Best Batsman against Highest Wicket Takers

Cricket is a statistics heavy game. In this post, we use performances of batsmen against the highest wicket takers to filter the performances of batsmen and judge how they fared against opposition of a minimum quality. This is a crude method to exclude performances against weaker bowling attacks, the definition of weaker bowling attacks being an attack missing a bowler who never went on to take 200 Test wickets in their careers.

Result Summary:

• As expected in most best batsmen lists, Don Bradman heads the table.
• Graeme Pollock comes in second in the list followed by Englishman Herbert Sutcliffe.
• Michael Clarke is the first modern era player to make the list, the first with over 3000 runs.
• The West-Indian trio of Sobers, Richards and Lara follow to round off the top 10.

Player	Team	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50	0
DG Bradman	AUS	1946-1948	10	17	3	1188	234	84.85	4	4	3
RG Pollock	SA	1963-1970	15	25	2	1544	274	67.13	6	4	0
H Sutcliffe	ENG	1925-1934	19	34	4	1790	194	59.66	4	11	1
AD Nourse	SA	1935-1951	21	38	4	1936	231	56.94	6	8	2
CL Walcott	WI	1950-1960	23	43	4	2150	220	55.12	9	8	1
MJ Clarke	AUS	2004-2013	82	138	12	6920	329*	54.92	23	24	6
L Hutton	ENG	1946-1955	24	44	6	2084	205	54.84	4	14	2
GS Sobers	WI	1954-1974	60	109	13	5243	226	54.61	15	25	9
IVA Richards	WI	1974-1991	97	150	10	7464	291	53.31	23	37	7
BC Lara	WI	1990-2006	128	228	6	11739	400*	52.87	33	47	17
HM Amla	SA	2004-2013	52	91	8	4366	311*	52.60	15	20	6
R Dravid	IND	1996-2011	129	227	25	10610	270	52.52	28	49	6
DPMD Jayawardene	SL	1997-2013	98	171	8	8465	374	51.93	25	36	10
JH Kallis	SA	1996-2013	130	225	28	10226	224	51.90	32	48	12
Javed Miandad	PAK	1976-1993	95	147	15	6852	280*	51.90	16	37	5
V Sehwag	IND	2001-2012	80	139	5	6925	319	51.67	20	21	13
SR Tendulkar	IND	1989-2013	159	266	26	12342	241*	51.42	39	54	10
KF Barrington	ENG	1960-1968	42	72	6	3386	256	51.30	8	19	3
KC Sangakkara	SL	2000-2012	78	138	9	6617	287	51.29	20	25	5
JF Reid	NZ	1979-1986	14	22	2	1025	158*	51.25	5	2	3
RT Ponting	AUS	1995-2012	148	252	24	11592	257	50.84	34	55	17
AN Petersen	SA	2010-2013	13	23	2	1065	182	50.71	5	1	1
AR Morris	AUS	1946-1955	27	47	2	2280	206	50.66	9	8	3
MEK Hussey	AUS	2005-2013	63	108	13	4813	195	50.66	15	24	12
A Flower	ZIM	1992-2002	58	107	18	4475	232*	50.28	11	25	5
SM Gavaskar	IND	1971-1987	86	150	11	6970	236*	50.14	21	33	10
Inzamam-ul-Haq	PAK	1992-2007	100	168	17	7572	329	50.14	20	43	11
AR Border	AUS	1978-1994	142	243	39	10225	205	50.12	26	54	11
EAB Rowan	SA	1935-1951	16	31	3	1395	236	49.82	3	8	1
KD Walters	AUS	1968-1981	63	106	13	4624	250	49.72	13	29	3
ML Hayden	AUS	1994-2009	92	165	11	7633	380	49.56	26	26	14
GS Chappell	AUS	1970-1984	81	142	17	6187	204	49.49	20	29	12
S Chanderpaul	WI	1994-2012	130	224	34	9360	203*	49.26	22	57	14
PBH May	ENG	1953-1961	30	50	5	2208	285*	49.06	5	11	4
KP Pietersen	ENG	2005-2012	58	106	5	4942	202*	48.93	17	15	4
Shoaib Mohammad	PAK	1983-1995	34	52	7	2189	203*	48.64	7	9	5
Younis Khan	PAK	2000-2013	69	122	8	5515	313	48.37	17	20	12
WR Hammond	ENG	1928-1947	21	37	1	1733	251	48.13	6	2	0
TT Samaraweera	SL	2001-2013	51	89	14	3608	231	48.10	11	15	8
WM Lawry	AUS	1961-1971	44	80	10	3359	210	47.98	8	20	4
G Boycott	ENG	1964-1982	78	140	14	6039	246*	47.92	16	33	6
CH Lloyd	WI	1966-1985	89	144	13	6237	242*	47.61	16	32	3
VS Hazare	IND	1946-1952	17	29	3	1232	164*	47.38	4	4	2
SR Waugh	AUS	1985-2004	152	239	37	9560	200	47.32	26	46	22
DR Martyn	AUS	1992-2006	66	107	14	4395	165	47.25	13	23	7
AC Gilchrist	AUS	1999-2008	85	126	19	5037	204*	47.07	15	24	14
RM Cowper	AUS	1964-1968	16	28	2	1214	165	46.69	4	5	1
Zaheer Abbas	PAK	1971-1985	59	96	8	4056	274	46.09	10	14	8
CC Hunte	WI	1960-1967	26	48	4	2025	182	46.02	4	10	0
Asad Shafiq	PAK	2010-2013	17	27	3	1093	130	45.54	3	8	2
G Gambhir	IND	2004-2012	42	75	4	3228	206	45.46	7	17	4
MD Crowe	NZ	1982-1995	53	90	8	3722	188	45.39	12	14	6
DM Jones	AUS	1984-1992	41	69	9	2716	216	45.26	8	8	9
RB Kanhai	WI	1957-1974	54	96	4	4160	158*	45.21	10	20	4
DJ Cullinan	SA	1993-2001	65	109	12	4364	275*	44.98	14	19	9
AB de Villiers	SA	2004-2013	63	106	7	4444	217*	44.88	9	25	2
Mohammad Yousuf	PAK	1998-2010	77	136	7	5787	223	44.86	16	26	9
EJ Barlow	SA	1963-1970	15	28	2	1164	201	44.76	4	4	2
GC Smith	SA	2002-2013	79	143	10	5923	277	44.53	14	30	9
JB Hobbs	ENG	1925-1930	14	25	0	1113	142	44.52	2	6	1
IM Chappell	AUS	1967-1980	59	108	9	4403	192	44.47	11	25	7

Notes:
All the data in this chart are generated from ESPN Cricinfo's awesome Statsguru tool.
This includes performances of batsmen from AUS, ENG, IND, NZ, PAK, SA, SL, WI, and ZIM.
The bowlers included are those who have taken at least 200 Test wickets as of 8th November 2013, there are 63 of them.
The cut-off for batsmen is set to 1000 runs.