Modern Era Batsmen versus Top Eight Nations

In this post, we aggregate the performance of modern era batsmen against the top eight test nations since 1 Jan 1985. Performances against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have been excluded as they have been, in general, the weakest teams (and also the weakest bowling attacks) over this period (1 Jan 1985 to 10 November 2013).

Result Summary:

• Most players (38 out of 48) show a reduction in their career averages, thus lending credence to the hypothesis that Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have had weaker bowling attacks. 
• Only six players have over 10,000 runs.
• Sachin Tendulkar, as expected, has the most runs, hundreds, and fifties.
• Hashim Amla has the fastest rate, in terms of number of innings, of scoring hundreds (6.21) and fifties (2.62).
• Kumar Sangakkara and Jacques Kallis are the only players who average over 53.
• Michael Clarke and AB de Villiers are the few with 50+ averages who actually see a rise in their avergaes - meaning they have underperformed against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Among players with post-filtered 50+ averages, AB de Villiers and Michael Clarke show an increase in their averages of 0.77 and 0.36 respectively.
• Among players with post-filtered 50+ averages, Kumar Sangakkara, Sachin Tendulkar, and Jacques Kallis see the biggest drop in averages with 3.69, 2.78, and 2.41 respectively. Mohammad Yousuf sees the overall biggest drop of 4.09. These batsmen have performed exceptionally well against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh which has boosted their career averages.
• Only ten players average over 50 as opposed to fifteen when including performances against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

 
Data table:

Player	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50	Inns per 100	Inns per 50	Career Average
SR Tendulkar (India)	184	306	28	14183	241*	51.01	43	65	7.12	2.83	53.78
RT Ponting (Aus)	161	278	27	12828	257	51.10	39	59	7.13	2.84	51.85
JH Kallis (ICC/SA)	152	263	34	12144	224	53.03	40	54	6.58	2.80	55.44
R Dravid (ICC/India)	148	263	27	11749	270	49.78	30	57	8.77	3.02	52.31
BC Lara (ICC/WI)	127	226	6	11558	400*	52.53	32	47	7.06	2.86	52.88
SR Waugh (Aus)	163	255	43	10381	200	48.96	29	48	8.79	3.31	51.06
S Chanderpaul (WI)	134	233	38	9943	203*	50.98	24	59	9.71	2.81	51.89
DPMD Jayawardene (SL)	119	208	10	9526	374	48.11	26	41	8.00	3.10	49.56
KC Sangakkara (SL)	99	176	14	8633	287	53.29	26	35	6.77	2.89	56.98
VVS Laxman (India)	125	213	32	8384	281	46.32	16	55	13.31	3.00	45.97
V Sehwag (ICC/India)	97	170	4	8234	319	49.60	23	29	7.39	3.27	49.34
GC Smith (ICC/SA)	102	184	12	8129	277	47.26	23	36	8.00	3.12	49.36
AJ Stewart (Eng)	127	226	19	7980	190	38.55	13	43	17.38	4.04	39.54
ML Hayden (Aus)	97	176	13	7956	203	48.80	28	27	6.29	3.20	50.73
ME Waugh (Aus)	127	208	17	7939	153*	41.56	20	46	10.40	3.15	41.81
Inzamam-ul-Haq (ICC/Pak)	103	173	18	7654	329	49.38	21	42	8.24	2.75	49.60
MJ Clarke (Aus)	95	161	16	7605	329*	52.44	24	27	6.71	3.16	52.08
KP Pietersen (Eng)	95	164	6	7545	227	47.75	23	30	7.13	3.09	48.38
JL Langer (Aus)	100	176	12	7544	250	46.00	23	29	7.65	3.38	45.27
MA Taylor (Aus)	104	186	13	7525	334*	43.49	19	40	9.79	3.15	43.49
MA Atherton (Eng)	111	205	7	7469	185*	37.72	15	45	13.67	3.42	37.69
AN Cook (Eng)	93	166	9	7400	294	47.13	23	32	7.22	3.02	47.85
DC Boon (Aus)	104	185	20	7290	200	44.18	21	31	8.81	3.56	44.18
AJ Strauss (Eng)	96	173	6	6774	177	40.56	21	24	8.24	3.84	40.91
G Kirsten (SA)	96	169	14	6649	275	42.89	18	33	9.39	3.31	45.27
GP Thorpe (Eng)	94	169	24	6430	200*	44.34	16	35	10.56	3.31	44.66
AB de Villiers (SA)	81	138	15	6423	278*	52.21	17	32	8.12	2.82	51.44
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)	79	140	7	6411	223	48.20	20	26	7.00	3.04	52.29
SC Ganguly (India)	99	169	16	6311	239	41.24	13	31	13.00	3.84	42.17
Younis Khan (Pak)	76	136	9	6185	313	48.70	19	24	7.16	3.16	51.17
SP Fleming (NZ)	94	166	10	6135	274*	39.32	8	38	20.75	3.61	40.06
MEK Hussey (Aus)	77	134	16	5993	195	50.78	18	29	7.44	2.85	51.52
CH Gayle (WI)	84	149	5	5954	333	41.34	12	31	12.42	3.47	42.25
ST Jayasuriya (SL)	92	164	12	5865	340	38.58	11	27	14.91	4.32	40.07
IR Bell (Eng)	87	153	18	5854	235	43.36	17	35	9.00	2.94	46.66
PA de Silva (SL)	84	145	8	5724	267	41.78	18	21	8.06	3.72	43.43
M Azharuddin (India)	93	138	8	5717	199	43.97	19	20	7.26	3.54	44.56
HH Gibbs (SA)	82	146	6	5698	228	40.70	12	25	12.17	3.95	41.95
HM Amla (SA)	67	118	10	5621	311*	52.04	19	26	6.21	2.62	52.32
CL Hooper (WI)	100	171	15	5574	233	35.73	12	27	14.25	4.38	36.46
N Hussain (Eng)	88	158	16	5378	207	37.87	13	31	12.15	3.59	37.18
RB Richardson (WI)	75	130	11	5360	194	45.04	13	26	10.00	3.33	45.04
MP Vaughan (Eng)	76	139	8	5319	197	40.60	17	16	8.18	4.21	41.44
MJ Slater (Aus)	73	129	6	5308	219	43.15	14	21	9.21	3.69	42.83
AC Gilchrist (Aus)	90	132	19	5238	204*	46.35	15	26	8.80	3.22	47.60
ME Trescothick (Eng)	70	135	9	5172	219	41.04	11	27	12.27	3.55	43.79
RR Sarwan (WI)	79	142	6	5095	291	37.46	13	28	10.92	3.46	40.01
MV Boucher (ICC/SA)	133	195	21	5052	122*	29.03	3	33	65.00	5.42	30.30

Notes:

• Only batsmen who made their debut after 01 Jan 1985 are included. 
• Cut-off is for batsmen with over 5000 runs.
• These ratings include Test matches until 9th November 2013.