There's no place like home

Cricket's equivalent of Julius Caesar's famous Veni, Vidi, Vici - to conquer opponents in their backyards - is a rare trait among batsmen. Bradman averaged 102.84 in England, while Wally Hammond and Ken Barrington also performed outstandingly on tours. Among current batsmen, Rahul Dravid's overseas record trumps his magnificent one in India , but by and large most batsmen thrive in the relative comfort of home. Today, we look at batsmen who have performed better at home than overseas and vice versa.

When Desmond Haynes retired in 1994, he held the record for most runs and centuries in one-dayers. He was no slouch in Test cricket either, racking up 7487 runs and 18 hundreds. But while he was prolific at home, where he averaged 56.05 in Tests and 67.71 in ODIs , he averaged only in the 30s on tour. In 118 Test innings overseas, Haynes managed only eight hundreds while he scored 10 in 84 innings at home. In ODIs, the difference is starker. On average, Haynes passed a hundred in every fifth game in the Caribbean while he celebrated a century in every 27th overseas game.

However, Gordon Greenidge, Haynes's ballistic opening partner, had quite the opposite record. He averaged only 37.74 at home with only one hundred while in 97 ODIs overseas, Greenidge hit ten centuries and at an average of 47.29. Similarly, Vivian Richards did not score any of his 11 one-day centuries in the West Indies. His highest score at home is 82 and his average of 36.59 is the lowest among any country he played in. On the other hand, Richards never averaged less than 40 against any team on their home turf.

Dravid, currently averaging 65.28, has the fourth highest overseas average - behind Bradman, Barrington and Hammond - among batsmen who have played at least 20 innings. He's miles ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, who is second highest among current batsmen with 55.52.

Only Colin Milburn has a higher overseas average than Bradman. He averaged 39.61 in eight Tests in England before joining the team for the third Test at Karachi in 1969. He went on to score 139 in what was his only overseas innings. Unfortunately it was also his last innings for England. A few months later he met with a car accident and lost an eye that forced him out of competitive cricket.

Ten of John Wright's 12 Test hundreds have been scored in New Zealand. That's the highest percentage of home Test centuries for any player with at least ten hundreds, but his inconsistency still has him with low averages for both home and away (41.86 to 33.24) and so he doesn't appear on these tables.

Clyde Walcott had a prolific run at home between 1954 and 1958 when he averaged over 75 in four consecutive home series. However, the large difference between his home and away average is primarily due to the fact that Walcott hardly toured during his purple years. In fact, the series in England in 1957 was his only tour during the last eight years of his career.

Next week, we'll look at the differences between home and away averages for bowlers.

Note: matches at neutral venues are classed as away matches.

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