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Standardised Test Batting Averages Across Time

morgieb

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Based on this thread, I thought it might be interesting to see what batting averages would look like.

Here are the results....

DG Bradman 97.40
JB Hobbs 61.51
RG Pollock 60.97
ED Weekes 58.61
H Sutcliffe 58.30
GS Sobers 57.78
GA Headley 57.18
CL Walcott 56.68
WR Hammond 56.31
L Hutton 56.26
GS Chappell 53.08
SR Tendulkar 52.75
RT Ponting 52.21
Javed Miandad 51.89
JH Kallis 51.57
KC Sangakkara 51.24
BC Lara 50.93
RS Dravid 50.75
DPMD Jayawardene 50.48
Mohammad Yousuf 50.33
SM Gavaskar 50.25
SR Waugh 49.88
FMM Worrell 49.48
IVA Richards 48.52
VT Trumper 48.34
Inzaman-ul-Haq 47.59
ML Hayden 47.36
G Boycott 47.33
CH Lloyd 46.46
S Chanderpaul 46.23
AR Border 46.17
WG Grace 45.85
MC Cowdrey 44.14
CG Greenidge 44.06
DI Gower 43.53
MA Taylor 43.26
JL Langer 42.80
GA Gooch 42.03
ME Waugh 41.16
AJ Stewart 38.62
MA Atherton 37.23

It's interesting all round. No surprises to see Bradman first, but it seems that Border's form slump of the 90's has stuffed him over. Headley averaged 66 in the 30's, but played 3 tests after WWII which significantly decreased his average. Also, Trumper & Grace have been pushed up due to the eras that they played in.

These are averages for all games, not just those with results, FWIW.
 
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morgieb

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Only did players from the "ESPN book of Legends", or other players I thought would be interesting.

Mind you, I'll probably add Hayden, Ponting, Kallis, Chanderpaul, MoYo, etc. later.
 

andyc

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Fair enough. Interesting list nonetheless, good stuff. Amazing to see how much Trumper rises as well, from a normal average of 39 to 48. Puts it in perspective.
 

morgieb

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A few more....

RT Ponting 52.21
JH Kallis 51.57
BC Lara 50.93
RS Dravid 50.75
DPMD Jayawardene 50.48
Mohammad Yousuf 50.33
Inzaman-ul-Haq 47.59
ML Hayden 47.36
S Chanderpaul 46.23

All of them decline a few points, naturally, but not as far as you might think. It's only like 3 runs difference between that and their actual average.
 
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morgieb

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Few more....

ED Weekes 58.61
H Sutcliffe 58.30
CL Walcott 56.68
Javed Miandad 51.89

So, despite formal statistics lying, it is statistical proof that Hobbs > Sutcliffe.
 

morgieb

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Haha, it's actually pretty simple to understand, I just misworded it.

IRL, Sutcliffe averages 60.73, and Hobbs averages 56.94. Yet Hobbs was considered as the much better batsman. Under these rankings, Hobbs averages 61.51, and Sutcliffe averages 58.30.

That better? :p
 

Neil Pickup

Cricket Web Moderator
I knew exactly what you meant... I am aware of Hobbs and Sutcliffe!

'Twas just that the phrases "formal statistics lying" and "statistical proof" are amusing constructs. Statistics can prove anything. "A statistical argument that backs up received wisdom" would have made more sense!
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Interesting!
As much as I love Kallis, I think you'll find that if you standardised the averages across opponents as well as time it'd put Lara fractionally ahead. I may do that now actually; not much else better to do at 12:50am anyway. :p

The fact that they're even comparable as batsmen is something many people refuse to accept though so it's interesting all the same.
 

pskov

International 12th Man
You also have to remember that any list of this nature will naturally be biased towards current players because they haven't yet had the almost inevitable run of poor form that will lead them to them getting dropped/retiring. For example, if you had done this analysis two years ago I bet Ponting would be quite a few places higher up.
 

JBH001

International Regular
Nice. Good to see WG with an average of 45 (as opposed to 32). As with Trumper, puts it in more perspective.
 

jaideep

U19 12th Man
This is just based on my methodology.

Here are some of the adjusted/standardised batting averages of some batsman-

don bradman 92.56
george headley 62.63
jack hobbs 57.39
herbert sutcliffe 57.08
ken barrington 55.37
graeme pollock 54.66
wally hammond 54.11
brian lara 53.88
everton weekes 53.72
viv richards 52.94
gary sobers 52.87
jack kallis 52.69
k sangakkara 52.67
greg chappel 52.51
neil harvey 51.39
ricky ponting 50.95
wg grace 49.87
gautam gambhir 48.44
sachin tendulkar 48.32
victor trumper 44.12
 

social

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Dont really see how you can "standardise" averages when certain players:

a. only played a couple of sides;

b. played against under-arm bowlers;

c. played without the benefits of covered pitches;

d. never faced a googly;

e. never faced an 80 mph bowler let alone express;

f. etc etc etc

To me, it's the equivalent of trying to come up with a standardised batting average for Babe Ruth despite the fact that his era never played with or against an African American, Puerto Rican, Japanese etc whom have proven to be amongst the best players

Better to accept that the eras are different and no amount of statiscal permutations will prove any different
 

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