 out of 49 at Sydney .
The main weakness of Gavaskar and Hutton was their relatively slow scoring rate ,often batting laboriously to wear down a possible result.Gavaskar also benefited from staying away from Packer cricket and facing the weaker Australian and West Indies attacks against whom he scored 9 centuries and over 1600 runs from1977-79.
8.Viv Richards
Statistics can hardly do true justice to Viv who intimidated the best of opposition or changed the complexion of game more than any batsmen in the history of the game .In his peak from 1976-81 the best since Bradman when including WSC supertests averaged over 60.Viv was revelation in England in 1976 when he scored 829 run sat an average of around118.In 1977-78 in WSC Supertests he averaged a remarkable 86.20 making him look head and shoulders above other superstars like Barry Richards or the Chappell brothers.No batsmen simply exuberated so much command on a cricket field exhibiting the aura of an emperor.More great bowlers or even great players of later decades prized Viv's wicket than any batsmen.
Later on did not display the same consistency often averaging below 50 in a test series .Viv did not also face his own West Indies pace quartet nor face a crisis often.
9.Walter Hammond
Unfortunate to play in the era of Bradman but for which he would have elevated his status to the scale of a Viv or Tendulkar.The most merciless batsmen morally of his time revealing the authority of a military dictator in full flow.Averaged 58-46 scoring 7249 runs and 22 centuries.Amongst the great match-winners in cricket history.
10.George Headley
A better batsman than even Bradman on wet or bad pitches.Before Lara no batsman so single-handedly bore the brunt of a weak side's batting like Headley.George was an architect of West Indies winning their 1st ever series versus England in 1935 with his 270 as well as sharing the 1929-30 series at home versus England when scoring 2 double hundreds.An epitome of consistency averaging 60.83 which is outstanding considering more than often he had to ressurect his team from the depths of despair.Arguably nobody defined spirit of West Indian cricket as much as Headley.
11.Steve Smith
Statistically the best after Bradman displaying more pomp when batting than anyone of this era.On Australian tracks or conditions the most outstanding performer ever after the Don.Unorthodox stance or style of play but can still take batting domination into regions of the sublime.In term sof average even Viv,Sachin or Lara have not come close to Steve.
However not at his best when the ball is moving in the air or on a green top .Also not faced as good bowling as past greats.
12.Everton Weekes
Looked like a re-incarnation of Bradman when batting .Plundered runs more after the Don more than anyone ,till then..Unorthodox but could tear any bowling attack to pieces displaying mastery of backfoot play.The finest exponent of the pull and hook shot of his time.In India in 1948-49 amassed a record 779 runs,scoring 5 centuries at an average of 111.Averaged a remarkable 58.61 and scored a century every 5 innings.However hardly proved himself in England and Australia.
I can visualize few batsmen resembling a cricketing machine as much or as mercilessly putting opponents to submission.
13.Graeme Pollock
Had the 2nd highest test average of all of 60.97 .His 135 at Trent Bridge in 1965 is ranked in the class of the best of al time.Arguably more talented than even Gary Sobers, but not fully tested.Amassed a record aggregate in a home series against Australia in 1969-70 and also very prolific in 1966 v Australia.A major part of a nucleus that made South Africa arguably the best side in the world.Greats like Chappell brothers rate Polock in the Lara or Tendulkar class,with Greg choosing Graeme in his all-time XI.Pollock gave some of the finest bating exhibition sin testing conditions in Australia and England.
14.Greg Chapell
Statistically the best batsmen of his era,including unofficial games in Packer supertests and against rest of the world.In WSC Supertest cricket boasted of the leading run aggregate of 1416 runs and the highest individual score of 246.No batsmen was more successful in the Carribaen or against them playing the great pace attack as Greg who in 1979 amassed 621 runs with 3 centuries at an avergae of 69.Also scored magnificient centuries in England like 131 at Lords in 1972 or unbeaten 235 at Faisalabad in 1980.Averaged over 70 in tests won which was remarkable.
Greg never played in India and did not prove himself thus against great spin bowling or on turning tracks.He was also at times caught wanting against the rising or bouncing delivery.Neverthless after Barry Richards,the most complete batsmen of his terror who combined watertight technique with attacking strokeplay to perfection.
15.Ricky Ponting
A batting genius in his own right who could devour the best bowling attacks in the manner of Viv,Lara or Sachin.Arguably a better exponent of express pace than even Tendulkar being amaster in pulling deliveries even on the stumps.Statistically at one stage in his career Ponting semed set to even surpass the heights acheived by Tendulkar but law of averages acted against him.Neverthless 43 centuries is a staggering figure as well as a 53+ average.Above all Ponting scored more hundreds in winning causes than any Australian batsmen ever and at his best could even give more flourish to the course of games than any batsmen.One of the major architects in the rise of Australia to a cricketing superpower.
Not ranked close to the top because he was not at his best overseas ,and also represented a champion team.He rarely encountered a crisis as Lara,Dravid or Sachin.Ponting also was not a great player of spin bowling.Ranked below Viv as he played lesser bowling and not as impactful.Greg rated ahead of Ricky considering the great attack she faced.
