Sangakkara's appetite for the huge hundred

One of our readers, John Melville, wrote in with an idea last week - ranking batsmen by their non-century average. We took it a little further and explored which batsmen score really big when they pass hundred and which ones have a higher average in innings below three-figures. The not-outs skewed the averages in favour of players with unbeaten hundreds, so we decided to look at both the conventional average and the runs-per-innings figure, which simply divides the total runs scored by the total number of innings batted (without excluding not-outs).

Andy Flower has a skyscraper for an average in the innings in which he's passed 100. He remained unbeaten seven times in 12 centuries (no doubt he ran out of partners) and has a century-average of 340. Look deeper and you'll find he hit only one double-hundred and passed 150 just thrice. He left Don Bradman trailing in his wake as well. Bradman is ninth with an average of 234.47 because only six of his hundreds were not-outs. In the runs-per-innings table, though, Bradman leads the way with 185.96, thanks to ten double-hundreds, two triple-centuries, and six scores between 150 and 199.

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One player who is ranked high in both tables is Kumar Sangakkara. He averages 266 when he passes 100 in spite of having only four not-outs in 12 innings. He's passed 200 four times and has three scores between 150 and 199 as well. His runs per innings of 177.33 is only eight less than the Don. After a string of centuries that read 230, 270, 232, 138, 157 not out, 185 and 287, Sangakkara's last two hundreds were unbeaten scores of 100 and 156. If he'd been allowed to continue, you can bet that he'd have piled on a lot more.

Two batsmen with similar batting styles - a lazy stylishness that was extremely easy on the eye - appear on the list for lowest runs per innings. Mark Waugh hit 20 hundreds but never made more than 153 each time giving him an average of 120.6. Damien Martyn also managed a highest of only 165 in 13 centuries with only two undefeated centuries.

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Viv Richards heads the ODI table for highest runs-per-innings with 1486 runs accumulated through 11 centuries. His performance is further highlighted when we look at the batsmen below him, all of whom played the bulk of their cricket in the 1990s and the 2000s, when conditions became significantly more batsman-friendly.

Andrew Symonds is second in the table with 657 runs from five hundreds. The fact that three of them were unbeaten elevates him to No 5 on the averages list as well. Take a look at the six names that follow him: all left-handers. Mere coincidence or is it QED that lefties have a bigger appetite for large scores?

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Michael Bevan's low position in the batting order meant that opportunities to score a hundred were rare and the chance to score a huge century, rarer. It explains why Bevan's runs-per-innings - 104.50 - when he scored a hundred is the second lowest among all batsmen. To his credit, Bevan has the highest average for innings without a century. He averages a massive 49.88 excluding his hundreds and has remained not-out a staggering 64 times. Dean Jones in second place is a distant nine runs behind.

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