Highest test batting average ever

[Bijed]

Basically I just got curious as to what the highest test batting average anybody has ever had. I found this, which tells me exactly what I want to know, the only slight (potential) problem being that it's from 2010. No-one springs to mind, but I'd be curious if someone knows if anyone has broken that record since, or can think of someone who might (or it would still be interesting to hear of anyone recently who has temporarily had an average of, say, 200+).

Ftr, I did try to find more up to date stats, but couldn't. Does anyone know of such a source, whether it's a glaringly obvious one which I should have found or a more obscure one?

 

[Furball]

Ian Bell went into the 2005 Ashes averaging over 300.

 

[Bijed]

Ian Bell went into the 2005 Ashes averaging over 300.

Yeah, thinking of him was what got me thinking about the whole. He's sixth on the list which I have now remembered to link into my post.

 

[AndrewB]

Basically I just got curious as to what the highest test batting average anybody as ever had. I found this, which tells me exactly what I want to know, the only slight (potential) problem being that it's from 2010. No-one springs to mind, but I'd be curious if someone knows if anyone has broken that record since, or can think of someone who might (or it would still be interesting to hear of anyone recently who has temporarily had an average of, say, 200+).

Ftr, I did try to find more up to date stats, but couldn't. Does anyone know of such a source, whether it's a glaringly obvious one which I should have found or a more obscure one?

HowSTAT! Test Cricket - Highest Average after Playing X Innings has "averages at end of each innings", and has Rowe's 314 still the highest.

Some recent high averages:
- Rohit Sharma started 177, 111*, 14, so had an average of 288 after 2 innings, 302 just before his 3rd innings ended.
- Faf du Plessis started 78, 110*, 78*, 27, so had an average of 266 after 3 innings, 293 just before his 4th innings ended.

Edit: James Neesham started 33, 137*, 107 so briefly had an average of 277.

And of course Adam Voges now averages 542 against the West Indies, which is the record against any country by a pretty wide margin.

 

[Bijed]

That's great, thanks

 

[Slifer]

Lawrence Rowe i think scored 214 and 100* in his first test. That must be up there

 

[Furball]

Bell's average of 297 seems to be the highest after 3 completed innings.

 

[listento_me]

is that BUmble on the list twice?

 

[Bijed]

is that BUmble on the list twice?

Yep. I was somewhat surprised to see him there. Ftr, that 214* was his highest ever first-class score and he never again got past 50 in tests.

 

[Shady Slim]

similarly would it be possible to find a stat for the highest averaging batsmen against each country?

we know the windies obv but yeah - some parameter would be nice, maybe five or seven tests?

 

[kingkallis]

IR Bell (Eng) 2004-2005 4 4 303 303.00 V Australia Lord's Jul 21, 2005 Test 1756
70, DNB, 65*, 162*, 6

303/2 does not give Ian Bell an average of 303.

 

[Adders]

IR Bell (Eng) 2004-2005 4 4 303 303.00 V Australia Lord's Jul 21, 2005 Test 1756
70, DNB, 65*, 162*, 6

303/2 does not give Ian Bell an average of 303.

The 300 ave does not include the 6 at Lords in the Ashes......he was averaging 303 going into that series (303/1)

 

[Bijed]

IR Bell (Eng) 2004-2005 4 4 303 303.00 V Australia Lord's Jul 21, 2005 Test 1756
70, DNB, 65*, 162*, 6

303/2 does not give Ian Bell an average of 303.

The 300 ave does not include the 6 at Lords in the Ashes......he was averaging 303 going into that series (303/1)

It does include the 6 at Lords (he went into the series averaging 297), but his average peaked at 303 when his score at Lords reached 6 but before he was out, which is what I was looking for.

 

[vcs]

I'm guessing Australia aren't due to play WI anytime soon? Adam Voges may well retire/get dropped for good with an average of 542 against them.

 

[AndrewB]

similarly would it be possible to find a stat for the highest averaging batsmen against each country?

we know the windies obv but yeah - some parameter would be nice, maybe five or seven tests?

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)

 

[Athlai]

Haha the Ross Taylor bashing of Zimbabwe was pretty funny. Badly out of form but still good enough to flay them.

 

[Bijed]

Incredible how much better Voges vs WI is than the next entry on the list

 

[91Jmay]

Incredible how much better Voges vs WI is than the next entry on the list

Am I right in thinking at least one innings in Voges bashing of the Windies was a really important knock that they'd have basically lost without?

 

[AndrewB]

Am I right in thinking at least one innings in Voges bashing of the Windies was a really important knock that they'd have basically lost without?

His 130* on debut was out of 318: he came in at 61-3 and at one point Australia were 126-6; second highest scorer was Hazlewood with 39. On the other hand, they'd already bowled out WI for 148; if he'd got out cheaply they could have been in trouble but "basically lost" would be overstating it.

 

[CapeTown Guy]

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.