batting average (cricket)

Most players have career batting averages in the range of 20 to 40. This is also the desirable range for wicket-keepers, though some fall short and make up for it with keeping skill. Until a substantial increase in scores in the 21st century due to improved bats and smaller grounds among other factors, players who sustained an average above 50 through a career were considered exceptional, and before the development of the heavy roller in the 1870s (which allowed for a flatter, safer cricket pitch) an average of 25 was considered very good.{{cite book |last=Rae |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Rae |date=1998 |title=W.G. Grace: A Life |location=London |publisher=Faber and Faber |isbn=0571178553 |page=26}}

• All-rounders who are more prominent bowlers than batsmen typically average something between 20 and 30.
• 15 and under is typical for specialist bowlers.
• A small number of players have averaged less than 5 for a complete career, though a player with such an average is a liability unless an exceptional bowler such as Alf Valentine, B. S. Chandrasekhar or Glenn McGrath were.

Career records for batting average are usually subject to a minimum qualification of 20 innings played or completed, in order to exclude batsmen who have not played enough games for their skill to be reliably assessed. Under this qualification, the highest Test batting average belongs to Australia's Sir Donald Bradman, with 99.94. Given that a career batting average over 50 is exceptional, and that only 4 other players have averages over 60, this is an outstanding statistic. The fact that Bradman's average is so far above that of any other cricketer has led several statisticians to argue that, statistically at least, he was the greatest athlete in any sport.{{cite web|url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/4188.html |publisher=Cricinfo.com |work=Players and Officials |title=Sir Donald Bradman |access-date=27 April 2006}}

Disregarding this 20 innings qualification, the highest career Test batting average is 144 by Kurtis Patterson, who scored 144 runs and was dismissed once in his two Test innings. He then fell out of the Australian squad due to a loss of form and injury.

Batting averages in One Day International (ODI) and T20 International (T20I) cricket tend to be lower than in Test cricket because of the need to score runs more quickly. Consequently, batters tend to play riskier strokes and less emphasis is placed on building an innings in order to amass a high individual score. It should also be remembered, especially in relation to the ODI and T20I histograms above, that there were no ODI or T20I matches when Bradman played.

If a batter has been dismissed in every single innings, then this statistic gives exactly the average number of runs they score per innings.

However, for a batter with one or more innings which finished not out, the true mean or average number of runs they score per innings is unknown as it is not known how many runs they would have scored if they could have completed all their not out innings. In this case, this statistic is an estimate of the average number of runs they score per innings. If their scores have a geometric distribution, then this statistic is the maximum likelihood estimate of their true unknown average.{{cite journal |last=Das |first=Shubhabratha |date=2011 |title=On Generalized Geometric Distributions: Application to Modeling Scores in Cricket and Improved Estimation of Batting Average in Light of Notout Innings |ssrn=2117199 | journal=Social Science Research Network }}

Batting averages can be strongly affected by the number of not outs. For example, Phil Tufnell, who was noted for his poor batting,{{cite web |last=Lister |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Lister |date=28 July 2007 |title=The Jack of all rabbits |url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/story/303300.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017110007/http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/story/303300.html |archive-date=17 October 2007 |website=ESPNcricinfo}} has an apparently respectable ODI average of 15 (from 20 games), despite a highest score of only 5 not out, as he scored an overall total of 15 runs from 10 innings, but was out only once.{{cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/21611.html|title=Phil Tufnell|website=Cricinfo}}

A batter who was not dismissed in any of the innings over which their average is being calculated does not have a batting average, as division by zero does not give a result.{{cite news |date=28 March 2020 |title=Why did Stuart Law only play one Test for Australia? |url=https://www.wisden.com/cricket-news/why-did-stuart-law-only-play-one-test-for-australia |access-date=22 March 2025 |work=Wisden |quote=However, only 54 of those runs came in Australian Test whites, with Law making an unbeaten half-century in his only Test innings, meaning he finished his career without a Test average.}}

{{See also|List_of_first-class_cricket_records#Highest_career_average|label 1=Highest career batting averages in first-class cricket}}

Highest career batting averages in first-class cricket as follows:

File:Donald Bradman australian cricket player pic.JPG]]

{{See also|List of Test cricket records#Highest career batting average|label 1=Highest career batting averages in Tests}}

A batting average of above 50 is considered by many as a benchmark to distinguish between a good and a great batsman.{{cite web |last=Varghese |first=Mathew |date=12 October 2007 |title=A genuine matchwinner – A statistical look at Inzamam-ul-Haq's Test career |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/a-genuine-matchwinner-315169 |website=ESPNcricinfo}} Highest male career batting averages in Test matches as follows:

{{See also|List_of_One_Day_International_cricket_records#Highest_career_average|label 1=Highest career batting averages in ODIs}}

Highest career batting averages in One Day International cricket as follows:

{{See also|List_of_Twenty20_International_records#Highest_career_average|label 1=Highest career batting averages in T20Is}}

{{See also|List of women's Test cricket records#Individual records (batting)}}

{{See also|List of women's One Day International cricket records#Highest career average}}

{{See also|List of women's Twenty20 International records#Highest career average}}

Alternative measures of batting effectiveness have been developed, including:

{{main|Strike rate}}

Strike rate measures a different concept to batting average – how quickly the batsman scores (i.e. average number of runs from 100 balls) – so it does not supplant the role of batting average. It is used particularly in limited overs matches, where the speed at which a batter scores is more important than it is in first-class cricket. Strike rate may also be used to compare a player's ability to score runs against differing types of bowling (i.e. spin, fast bowling).

{{main|ICC Player Rankings}}

A system of player rankings was developed to produce a better indication of players' current standings than is provided by comparing their averages.

• Cricket statistics
• Batting average
• Bowling average

{{Reflist}}

{{Batsmen with a Test batting average above 50}}

{{Cricket statistics}}

Category:Batting (cricket)

Category:Cricket records and statistics

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