The broadest bat in Australia
The Super Test is around the corner and it seemed an opportune moment for The List to look at the best visiting players in Australia
Travis Basevi and George Binoy
13-Oct-2005
Some statistics, like Bradman's average and the number of centuries Gavaskar made, are known to pretty much every cricket buff. But The List will bring you facts and figures that aren't so obvious, adding fuel to those fiery debates about the most valuable middle-order bat, and the most useless tailender. If there's a particular List that you would like to see, e-mail us with your comments and suggestions.
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The Super Test offers the perfect opportunity to look at the best visiting players in Australia. Expectedly, The List is peppered with Englishmen, given the frequency of their visits Down Under. Unexpectedly, Chris Broad, the Man of the Series in England's famous Ashes win 1986-87, sits head and shoulders above the rest. Broad isn't the most reputed player in The List, he wasn't even the most reputed batsman among England's heroes in that series.
And then if The List gave you a hint that the batsman next after Broad was a West Indian, how many awe-inspiring names would you rattle off before you remembered the diminutive Larry Gomes's fantastic tours in 1981-82 and 1984-85? If you were wondering where the Sri Lankan, Pakistani and South African batsmen are - well, Sri Lanka have had a rough time in Australia, Arjuna Ranatunga being their best batsman, while Pakistan's boast is Asif Iqbal.
South Africa deserve special mention as very few of their players have toured Australia twice to qualify for The List. However, Eddie Barlow, Aubrey Faulkner, Trevor Goddard and Graeme Pollock have superb records in the five Tests they've played in Australia.
| Player | Span | Mat | Inns | Runs | HS |
Ave | 100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BC Broad (Eng) | 1986-1988 | 6 | 10 | 626 | 162 |
78.25 | 4 |
| HA Gomes (WI) | 1981-1985 | 8 | 15 | 844 | 127 |
70.33 | 4 |
| KF Barrington (Eng) | 1962-1966 | 10 | 18 | 1046 | 132* | 69.73 | 4 |
| MD Crowe (NZ) | 1985-1993 | 8 | 15 | 870 | 188 |
66.92 | 2 |
| R Dravid (India) | 1999-2004 | 7 | 14 | 712 | 233 |
64.72 | 1 |
| H Sutcliffe (Eng) | 1924-1933 | 14 | 25 | 1529 | 194 |
63.70 | 6 |
| WR Hammond (Eng) | 1928-1947 | 19 | 35 | 1981 | 251 |
61.90 | 7 |
| VVS Laxman (India) | 1999-2004 | 7 | 13 | 715 | 178 |
59.58 | 3 |
| JB Hobbs (Eng) | 1908-1929 | 24 | 45 | 2493 | 187 |
57.97 | 9 |
| JH Edrich (Eng) | 1965-1975 | 15 | 26 | 1283 | 130 |
55.78 | 4 |
If the batsmen's list is a box of chocolates, the best 20th-century overseas bowlers in Australia couldn't have been more predictable. Sir Richard Hadlee and his Highness, 'King' Curtly Ambrose take the honours, while Enland's Geoff Miller is the only spinner in the top ten. Miller, who retired in 1984, is also England's most recent bowler on The List - another subtle indicator of England's suffering at the hands of Australia for the better part of the last two decades.
| Player | Span | Mat | Runs | Wkts | BBI | Ave | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RJ Hadlee (NZ) | 1973-1987 | 12 | 1373 | 77 | 9/52 | 17.83 | 10 |
| CEL Ambrose (WI) | 1988-1997 | 14 | 1544 | 78 | 7/25 | 19.79 | 6 |
| M Hendrick (Eng) | 1974-1979 | 7 | 418 | 21 | 3/19 | 19.90 | 0 |
| SF Barnes (Eng) | 1901-1912 | 13 | 1727 | 77 | 7/60 | 22.42 | 8 |
| G Miller (Eng) | 1978-1983 | 12 | 809 | 36 | 5/44 | 22.47 | 1 |
| IR Bishop (WI) | 1992-1997 | 10 | 990 | 43 | 6/40 | 23.02 | 1 |
| MD Marshall (WI) | 1984-1989 | 10 | 1042 | 45 | 5/29 | 23.15 | 5 |
| Wasim Akram (Pak) | 1990-1999 | 9 | 866 | 36 | 6/62 | 24.05 | 3 |
| MA Holding (WI) | 1975-1985 | 14 | 1526 | 63 | 6/21 | 24.22 | 5 |
| N Kapil Dev (India) | 1981-1992 | 11 | 1254 | 51 | 8/106 | 24.58 | 5 |
For the pundits:Click here for the complete list of best overseas players in Australia
Readers' request: After last week's List on the highest run-scorers by batting position several readers wanted one based on highest averages by batting position. Click here to find out which openers have better one-day averages than Sachin Tendulkar.
If there's a particular List that you would like to see, e-mail us with your comments and suggestions.
George Binoy is editorial assistant of Cricinfo.