"Test cricket is best cricket"!
Just how often have we heard this phrase, haven't we all? But ever wondered who makes it so? Because of whose worldwide and widely acclaimed talent has the phrase got it soul? There are bowlers for sure who have even touched the 800 wicket skyscraper. Incredible isn't it?
There are all rounders with extremely economical Test bowling averages and there have been captains who have done that actually. But again, there are always some incredible batters of Test match cricket whose feats with the willow have lent a surface of unsullied excellent to the fabric of the game.
Today, let us take a walk down the memory lane to tip our hats to batters with highest Test batting averages for a minimum of 100 innings to their name:
Best Batting Average In Tests (Minimum 100 innings)
Ken Barrington (England) - Average of 58.6
Mr. Barrington, a great legend of English cricket played the sport for thirteen long years, which was back then, an impressive feat since there weren't too many matches scheduled. Therefore, to maintain one's interest and keenness in the sport that didn't feature several matches all year round was something that was pretty impressive- wouldn't you agree?
Barrington, a legend of the world of Test match batting, scored from 131 innings, no fewer than 6,800 plus test runs at an excellent average of 58.
The Berkshire-born batting hero for England also struck 20 test centuries and yet, what defined his batting style was the very fact that for someone so attacking as a batter, a trait that came to him naturally, Barrington had to change his approach to become a legendary stonewaller to secure his place in the English side and then build his incredible numbers.
All for the love of country and for the great game of cricket!
Wally Hammond (England) - Average of 58.4
Wally Hammond was a tireless legend of English and Test match cricket, a batter known for his amazing love for occupying the crease and scoring loads of runs. So much so that from 140 Test match innings, he scored north of 7200 runs for his country, nearly 400 more from 9 innings when compared to the great Barrington, a dasher who arrived two decades later in English colours.
Wally Hammond's greatness can be gauged from the fact that he represented his team for 20 full years. And his highest score was that magnificent 336 in which he remained unbeatean, that too, against a New Zealand attack of 1933 that featured Jack Newman and Jack Dunning- who had 297 first-class wickets between them.
But history, every time, when it will look back at appreciating cricket's batting giants, will always include- it ought to be noted- Sir Walter Reginald Hammond alongside other heroes including Sir Don Bradman and WG Grace.
Sir Garfield Sobers (West Indies) - Average of 57.7
Sir Sobers' approach to the game was simple. It was about generating much respect and awe for his charismatic West Indies team of the bygone era. Anything even moderately less than committing to sheer excellence was outright failure. That is how the cult of the sport's "greatest all rounder" was formed.
He was hungry, perennially so for runs and for striking gloriously those dozens of runs for the West Indies and could jump all day in the park to uphold the dignity of the contest called Test match cricketing, adding an element of thrill to a format often called 'boring' in modern era's sensibilities functioning on hyper-entertainment.
The present day West Indies team need to learn a lot from this giant from Barbados, respected globally for his committement to the cause and the emotion that is the West Indies. He made 8032 runs for his team and his highest score of 365 not out in Tests was eventually broken by a Caribbean batting hero he himself walked out on the park to congratulate when that 'moment' happened - Brian Lara (375 at Antigua in 1994).
Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) - Average of 57.4
There'll always the the Little geniuses of the game, the Walls, the Princes of batting but none will come close to matching the incredible batting average of 57.4, which the tireless hero of Sri Lankan cricket Sangakkara holds after scoring from 233 innings, 12,400 runs.
What an oustanding achievement for a Test batsman who kept wickets all day, for 90 odd overs for Sri Lanka in a day's play and did that for years together!
Sangakkara, over a 15-year test match playing period, scored 26 Test hundreds for his nation and became an icon, albeit one who conducts himself gently without becoming a part of the hype his numbers warrant him to!
Sir Jack Hobbs (England) - Average of 56.9
Quite frankly, if any among cricket's contemporary fans were to look back at how astonishing English batsmen from the bygone era were, then to simply cast one eye against Sir John Berry Hobbs' numbers in first-class cricket would cause it to pop.
You can't even say he was prolific batsman of his time for that adjective is pathetically mediocre in doing justice to his infallible skills as a batter.
How often have you come across names in the game with no fewer than 61,760 first-class runs?
The appetite for run scoring made Sir Hobbs hog the limelight by sheer weight of his batting greatness and he deserves that, for every single day for the rest of cricket's life. For cricket's life, I beg to offer.
And yet, it's bizarre and telling that when modern day cricket commentators wax lyrical all day about great batters, the buck stops- not that it shouldn't celebrate these icons- only at a Root, Tendulkar, Dravid, Kallis, Lara and Ponting and Kohli.
The great man from Cambridge, erudite and graceful himself, akin to the timing of the red ball scored no fewer than 5410 runs for England from just 102 innings. 43 of his 102 Test innings led to a 50 or 50+ score, involving 15 centuries.
