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Match Winning Batsmen in Test Cricket

complan

Cricket Spectator
Who is your top 5 for the highest rate of match winning performances? This is where the batsman's performance was the No. 1 reason for the victory. So batsmen belonging to teams with strong bowling attacks are kind of at a disadvantage here. (I'm thinking specifically of the West Indies 70s-80s, and Australia 2000s).

Let's hear 'em.
 

Viscount Tom

International Debutant
Ponting
Greenidge
Smith
Botham
Border

Bi of guesswork in there but I'd certainly say them lot have got their teams over the line or made sure there was a defensible total on the board a few times.
 

complan

Cricket Spectator
We may unearth some surprises if we go through the scorecards. Here is my pick :

Lara
Botham
Sobers
One of the 3 Ws
Dravid
S Waugh
Martin Crowe (?)
Andy Flower (?)

Special mention:

Bradman (as if he wasn't enough, they had Grimment-oReilly, then Lindwall-Miller-Johnston)
Viv Richards (if his team's bowling wasn't that strong ...)
Gavaskar (not sure if he won many matches for India, certainly saved quite a few)
 

doesitmatter

U19 Cricketer
Lara and match winning knocks is a myth..Lara and back to the wall knocks giving his team a decent score is reality..just saying..153* is stuff of genius though
 
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Coronis

Cricketer Of The Year
Dunno how many tests the Windies won while he was playing (or if they won any) but Headley would surely be worth a mention. Bradman, of course.
 

harsh.ag

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
First, and foremost, Don Bradman. No batsman was a bigger match winner. His team won 30 of his 52 tests, with him averaging 130.08 in those matches.

Headley's team didn't win many matches (5 of 22), but he did average 95.75 in those 5 matches.

Sobers - 31 tests won of 93, him averaging 77.42 in them

Sangakkara - 47 won of 117, avg 75.04
Mahela - 53 of 138, avg 62.97
(Twosome effect)

Chappell - 38 won of 87, avg 70.49

Hammond - 29 won of 85, avg 69.83

Hobbs - 28 won of 61, avg 68.00
Sutcliffe - 25 of 54, avg 62.97 (not too different from his mean)
(Twosome effect)

Lara - 32 won of 131, avg 66.76

Hutton - 29 won of 79, avg 65.31

Dravid - 56 won of 164, avg 65.78
Tendulkar - 70 of 198, avg 62.36
Laxman - 47 of 134, avg 55.90
(3 in different combinations)

Graeme Smith - 57 won of 110, avg 60.28
Kallis - 80 of 162, avg 62.57

Sorry for not listing Ponting and Viv here, but I don't think they were the biggest match winners in their respective teams.

I know this isn't the best metric, but it's a starting point.

P.S. The twosome effect may be in place for others as well, I haven't been thorough.
 

Satyanash89

Banned
As an indian fan, Dravid was so special in terms of playing special innings in famous,historic victories (mainly overseas)... Kolkata 2001, Leeds 2002, Adelaide 2003, Rawalpindi 2004, Perth 2008, Jamaica 2006,etc... all of them involved Dravid making absolutely priceless, match-winning contributions.

Laxman has a superb collection of such innings as well. In fact, I'd say his set of solo match-winning innings is far more impressive than Brian Lara's... honestly, as much as I love him, apart from his awe-inspiring 153 and 213, Lara doesn't really have that many solo match winning efforts, does he? It's an aspect of his batting that is quite overstated because of those two famous aforementioned innings
 

watson

Banned
According to the above article it's;

England
1. Len Hutton
2. Jack Hobbs
3. Graham Gooch

Australia
1. Don Bradman
2. Greg Chappell
3. Bob Simpson

India
1. Gundappa Vishwanath
2. Navjot Sidhu
3. Rahul Dravid

New Zealand
1. Martin Crowe
2. Mark Richardson
3. Craig McMillan

West Indies
1. Brian Lara
2. Ramnaresh Sarwan
3. Gary Sobers

Sri Lanka
1. Kumar Sangakkara
2. Aravinda Da Silva
3. Mahela Jayawardene

South Africa
1. Jackie McGlew
2. Graham Smith
3. Keppler Wessels

Pakistan
1. Shoaib Mohammad
2. Saeed Anwar
3. Inzamam-ul-Haq

Must admit, there are quite a few surprises. The pleasant surprise for me was Bob Simpson in the top 3 for Australia. Also glad that Brian Lara was a predictable No.1 for the West Indies because I rate him as the Second Best after Bradman.

And despite their glowing reputations Tendulkar, Kallis, and Viv Richards are outdone by the likes of Sidhu, McGlew, and Sarwan.
 
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harsh.ag

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
According to the above article it's;

England
1. Len Hutton
2. Jack Hobbs
3. Graham Gooch

Australia
1. Don Bradman
2. Greg Chappell
3. Bob Simpson

India
1. Gundappa Vishwanath
2. Navjot Sidhu
3. Rahul Dravid

New Zealand
1. Martin Crowe
2. Mark Richardson
3. Craig McMillan

West Indies
1. Brian Lara
2. Ramnaresh Sarwan
3. Gary Sobers

Sri Lanka
1. Kumar Sangakkara
2. Aravinda Da Silva
3. Mahela Jayawardene

South Africa
1. Jackie McGlew
2. Graham Smith
3. Keppler Wessels

Pakistan
1. Shoaib Mohammad
2. Saeed Anwar
3. Inzamam-ul-Haq

Must admit, there are quite a few surprises. The pleasant surprise for me was Bob Simpson in the top 3 for Australia. Also glad that Brian Lara was a predictable No.1 for the West Indies because I rate him as the Second Best after Bradman.

And despite their glowing reputations Tendulkar, Kallis, and Viv Richards are outdone by the likes of Sidhu, McGlew, and Sarwan.
Yup, nicely done. Sidhu, Sarwan and Shoaib Mohammad(?) the big surprises here. % of team runs scored in wins is a good metric. Shouldn't the proportion of games won be a factor too?
 
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kyear2

Cricketer Of The Year
Awta.

Can swing or take away a game in a session at home or away. Rate him very highly indeed.
 

Satyanash89

Banned
Amongst current players, I'd rate Pietersen pretty highly.
Yup, me too.
He's already played more innings which have affected the result of a match, than most players do over their whole careers. Yeah, he can throw his wicket away sometimes, but he makes it up with those genius innings. To average almost 50 despite his aggressive approach is fantastic and he's proved his quality in almost all kinds of conditions everywhere. He's one of the best of this generation
 

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