There have been many great cricketers over the 100 plus years of Test cricket history, and determining the greatest ever is never an easy challenge. The discussion below is only about Test cricket players, as other forms of the game have only recently become popular and it would not be fair to compare cricketers of the past with player results from one day and T20 cricket matches.

We ran two polls, where you could vote for the greatest batsman and greatest bowler of all time. The winners were Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Akram. Are one of these the greatest athlete ever (all sports)? Of course, the game of cricket is not made up of just batters and bowlers, the fielders and more importantly the wicketkeeper play very important roles in the team too. See our discussion about who is the greatest ever fielder.

An Economists View

In 2011, a list of the top Test batsmen who ever lived was compiled by Griffith University's Dr Nicholas Rohde. Using data up until December 2011, the top of the list was Sachin Tendulkar, only just above Donald Bradman. See Rohde's List of the Greatest Ever Cricket Batsmenmore.

Wisden's Greatest Ever Player

In the early 2000s, Wisden released a list of the all-time top 100 greatest Test players, using a unique rating system. The highest-ranked batsman was Donald Bradman, a clear leader above Sachin Tendulkar. In the bowling stakes, Muttiah Muralitharan was ranked highest ahead of Richard Hadlee. This is just an example, there are many other top lists of cricketers.

Virat Kohli is hard to beat when it comes to fitness.Virat Kohli is one of the greatest cricketers ever

Highest Test Run Scorers

The aim of a batter in cricket is to make as many runs as possible, so what better way to rank the best batters than by listing the total runs scored. The greatest cricket batsman (vote) may come from this list, though there are other considerations such as the number of matches played (and batting average) and the conditions played under and the quality of the opposition. The highest test run scorer ever is the Indian Sachin Tendulkar, though the other commonly nominated greatest batsman, Don Bradman, is not even in the top 10! The Don was ranked 39th as did not play anywhere near as many Test matches are these players.

The table below ranking the top run scorers in cricket was created in October 2021.

  Player Played Matches Inns Runs Ave 100 50
1 Sachin Tendulkar (India) 1989-2013 200 329 15,921 53.78 51 68
2 Ricky Ponting (Aus) 1995-2012 168 287 13,378 51.85 41 62
3 Jacques Kallis (Sth Africa) 1995-2013 166 280 13,289 55.37 45 55
4 Rahul Dravid (India) 1996-2012 164 286 13,288 52.31 36 63
5 Alastair Cook (England) 2006-2018 161 291 12,472 45.35 33 57
6 Kumar Sangakkara (SL) 2000-2015 134 233 12,400 57.40 38 52
7 Brian Lara (WI) 1990-2006 131 232 11,953 52.88 34 48
8 S Chanderpaul (WI) 1994-2015 164 280 11,867 51.37 30 66
9 Mahela Jayawardene (SL) 1997-2014 149 252 11,814 49.84 34 50
10 Alan Border (Aus) 1978-1994 156 265 11,174 50.56 27 63

Greatest Test Averages

As the list above of top Test run scorers did not include what many consider to be the greatest batsman ever, here is a list that does have him on top. Below are the top test batting averages for players who have batted for 20 or more innings in Test matches (data from Oct 2021). Now the highest run scorer Sachin Tendulkar does not make the list, with an average of 53.78.

  Player Played Matches Ave Runs Innings NotOut Highest 100 50 0
1 DG Bradman (AUS) 1928-1948 52 99.94 6996 80 10 334 29 13 7
2 AC Voges (AUS) 2015-2016 20 61.87 1485 31 7 269* 5 4 2
3 SPD Smith (AUS) 2010+ 77 61.80 7540 139 17 239 27 31 5
4 RG Pollock (SA) 1963-1970 23 60.97 2256 41 4 274 7 11 1
5 GA Headley (WI) 1930-1954 22 60.83 2190 40 4 270* 10 5 2
6 M Labuschagne (AUS) 2018+ 18 60.80 1885 31 0 215 5 10 1
7 H Sutcliffe (ENG) 1924-1935 54 60.73 4555 84 9 194 16 23 2
8 E Paynter (ENG) 1931-1939 20 59.23 1540 31 5 243 4 7 3
9 KF Barrington (ENG) 1955-1968 82 58.67 6806 131 15 256 20 35 5
10 ED Weekes (WI) 1948-1958 48 58.61 4455 81 5 207 15 19 6
11 WR Hammond (ENG) 1927-1947 85 58.45 7249 140 16 336* 22 24 4
12 GS Sobers (WI) 1954-1974 93 57.78 8032 160 21 365* 26 30 12
13 KC Sangakkara (SL) 2000-2015 134 57.40 12400 233 17 319 38 52 11
14 JB Hobbs (ENG) 1908-1930 61 56.94 5410 102 7 211 15 28 4
15 CL Walcott (WI) 1948-1960 44 56.68 3798 74 7 220 15 14 1
16 L Hutton (ENG) 1937-1955 79 56.67 6971 138 15 364 19 33 5
17 JH Kallis (ICC/SA) 1995-2013 166 55.37 13289 280 40 224 45 58 16
18 GE Tyldesley (ENG) 1921-1929 14 55.00 990 20 2 122 3 6 2
19 CA Davis (WI) 1968-1973 15 54.20 1301 29 5 183 4 4 1
20 VG Kambli (INDIA) 1993-1995 17 54.20 1084 21 1 227 4 3 3

Highest Wicket Takers

The goal of a cricket bowler is to take as many wickets as possible with minimal runs taken, so what better way to rank the best test bowlers than by listing the total number of wickets taken. The greatest ever cricket bowler (vote) will probably come from this list, though there are other considerations such as the number of matches played and the conditions played under and the quality of the opposition.

The table below was created in Oct 2021, and none of this list are currently playing. Based purely on wickets taken, Muralitharan is the greatest, though he has had the advantage over Warne of playing more often on spin-friendly wickets.

  Player Played Mat Inns Runs Wkts Best Ave Econ SR
1 M Muralitharan (SL) 1992-2010 133 230 18180 800 9/51 22.72 2.47 55.0
2 Shane Warne (Aus) 1992-2007 145 273 17995 708 8/71 25.41 2.65 57.4
3 JM Anderson (Eng) 2003-2021 166 309 16827 632 7/42 26.62 2.82 56.6
4 Anil Kumble (India) 1990-2008 132 236 18355 619 10/74 29.65 2.69 65.9
5 Glenn McGrath (Aus) 1993-2007 124 243 12186 563 8/24 21.64 2.49 51.9
6 SCJ Broad (Eng) 2007-2021 149 274 14590 524 8/15 27.84 2.93 56.9
7 Courtney Walsh (WI) 1984-2001 132 242 12688 519 7/37 24.44 2.53 57.8
8 DW Steyn (SA) 2004-2019 93 171 10077 439 7/51 22.95 3.24 42.3
9 Kapil Dev (India) 1978-1994 131 227 12867 434 9/83 29.64 2.78 63.9
10 HMRKB Herath (SL) 1999-2018 93 170 12157 433 9/127 28.07 2.80 60.0