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{{short description|Cricket statistic}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}}
{{sabermetric | formula = <math>\mathrm{Batting~average} = \frac{\mathrm{Runs~scored}}{\mathrm{Number~of~times~out}}</math>}}
In [[cricket]], a player's '''batting average''' is the total number of [[run (cricket)|runs]] they have scored divided by the number of times they have been [[dismissal (cricket)|out]], usually given to two decimal places. Since the number of runs a player scores and how often they get out are primarily measures of their own playing ability, and largely independent of their teammates, batting average is a good metric for an individual player's skill as a batter (although the practice of drawing comparisons between players on this basis is not without criticism<ref>{{cite web|last=Date|first=Kartikeya|date=29 May 2014|title=The calculus of the batting average
|url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/21499377/calculus-batting-average|website=ESPN Cricinfo|access-date=10 March 2020}}</ref>). The number is also simple to interpret intuitively. If all the batter's [[innings]] were completed (i.e. they were out every innings), this is the [[Arithmetic mean|average]] number of runs they score per innings. If they did not complete all their innings (i.e. some innings they finished [[not out]]), this number is an estimate of the unknown average number of runs they score per innings.

Each player normally has several batting averages, with a different figure calculated for each [[Forms of cricket|type of match]] they play (first-class, one-day, Test matches, List A, T20, etc.), and a player's batting averages may be calculated for individual seasons or series, or at particular grounds, or against particular opponents, or across their whole career.

Batting average has been used to gauge cricket players' relative skills since the 18th century.

==Values==
[[File:CricketBattingAverageHistogram.png|thumb|400px|right|International cricket career batting averages (as of 14 September 2019). Note [[Donald Bradman|Bradman's]] Test average of 99.94.]]
Most players have career batting averages in the range of 20 to 40. This is also the desirable range for [[wicket-keeper]]s, though some fall short and make up for it with keeping skill. Until a substantial increase in scores in the 21st century due to improved bats and smaller grounds among other factors, players who sustained an average above 50 through a career were considered exceptional, and before the development of the [[heavy roller]] in the 1870s (which allowed for a flatter, safer cricket pitch) an average of 25 was considered very good.<ref>{{cite book | last=Rae | first=Simon | date=1998 | title=W.G. Grace: A Life | page=26 | location=London | publisher=Faber and Faber | isbn=0571178553}}</ref>
* All-rounders who are more prominent [[Bowler (cricket)|bowlers]] than batsmen typically average something between 20 and 30.
* 15 and under is typical for specialist bowlers.
* A small number of players have averaged less than 5 for a complete career, though a player with such an average is a liability unless an exceptional bowler such as [[Alf Valentine]], [[B. S. Chandrasekhar]] or [[Glenn McGrath]] were.

Career records for batting average are usually subject to a minimum qualification of 20 [[innings]] played or completed, in order to exclude batsmen who have not played enough games for their skill to be reliably assessed. Under this qualification, the highest [[Test cricket|Test]] batting average belongs to [[Australia national cricket team|Australia]]'s Sir [[Donald Bradman]], with 99.94. Given that a career batting average over 50 is exceptional, and that only [[List of Test cricket records#Highest career batting average|4 other players]] have averages over 60, this is an outstanding statistic. The fact that Bradman's average is so far above that of ''any'' other cricketer has led several statisticians to argue that, statistically at least, he was the greatest athlete in any sport.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/4188.html |publisher=Cricinfo.com |work=Players and Officials |title=Sir Donald Bradman |access-date=27 April 2006}}</ref>

Disregarding this 20 innings qualification, the highest career Test batting average is 144 by [[Kurtis Patterson]], who scored 144 runs and was dismissed once in his two Test innings. He then fell out of the Australian squad due to a loss of form and injury.

Batting averages in [[One Day International]] (ODI) and [[T20 International]] (T20I) cricket tend to be lower than in Test cricket because of the need to score runs more quickly. Consequently, batters tend to play riskier strokes and less emphasis is placed on building an innings in order to amass a high individual score. It should also be remembered, especially in relation to the ODI and T20I histograms above, that there were no ODI or T20I matches when Bradman played.

==Interpretation==
If a batter has been dismissed in every single innings, then this statistic gives exactly the [[Arithmetic mean|average]] number of runs they score per innings.

However, for a batter with one or more innings which finished [[not out]], the true mean or average number of runs they score per innings is unknown as it is not known how many runs they would have scored if they could have completed all their not out innings. In this case, this statistic is an [[Estimation|estimate]] of the average number of runs they score per innings. If their scores have a [[geometric distribution]], then this statistic is the [[maximum likelihood estimate]] of their true unknown average.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Das|first=S.|year=2011 |title=On Generalized Geometric Distributions: Application to Modeling Scores in Cricket and Improved Estimation of Batting Average in Light of Notout Innings |ssrn=2117199 | journal=Social Science Research Network }}</ref>

Batting averages can be strongly affected by the number of not outs. For example, [[Phil Tufnell]], who was noted for his poor batting,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/story/303300.html|title=The Jack of all rabbits|date=23 July 2007}}</ref> has an apparently respectable [[One Day International|ODI]] average of 15 (from 20 games), despite a highest score of only 5 not out, as he scored an overall total of 15 runs from 10 innings, but was out only once.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/21611.html|title=Phil Tufnell|website=Cricinfo}}</ref>

A batter who has not been dismissed in any of the innings over which their average is being calculated does not have a batting average, as [[division by zero]] does not give a result.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://wisden.com/stories/why-did-stuart-law-only-play-one-test-for-australia |title=Why did Stuart Law only play one Test for Australia? |work=Wisden |date=28 March 2020 |access-date=23 July 2022 |quote=However, only 54 of those runs came in Australian Test whites, with Law making an unbeaten half-century in his only Test innings, meaning he finished his career without a Test average.}}</ref>

==Leading male batting averages==

===Test matches===
[[File:Donald Bradman australian cricket player pic.JPG|thumb|[[Sir Donald Bradman]]]]

{{See also|List_of_Test_cricket_records#Highest_career_batting_average|label 1=Highest career batting averages in Tests}}

A batting average of above 50 is considered by many as a benchmark to distinguish between a good and a great batsman.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/a-genuine-matchwinner-315169|title=A genuine matchwinner}}</ref> Highest male career batting averages in [[Test cricket|Test matches]] as follows:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Rank
! Batter
! Tests
! Innings
! Not<br>out
! Runs
! High<br>Score
! Average
! Test career<br>dates
|-
| 1
| {{cricon|Australia}} [[Don Bradman]]
| 52
| 80
| 10
| 6,996
| 334
|'''99.94'''
| 1928–48
|-
| 2
| {{cricon|Australia}} [[Adam Voges]]
| 20
| 31
| 7
| 1,485
| 269*
|'''61.87'''
| 2015–16
|-
| 3
| {{cricon|South Africa}} [[Graeme Pollock]]
| 23
| 41
| 4
| 2,256
| 274
|'''60.97'''
| 1963–70
|-
| 4
| {{cricon|West Indies}} [[George Headley]]
| 22
| 40
| 4
| 2,190
| 270*
|'''60.83'''
| 1930–54
|-
| 5
| {{cricon|England}} [[Herbert Sutcliffe]]
| 54
| 84
| 9
| 4,555
| 194
|'''60.73'''
| 1924–35
|-
| 6
| {{cricon|England}} [[Eddie Paynter]]
| 20
| 31
| 5
| 1,540
| 243
|'''59.23'''
| 1931–39
|-
| 7
| {{cricon|Australia}} [[Steve Smith (cricketer)|Steve Smith]]
| 100
| 177
| 22
| 9,137
| 239
|'''58.94'''
| 2010–present
|-
| 8
| {{cricon|England}} [[Ken Barrington]]
| 82
| 131
| 15
| 6,806
| 256
|'''58.67'''
| 1955–68
|-
| 9
| {{cricon|West Indies}} [[Everton Weekes]]
| 48
| 81
| 5
| 4,455
| 207
|'''58.61'''
| 1948–58
|-
| 10
| {{cricon|England}} [[Wally Hammond]]
| 85
| 140
| 16
| 7,249
| 336*
|'''58.45'''
| 1927–47
|}

Source: [http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/282910.html Cricinfo]. Table shows players with at least 20 innings completed. <nowiki>*</nowiki> denotes not out. Last updated: 15 July 2023.

===First-class===
{{See also|List_of_first-class_cricket_records#Highest_career_average|label 1=Highest career batting averages in first-class cricket}}

Highest career batting averages in [[first-class cricket]] as follows:

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Rank
! Batter
! Matches
! Innings
! N.O.
! Runs
! Highest
! Ave
! First Class career dates
|-
| 1
| {{cricon|Australia}} [[Don Bradman]]
| 234
| 338
| 43
| 28,067
| 452*
| '''95.14'''
| 1927–49
|-
| 2
| {{cricon|India}} [[Sarfaraz Khan (cricketer)|Sarfaraz Khan]]
| 37
| 54
| 10
| 3,505
| 301*
| '''79.65'''
| 2014–present
|-
| 3
| {{cricon|India}} [[Vijay Merchant]]
| 150
| 234
| 46
| 13,470
| 359*
| '''71.64'''
| 1929–51
|-
| 4
| {{cricon|West Indies}} [[George Headley]]
| 103
| 164
| 22
| 9,921
| 344*
| '''69.86'''
| 1927–54
|-
| 5
| {{cricon|India}} [[Ajay Sharma]]
| 129
| 166
| 16
| 10,120
| 259*
| '''67.46'''
| 1984–2001
|-
| 6
| {{cricon|Australia}} [[Bill Ponsford]]
| 162
| 235
| 23
| 13,819
| 437
| '''65.18'''
| 1920–34
|-
| 7
| {{cricon|Australia}} [[Bill Woodfull]]
| 174
| 245
| 39
| 13,388
| 284
| '''64.99'''
| 1921–34
|-
| 8
| {{cricon|Afghanistan}} [[Bahir Shah]]
| 34
| 57
| 13
| 2,811
| 303*
| '''63.88'''
| 2017–present
|-
| 9
| {{cricon|India}} [[Shantanu Sugwekar]]
| 85
| 122
| 18
| 6,563
| 299*
| '''63.10'''
| 1987–2002
|-
| 10
| {{cricon|Sri Lanka}} [[Kamindu Mendis]]
| 36
| 55
| 5
| 3,129
| 200*
| '''62.58'''
| 2018–present
|}
Source: [http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/284199.html Cricinfo]. Table shows players with at least 50 innings completed, note this table has no requirement for minimum number of runs scored. <nowiki>*</nowiki> denotes not out. Last updated: 3 July 2023.

===One Day Internationals===
{{See also|List_of_One_Day_International_cricket_records#Highest_career_average|label 1=Highest career batting averages in ODIs}}

Highest career batting averages in [[One Day International]] cricket as follows:

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Rank
! Batter
! ODIs
! Innings
! N.O.
! Runs
! Highest
! Ave
! ODI career dates
|-
| 1
| {{cricon|Netherlands}} [[Ryan ten Doeschate]]
| 33
| 32
| 9
| 1,541
| 119
| '''67.00'''
| 2006–11
|-
| 2
| {{cricon|India}} [[Shubhman Gill]]
| 24
| 24
| 4
| 1,311
| 208
| '''65.55'''
| 2019-present
|-
| 3
| {{cricon|South Africa}} [[Hendrik Erasmus van der Dussen|Rassie van der Dussen]]
| 45
| 39
| 10
| 1,757
| 134
| '''60.58'''
| 2019–present
|-
| 4
| {{cricon|Pakistan}} [[Babar Azam]]
| 100
| 98
| 12
| 5,098
| 158
| '''59.17'''
| 2015–present
|-
| 5
| {{cricon|India}} [[Virat Kohli]]
| 274
| 264
| 40
| 12,898
| 183
| '''57.32'''
| 2008–present
|-
| 6
| {{cricon|Australia}} [[Michael Bevan]]
| 232
| 196
| 67
| 6,912
| 108*
| '''53.58'''
| 1994–2004
|-
| 7
| {{cricon|South Africa}} [[AB de Villiers]]
| 228
| 218
| 39
| 9,577
| 176
| '''53.50'''
| 2005–18
|-
| 8
| {{cricon|Ireland}} [[Harry Tector]]
| 33
| 31
| 6
| 1,332
| 140
| '''53.28'''
| 2020–present
|-
| 9
| {{cricon|South Africa}} [[Temba Bavuma]]
| 26
| 25
| 3
| 1,150
| 144
| '''52.27'''
| 2016–present
|-
| 10
| {{cricon|Pakistan}} [[Imam-ul-Haq]]
| 59
| 59
| 6
| 2,719
| 151
| '''51.30'''
| 2017–present
|}
Source: [http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/282911.html Cricinfo]. Table shows players with at least 20 innings completed. <nowiki>*</nowiki> denotes not out. Last updated: 20 June 2023.

===T20 Internationals===

{{See also|List_of_Twenty20_International_records#Highest_career_average|label 1=Highest career batting averages in T20Is}}

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Rank
! Batsmen
! T20Is
! Innings
! N.O.
! Runs
! Highest
! Ave
! T20I career dates
|-
| 1
| {{cricon|Malawi}} [[Sami Sohail]]
| 26
| 22
| 12
| 725
| 94*
| '''72.50'''
| 2019–present
|-
| 2
| {{cricon|India}} [[Virat Kohli]]
| 115
| 107
| 31
| 4,008
| 122*
| '''52.73'''
| 2010–present
|-
| 3
| {{cricon|Pakistan}} [[Mohammad Rizwan (cricketer)|Muhammad Rizwan]]
| 85
| 73
| 16
| 2,797
| 104*
| '''49.07'''
| 2015–present
|-
| 4
| {{cricon|Serbia}} [[Leslie Dunbar]]
| 21
| 20
| 6
| 659
| 117
| '''47.07'''
| 2019–present
|-
| 5
| {{cricon|India}} [[Suryakumar Yadav]]
| 48
| 46
| 10
| 1,675
| 117
| '''46.52'''
| 2021–present
|-
| 6
| {{cricon|New Zealand}} [[Devon Conway]]
| 38
| 35
| 8
| 1,234
| 99*
| '''45.70'''
| 2016–present
|-
| 7
| {{cricon|India}} [[Manish Pandey]]
| 39
| 33
| 17
| 709
| 79*
| '''44.31'''
| 2015–2020
|-
| 8
| {{cricon|Canada}} [[Navneet Dhaliwal]]
| 23
| 22
| 5
| 748
| 69*
| '''44.00'''
| 2019–present
|-
| 9
| {{cricon|United Arab Emirates}} [[Muhammad Waseem]]
| 23
| 23
| 1
| 942
| 112
| '''42.81'''
| 2019–present
|-
| 10
| {{cricon|Pakistan}} [[Babar Azam]]
| 104
| 98
| 14
| 3,485
| 122
| '''41.48'''
| 2016–present
|}
Source: [http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/282912.html Cricinfo]. Table shows players with at least 20 innings completed. <nowiki>*</nowiki> denotes not out. Last updated: 3 July 2023.

==Leading female batting averages==

===Test matches===
{{See also|List of women's Test cricket records#Individual records (batting)}}

===One Day Internationals===
{{See also|List of women's One Day International cricket records#Highest career average}}

===T20 Internationals===
{{See also|List of women's Twenty20 International records#Highest career average}}

==Alternatives==

Alternative measures of batting effectiveness have been developed, including:

===Strike rate===
{{main|Strike rate}}
Strike rate measures a different concept to batting average – how quickly the batsman scores (i.e. average number of runs from 100 balls) – so it does not supplant the role of batting average. It is used particularly in [[One-day cricket|limited overs matches]], where the speed at which a batter scores is more important than it is in [[first-class cricket]]. Strike rate may also be used to compare a player's ability to score runs against differing types of bowling (i.e. spin, fast bowling).

===Player rankings===
{{main|ICC Player Rankings}}

A system of player rankings was developed to produce a better indication of players' current standings than is provided by comparing their averages.

==See also==
*[[Cricket statistics]]
*[[Batting average]]
*[[Bowling average]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Batsmen with a Test batting average above 50}}
{{Cricket statistics}}

[[Category:Batting (cricket)]]
[[Category:Cricket records and statistics]]
[[Category:Cricket terminology]]

Batting average (cricket) - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Add new article