Cricket is a competitive sport that demands consistency. Players who make the squad or team are chosen based on their batting and bowling skills. Batters are tasked with scoring runs at an optimum pace depending on the format. While it is rare to see each batter score a lot of runs in every match, the selectors and coaching staff keep an eye on how regularly a batter steps up and performs.
In any tier of cricket, one of the statistics of a batter that is kept in check is his or her average. This number determines the mean number of runs that a batter is scoring of all the matches that he or she has so far played. It is calculated by dividing the number of career runs the batter has scored and divided by the number of times they were dismissed. For example, if a batter has scored 600 runs in 10 matches and was dismissed in each of these innings, their average would be 60. But if the batter was not out in four of these innings, then the batting average rises to 100.
While remaining not out can increase the batter’s average, this metric comes into question when used for tail-enders. These are batters who specialize in bowling and hence come lower in the batting order. Since they come later in the innings, there is a chance they remain not out for a low score at the end of the innings. This leads to their average getting inflated. However, it is not quite a reflection of their batting ability.
The highest batting average in men’s test cricket is that if Don Bradman. It is the infamous 99.94, a number that remains unsurpassed. Virat Kohli’s average of 57.88 after batting in 290 innings is the highest for that tier in One Day International. Furthermore, for players having batted in an at least 100 innings, Kohli’s tally of 48.69 is the highest in the T20 format.
In a career where she batted in 44 innings, Janette Brittins’ scored a mean of 49.61 runs which is the highest among women who played in at least 25 test matches. Austrlia’s Meg Lanning batted in 102 matches in One Day Internationals and averages 53.51. Lanning’s compatriot Beth Mooney has an impressive average of 42.26 among women who have played at least 100 T20 matches.
