Highest test batting average ever

[AndrewB]

I know its not quite what the OP asks, but Amla averaged over 500 in a series against India a couple of years ago.

Was dismissed once and made 3 centuries, including a double.

490 to be exact (253*, 114, 123*); second highest series average behind Hammond's 563 (227 & 336*) in New Zealand in 1933.

 

[CapeTown Guy]

I stand corrected, thanks

 

[vcs]

I thought 500 runs would be a reasonable cut-off:

Against Australia:
84.42: Eddie Paynter (591r)
77.75: Ravi Shastri (622r)
72.57: Barry Richards (508r)
69.19: Graeme Pollock (1453r)
66.85: Herbert Sutcliffe (2741r)
(Followed by Barrington, Faulkner, Vijay, Kohli, Lindsay)

Against Bangladesh:
251.50: Mohammad Yousuf (503r)
158.25: Ian Bell (633r)
149.50: Shiv Chanderpaul (897r)
136.66: Sachin Tendulkar (820r)
110.20: Marcus Trescothick (551r)
(Followed by Sangakkara, Graeme Smith, Younis Khan, Jayawardene, Taibu)

Against England:
89.78: Don Bradman (5028r)
88.42: Stewie Dempster (619r)
74.20: Lawrence Rowe (742r)
71.23: George Headley (1852r)
70.50: Sid Barnes (846r)
(Followed by Mohammad Yousuf, Richards, Lara, Tamim Iqbal, Bland)

Against India:
178.75: Don Bradman (715r)
173.33: Jimmy Adams (520r)
132.25: Charles Davis (529r)
106.78: Everton Weekes (1495r)
101.83: Joe Root (611r)
(Followed by Flower, Steve Smith, Younis Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Sobers)

Against New Zealand:
112.77: Wally Hammond (1015r)
111.60: Seymour Nurse (558r)
106.75: Shoaib Mohammad (854r)
105.20: Vinoo Mankad (526r)
99.00: Ken Barrington & Adam Voges (594r each!)
(Followed by Vijay Manjrekar, Katich, Javed Miandad, Gilchrist)

Against Pakistan:
94.83: Sanjay Manjrekar (569r)
93.62: Ted Dexter (749r)
91.14: Virender Sehwag (1276r)
89.45: Garry Sobers (984r)
84.42: Geoff Boycott (591r)
(Followed by Barrington, Mark Taylor, Sangakkara, Gilchrist, Ponting)

Against South Africa:
201.50: Don Bradman (806r)
88.50: Brian Booth (531r)
81.62: Eddie Paynter (653r)
81.25: Neil Harvey (1625r)
75.71: Azhar Mahmood (530r)
(Followed by Trumper, Fingleton, Bairstow, Bill Edrich, Flower)

Against Sri Lanka:
110.44: Mike Hussey (994r)
91.88: Kane Williamson (827r)
87.62: Steve Waugh (701r)
86.53: Brian Lara (1125r)
74.60: Michael Clarke (746r)
(Followed by Sehwag, Sidhu, Gavaskar, de Villiers, Andrew Jones)

Against West Indies:
542.00: Adam Voges (542r)
101.16: Mohammad Yousuf (1214r)
92.00: Doug Walters (1196r)
84.18: AB de Villiers (1347r)
79.09: Len Hutton (1661r)
(Followed by Prince, Sandham, Kallis, Hanif Mohammad, Amiss)

Against Zimbabwe:
319.00: Ross Taylor (638r)
250.50: Matthew Hayden (501r)
169.75: Jacques Kallis (679r)
97.90: Rahul Dravid (979r)
95.41: Marvan Atapattu (1145r)
(Followed by Sangakkara, Tendulkar, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Das)

That Bradman bloke looks a decent player.

 

[AndrewB]

That Bradman bloke looks a decent player.

Note that he doesn't qualify for the Windies list as he scored only 447 against them; if you drop the qualification to 400 runs (or 5 Tests played) he's ranked 10th.