The tables below are basically split chronologically into groups of five batsmen, showing the Player name, peak ICC rating, Average of important innings (iAvg), total number of important hundreds and fifties (i100/i50), Average of regular innings (rAvg), total number of regular hundreds and fifties (r100/r50), the differential between important and regular averages (iDiff) and the difference between the number of important runs scored as a percentage of all runs and the number of important innings as a percentage of all innings – the abbreviations may be used in the text for brevity. There are a number of digressions to discuss the achieving of various milestones, etc.

Justin Langer‘s iAvg did not exceed 40 until his 44th Test, and did not exceed 50 until his 82nd Test, but once there it never dropped below 50 again. Of those with more than 20 important scores over fifty, only Sobers, Hammond and Bradman had a better conversion rate than Langer. Only Bradman, Sutcliffe and Gavaskar have ever exceeded Vinod Kambli‘s performances in important innings through their first seven Tests, although Kambli’s batting average of 99.75 at that stage shaded even the great man’s 99.67. Kambli’s important average was a phenomenal 110.86 at that point. Graham Thorpe‘s iDiff was still positive after 60 Tests but had fallen to around -14 with 90 of his eventual 100 Tests completed, however an iAvg of 101.33 for those final Tests, including three tons, brought his iDiff back up to -4.35.

When Matthew Hayden hit twin centuries against Sri Lanka in 2004 he had twelve i100s and twelve i50s with an iAverage over 62 – he barely missed joining the 50/50 club. Shiv Chanderpaul “enjoyed” a high number of important innings (229), but his ratio of i100s (23 in 229 innings, for 10.0%) to r100s (7 in 52 innings, for 13.5%) and total i50s (76 in 229 innings, for 33.2%) to total r50s (19 in 52 innings, for 36.5%) are comparable.

Habibul Bashar had massive numbers of iInns (93%) and almost all of his runs were classified as important, with the result that he shows a massive iDiff; his first regular innings was not until his 45th. One ton and seven fifties in his first 15 innings saw his iAvg close to 50. Basically the the opposite of Bashar, with far fewer important innings, Shaun Pollock was pretty consistent regardless. His iDiff was still in double figures after 79 Tests, but 42 inning??s where he hit just one fifty changed that.

I highlighted Ricky Ponting‘s performance in important situations in the opening feature, where he showed as being second only to Bradman. In his first 20 innings he only faced an important situation seven times, but still his iAvg was over 54, his two tons to that point coming in such a scenario. Just to get a feel for how he could turn it on, there was a period of 13 Tests during which he was struggling with 13 scores under 18 – even then, his average in the important innings was 86.33, otherwise it was under 20! After his 73rd Test his iDiff was over 50, and was still at that level 15 Tests later – it didn’t drop below 40 until his 128th Test. Below is a table showing all of the players who achieved an iDiff greater than 50 for at least 10 Tests with an rAvg of at least 20:-

WG Grace also had an iDiff over 50 after 11 Tests, however his iAvg was less than 20. There were other examples of iDiff >50 for Ponting, but the above were the highest per number of Tests. No one else in the list except Bradman managed to maintain an iDiff >50 for more than 14 Tests, and Bradman’s best was 19 Tests – Ponting got to 88! The man was simply immense. (See also below the table on inter-1000 innings.)

Jacques Kallis‘ iDiff of -8.60 may seem to support criticisms that he didn’t take the match situation into account, but his total of 30 important tons is only one behind Lara. He was the 10th to achieve an average of 50+ regardless of the situation, such that his percentage of important innings and important runs are identical. His iDiff was positive for his first 50 Tests, negative thereafter, although during that period his iAvg rose from 41.36 (6 i100s/9 i50s) to 51.98 – his rAvg meanwhile rose from 40.32 (1 r100/7 r50s) to 60.57. His 100s/50s for each category after 50 Tests were respectively 24/25 and 13/16; his conversion rate was always better when the situation was important. Rahul Dravid‘s iDiff remained positive for the final 138 Tests of his 164-Test career. He is one of only three players to reach 10,000 important runs, with Tendulkar and Lara. He had the third highest total of scores of 50+ ever, after Tendulkar and Chanderpaul and level with Ponting.

Digression #1 – Important Runs Milestones

The next lists show those who were quickest to reach milestones in iRuns, namely 5000, 6000, 7000, 8000, 9000 and 10,000, as well as those who were quickest to progress?? from each milestone to the next.

Innings to reach 5000 important runs

B??radman was the first to reach 5000 important runs and remains the fastest to achieve that milestone in terms of important innings played.

Innings to reach 6000 important runs

Boycott was the first to reach 6000 important runs, with Ponting well ahead overall. Many of those in the 6000 list don’t appear in the 5000 list for several reasons, partly because many of the players in the 5000 list retired before reaching 6000, but also because some of those in the 6000 list went from 5000 to 6000 very quickly – the latter are included in the table below:-

Innings to move from 5000 to 6000 important runs

Miandad’s progress is astonishing – those nine innings included six tons, two of them doubles. He needed just 99 runs from his final four Test innings to reach 7000 but fell seven runs short. Sehwag is not far behind. Waugh and Gayle shook off slow starts (121 and 124 innings respectively to reach 5000) to surge to 6000 important runs.

Innings to reach 7000 important runs

Gasvakar got there first, but ag?ain Ponting was miles quicker than anyone else, taking fewer innings to reach 7000 important runs than Kallis, Jayawardene, Amla and Younis Khan (pl?us a host of others) needed to reach 5000 runs. Steve Waugh nailed it with his final innings, needing 28 he scored 80.

Innings to move from 6000 to 7000 important runs

Ponting is also quickest to 8000 and 9000 runs, however only L?ara (183 innings), Tendulkar (193) and Dravid (198) reached 10,000 runs. Only Tendulkar went on to reach 11,000 (206) and 12,000 runs (232). Notably Sangakkara (7000-8000) and Lara (8000-9000) achieved those 1000 run transitions in just 11 innin?gs.

Returning to our main review:-

VVS Laxman only hit two tons in his first 55 innings, but what a pair they were – first, the 167 out of 258 at Sydney in 2000, then the 281 which helped turn the Kolkata Test and series the following year. Laxman’s iDiff was positive for 90 consecutive Tests from his 38th Test, only dropping below zero for his final six Tests. Marcus Trescothick‘s iDiff went positive in his third Test and stayed there for the remainder of his career. It’s notable that his rAvg was over 41 but slowly declined over the final dozen or so Tests, while his iAVg remained constant – which is the opposite to what I would have expected, considering the issues which led to his early retirement from the international game.

To a certain extent these numbers are irrelevant for Shahid Afridi as he just whales away whatever. Still, they’re pretty good in any case. After six Tests Adam Gilchrist‘s iAvg stood at 236! It was still above 60 after 70 Tests and his iDiff never went negative, and though he was fortunate to face an important situation in less than 50% of his innings he really made the most of them. Matt Elliott always struck me as looking more like a night shift security guard than a cricketer; in direct contrast to Gilchrist, Elliott’s iDiff never went positive.

Though Mark Butcher‘s overall numbers are not great, all his tons were made in important situations, one of course being more memorable than the others. Michael Vaughan‘s iAvg was above 50 until about half way through his Test career (nine i100s/six i50s), then 33.13 (four i100s/seven i50s) after that. Vaughan had a penchant for ‘daddy’ hundreds, as his thirteen i100s averaged over 150 despite never logging a double century.

After 20 Tests Michael Hussey‘s iAvg was 86.18 and his rAVg 83.71, remarkable figures. He was never going to maintain that level, but still retired with his iAvg over 50 and a healthy iDiff. Though his conversion rate isn’t particularly impressive, Simon Katich did maintain an iAvg above 50 until his last three Tests, over which he averaged just 26. Mahela Jayawardene has a reputation of being a home-lov??ing man, is that shown in h??is important numbers? See below:

There’s a huge difference between his iDiffs at home and away, however most of the difference comes from his performance in regular innings rather than in important innings.

Mohammad Yousuf is the 11th player to average over 50 regardless of the situation. Clearly he steeled his batting later in his career, as his iAvg did not exceed 50 until three-quarters of the way through his career; at the mid-point his iDiff was as low as -14. Andrew Strauss had a positive iDiff right up until his 88th Test. When he hit 161 at Lord’s in the 2009 Ashes his overall conversion rate was 18/14, after which he went 3/13 in 60 innings. Overall though his performance is pretty consistent.

Tillakaratne Dilshan‘s first 100 was against Zimbabwe and was followed by a run of low scores in important situations, such that his iDiff was less than -60 after 12 Tests. But six tons in 17 innings during 2009 saw that differential reduced to -3.21. After just five Tests, thanks to two not out centuries Thlan Samaraweera‘s iAvg was 258.00! Though it ended a little lower than 50, his iAvg was above 50 for 88 of his Test innings.

The big-hitting Chris Gayle has been a very ??consistent performer in important innings, of which he has faced a lot. 44 important innings of 50+ puts him in the top 20 of all-time to that point. His career breakdown is interesting:-

Quite the purple patch between the 76th and 90th Tests, which inc?luded his 165* at Adelaide and his second triple century, at Galle.

A massive iDiff for one of the greatest run-scorers in history, Virender Sehwag has the highest number of total centuries which were all were made in important innings. He eased himself in slowly, but from the time of his first triple century, 309 against Pakistan, his next twelve hundreds from that point averaged 212. Ian Bell of course began with a famously high average, and his final situation averages were very consistent. In a 19-Test period in the middle of his Test career, during which he faced South Africa, Australia and India all while at or around the top of the Test team rankings, Bell averaged a shade under 90, with eight tons (4 i100s/4 r100s) and seven fifties (4 i50s/3 r50s). Like Bell, KP has very level career averages. His iAvg only dropped below 50 for his final eight Tests, but his Test career was basical??ly split down the middle:-

Though his average in regular innings was similar, there was a large reduction in his iAvg in the second half of his Test career; his conversion rate was far superior in t??he first 45 Tests.

Between his innings’ of 329* and 230 Michael Clarke maintained an iAvg of 197.50 over eight inns, his career iAvg being 61.08 at that point with an iDiff of 21.02; his career iAvg was still over 60 after his 95th Test. Fantastic conversion rate in important innings, too, the best since Bradman. Kumar Sangakkara‘s total number of important fifties (64) is seventh all time. He has an iAvg which is 3.25 runs higher than Clarke’s, however Sanga’s rAvg is almost 20 runs higher. However, Clarke’s conversion rate in important innings is far higher than Sanga’s. When he fashioned two consecutive double centuries against Bangladesh after the earlier 287 against South Africa, all made when Sri Lanka was already ahead, Sanga’s iDiff was at that point -27.49. The second half of his Test career was much different:-

Quite a turnaround after he gave up the keeper’s gloves. By averaging more than 55 regardless of the match situation, Sangakkara joins the elite group of Hobbs, Bradman, Hammond, Sid Barnes, Graeme Pollock and Steve Smith as the only players to have achieved that feat. Hashim Amla has a pretty good conversion rate in important innings, around the same as in regular situations, and in fact both of his averages are quite close. He still had?? a positive iDiff after his 100th Test. In 32 innings from his 253 to his 311* he averaged more than 85 in important innings, 57 o?therwise.

After 81 Tests Brendon McCullum had seven Test tons to his name, three of them in important innings, with just one over 150. From that point on he went on a tear, with three doubles, one of them a triple, followed immediately by a 195 which saw his clutch average rise from 36 to over 40, and his iDiff to more than +10. In 12 Tests with three double centuries his iAvg was over 80. Graeme Smith fashioned some famous knocks in important innings, none more so than the 154* at Birmingham in 2008, however he was very consistent, averaging over 48 regardless of the situation, maintaining a positive iDiff up to his 109th Test. His conversion rate in important innings is excellent and far superior to that in regular innings. Jonathan Trott‘s mental issues have been well documented, but in his pomp he starred in two Ashes series victories. Ater 16 Tests both his iAvg and rAvg were over 65 and though he competed his career with a positive iDiff, as late as his 34th Test that iDiff was over +11. Trott was the quickest to reach 1000 important runs (17 innings) since Andrew Strauss five years earlier.

Though lauded as ‘the kind of man who responds best in adversity’, Younis Khan is the 12th player to manage to average 50 regardless of the situation – he was great no matter what the circumstances. His conversion rate was awesome, even in important innings. From his third Test, Younis’ iDiff was negative for 112 Tests until his retirement, and as late as his 92nd Test was lower than -11. Cheteshwar Pujara became the joint-fastest Indian to 1000 Test runs – how does he rate as regards the quickest to 1000 important runs?

Digression #2 – quickest to 1000 important runs

So there are no fewer than 61 players sitting atop Pujara in terms of innings needed to reach 1000 important runs, including five Indians. Vinod Kambli did not reach 1000 important runs, falling just shy with 963 in 14 innings, but it’s reasonable to assume he could have achieved that feat in 15 innings. With 496 runs in his first 10 important innings, Gary Ballance was on pace for 1000 in 20 or 21 innings, however his form fell off so badly afterwards that he never reached that milestone, stalling at 862 runs in 29 important innings at an iAvg of 29.72.

Misbah has a much better conversion rate in regular innings than in important ones. After his epic 290 against the Australians at Perth in 2015, Ross Taylor‘s iDiff was +11.16, but just one of his next five tons came in important innings. Jesse Ryder came in to bat on only two occasions when his team was on top. He is the only player whose iAvg, rAvg and batting average are all identical. Alastair Cook‘s 26 important centuries has him in seventh place all time, while his 69 scores of fifty or more has him one place higher, in sixth. After 21 Tests Cook’s iDiff was still massively negative, at -11.50, and did not go positive until  he made 189 at Sydney in his 64th Test. It was still negative after 153 Tests. Between his 110 vs Pakistan at the Oval and his 294 against India a year later he averaged 103 in 15 important innings.

An iDiff of -0.16 suggests a very consistent performer, though a closer inspection of AB de Villiers‘ figures suggests a Test career of fits and starts. After consecutive tons in his first ten Tests his conversion rate was 3/4 (iDiff +13.31), following which he hit nine consecutive fifties without converting any of them. A similar streak bookended his career, going seven fifties in a row with no hundreds. After his 278 against Pakistan his iDiff was positive, but after that he hit four tons in 50 important innings and 5 in 31 regular innings to send it very slightly negative by the close. Shaqib Al Hasan shows a massive iDiff with all but one of his 29 innings of 50-plus being made in important innings. His first 22 innings were all played without his side enjoying a lead – how does that compare with other consecutive streaks? See Digression #3 below. After 27 Tests David Warner‘s iAvg and rAvg were 36.89 and 39.26 respectively; his next 11 innings saw him net six tons and two more fifties, adding almost ten runs to each of those. His 253 against NZ at Perth, though insufficient to garner him the match award thanks to Ross Taylor’s own heroics, took his iAvg above 50 thanks to nine tons in 30 innings.

Digression #3 – longest streak of consecutive important innings

I’ve left out some other Bangladesh players as otherwise the list would be dominated by them. Hasan’s compatriot, Habibul Bashar, has by far the longest streak of consecutive important innings ever.

Murali Vijay shows as being a massively impactful player in important innings, with a huge iDiff and an excellent conversion rate, considering that all of his tons were made in important innings. Virat Kohli is one of that select group to average over 50 no matter what the circumstances. After 15 Tests his iDiff was +17 and, despite that dropping all the way to +2 approaching his 30th Test, a run of four tons in seven consecutive important innings brought it back up to +13. By the time he knocked up his 235 vs England it was +22 after 50 Tests. The reason his iDiff is slightly negative now is that, like Jayawardene, he has found a way to raise his game for regular innings as well as important innings – while his iAvg has remained unchanged since then, his rAvg has rocketed up from just over 35 to more than 56. Kohli’s conversion rate of 60.00% in important innings only just trails Steve Smith (60.71%) as the best since Bradman. Smith took 23 innings before registering his first Test hundred, at which point his iDiff was -12, however he had batted in important situations more than 80% of the time. Of course he took off after that to such an extent that his iDiff just ten innings later was +24 (45.62/21.65). After 40 Tests he had batted in just 55% important circumstances and his iDiff was back to -14 (52.79/66.52). After his Ashes masterclass it was back to +6.95 (63.85/56.90), Smith is just 0.03 from being the first to average at least 60 regardless of match situation since Bradman – no one else has achieved that mark. Now that he’s back in the international fold he may reach that landmark soon. Kane Williamson also joins the group who average above 50 regardless of the match situation. After 31 Tests both averages were below 40, however by the time he hit 242* vs ?Sri Lanka at Wellington his iAvg was over 50, though his rAvg did not exceed 50 until his 200* against Bangladesh last February.

Joe Root has a decent iDiff but a fairly low conversion rate – when he notched his fifth important ton he had seven fifties to go with them, but his next five important tons were mired among a further 25 fifties. When Root scored 190 against South Africa both averages were above 50, though he has maintained his important average at that level. Despite the low conversion rate, Root’s total number of i50s (44, which represents 40.37% of his important innings) does compare favourably with, for example, Steve Smith (28, 40.58%) and David Warner (36, 41.38%). Moeen Ali has a great c??onversion rate in important innings, all of his tons coming in such ??circumstances.

Dean Elgar has a fantastic conversion rate in important innings, while Jonny Bairstow‘s highest iAvg value was 44.34 after 36 Tests.

In summary, of these 102 players:-

– three players had an important average over 60 (Vinod Kambli, Ricky Ponting, Steve Smith – 0 last time)

– 20 players had an important average over 50 (9 last time)

– 19 players scored at least 15 important hundreds (highest Ponting, 37 – 5 last time)

– 58 players scored at least 20 important fifties, more than half (highest Ponting, 74 – 45 last time)

– 5 players had an average differential over 20 (highest Habibul Bashar +27.45, 2 last time)

Expanding the a??bove to all ?of the players reviewed:-

So what have we seen?

This study has reviewe?d the performance of 402 batsmen in important innings. We can see a gradual decline in numbers of players achieving the average thresholds of 60+ and 50+ up to the era encompassed by Viv Richards and Andy Flower, but an increase in the 21st century. Naturally, the aggregate thresholds have continued to rise with the increasing number of Tests played.

I included the ICC ratings as I wanted to see how the batsmen’s iAvg stacked up against those ratings. If we look at any of the groups of five players it’s apparent that, though there is a correlation based on high quality, the ranking of each group based on ICC rating is not equivalent to the iAvg ranking. I feel therefore that the important runs average can show how a batsmen raises his game when it counts, in a way that the ICC rating, or the batting average for that matter, can not.

The best performance for i100s has prog??ressed as follows:-

Ricky Ponting (37), Brian Lara (31) and Jacques Kallis (30) also achieved more than 30 important centuries. Others to notch 20 such hundreds include Garry Sobers??, Javed Miandad, Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Shiv Chanderpaul, Rahul Dravid, Mahela Jayawardene, Virender Sehwag, Michael Clarke, Kumar Sangakkara, Graeme Smith, Younis Khan and Alastair Coo?k. Of current players, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson should join their ranks before too long.

I have been personally impressed by how the following have shown up in this study:- CB Fry, whom I had previously discounted but whose high iDiff has made me realise the error of those ways; Dudley Nourse who, though he didn’t make the cut based on my thresholds, had a higher iDiff than Bradman; George Headley, who at a shade under 70 has the highest iAvg after Bradman; Tom Graveney, whom I had also previously disparaged in comparison to Hanif specifically, but who clearly was a batsman to fear when his team was still in it; Andy Flower, who was the only player with an iAvg over 50 that also had more than 90% of his career runs made in important innings.

But the most impressive is Ricky Ponting who, as mentioned above and in the first feature, was absolutely massive in the clut???ch.

He??re are the final records as they stand f?or each parameter studied:-

So S?achin Tendulkar owns the records based on longevity, Don Bradman owns those based on averages.

Nothing changes, does it?

The tables below are basically split chronologically into groups of five batsmen, showing the Player name, peak ICC rating, Average of important innings, total number of important hundreds and fifties, Average of regular innings, total number of regular hundreds and fifties, the differential between important and regular averages and the difference between the number of important runs scored as a percentage of all runs and the number of important innings as a percentage of all innings. An asterisk shows a new high in? the particular category of important hundreds.

Though ostensibly a bowling all-rounder, it’s interesting to look at how Richard Hadlee‘s batting evolved using this measure. For his first 40 Tests, his numbers for situational average were 23.13/20.36/+2.77, for the last 46 they were 33.70/28.41/+5.29 – all of this batting numbers improved. According to Cornered Tigers author Adam Licudi, Wasim Raja ‘revelled in adversity’, and certainly his important numbers reflect that – for example, he notched six fifties in one series in the West Indies, including an undefeated ton, while facing the likes of Andy Roberts, Colin Croft and Joel Garner. Similarly Jeremy Coney; according to Christopher Martin-Jenkins, ‘[Coney] tended to produce his best when the chips were down’; in the most famous example, coming into bat in the third innings with four wickets down and still 80 behind England in Wellington, he hit 174* to save the match.

Gordon Greenidge was one half of the most dominant opening partnership ever, as I showed in this feature. It’s amazing to consider that he and Viv Richards debuted in the same match. Although somewhat unfairly jettisoned from both country and county, Geoff Howarth enjoyed a double century stand with Jeremy Crowe in his final Test innings aga?inst Marshall, Garner and Walsh.

A closer look at Viv Richards

Although I was always impressed by Greenidge, I was still surprised to see him with a higher average differential than Richards – it’s important to emphasise here that we are in no way implying that Greenidge outranks Richards; Richards surpasses Greenidge in every category be it average, or hundreds and fifties, in each situation. What I’m trying to get at with this study is that there may be more to a batting average or conversion rate than meets the eye. Nonetheless, I still expected Richards to outstrip Greenidge in average differential, so why doesn’t he?

Richards had a Test career of two (almost) equal halves – below shows the details in terms of important innings:-

R?ichards exhibited a turnaround in aver?age differential of -18.29 from his first 70 Tests to his last 50; he was massive when the chips were down for the first nine years or so of his Test career, less so after that.

Graham Gooch knocked up 54 important fifties in his Test career, fourth all-time at that stage – at one point Gooch had to endure 31 consecutive important innings, also fourth all-time longest streak. On the face of it, it would appear that he had a very stable career in terms of important innings, with a very small average differential – as David Gower noted, “He has the ability to produce something close to his best every time he plays”. However, like Richards, Gooch’s Test career had two very distinct phases, but in terms of performance in regular innings – or should I say, in innings when he was presented with a lead to build on. I’ll discuss this later when we review Gower’s performance. It’s surprising to think that Gooch debuted before David Steele, who had both averages sitting above 66 after his 106 against West Indies in 1976 – considering that at that point he had played seven Test innings against attacks featuring Lillee, Thomson and Walker and Roberts, Holder and Daniel and fashioned four fifties and a hundred, it was an incredible start. Despite the fact that he had also demonstrated dominance over spinners earlier that year with an innings of 84 from a total of 138 all out, it was downhill after that with his next nine Test innings bringing him an average of just 22. Dilip Vengsarkar e?njoyed an 18-month purple patch where he averag??ed over 100 in important innings.

Larry Gomes‘ conversion rate in important innings reflects John Thicknesse’s opinion of him as ‘an efficient batsman in times of strife’. ‘The greatest batsman Pakistan has ever produced’, Javed Miandad is in rarefied company with his important average of over 55, and when he retired was third all-time in important hundreds behind only Bradman and Gavaskar. Mudassar Nazar‘s first Test century took him nine minutes short of ten hours to accumulate, so clearly he was the unflappable sort – his very low average differential confirms that.

I vividly recall Derek Randall‘s fielding exploits from the late ’70s and early ’80s, one in particular being the diving catch at the SCG in 1979 to dismiss Andy Roberts, but with the bat he wasn’t too shabby either, with a healthy conversion rate in important innings. As noted by Gideon Haigh in Cricket War, while appearing in the WSC Tests Haroon Rashid ‘proved a revelation with his virile, fearless stroke play. One of Pakistan’s most underrated batsmen, he lost nothing by comparison with Viv Richards when the pair made centuries at Rockhampton, in firepower or physique.’ High praise indeed. As he himself admitted, the late David Hookes did not have an exemplary batting record in Tests, his one century coming against a fledgling Sri Lankan side already under the cosh. However his numbers are somewhat skewed by only having batted in seven innings with a lead, which includes that not out century. Though Ian Botham‘s most famous innings came with his side very much in the hole, Beefy’s performances aren’t especially impacted by the situation, which is probably the point. However, as many cricket fans of a certain age are aware, Botham’s career tailed off somewhat from his legendary beginning to being merely good. Botham’s Average differential was +12.58 after his 114 against India in Mumbai, his 35th Test innings, and was still as high as +6.61 following the Edgbaston match-winning 118 in 1981. Kim Hughes shows up as having a slightly negative di??fferential over his whole career, but he had enjoyed a highly positive rating (+7.06) after his famous 100 out of 198 to open the 1981 Boxing Day Test against West Indies. He was to score just two more centuries in 45 Test innings after that.

Mike Gatting‘s differential was as high as +5.27 (41.02/35.75) after 111 Test innings, though on the whole his performance is very consistent. Cricinfo’s profile makes a big deal about how handsome Mohsin Khan is, then hilariously doesn’t include a photo of him – I guess we just have to take their word for it. In any case, his conversion rate in important innings was fairly handsome, too. Initially a fill-in for Packer defections, Graeme Wood played well in his important innings with all nine centuries and all but one fifty being so categorised. When John Wright lost the toss as New Zealand captain he would sprint off the pitch and straight to the bathroom, but he appears to have shown few nerves when his batting was required. Desmond Haynes was of course Greenidge’s partner in dominance, as discussed earlier – despite being somewhat overshadowed by his illustrious compatriot his important numbers stand comparison, both having scored exactly the same number of important centuries.

Bruce Edgar‘s %iDiff, i.e. the difference in percentage of important runs as compared to percentage of important innings, is the most positive since Stan McCabe. Jeff Thomson once informed Edgar that ‘he’d never die of a stroke’, just prior to the opener compiling 161 in 500 minutes with nine rain breaks at Auckland. Such focus enabled him to compile a very large average differential. For his first 80 Test innings Kapil Dev‘s important average trailed his regular average by more than ten runs, so clearly the next 100 or so innings were significantly different.

Why isn’t Border rated higher?

Allan Border equaled Javed Miandad as third all-time in important tons, and had a significantly better conversion rate in important innings. Averaging at least 48 in any situation is obviously an achievement, but I expected Border to fare better using this measure, which ignores the match result – why doesn’t he? It’s basically because we’re looking at his whole career. If we restrict to the decade of the ’80s, which would constitute a complete career for most, Border’s numbers were as follows:-

Important: 5152 runs, 112 inns, 20 n/o, Avg 57.24, 17 100s, 21 50s
Regular: 1632 runs, 38 inns, 7 n/o, Avg 52.65, 3 100s, 11 50s
AvDiff: +4.59

Those numbers in important innings compare favourably with the complete careers of, for example, Matthew Hayden, Gordon Greenidge, Hashim Amla, Colin Cowdrey and Clive Lloyd. And all that while carrying the hopes of a nation for much of his career as player and captain. When I was researching for Masterly Batting, one thing I looked at was the talent percentage which batsmen represented in their line-up, based on the ICC player ratings. There were times when Border represented 30% of the rated batting talent of his team – this has only been exceeded since then by Brian Lara.

Gooch vs. Gower

It’s always interesting to compare David Gower with his ‘nemesis’ Graham Gooch, each of them engendering either adoration or aversion depending on what kind of batting beauty the beholder prefers. Splitting each player’s Test career into two halves is revealing – Gower’s performance throughout is more consistent (he is one of only 20 players whose Test average never dropped below 40), whereas a glance at Gooch’s splits shows that in the second half of his Test career he clearly cultivated the ability to pile on when England already had a lead, something he had more trouble with in the early part of his career.

Gooch

Gower

Gooch’s average in regular innings increased from 22.89 in the first half of his career to a whopping 58.91.

It’s fair to say that a number of players benefitted from WSC defections, and though for example Border was in any case a legend in the making, most of course were not. Bruce Laird made three centuries while playing in WSC Super-Tests, a total exceeded only by Greg Chappell and Viv Richards, but was unable to convert any of his eleven fifties in Test cricket. After 40 Test innings Chris Tavare‘s average differential was -21.31, but three important scores over 50, one a century, in four innings saw him retire with an average differential of less than ten. While not great, it was certainly a lot better than it might have been. Ravi Shastri was not able to enjoy coming in to bat with a lead until he had played 34 Test innings. Though he h??as a negat??ive differential, his conversion rate in important innings is exceptional. Shastri endured the third longest streak of consecutive important innings with 32, behind only Nari Contractor (36) and Mushtaq Mohammad (33).

Jeff Dujon never played in a losing Test series, and playing in one of the greatest ever Test teams ensured that only 60% of his Test innings were played without a healthy lead. Playing for newly admitted Sri Lanka, naturally Roy Dias found himself often called into action when his team was behind – more than 80% of his innings were played with his team behind or level. Although Arjuna Ranatunga had a low conversion rate he did score a lot of fifties in important innings. I admit Martin Crowe is a favourite of mine and I’m delighted to see him so well favoured by this measure; his conversion rate in important innings is exemplary. Although he averaged over 43 no matter the situation, Saleem Malik‘s conversion rate in important innings is significantly inferior to that when his team enjoyed a lead.

Although crafting some centuries in difficult circumstances in his time, notably against the West Indies in 1984, Alan Lamb never enjoyed a positive average differential throughout his Test career. Graham ‘Foxy’ Fowler has a nice positive differential, all of his three centuries and all but one of his fifties coming in important innings. Kepler Wessels’ performances for Australia were unsurprisingly superior than for South Africa, however hi??s average differential was significantly higher for Australia (+14.59) than for South Africa (-16.74), though all of his tons for both nations were made in important innings.

Qasim Umar had a huge average differential, with all three of his hundreds made in important innings. He did however have seven of 32 important innings of over 50, as opposed to just one of eleven otherwise. Perhaps more than anyone the big-hitting Navjot Sidhu certainly had a career of two halves, which clearly evened themselves out to that final neutral differential of -0.22 – his average differential after 40 innings (he played 78 in all) was -33. Sir Richie Richardson h?as a very good average differential and a better con?version rate in important innings.

Dean Jones was a popular player and with good reason, as his important average of 51.02 shows and with a great conversion rate too. One gets the impression Matthew Engel wasn’t impressed with Chris Broad‘s batting, pointing out that when Broad emulated Hobbs and Hammond with centuries in three consecutive Ashes Tests in 1986-87 that it was against poor opposition. But surely an attack featuring Merv Hughes, Geoff Lawson, Bruce Reid and Craig McDermott bears comparison with Whitty, Cotter and Hordern (for Hobbs) and Grimmett, Ironmonger and Blackie (for Hammond)? When Hammond scored 251 at Sydney during his run of three Ashes centuries, Otto Nothling (who?) bowled 42 overs. Excellent to see such an exuberant batsman as Aravinda de Silva with such good figures in important innings, as well as an excellent conversion rate. As a Durham man I am required to laud the achievements of David Boon, but ??regardless he did average over 43?? regardless of the situation and scored exactly the same percentage of important runs as he had important innings.

While his overall conversion rate is exceptional, Mohammad Azharuddin has an astonishing conversion rate in important innings. The phrase ‘ploughing a lone furrow’ comes to mind when thinking of Arjuna Gurusinha, who famously scored 52* from a Sri Lanka total of 82 all out; 88% of his runs were made in important innings. Steve Waugh‘s Australia teams were irresistible – from the beginning of the 3-0 shellacking of South Africa in 2001/02  to the end of the following winter’s Ashes, Waugh had only to bat once without a lead in 19 innings . Even still he has a very high average differential, despite having a differential of less than -16 as late as summer 1997, 12 years after his Test debut.

These five batsmen are rated pretty closely by ICC, with Carl Hooper apparently the pick of them (I’m sure Jones would be the choice of our site owner, James Nixon). All but one of Ijaz Ahmed‘s tons were made in important circumstances and with a phenomenal conversion rate in those innings. Playing in a Test side which only won six of 39 Tests in which he appeared, Andrew Jones played well considering. According to Mike Selvey, ‘all too often [Hooper] failed to deliver.’ That appears to be supported by his average differential; in the 25% of his innings when West Indies already held a lead when he came in, he scored more than 30% of his runs. Mark Greatbatch‘s differential was as high as +16 two-thirds of the way through his Test career (first 46 Tests), but he would reach fifty only once more after that.

Though Keith Arthurton made eight Test ducks in 33 matches, only three of them came in important innings. Robin Smith‘s average against West Indies was better than any of his England contemporaries, and more than halfway into his Test career both situational averages were over 50. An average of almost 48 in important innings demonstrated the strength of Mark Taylor‘s leadership. While his situational averages are fairly close, all but one of Michael Atherton‘s tons were in important innings and he was just one short of 50 important scores over fifty.

Sachin Tendulkar

Where to begin? Sachin Tendulkar‘s total of 92 important scores over fifty eclipsed Gavaskar’s previous high of 70, his total of 42 important tons exceeded the previous highest of 38, again from countryman Gavaskar, and all this with a very good conversion rate. His average differential is very high at +12.58, and his important average of 57.25 is the highest since Ken Barrington of those with significant Tests under their belt; his important average was above 60 over more than 50 Tests.

At the end of 1996, Hashan Tillakaratne‘s important average was 40 as opposed to 51 otherwise (iDiff of -11); by the end of 2001 he had increased his important average to almost 48. Nasser Hussain‘s batting average only exceeded 40 on one occasion, following his 1997 Ashes innings of 207 in his 18th Test; his important average, meanwhile, was over 40 for 25 Tests and was still there at the end of his career almost 80 Tests after that Ashes double century. After his two centuries at Bridgetown in 1993-94, Alec Stewart‘s average differential was +14.31; by the time he fell to consecutive ducks in the 1998/99 Ashes it had fallen all the way to -2, but 21 important fifties after that restored the balance – Stewart, like his countryman Michael Atherton, was just one short of 50 important scores over fifty.

Look up ‘mercurial’ in the dictionary and there’s probably a photo of Marvan Atapattu; it seemed throughout his career he’d either fail or score a double century, the latter being something at which only Bradman, Hammond and Lara had ever been better by the time Atapattu retired. A very level performance was achieved by Saeed Anwar regardless of the situation, though his conversion rate is not as good in important innings. When Mark Waugh scored 139* in his seventh Test his important average was 78.67, but after seven more Tests and following four successive ducks it had plummeted to 37.81. Eleven important hundreds after that restored the balance somewhat. After his 86th Test Sanath Jayasuriya‘s average differential was +11.38. Despite owning some massive Test scores his conversion rate is not great, though if you consider him a batting all-rounder, which almost 100 Test wickets at six runs lower than his batting average suggests you should, he looks pretty good. These five are a group the highest rated of those listed here.

Brian Lara

My personal favourite, Brian Lara has a very high average differential and, as might be expected, a very healthy important average. His total of 31 important centuries is behind only Tendulkar and Gavaskar, and his total of 71 important scores over fifty is second only to Tendulkar.  Of course, Lara was not often given a lead to work with, coming in to bat in those circumstances less than 20% of the time – in a sequence where he had to bat in 21 consecutive important situations Lara averaged 68.35 with four tons, two of them doubles. Another sequence of 17 consecutive important innings included his performances of 213 and 153* against Australia in 1998/99. As was mentioned when discussing Border, there was a massive talent differential for some time as West Indies declined while Lara was still at the top – you have to go back to George Headley to find a higher talent percentage than Lara’s 31%.

Neither Graeme Hick nor Mark Ramprakash were able to shine in the Test arena in the same way they did at County level. Although Hick’s batting average is four runs higher than that of Ramprakash, they both have almost the same important average, though neither could manage better than 30.75 in those circumstances. Ramps may have had it a little tougher, facing an important innings scenario in more than 82% of his innings as opposed to 77% for Hick – in one stretch Ramps had to face 25 consecutive innings without a lead, whereas Hick’s longest sequence was 12. Martin Chandler  and Gareth Bland  have looked at the ups and downs of each player in detail on Cricketweb. From his third Test until his last, Jimmy Adams‘ average outside important innings never dropped below 80 so it’s not surprising his average differential is highly negative – after 15 Tests it was a massive -74! Though he averaged just 33 in Tests, most of Andrew Hudson‘s big innings were made without a lead so he enjoys a highly positive average differential.

After 30 Tests Sourav Ganguly‘s average differential was in double figures, though a sequence of nine important innings where he averaged 18 dropped that to almost -4, and by the time he played his 96th Test it was -8.5 – so a final differential of -2.48 is a significant increase. In his final 17 Tests, Ganguly averaged 53.68 in 20 important innings with two tons and seven scores over 50, as opposed to 11 innings at 32.40 with two scores over 50 otherwise. Inzamam averaged over 50 regardless of the situation, finding himself in the company of Hobbs, Hammond, Bradman, Walcott, Weekes, Sobers, Barrington and Pollock. He had a slow start though – after 18 Tests his average differential was -44! His 57 scores of fifty or more put him fifth all time at that stage. A monumental 90.2% of all Andy Flower‘s Test runs came in important innings; no other player can boast an average of over 50 with so many Tests at such a high percentage.

Dave Houghton has a massive average differential, with all four of his Test hundreds made when his team did not hold a lead. When he made 266 against Sri Lanka he came in at 5/2, with Andy Flower being the next highest scorer with 50. Damien Martyn‘s cricinfo bio states that his hundreds tended to go unnoticed. In my talent study mentioned earlier, the Australian batting line-up of 2004/05 shows up as the highest rated batting line-up of all-time, and Martyn was a part of that line-up – no surprise then that he was over-shadowed. As we can see from the above, his performance in important innings was almost exactly the same as that when he was handed a lead, so he didn’t necessarily have to stand on the shoulders of giants.

In summary, of these 100 players:-

0 players had an important average over 60 (5 last time)
9 players had an important average over 50 (highest Tendulkar 57.25, 15 last time)
14 players had at least 15 important tons (highest Tendulkar with 42, 5 last time)
45 players had at least 20 important fifties (highest Tendulkar with 92, 29 last time)
2 players had an average d?ifferential over 20 (highest Qasim Umar with +27.45, 9 last time)

Naturally the aggregate numbers ??are higher with these hundred batsmen tha??n the previous hundred, though the numbers reaching average thresholds is significantly reduced.

So that’s the first 300 batsmen now covered; in the following? ?feature we’ll bring the study up to date.