Fire Starters: The Best Opening Batsmen of All Time

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Most people love sport, in some form or the other. I certainly do. Be it playing a game, watching it or analyzing and over-analyzing random aspects of it. I tend to favour cricket, like most Indians, but am equally passionate about tennis, Formula One and basketball. So I feel fortunate to have a job that allows me to follow sport for a living. And as part of my job, I author a column for Espnstar.

In the columns I try to take an analytical look at any sports discussion that usually comes up at work- who’s the best bowler in the world, should India’s Fab Four retire, how does Lewis Hamilton stack up against former greats, who’s the best tennis player of all-time - you get the idea. And so I was happy to share some of my thoughts in this column for InsIghT. In this piece, I try to figure out the greatest opening batsman in the history of one-day cricket.

 A rating system has been devised to calculate batting points. First, a definition of the criteria-

1. Batsmen who have scored at least 3000 runs in ODI cricket as openers.
2. Only performances as openers are considered in computing averages and strike-rates.
3. A time-adjustment has been made to compare batsmen across eras. Strike-rates and therefore, runs per over have significantly increased over the ages. In the 1970s, the average RPO in ODIs was 3.93. This went up to 4.38 in the 80s, 4.58 in the 90s and 4.87 since the turn of the century. Similarly, averages have also shown an increasing trend, though it is not as pronounced as the increase in strike rates. Therefore, a batsman's average and stike-rate have been adjusted to account for this difference across decades. For example, Desmond Haynes played 69 of his 238 matches as an opener in the 1990s, and the rest in the 1980s. Using the decadal average adjustment, his average is increased by a factor of 1.02 (obtained by the division of the all-time average Avg by the average Avg in the respective decade), and his strike-rate by 1.05. That means his adjusted average is up from 41.4 to 42.4 and his adjusted strike-rate is up from 63.1 to 66.4. 
4. Finally, batting points have been defined as a combination of batting average and strike rate. A simple multiplication of the two factors may be considered, but that would not be completely fair since strike-rates and averages are not measured on the same base. The top 50 all-time ODI run getters have an average Avg of close to 40 and an average SR of about 80. In order to account for this difference, batting points have been defined as Avg * (SR + 40).

This criterion does not include longevity. What that means is, someone like a Ganguly who has scored over 9000 runs as an opener, or Jayasuriya who has scored over 12000 runs are not rewarded for having amassed those many runs. The rationale for that is some players have simply had more opportunities to play in ODIs. As long as a player has scored at least 3000 runs, he is considered good enough to make the cut. However, higher runs scored have been used a tie-breaker in the event of players being within 10 batting points of each other. Here is the list of the top 10 openers of all time.

10. Sourav Ganguly- 4620 points
It might come as a surprise to some to see Ganguly this low on the list. The Prince of Kolkata has 19 tons as an opener at an average of 41.5. But it's his strike-rate that sees him lose out- 73.6, which is low for a player who played his cricket in the late 90s and the 2000s. That gives him an adjusted SR of 72.2 and that's enough for him to just squeeze into this Top Ten list.

9. Gary Kirsten- 4635 points
More famous now as Team India's coach, Gary Kirsten was South Africa's reliable sheet anchor. He was a grafter, often opting for the fine nudges and glances as opposed to taking the aerial route. He finished with 13 centuries with an average of 41.8.

8. Graeme Smith- 4770 points
From one Protea opener to another- Graeme Smith is the modern day hard-hitting aggressive batsman. He took over as South Africa's youngest ever captain in 2003 and has since led from the front. He scores fast, at a strike-rate at 82 at a healthy average of 41. Smith may have been named captain of the ICC Test team of the year, but his impressive ODI record makes him the highest ranked South African on this list.

7. Saeed Anwar- 4788 points
Anwar will always be remembered by Indian fans as the man who always scored big hundreds against them. The biggest of those was 194 in Chennai, which is the highest individual score in ODIs. Anwar also loved playing in Sharjah, where he destroyed a number of bowling attacks. Anwar amassed over 8000 runs as an opener and finished with a fantastic fifty-to-hundred conversion rate, with 37 fifties and 20 tons.

6. Chris Gayle- 4832 points
The numbers seem to indicate that Hurricane Gayle is one of the most under-rated cricketers in today's game. He figures highly in any all-rounders' list and is up at 6 on this list, and it's hard to argue with his average almost touching 42 and his strike-rate in the 80s. There may be doubts on whether or not the Jamaican left-hander should lead the Caribbean national team, but there is no doubting his place in the list of all-time great one-day batsmen.

5. Adam Gilchrist- 4847 points
Gilly revolutionized the game with his unique attacking style and is arguably the most exciting player in the modern game. He finished with a strike-rate of 98 which more than made up for a less than stellar average of 36.5. With his form declining towards the end of his career, Gilchrist proved his mettle with a breathtaking hundred that ‘squashed' the Sri Lankans in the World Cup final.

4. Matthew Hayden- 5019 points
In case you haven't noticed yet, this list seems to be filled with left-handers for some inexplicable reason. Winner of the ICC One-Day Player of the Year in 2007, Matty Hayden is the seventh and final left-hander in the top ten. And with an average in excess of 44 and a strike-rate close to 80, it's not hard to see why.

3. Mark Waugh- 5114 points
In terms of overall batting records considering all positions in the batting order, Mark Waugh is well behind his other Aussie mates. But Junior stepped up his game as opener, his career average of 39.4 went up by almost 5 points when he batted atop the order. He was a terrific strokemaker and opening the innings took him from being just another really good player to a truly great ODI batsman!

2. Gordon Greenidge- 5162 points
Greenidge is one of the guys from yesteryear who would have gone unnoticed if it hadn't been for the decadal adjustment - he had an impressive average of 45.4, but a seemingly meager SR of 65.7. However, Greenidge played at a time when batsmen did not score very fast. He formed the greatest opening combination of the 80s with Desmond Haynes and, while Haynes may have been the highest run-getter at ODIs at one point in time, it's Greenidge's consistency and hard-hitting that sees him at number two on this list.

1. Sachin Tendulkar- 6007 points  
Sachin Tendulkar tops the list with a commanding lead, almost 1000 points clear of his closest rival. 13245 runs as an opener, at an average of 48.2 with 38 centuries and 68 fifties. All that at a prolific strike-rate of 87.4! Not surprisingly, the Master Blaster is miles ahead of the competition amongst all opening batsmen in the history of the One-Day game. But is Tendulkar the greatest batsman in the history of One-Day cricket? That answer comes to you on another day with another list! 

Arvind Iyengar graduated from IITB in 2006. He  worked with McKinsey & Company for a couple of years before joining Espnstar. You can check out his weekly columns here: http://espnstar.com/opinion/columnists/column/item84249/

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