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Top 10 Greatest Cricketers in the World of All Time
Cricket is a batsman’s game. Some batsmen paint beautiful pictures with their strokes and score runs. Some make runs with patience and grit. Some destroy bowling attacks with an onslaught.
At the end of the match, what counts is how many runs are scored, no matter how they come.
Players can win matches with their batting. They also can save matches.
These are the best match-winners/savers with the bat in cricket history.
Note: To qualify, batsmen must have a minimum of 5,000 runs in international cricket. For players who played before the introduction of One Day International (ODI) matches on Jan. 5, 1971, only Tests are considered.
Bradman
Bradman
Experience: 1928-48
Country: Australia
Other teams: New South Wales, South Australia
Career stats in Tests: 52 matches, 6,996 runs, 99.94 average, 334 highest score, 29 100s
Bradman is the greatest batsman of all time. His average of 99.94 in Tests — 38.07 ahead of the next best, Adam Voges (61.87) —is one record that is certainly not to be broken.
When Bradman went to bat for the final time, he needed to score only four runs to mark a phenomenal average of 100. But he was bowled by a “googly” off Eric Hollies.
Still, Bradman’s consistency and ability to play long innings were unmatchable. He notched 12 200-plus scores and scored six hundred in six consecutive matches in the 1937-38 season.
The Australian legend also holds the record of most runs in a Test series as he scored 974 runs from seven innings at an incredible average of 139.14 in the Ashes in 1930.
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar
Experience: 1989-2013
Country: India
Other major teams: Mumbai, Mumbai Indians
Career stats in Tests: 200 matches, 15,921 runs, 53.78 average, 54.08 strike rate, 248 highest score, 51 100s
Career stats in ODIs: 463 matches, 18,246 runs, 44.83 average, 86.23 strike rate, 200 highest score, 49 100s
Sachin Tendulkar is known as the “God of Cricket.” He made his debut at age 16 against Pakistan and never looked back, amassing the most runs in both ODIs and Tests.
He has scored 100 international centuries, 29 more than second-best Ricky Ponting, and scored the most runs in World Cups, 2,278, at an incredible average of 56.95.
He played many memorable knocks and won many games single-handedly. He also experienced losing several games because of a lack of support from the other end.
Tendulkar carried the hopes of millions every time he walked up to bat and didn’t disappoint. He was the reason people made cricket a profession, and many started watching cricket just to see him bat. It was no surprise that cricket viewership dipped after his retirement.
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting
Experience: 1995-2012
Country: Australia
Other major teams: Mumbai Indians, Somerset, Surrey, Tasmania
Career stats in Tests: 168 matches, 13,378 runs, 51.85 average, 58.72 strike rate, 257 highest score, 41 100s
Career stats in ODIs: 375 matches, 13,704 runs, 42.03 average, 80.39 strike rate, 164 highest score, 30 100s
Ricky Ponting is the biggest match-winner with the bat for Australia in the modern era. The Aussies posted a mammoth 359-2 in the World Cup final against India in 2003, thanks to an excellent 140 (128) by Ponting.
The right-hander is the second-highest run-getter in Tests, third-highest run-getter in ODIs, and second-highest run-getter in World Cups.
He also was the Man of the Match in the inaugural T20I against New Zealand, scoring an unbeaten 98 in just 55 balls.
Brian Lara
Brian Lara
Experience: 1990-2007
Country: West Indies
Other major teams: Northern Transvaal, Southern Rocks, Trinidad & Tobago, Warwickshire
Career stats in Tests: 131 matches, 11,953 runs, 52.88 average, 60.51 strike rate, 400 highest score, 34 100s
Career stats in ODIs: 299 matches, 10,405 runs, 40.48 average, 79.51 strike rate, 169 highest score, 19 100s
Who was the toughest to ball to? If you ask this question to premier bowlers of the 1990s and early 2000s, most would say it was Brian Lara. The elegant left-hander played pace and spin equally well.
His 400 against England in 2004 is the highest individual score in Tests. His 375 against England in 1994 is third on the list of highest individual scores in the longest format of the game.
Lara was the only player who appeared twice in the list of ESPNCricinfo’s top 25 Test batting performances of all time, with his 153 and 213 against Australia in 1999.
Viv Richards
Viv Richards
Experience: 1974-91
Country: West Indies
Other major teams: Combined Islands, Glamorgan, Leeward Islands, Queensland, Somerset
Career stats in Tests: 121 matches, 8,540 runs, 50.66 average, 50.23 strike rate, 294 highest score, 24 100s
Career stats in ODIs: 187 matches, 6,721 runs, 47.00 average, 90.20 strike rate, 189 highest score, 11 100s
Viv Richards was way ahead of his contemporaries — he had a strike rate of 90.2 in ODIs in the 1970s and 1980s when most batsmen scored at a rate of 60-70.
The swashbuckling right-hander, one of the five Wisden cricketers of the 20th century, held the record for the fastest 100 off 56 balls in Tests for 40 years, before Brendon McCullum broke the record in 2015.
In 1976, Richards scored a whopping 1,710 runs at an average of 90 with seven centuries from 11 Tests.
Richards had a good record in World Cups — 1,013 runs at an average of 63.31. He guided West Indies to a World Cup win in 1979, making an unbeaten 138 off 157 balls against England in the final. In addition, he was the second-highest run-getter in the 1979 and 1983 editions of the showpiece event of the 20th century.
Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Experience: 1927-47
Country: England
Other major teams: Gloucestershire, South Africa Air Force
Career stats in Tests: 85 matches, 7,249 runs, 58.45 average, 336 highest score, 22 100s
To average over 50 in Tests is considered excellent, and Wally Hammond averaged 58.46. But he had to stay satisfied as to the second-best since he played in the era of Bradman, who averaged an unbelievable 99.94. Hammond’s average in Tests is the best among batsmen who made 7,000-plus runs.
He holds the record of the fastest player to score 7,000 runs in terms of innings played. He also was the first player to cross the 7,000-run mark and was the highest run-getter when he retired.
The English middle-order batsman was the first player to aggregate 900-plus runs in a series when he made 905 runs against Australia at an average of 113.12 in the Ashes in 1928. He also amassed 50,551 runs in first-class cricket (third-best of all time), including 167 hundred.
Jack Hobbs
Jack Hobbs
Experience: 1908-30
Country: England
Other major teams: Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagram’s XI, Surrey
Career stats in Tests: 61 matches, 5,410 runs, 56.94 average, 42.51 strike rate, 211 highest score, 15 100s
When Jack Hobbs hung up his boots, he was the highest run-getter in Tests, 1,998 ahead of Clem Hill, and Hobbs made those runs at an excellent average of 56.94.
His average as an opener, 56.37 is the third-best of all time (with at least 4000-plus runs). He also is the oldest player to score a hundred, posting 142 against Australia in Melbourne in 1929 when he was 46 years and 82 days old.
The former England opener is the only player to score 60,000-plus runs in first-class cricket. He also hit 199 centuries in first-class cricket, 29 ahead of Patsy Hendren.
Jacques Kallis
Jacques Kallis
Experience: 1995-2014
Country: South Africa
Other major teams: Cape Cobras, Glamorgan, Kolkata Knight Riders, Middlesex
Career stats in Tests: 166 matches, 13,289 runs, 55.37 average, 45.97 strike rate, 224 highest score, 45 100s
Career stats in ODIs: 328 matches, 11,579 runs, 44.36 average, 72.89 strike rate, 139 highest score, 17 100s
Jacques Kallis amassed 10,000-plus runs in both Tests and ODIs and is the third-highest run-getter in Tests and seventh-highest run-getter in ODIs. He is known as the greatest all-rounder of the modern era, picking up 250-plus wickets in both formats.
The South Africa player has scored 45 centuries in Tests, second-most by any batsman behind Tendulkar. Also, Kallis holds the record of the most Man of the Match awards in Tests with 23.
Kallis scored five centuries in five consecutive Tests in the 2003-04 season — second only Bradman, who scored six centuries in consecutive matches — and the right-hander ended his Test career on a high note by scoring 115 in his last match.
Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara
Experience: 2000-2015
Country: Sri Lanka
Other major teams: Sunrisers Hyderabad, Surrey, Warwickshire
Career stats in Tests: 134 matches, 12,400 runs, 57.40 average, 54.19 strike rate, 319 highest score, 38 100s
Career stats in ODIs: 404 matches, 14,234 runs, 41.98 average, 78.86 strike rate, 169 highest score, 25 100s
Bottom line: These are Kumar Sangakkara’s last five innings in his ODI career: 105, 117, 104, 124, 45. He stopped playing when he was at his peak. He is the only player to hit four consecutive centuries in ODIs and did it in a World Cup.
He is the second-highest run-getter in ODIs and sixth-highest run-getter in Tests. His Test average, 57.40, is the highest among batsmen who made 10,000-plus runs.
Big players perform on big stages, and “Sanga” did exactly that in the 2014 WT20 final. He was struggling throughout the tournament but scored a match-winning 52 (35) against India in the final.
These are Kumar Sangakkara’s last five innings in his ODI career: 105, 117, 104, 124, 45. He stopped playing when he was at his peak. He is the only player to hit four consecutive centuries in ODIs and did it in a World Cup.
He is the second-highest run-getter in ODIs and sixth-highest run-getter in Tests. His Test average, 57.40, is the highest among batsmen who made 10,000-plus runs.
Big players perform on big stages, and “Sanga” did exactly that in the 2014 WT20 final. He was struggling throughout the tournament but scored a match-winning 52 (35) against India in the final.
Gary Sobers
Gary Sobers
Experience: 1954-74
Country: West Indies
Other major teams: Barbados, Nottinghamshire, South Australia
Career stats in Tests: 93 matches, 8,032 runs, 57.78 average, 365 highest score, 26 100s
Gary Sobers is arguably the greatest all-rounder of all time. Bradman once called him a “five in one cricketer” because Sobers excelled in all cricketing skills with wicket-keeping as the only exception.
He broke the record of the highest individual score against Pakistan in 1958 by scoring 365, a record which stood for 36 years. It’s still the fourth-highest individual score in Tests. His average of 57.78 is the best among players who have made 8,000-plus runs.
The southpaw is the first batsman to hit six sixes in an over in first-class cricket. He started his career as a bowler, which makes these batting records all the more impressive.
Gary Sobers is arguably the greatest all-rounder of all time. Bradman once called him a “five in one cricketer” because Sobers excelled in all cricketing skills with wicket-keeping as the only exception.
He broke the record of the highest individual score against Pakistan in 1958 by scoring 365, a record which stood for 36 years. It’s still the fourth-highest individual score in Tests. His average of 57.78 is the best among players who have made 8,000-plus runs.
The southpaw is the first batsman to hit six sixes in an over in first-class cricket. He started his career as a bowler, which makes these batting records all the more impressive.
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