I recall a question being asked on some cricket forum or other, possibly this one: who is the worst best player in Test history? In other words, who has (considering batsmen as an example) scored the most runs at the lowest average? That turns out to be an almost impossible question to answer, but one answer given was Mike Atherton, who has the lowest batting average of any player with over 6000 runs. This seems a bit harsh on Atherton, a fine and combative batsman and a key player in the not-exactly-world-beating England teams of the 1990s, but it set me off on a train of thought which resulted in the tables below.
As with the tables here, here and here, a bit of preparatory mental calibration is probably required: for each of the entries in the batting table, no-one has made more runs at a lower average.
| Player | Tests | Runs | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| RT Ponting (AUS) | 168 | 13378 | 51.85 |
| AN Cook (ENG) | 161 | 12472 | 45.35 |
| GA Gooch (ENG) | 118 | 8900 | 42.58 |
| AJ Stewart (ENG) | 133 | 8463 | 39.54 |
| MA Atherton (ENG) | 115 | 7728 | 37.69 |
| N Hussain (ENG) | 96 | 5764 | 37.18 |
| CL Hooper (WI) | 102 | 5762 | 36.46 |
| MV Boucher (ICC/SA) | 147 | 5515 | 30.30 |
| DL Vettori (ICC/NZ) | 113 | 4531 | 30.00 |
| IA Healy (AUS) | 119 | 4356 | 27.39 |
| RW Marsh (AUS) | 96 | 3633 | 26.51 |
| SCJ Broad (ENG) | 138 | 3211 | 18.66 |
| SK Warne (AUS) | 145 | 3154 | 17.32 |
| HMRKB Herath (SL) | 93 | 1699 | 14.64 |
| CEL Ambrose (WI) | 98 | 1439 | 12.40 |
| M Muralitharan (ICC/SL) | 133 | 1261 | 11.67 |
| JM Anderson (ENG) | 151 | 1185 | 9.63 |
| CA Walsh (WI) | 132 | 936 | 7.54 |
| GD McGrath (AUS) | 124 | 641 | 7.36 |
| LR Gibbs (WI) | 79 | 488 | 6.97 |
| FH Edwards (WI) | 55 | 394 | 6.56 |
| DE Malcolm (ENG) | 40 | 236 | 6.05 |
| PT Collins (WI) | 32 | 235 | 5.87 |
| MS Panesar (ENG) | 50 | 220 | 4.88 |
| ST Gabriel (WI) | 45 | 200 | 4.76 |
| BS Chandrasekhar (INDIA) | 58 | 167 | 4.07 |
| N Pradeep (SL) | 28 | 132 | 4.00 |
| CS Martin (NZ) | 71 | 123 | 2.36 |
This seems a bit harsh on Ricky Ponting in particular, but he just happens to be second on the overall list of highest Test run-scorers and to have an average that's a couple of runs per innings lower than that of the top man on the list, Sachin Tendulkar.
It is interesting to see that there are a few distinct zones on the list: once you get past Ponting and Cook you're into the English Batsmen Of The 1990s Zone featuring Gooch, Stewart, Atherton and Hussain and providing an insight into why England didn't win a lot during that era: not enough runs. Then there is a brief Wicketkeeper-Batsmen Zone featuring Boucher, Healy and Marsh, and then a Long-Serving And Distinguished Bowler Zone in reverse order of batting competence (Broad through Gibbs, say), and then a Proper Incompetents Zone at the end. Obviously there are probably people with a Test average of zero from one or two innings, but the rule of thumb I applied was to go down as far as Chris Martin, fine bowler but famously one of the worst batsmen in history, and then stop. As it happens he has the lowest average of anyone with over 100 Test runs, so that provided a nice sensible cut-off point anyway. Martin and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar are the most distinguished members of the select club of players who have more Test wickets than runs.
Here's the bowling table - this time the qualifying criterion is: no-one has taken more wickets at a higher average.
Here's the bowling table - this time the qualifying criterion is: no-one has taken more wickets at a higher average.
| Player | Tests | Wickets | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| SK Warne (AUS) | 145 | 708 | 25.41 |
| A Kumble (INDIA) | 132 | 619 | 29.65 |
| Harbhajan Singh (INDIA) | 103 | 417 | 32.46 |
| DL Vettori (ICC/NZ) | 113 | 362 | 34.36 |
| Danish Kaneria (PAK) | 61 | 261 | 34.79 |
| MM Ali (ENG) | 60 | 181 | 36.59 |
| FH Edwards (WI) | 55 | 165 | 37.87 |
| RJ Shastri (INDIA) | 80 | 151 | 40.96 |
| CL Hooper (WI) | 102 | 114 | 49.42 |
| Mohammad Sami (PAK) | 36 | 85 | 52.74 |
| SR Tendulkar (INDIA) | 200 | 46 | 54.17 |
| MN Samuels (WI) | 71 | 41 | 59.63 |
| Rubel Hossain (BDESH) | 27 | 36 | 76.77 |
| IDK Salisbury (ENG) | 15 | 20 | 76.95 |
| Mohammad Sharif (BDESH) | 10 | 14 | 79.00 |
| KP Pietersen (ENG) | 104 | 10 | 88.60 |
| S Chanderpaul (WI) | 164 | 9 | 98.11 |
| EAR de Silva (SL) | 10 | 8 | 129.00 |
| MA Atherton (ENG) | 115 | 2 | 151.00 |
| CA Davis (WI) | 15 | 2 | 165.00 |
| NM Kulkarni (INDIA) | 3 | 2 | 166.00 |
| S Matsikenyeri (ZIM) | 8 | 2 | 172.50 |
| CS Nayudu (INDIA) | 11 | 2 | 179.50 |
| KLT Arthurton (WI) | 33 | 1 | 183.00 |
| RS Bopara (ENG) | 13 | 1 | 290.00 |
| Naeem Islam (BDESH) | 8 | 1 | 303.00 |
Once again there are some distinct zones here, the Distinguished Spinners Zone at the top (Warne through Kaneria), the All-Rounders Zone (Ali, Shastri, Hooper), and then a mixture of specialist bowlers with short and unproductive careers and specialist batsmen who occasionally turned their arm over as light relief, say at the tail-end of a drawn game. Note that you don't see the long list of long-serving batsmen (Pietersen, Chanderpaul and Atherton apart) to match the bowlers in the other list; this is just a consequence of the way the game works. Even confirmed number 11 batsmen like McGrath and Walsh have to bat reasonably frequently; no-one has to bowl. For example, Alastair Cook's long and distinguished 161-Test career included a paltry three overs as a bowler, although to be fair he did take one wicket during those overs, which incidentally gives him an overall strike rate (i.e. balls per wicket) of 18.00, far superior to even the likes of Dale Steyn.
But I digress. Players who appear on both lists are Mike Atherton, Carl Hooper, Daniel Vettori, Shane Warne and Fidel Edwards. Note also that the top men from the overall batting and bowling lists (Tendulkar and Muralitharan) each appear on the opposite list here.
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