The List

Best averages by batting position

Travis Basevi

October 11, 2005

Best Test averages by batting position

Opener (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
H Sutcliffe (Eng)	1924-1935	83	4522	194	61.10	16	23
GC Smith (SAf)	2002-2005	59	3209	277	58.34	11	10
V Sehwag (India)	2002-2005	52	2847	309	56.93	9	7
B Mitchell (SAf)	1929-1949	48	2390	189*	56.90	7	12
L Hutton (Eng)	1937-1955	131	6721	364	56.47	19	31

Position 3 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
DG Bradman (Aust)	1930-1948	56	5078	334	103.63	20	10
KF Barrington (Eng)	1960-1967	40	2626	172	77.23	13	7
WR Hammond (Eng)	1928-1937	52	3440	336*	74.78	14	4
GA Headley (WI)	1930-1948	32	2064	270*	71.17	10	4
RT Ponting (Aust)	1996-2005	90	4916	257	63.02	16	17

Position 4 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
JH Kallis (SAf)	2000-2005	62	3824	177	78.04	13	20
GS Sobers (WI)	1957-1969	24	1530	226	63.75	6	4
ED Weekes (WI)	1948-1958	57	3372	207	63.62	11	17
RG Pollock (SAf)	1963-1970	37	2065	274	62.57	7	8
SR Tendulkar (India)	1992-2005	157	8251	248*	59.78	29	32

Position 5 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
FMM Worrell (WI)	1948-1962	23	1189	197*	59.45	3	9
CL Walcott (WI)	1948-1960	31	1599	125	59.22	5	9
GS Sobers (WI)	1955-1974	37	1895	178*	59.21	7	8
DCS Compton (Eng)	1939-1957	22	968	147	56.94	3	3
SR Waugh (Aust)	1985-2004	142	6754	200	56.28	24	29

Position 6 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
S Chanderpaul (WI)	1994-2004	37	1989	140	66.29	6	14
Imran Khan (Pak)	1974-1992	23	928	118	61.86	2	6
Saleem Malik (Pak)	1982-1999	36	1591	119*	56.82	4	8
GS Sobers (WI)	1955-1974	57	2614	174	53.34	8	11
AR Border (Aust)	1978-1994	63	2556	153	52.16	6	17

Position 7 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
BM McMillan (SAf)	1992-1998	23	1051	113	58.38	1	10
AC Gilchrist (Aust)	1999-2005	79	3377	204*	51.16	11	13
HP Tillakaratne (SL)	1989-2004	22	701	136*	50.07	1	4
GRJ Matthews (Aust)	1984-1993	33	1317	128	45.41	3	10
CL Cairns (NZ)	1992-2004	40	1761	158	44.02	4	11

Position 8 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
DL Vettori (NZ)	1997-2005	21	631	127	37.11	1	3
PR Reiffel (Aust)	1993-1998	24	560	79*	35.00	0	5
MV Boucher (SAf)	1998-2005	34	914	122*	33.85	2	5
N Kapil Dev (India)	1978-1993	58	1777	116	33.52	2	11
PA Strang (Zimb)	1995-2000	23	534	106*	33.37	1	1

Position 9 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
SM Pollock (SAf)	1995-2005	20	534	111	41.07	2	1
KD Ghavri (India)	1975-1981	22	377	86	31.41	0	1
N Boje (SAf)	2000-2005	25	553	76	29.10	0	2
IDS Smith (NZ)	1981-1992	36	797	173	28.46	1	1
JJ Kelly (Aust)	1896-1905	21	321	46*	26.75	0	0

Position 10 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
PM Pollock (SAf)	1964-1970	20	292	41	22.46	0	0
FS Trueman (Eng)	1953-1965	26	400	39*	21.05	0	0
DK Lillee (Aust)	1971-1983	30	381	73*	19.05	0	1
SK Warne (Aust)	1992-1998	21	303	37	18.93	0	0
SB Doull (NZ)	1993-2000	26	355	46	17.75	0	0

Position 11 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
DL Underwood (Eng)	1966-1981	27	182	45*	18.19	0	0
WA Johnston (Aust)	1947-1955	33	159	28	14.45	0	0
JR Thomson (Aust)	1974-1985	24	201	24*	14.35	0	0
JB Statham (Eng)	1951-1965	46	348	36*	13.91	0	0
AA Donald (SAf)	1992-2002	32	204	32	13.59	0	0

Best ODI averages by batting position

Opener (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
HH Dippenaar (Afr/SAf)	1999-2005	24	1091	123	54.54	2	10
GM Turner (NZ)	1973-1983	29	1197	171*	49.87	3	7
SR Tendulkar (India)	1994-2005	238	10839	186*	48.82	35	51
BC Lara (WI)	1992-2004	51	2166	153	47.08	5	15
CG Greenidge (WI)	1975-1991	120	4993	133*	45.39	11	31

Position 3 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
IVA Richards (WI)	1976-1986	51	2418	153*	57.57	5	15
Yousuf Youhana (Asia/Pak)	2000-2005	43	1988	141*	55.22	5	13
SC Ganguly (Asia/India)	1996-2005	30	1356	112*	52.15	3	9
BC Lara (WI)	1992-2005	103	4349	169	45.77	12	25
Zaheer Abbas (Pak)	1974-1985	47	2009	123	45.65	6	9

Position 4 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
MG Bevan (Aust)	1994-2004	53	2265	108*	59.60	3	17
HH Dippenaar (SAf)	2000-2004	20	866	89	57.73	0	8
RR Sarwan (WI)	2001-2004	36	1383	104*	55.32	2	7
DC Boon (Aust)	1990-1995	35	1255	98*	54.56	0	9
A Jadeja (India)	1996-2000	29	1008	103*	53.05	2	6

Position 5 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
JH Kallis (SAf)	1996-2004	20	738	113*	52.71	2	6
A Flintoff (Eng)	2002-2005	31	1188	123	49.50	3	8
S Chanderpaul (WI)	1995-2005	51	1664	92*	42.66	0	11
NH Fairbrother (Eng)	1987-1999	45	1302	81*	42.00	0	11
Inzamam-ul-Haq (Asia/Pak)	1992-2005	86	2925	85	41.78	0	25

Position 6 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
MG Bevan (Aust)	1994-2004	87	3006	102*	56.71	1	23
RP Arnold (SL)	1999-2005	51	1631	91*	52.61	0	14
WJ Cronje (SAf)	1992-2000	45	1235	87*	42.58	0	7
L Klusener (SAf)	1999-2004	22	494	49	41.16	0	0
Younis Khan (Pak)	2000-2005	24	788	90	39.39	0	7

Position 7 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
M Kaif (India)	2002-2005	26	596	111*	33.11	1	2
CZ Harris (NZ)	1990-2004	104	2130	63*	31.32	0	9
Abdul Razzaq (Asia/Pak)	1999-2005	66	1512	89	30.85	0	7
HH Streak (Zimb)	1996-2005	40	864	68	30.85	0	4
HP Tillakaratne (SL)	1986-1998	29	594	100	29.69	1	1

Position 8 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
L Klusener (SAf)	1997-2004	36	1056	83	58.66	0	7
CZ Harris (NZ)	1996-2004	23	519	77*	39.92	0	2
HDPK Dharmasena (SL)	1994-2003	42	719	69*	29.95	0	4
HH Streak (Zimb)	1994-2005	58	1147	79*	29.41	0	7
RS Kalpage (SL)	1992-1999	25	292	44*	26.54	0	0

Position 9 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
Abdul Qadir (Pak)	1983-1989	21	168	41*	24.00	0	0
B Lee (Aust)	2000-2005	31	408	51*	21.47	0	1
GR Larsen (NZ)	1990-1999	37	389	37	19.44	0	0
HH Streak (Afr/Zimb)	1993-2005	30	347	45	19.27	0	0
N Boje (Afr/SAf)	1996-2005	28	307	33	19.18	0	0

Position 10 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
Z Khan (India)	2000-2005	26	253	33*	19.46	0	0
MC Snedden (NZ)	1980-1990	21	190	40	13.57	0	0
DL Vettori (ICC/NZ)	1997-2005	28	217	29*	13.56	0	0
Waqar Younis (Pak)	1989-2003	63	478	37	11.11	0	0
Saqlain Mushtaq (Pak)	1995-2003	37	222	29	11.09	0	0

Position 11 (minimum 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
EJ Chatfield (NZ)	1979-1988	44	106	19*	13.25	0	0
Aaqib Javed (Pak)	1988-1998	34	116	17	9.66	0	0
BP Patterson (WI)	1987-1993	20	44	13*	8.80	0	0
Shoaib Akhtar (ICC/Pak)	1999-2005	34	103	43	8.58	0	0
A Nehra (Asia/India)	2001-2005	25	84	24	7.63	0	0

Statistics upto and including:
* Test # 1767: Zimbabwe v India at Harare, 2nd Test, Sep 20-22, 2005
* ODI # 2284: Australia v ICC World XI at Melbourne (DS), ICC Super Series ODIs 3rd Match, Oct 9, 2005

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