The tables below are basically split chronologically into groups of five ba??tsmen, 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 an all-rounder, ‘Allan’ Watkins shows a very high average differential albeit in a small number of Tests, though according to CW’s Martin Chandler it was West Indian Denis Atkinson who gave the best ever all-round performance. Polly Umrigar holds the highest ICC ranking of this group, but also has the most negative differential as his regular averag?e is almost 40 runs higher than his important average.

More all-rounders in this group, probably th?e most well-known of which?? is Trevor Bailey, who has a pretty high average differential, as do Brian Close and Jim Burke. Big hitting New Zealander John Reid fashioned a high number of important fifties with 25. The Reverend David Sheppard found a higher calling than cricket, though some may disagree with that sentiment.

Three South Africans and two Englishmen in this group, though Peter May is the class of the bunch, boasting an ICC Test player rating only ever exceeded by five batsmen. Tom Graveney’s ICC rating is surprisingly low, being less than Russell Endean’s rating, for example; Graveney’s obituary in the Daily Telegraph contended that Long Tom ‘fell short in moments of crisis’, however by this measure Graveney shows as having been remarkably consistent, though his conversion rate is far better in regular innings. In my piece in whi?ch?? I compared him directly with Hanif, it seemed he trailed the Pakistani when considering performances when the match looked lost, but when also taking into account the matches which were in the balance Graveney looks better; it could be that he lost interest in the case of the former. Peter May was?? a remarkable batsman and this study reveals a very high average differential as well as a healthy conversion rate in important innings.

The Coopers & Lybrand cricket rankings were used as the basis for Simon Wilde’s book Number One; those rankings have Colin McDonald as the world’s leading batsman of 1959 and certainly his numbers here are good, with a double-digit average differential. I mentioned Hanif earlier and it can certainly be seen that his numbers here are comparable to Graveney’s.

Imtiaz Ahmed certainly seems to have been a batsman who needed something to aim at, as was countryman Waqar Hasan. Allan Davidson was more of a bowling all-rounder, but he’s one of my favourites so I included him. Although Garry Sobers’ 20 important hundreds is not a record, he is the only batsman other than Bradman to reach 20 so far, and also maintained both averages over 55.

Two all-time great England batsmen in this group. I had the honour of writing about Colin Cowdrey’s first great batting performance in Masterly Batting, and his numbers here are pretty consistent, though Ken Barrington shades him, achieving the rare feat of averaging over 60 in important innings. Cowdrey’s total of 40 important fifties equalled Hutton’s best, while Barrington was just one behind. I always had a soft spot for Peter Burge; one of the first cricket books I ever read was my dad’s tour diary on the 1961 Ashes (not that my dad wrote it – I believe that honour goes to Charles Fortune), during which Burge hit his highest Test score of 181 in the final Test to ensure Australia would retain the Ashes.

Nari Contractor led India to a historic series win over England in 1961-62 and clearly set an example with the bat, while countryman Bapu Nadkarni, though best known as a spin bowler, was good enough to fashion a first-class average of over 40 with the bat. While following the Ashes tour of 1962-63, writer Alan Ross visited Arthur Mailey; when asked why he hadn’t attended the Test at Brisbane, Mailey replied “I could never watch a Test in a state of which Ken Mackay was a resident” and as Ross left, Mailey called out to him ‘See you at Adelaide – Melbourne too, after Mackay’s out!” – enough said. Rohan Kanhai is another personal favourite and I’m delighted to see this study confirm my high opinion of him.

Bob Simpson has typically fared well in my impact studies, but he was a true all-rounder with 110 catches and 71 wic??kets to his name. Conrad Hunte is another batsman I particularly enjoyed and as with Kanhai he fares well here with a high average differential and a very good conversion rate. Saeed Ahmed had quite a few important fifties to his name but only converted two.

Ted Dexter would practice his golf swing while fielding when he was captain of England, so it comes as no surprise that he batted just as well regardless of the situation – his average differential is very flat. England opener Raman Subba Row topped 60 in important innings, with an extremely high average differential and the second highest iDiff so far. Norm O’Neill was dumped by Australia at just 28 but it seems he answered the call during the relatively short time he was in favour with the selectors.

Joe Solomon does not score well, but in any case his place in history was secured with his amazing fielding during the first tied Test. Mushtaq has a good conversion rate, though his average differential is negative. Seymour Nurse averaged over 50 in important innings, while Bob Barber, who made a famous 185 at Sydney in 1965-66, later switched from flogging?? bowlers to successfully flogging toilet cleaners.

Bill Lawry has a reputation as being the stoniest of stonewallers, but he scored a lot of important fifties. Brian Booth played in 29 Tests but apparently merits no profile on cricinfo; not to worry, here he shows up as the Test batsman least impacted by the situation with an average differential of -0.01, and a very good conversion rate in important innings to boot. Farokh Engineer also knocked up a good few important fifties, as well as becoming what I believe was Lancashire’s first Brylcreem Boy.

Two popular South African cricketers here in Barlow and Bland, both of whom typically scored well in my previous impact studies, ‘Bunter’ as an all-rounder and Bland primarily because of his fielding prowess, however as we can see Bland was a more than useful batsman in all situations. India’s first great captain Mansur Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi, clearly led by example. In my right-handed youth, I actually tried batting left-handed for a while to emulate John Edrich, however it soon became clear that all we have in common is hairy forearms.

Phil Sharpe was a remarkable slip-fielder and though his average differential is very high, he only played in a handful of Tests. South African legend Graeme Pollock averaged over 62 in important innings and over 58 in both categories, being the first to do so since Bradman. Australian Ian Redpath scored a lot of important fifties, but Geoff Boycott fashioned 56 such innings, a significant improvement on the previous record of 40 jointly held by Hutton and Cowdrey. His 18 important centuries was third only to Bradman and Sobers at this time, and his average differential is highly positive. Sir Geoffrey’s ICC rating seems surprisingly low; certainly I would rate him ahead of, say, Peter Richardson (802).

It’s easy to forget that Asif Iqbal was once an entertaining batsman, and here he shows up with an excellent conversion rate in important innings. Imran Khan’s cousin Majid scored a lot of important fifties, as did everyone in this group actually. Walters is clearly the class of these five from an ICC ratings perspective but does not greatly shade his countryman Ian Chappell in this study. Walters established his reputation early on so I broke down their Test innings in 25-innings blocks to do a closer comparison, looking at i100s, i50s and iFailures (a failure when the win probability was less than 60% – Martin Chandler suggested that a failure should be anything below 24, since that was his highest ever score, which he achieved on two occasions, no less). In their first 75 Tests, Walters had 6 tons, 11 fifties (17 x i50+) and 25 failures, while Chappelli hit 4 tons, 8 fifties (12 x i50+) and had 28 failures. In his last 50 Tests, Walters had 3 tons, 6 fifties (9 x i50+) and 20 failures, while Chappelli finished with 8 tons, 11 fifties (19 x 50+) and 17 failures. I think Walters’ reputation benefitted from a fast start and a certain amount of hero worship over his lifestyle, but it should be noted that, although there’s not much in it, Walters played more important innings than Chappelli (percentage-wise that is, 66% to 58% – Walters had 80 important innings to Chapelli’s 79). I was privileged to see the two of them bat in my very first Test match at Headingley in 1968, along with Bob Cowper and also witnessed first-hand a fine 92 from Ian Redpath.

Colin Milburn is a hero of mine, as evidenced here, and his extremely high average differential is skewed by the fact that he was selected for only a handful of Tests – frustratingly for me, he had played in the Lord’s Test but was dropped for the Headingley Test mentioned above. Basil D’Oliveira’s averages are very flat, presumably his life up to that point had put the game of cricket into some perspective. Finally in this group are two favourites of our own Martin Chandler; few can claim to having co-written a piece with Mr Amiss himself, but Martin can, as the pair were responsible for the Masterly Batting essay on Amiss’ 262* against West Indies at Kingston in 1974. I’m personally not surprised to see Amiss score so well in this study and his conversion rate in important innings is excellent. Lancashire favourite Clive Lloyd scored 40 important fifties, joint second with Hutton and Cowdrey behind Boycott.

Alan Knott is often lauded as the best wicket-keeper who ever kept in a Test, and was known for adjusting his batting game to suit the situation – this is supported by his important innings numbers. Charlie Davis is part of an elite group who managed an iAverage of more than 60 – he should have played more than 15 Tests. Roy Fredericks was responsible for one of the most famous innings of all time, his 169 out of 258 against Lillee and Thomson at the WACA in 1975 and his numbers in important innings are also good.

My very first feature for CW was ‘Series Points‘ in 2008, which represented my preliminary attempt to rate cricketers based on everything they do, and which was based on the points awarded as part of the ICC Test team ratings. Some time later I did a similar thing for the County Championship in England, concentrating on five seasons over the course of its history to illustrate the principles, one of which was 1970. In a year when overseas luminaries such as?? Asif Iqbal, Mushtaq Mohammad, Rohan Kanhai, Barry Richards, Clive Lloyd and Garry Sobers were gracing the cricket grounds of England, it was Glenn Turner who stood head and shoulders above the rest according to my study. Although his conversion rate in important innings is not high, his average differential is significantly positive.

A gaggle of great Asian batsmen next, including the great Zed whose numbers are pretty flat really, as is his conversion rate. Sadiq Mohammad’s numbers show that he deserved his place in the Pakistani side on merit, not just because of his illustrious siblings. Gundappa Viswanath takes the number two spot behind Boycott with 44 important fifties and he has a high average differential to boot.

Two undisputed legends in this group. Greg Chappell, hilariously described by Gideon Haigh as having something of the tin soldier in his bearing, averaged over 53 regardless of the situation and had an excellent conversion rate. But Sunil Gavaskar carried all before him with new records of ??32 important tons and 70 important sc??ores over 50, together with a very high average differential.

Not the best group to finish on this time. Lawrence Rowe has a negative average differential but a very good conversion rate, Alvin Kallicharran likewise but a good number of important fifties, ditto Tony Greig, whose England sides were so poor that less than 20% of his innings were played when the team was ahead – no wonder he buggered off to the WSC.

In summary, of these 100 players:-

5 players had an important average over 60 (highest Charlie Davis with 63.94; Sobers was less than half a run away, and Barry Richards averaged 78.75 in 4 Tests)
15 players had an important average over 50
5 players had at least 15 important tons (highest Gavaskar with 32)
29 players had at least 20 important fifties (highest Gavaskar with 70)
9 players had?? an average differential over 20 (highest Milburn with +40.20)

Naturally the aggregate numbers are higher with these hundred batsmen than the previous hundred, though interestingly?? the av?erage numbers are lower.

So that’s the first 200 batsmen now covered; in the following feature we’ll look at the next group of 100 top batsmen, from Viv Richards to Andy Flower.

Both men can claim legions of followers, while each can also claim to have divided both dressing rooms and the opinion of the game’s connoisseurs. Beyond the myths and the clichés, and examining each man’s lengthy Test career, who really comes out on top:  Stolid, dour, Yorkshire Roundhead or High-born Brah??min sophisticate?

Both are famed for their acute technical acumen and mastery of all conditions.  Gavaskar finally nudged ahead of Boycott, having played 11 more Tests, finishing with an aggregate of 10,125 runs at 51.25 from his 125 matches at the highest level. The Yorkshireman, however, exited the game in controversial circumstances while touring India, ironically enough, having finally gone ahead of Sobers�then record aggregate of 8,032 Test runs. Boycott’s final tally of 8,114 runs at 47.72, while fractionally lower than Gavaskar’s, can be acknowledged as one of the  top drawer, however,  as it reflec??ts a career of facing  the new ball on seaming conditions at home, while also factoring in an early portio??n of a career playing on uncovered pitches.

Beyond mere statistics, however, Gavaskar and Boycott have a relevance which transcends cricket. In a country which found respect on the cricket field hard to come by, Gavaskar propelled himself, his team-mates and his country to levels of professionalism they could not otherwise have achieved. As Sambit Bal has noted, �em>the self-actualisation of Indian cricket began under him�  For Imran Khan, it was Gavaskar who had t??he greatest effect in revolutionising Indian cricket, surpassing even the impact of Kapil Dev.  In the case of Boycott, this introverted loner dragged himself to the top of his profession while remaining resolutely a man of Fitzwilliam.  Where fellow Yorkshireman Sir Leonard Hutton had once painfully appropriated the mores, mannerisms and accent of his supposed social betters in a class-bound society, Geoffrey Boycott danced to no-one’s tune but his own.  Despite appearances, the initially bespectacled, socially awkward right-hander was the ultimate cricket rebel.

A deeper examination of their records, their impact both home and away, and of their influence on team performance yie?lds surprising results. Gavaskar played international cricket against Sri Lanka, while Boycott did not. Similarly, the Yorkshireman had a taste of Test cricket against South Africa prior to their isolation; a privilege not granted Gavaskar, who would surely have found an opponent in the then S??pringboks to have tested his mettle.

Beginning with the Australians, each boasts an admirable run aggregate and average.  Boycott began and ended his home Test career against Australia, scoring 2945 runs at 47.50 in total. His highest score came at an emotionally charged Headingley in 1977, where he completed his 100^th first-class hundred with an on-driven four off the bowling of Greg Chappell. Of his seven Test centuries scored against Australian opposition, two came Down Under where Boycott averaged 45.03 in 19 Tests. Perhaps his greatest overseas tour in England colours came in Australia as part of Ray Illingworth’s victorious 1970/71 squad. In the five Tests t?he Boycott defence was virtually impregnable, amassing 657 runs at 93.85.

On his next visit, in 1978/79, the great man was less successful and almost at his lowest ebb as an international cricketer. Besieged by the drama of the Yorkshire captaincy saga, and grieving the loss of his beloved mother, to whom he was devotedly close, the man from Fitzwilliam was in the doldrums. A paltry 263 runs from 12 Test innings against Graham Yallop’s team was an ?accurate reflection of the late-career torpor Boycott experienced t?hat Australian summer.

Sunil Gavaskar played more Test matches against Australian opposition away from home than he did in India. An overall average of 51.66 from 20 Tests is a statistical nudge away from his overall 51.12. Moreover, an average of 51.11 in Australia points to astonishing consistency. With five centuries from an overall eight having been scored Down Under, Gavaskar also demonstrated a liking for Australian conditions.   Indeed, his highest score of 172 came on his last Australian tour, in 1985/86, at the age of 36. Bringing up his 9,000^th run on that tour, Gavaskar reeled off a couple of masterc?lass centuries which gave him a series aggregate of 352 runs at 117.33.

It was an Australia in transition, though.  With Merv Hughes embarking on his Test match career, an attack consisting of various permutations of Steve Waugh, Greg Matthews, Craig McDermott, Dave Gilbert, Bruce Reid and Ray Bright was not the most experienced in Australian Test history. Nor, in truth, can it be said to have represented the most demanding, with both McDermott and Hughes still heavily green at that stage of their careers. Furthermore, on the 1980/81 tour, a similarly truncated three match series is best remembered for Gavaskar’s flouncing off the field at Melbourne after a leg-before decision went against him. It was this that gave one DK Lillee an eternally dim view of Gavaskar:   “He spat the dummy right out of the pram,” opined Lillee years later. For Gavaskar, his second Australian tour proved a less than fruitful one, notching up just 118 runs from six outings at the crease.  For Lillee, though, Mumbai’s greatest ever opener just does not cut the mustard: â€?em>I know he was a great batsman but I cannot rate him among the great batsmen I bowled against,“.

Where Boycott and Australia are concerned, however, the great lacuna in the CV is the self-imposed exile which the Yorkshireman embarked upon in 1974. Whatever the reasons g?iven, the absence coincided with England’s 1974/75 tour of Australia, where Mike Denness’s men re??ceived an almighty shellacking courtesy of Lillee and Thomson. While England’s top order was being continually worked over in the sun, the spectre of the country’s finest opener licking his wounds 12,000 miles away in apparent martyrdom has always been too much for his critics to resist.

Where respective records against each other’s country are concerned, the verdict is a patchy one, with Boycott coming out as winner, at least statistically. Having amassed 1084 runs at 57.05 over 13 Tests, Boycott also notched up four centur??ies, including his Test best 246* in 1967. In India Boycott scored 377 runs at 47.12 in five Tests spread across the 1979/80 Jubilee Test and on his final England tour in 1981/82. Gavaskar played almost three times as many Tests �38 to 13 �against England as Boycott did against India. A frequent tourist, Gavaskar played 16 Tests in England, scoring 1152 runs at 41.14, which included his mammoth 221 at The Oval in 1979, an innings which took his country within sight of an improbable victory in that summer’s final Test match.

There was only one more Test match ton scored in England f??or Gavaskar, though, and it is the one he regards as his very finest. At Old Trafford, in exacting conditions against an attack consisting of Willis, Old, Hendrick, Underwood and Tony Grieg, Gavaskar earned the respect of the English crowds and passed his sternest examination with an innings of 101. The scene of Gavask?ar’s most cherished moment on English soil in a Test match was, ironically, the last Test match Geoff Boycott would play in for three years.

For two record-breakers, Gavaskar and Boycott were considerably less than prolific against New Zealand. In five overseas Tests Boycott totalled 179 runs at 22.37 against the Kiwis, while overall he scored 916 at 38.16 in 15 Tests.  Interestingly, it was Hadlee whom he observed as being the overseas player that would most benefit Yorkshire back in 1980, a full decade before Sachin Tendulkar became the county’s first overseas player. The great New Zealand all-rounder, in return, acknowledges Boycott as his toughest opponent, stating �em>He was technically so sound. He would just leave perfect away going deliveries�

For Gavaskar, however, a career tally of 651 in nine Tests against New Zealand with two centuries, one having been amassed away from ?home, came at an overall average of 43.40, fractionally lower than his ave?rage in New Zealand itself.

The man who would one day become Sheriff of Mumbai was suitably prolific against local rivals Pakistan. From a total of 24 Tests he ran up 2089 runs at 56.45 with five centuries and 12 half-centuries. In Pakistan itself he was no less bountiful, scoring 1001 runs at 58.88. In 1982/83 against a rampant Pakistan on home soil, with Imran Khan at his best, Gavaskar had to dig deeper than at almost any other time in his Test match career. In six Tests he came away with 434 runs at 48.22. In a batting order that was frequently blown away only he and Mohinder Amarnath managed to stymie the great Lahore all-rounder.  In 1978/79, 1979/80 and 1982/83 Gavaskar and India took part in three seismic Test series against their local rivals and neighbours: the “Asian Ashes�indeed.  It is a great tes??tament to Gavaskar that he managed to weather such pressure, particularly ?during the electrifying 1978/79 series, where hostilities were resumed after a gap of 17 years, and when Pakistan’s returning Packer players added extra spice to a contest that required no additional flavouring.

Boycott,?? by contrast, played just six Tests against Pakistan spanning 11 years. In Pakistan, on his one and only tour in 1977/78, he compiled 329 runs at 82.25, while his overall record is 591 at 84.42.

For Pakistan’s greatest all-rounder, Imran Khan, there was little doubt about the stature?? of these two great opening bats??men.  Writing just after Gavaskar’s retirement, Imran observed:

“I batted with him for a long time during the MCC bicentenary match at Lord’s in 1987. He scored 188, I made 82, and we put on 180 for the fifth wicket. I found it a revelation to see how he tackled certain bowlers, and how he understood the game. He is a master, and I am afraid that Indian cricket will struggle to replace him adequately�/p>

Likewise, for a man who has been loath to heap praise on English cricketers down the years, Imran’s assessment of Boycott is similarly astute, althou??gh it does not come unqualified:

�em>The English batsman I considered to be world class was Geoff Boycott. .He captained as he batted, never taking risks. But, even though as a batsman he played for himself, he was a great player in test matches.  His technique was watertight and his concentration incr?edible. He ??would never give away his wicket, no matter what the situation�/em>

Gavaskar found the emerging Sri Lankan outfits suitably obliging.  In seven Tests spanning five years?? Gavaskar scored 600 runs at 66.66 with two centuries. Having made just one three test tour of Sri Lanka in 1985, he ran up 186 runs at 37.20.

Sunil Gavaskar did not have the joys of facing a fully sanctioned Test playing South Africa but his great rival did. In seven Tests Boycott totalled 373 runs at 37.30, while on his first tour as an England player, in? 1964/65, his five Tests brought him to the attention of the wider cricketing world, where he excelled with 298 runs at 49.66 against an attack consisting of Peter Pollock, Partridge, Barlow and Trevor Goddard.

The last great opponent that both Gavaskar and Boycott faced down in the course of their careers was West Indies. It is perhaps their careers against the teams from the Caribbean which makes each man’s legend endure.  The figures themselves are suitably prolific. For Boycott, 29 Tests against West Indies yielded 2205 runs at 45.93. In the Caribbean he?? compiled 1179 at 51.26 in 14 Test matches. Additionally, his 15 half-centuries are complemented by five three-figure scores.

For Gavaskar the numbers are even more astonishing. In 27 Tests, and 48 innings, the Little Master accumulated 2749 runs at 65.45, including his Test best 236* in 1983/84. Amazingly, in the Caribbean?? itself, he averaged 70.20, having scored 1404 runs with seven centuries. Back home in India Gavaskar scored a further six centuries giving him an improbable 13 in toal.

On closer inspection, however, the reputation of Gavaskar as slayer of the West Indies is somewhat exaggerated. Great though the record most certainly is, it does not? come without caveats. In 1978/79, for instance, while the West Indies speed merchants were away in Australia on Packer duty, Alvin Kallicharran’s team were taking part in a six-Test series with India. Gavaskar gorged himself to the tune of 732 runs at 91.50 against a young and inexperienced second-strin?g attack. A player can only negotiate the opposition that presents itself, of course, but no-one should be of any doubt that the full-strength West Indies of that time was being led by Clive Lloyd elsewhere.

Following a prolific debut against the West Indies in 1971, Gavaskar had to wait until 1975/76, and another tour of the Caribbean, before he encountered the bowling attack that would develop into the one that would blow away all opposition in the years to come.  With the veteran Vanburn Holder still taking up a berth, Holding, Roberts and Wayne Daniel all appeared in this series, albeit fitfully in the case of Roberts and Daniel.  Exhibiting great bravery, and without the protective equipment that would become commonplace in the years to come, Gavaskar scored 390 at 55.71 in four Tests.   It had been grueling, it had been physically painful, and it was a foretaste of what was to come during the next decade. At the end of the series, Wisden remarked:

“The Indian team trudged along the tarmac towards their home-bound aeroplane at Kingston’s Norman Manley Airport, they resembled Napoleon’s troops on the retreat from Moscow. They were battle-weary and a lot of them were enveloped in plasters and bandages.â€?/em>

That winter England flew to the Caribbean where the conditions were even more testing still. In four Tests Boycott ground out 295 runs at 42.14. Following the unforgettable Holding over in Barbados, where Boycott departed for a sixth ball duck, having barely navigated the first five, many within the England camp thought Boycott was finished.   As morose as anyone could remember having seen him and having studied the fateful over again and again, Boycott got back to work.   It was in the very next Test that he struck back, demonstrating the legendary fortitude that had taken him from Fitzwilliam to Barnsley CC and then on to the Yorkshire team itself.  As he helped save the game for England with a century, his nemesis from the Barbados Test, Michael Holding, stopped to congratulate him, saying �em>a different day Geoffrey, a different game�  It was his fifth century for England against West Indies and his twentieth in all. In his 41^st year, two more centuries would come, one against Australia at Th??e Oval where he defied Lillee for seven hours, and the final one in India where he contrived to break the record run aggregate set by Sir Garfield Sobers.

Speaking in 2011, Boycott’s name was the first one on Michael Holding’s lips when he was asked to nominate the batsmen he had to work hardest to dismiss.  Recalling Boycott, along with Greg Chappell, as being particularly obstinate, the great Jamaican said �em>Boycott would never play out of his comfort zone. So, you knew that you had to produce a good delivery to get rid of him.�/p>

In his final years in Test cricket, at an age where he could justifiably have had one eye on the pip??e and slippers, Boycott had faced down the most difficult opponent of the age. Ever the controversialist, he bowed out of international cricket by departing England’s tour of India in early 1982. Soon after he was strutting out to the middle, bearded, with Graham Gooch, opening up for the South African Breweries ?sponsored England XI, after which he was effectively banished from the international game for good. He would rise again though, this time as the most trenchant cricket commentator of the era.

While Boycott’s ability to alienate and infuriate both team-mates and cricket’s administrators might appear to put him in a league of his own, Gavaskar is no slouch either.  A four-decade long feud with Bishen Bedi is just one example of a tendency to rile fellow players and those within India’s cricket hierarchy. Bedi, Dilip Vengsarkar, Dilip Doshi and Kapil Dev can all attest to the colder aspects of their former te??am-mate and captain’s nature; each having come off second best to Gavaskar’s hauteur while in command.

What else is there to glean from their careers; longevity and mountains of runs aside? Domestically, of course, Boycott and Gavaskar played their cricket in very different conditions. Boycott himself has bemoa?ned the loss of uncovered pitches from the English game, something to which he attributes the tightness of his technique. Another Yorkshireman, Ray Illingworth, has also argued in the same vein. Where batsmen learned to cope with varying conditions or wither on the vine, so too bowlers discovered how to exploit conditions to their effect. For Boycott, playing 57 of his 108 Test matches at home, this brought him a domestic tally of 4356 runs at 48.40, including 14 of his 22 centuries. Moreover, the skills honed at home were put into good effect overseas, too.  In 51 Test matches outside England Boycott amassed 3758 at 46.97, a strikingly similar mean average to that attained in Test matches in England.

If consistency was a Boycott trademark, then it was the watchword of Gavaskar. In 65 Test matches on Indian soil Sunny amassed 5067 runs at an average of 50.16, while away from home he still excelled wi??th 5055 runs at 52.11 in 60 Tests. Similarly, 16 hundreds on native turf were more than matched by 18 scored abroad.

What, then, of their effect on team performance and match outcomes? This is always something of a contested area to leave to a purely statistical analysis, of course, since, in a team game, other performers will have their say in swinging a match this way or that.  That caveat noted, Sunil Gavaskar was on the winning side on 23 occasions in a 125 game Test match career. In those game??s he scored 1671 runs at 43.97, almost eight runs lower than his overall career mean. India lost 34 of those 125 contests, where Gav?askar’s contribution was 2314 at just 35.06. Again, this is a figure considerably below his Test average of 51.12. Where India drew Test matches, of which they shared the honours in 67 of the great opener’s 125 Tests, Gavaskar’s average climbed to 65.64. Similarly, 22 of his 34 Test hundreds came in drawn contests; while six each came in victorious and losing encounters.

During Geoffrey Boycott’s 108 Test match career, England were the victors on 35 occasions. In those Tests Boycott contributed 2950 runs at 54.62, during which he compiled 10 of his 22 career centuries. In the 53 Tests in which Boycs took part in a drawn match, his contribution was 4068 runs at 52.83, where he also added the remaining 12 centuries of his Test career.  Strikingly, he was on the losing side in just 20 Tests, where his contribution was a comparatively negligible 10??96 runs at 28.10. Tellingly, Boycott never scored a Test hundred in vain, for none of the 22 he posted in his 17-year career came during a game which England lost. Although he failed to complete a Test ton in under four hours during his career, his value is evident, as his average when he ended up on the losing side is almost 20 runs lower than his overall career mean.

What can we infer from this? Well, Boycott, it should be acknowledged, was comparatively lucky in that he had as back-up high quality seam, swing and pace bowling throughout his career, which was especially effective in English conditions. Added to which, during the early part of his lengthy tenure as England’s opener, he had as a team-mate a uniquely deadly slow left-armer in the form of Derek Underwood. Even so, Boycott’s figures are telling: England never lost a Test in which he scored a century.  Furthermore, as his career developed, he was by common consent the last in the line of what Ted Dexter refers to as �em>The classical school of English batsmanship�

As techniques became looser and ??the county game failed to produce the kind of classicists for which it was famed, so the pressure on Boycott to perform became greater. In a 1997 interview with the BBC’s Tony Lewis Michael Holding stated that even as late as 1981 Boycott’s wicket was the one that the pace quartet prized above all others.  Furthermore, a staggering 64% of his Test tons came when England batted first; proof of his old-school adherence to the principle of setting  a sizeable total and putting daylight between the batting side and the opposition.

He was, however, often derided for his feats of slow scoring, a trait that became increasingly prevalent as his Test career neared its end and the reflexes and touch deserted him. Never was this more apparent than during the Old Trafford Tes??t of 1981 and during the subsequent Indian tour later that year under Keith Fletcher’s leadership. Most famously of all, though, he was dropped after compiling his Test best 246 in 1967; a punishment openly meted out in response to the length of time it took him to compile the double-century,  and a rebuke for his alleged self-centredness.

Gavaskar never had the fortune of in-depth penetrative seam and speed back-up of the like which Boycott enjoyed. Kapil Dev for too long shouldered the burdens of being India’s spearhead, while support was seldo?m enough to swing Test matches India’s way. Similarly, Gavaskar endured a  47 Test tenure as his country’s captain, a tough enough assignment for anyone in such a cricket-obsessed nation, let alone a man who was doubly cast as his country’s batting fulcrum at the top of the order.

How, then, to conclude? Gavaskar played more Tests, scored more runs and notched up more centuries than Boycott. As mentioned, he also bore the burdens of long-term captaincy, something which Sir Geoffrey came by on just four occasions in his Test career. The Indian was also capable of perhaps a touch more dash, his KP-esque pyrotechnics in Dehli in 1983/84 being a notable case in point. Added to that, one of his great contemporaries and rivals, Andy Roberts, felt that Sunny was much the better batsman of the two legendary openers.  This is a view shared by Harold Bird, who has acknowledged that Gavaskar and Barry Richards were the finest opening ?batsmen he ever witnessed.  As if to rub further salt into the wounds, both Sir Leonard Hutton and Fred Trueman gave Gavaskar the nod over their fellow Yorkshireman.

It is far from one-way traffic, however. Boycott surmounted difficulties throughout his career and kept on doing so, constantly confounding his critics and doubters. In his 41^st year he earned?? the eternal respect of the West Indies pace quartet, while throughout his career the importance of his contribution was so great that he never contributed a ??Test ton in a losing cause; a thorough repudiation of the myth that his contributions were of little value to the team cause and were merely platforms to boost his own average.   He was no mere dead-bat metronome either. When he cut loose the effects could be scintillating, as his memorable ODI century in Sydney in 1979/80 proved. Prior to that game, too, the vultures had gathered, arguing that his style of play was totally unsuited to the format. Again, he proved them wrong.

If it were a matter of pure aesthetics, runs accumulated and centuries scored, then Sunil Gavaskar is the clear winner here. Test match cricket is not just about these things, though.  A dangerous occupation such as opening the batting also necessitates physical courage, indefatigability and the ability to endure physical and mental hardship and, occasionally, intimidation. Additionally, it requires that an individual contributes in some tangibly positive way to team performance.  Paradoxically, for a player so often accused of self-centredness, Geoff Boycott’s runs contributed to the team cause more often.

As stressed throughout, when Boycott scored a century in Test matches his country never lost. For three years between 1974 and 1977 he was accused of having waved the white flag of desertion as England faced the Australia of Lillee and ??Thomson without him. In 1980 and 1981, and into his fifth decade, he performed with such courage and technical assurance against Clive Lloyd’s team that he permanently expunged that earlier slur from his record.  The battle of Gavaskar and Boycott, therefore, can justifiably be classed as a draw, albeit a very high scoring one.

Two great opening batsmen, two great cricketing traditions, Boycott and Gavaskar occasionally b?uckled under the weight that their countries in?cessant demands placed upon them.  Neither was a saint, and each could be difficult, but their shared desire for perfection drove each man on to a Test career lasting almost two decades. To the Sheriff of Mumbai and Sir Geoffrey, we salute you.