2016: The highest run scorers to date

With a couple of big Test series recently run and won, and summer fast approaching, we thought it was timely to provide a 2016 update as to the most prolific performers with the bat so far.

Quick Single: 2016 - Top 10 wicket takers to date

(minimum one Test played)

Joe Root (Eng) 1,701 runs at 54.87 in 28 matches. 4x100s, 10x50s. HS: 254

Runs breakdown – Test: 888 at 55.50. ODI: 522 at 65.25. T20: 291 at 41.57

At 25, Joe Root is the youngest of the new generation of batsmen currently dominating the international game. Which perhaps makes him the most exciting. The Englishman is the second-leading run-scorer in both Tests and ODIs, having scored a pair of centuries in each format. The best of the lot was his 254 against Pakistan at Old Trafford, a 10-hour epic, which reaffirmed his status as England's captain-in-waiting, while his whirlwind 83 off 44 in the World T20 to help his side chase down 230 against England was on a level that few batsmen on the planet can reach. 

Steve Smith (Aus) 1,302 runs at 46.50 in 29 matches. 3x100s, 8x50s. HS: 149

Runs breakdown – Test: 509 at 63.62. ODI: 620 at 47.69. T20: 173 at 24.71

Smith's golden run began in 2013 and it's continued almost unhampered into 2016. The Australia skipper managed his first Test hundred in Asia in Colombo just this week, going past Ricky Ponting as the youngest Australian to 4,000 Test runs in the process. And while it was far from the 27-year-old's happiest tour, he was still Australia's leading run-scorer and extend his run of consecutive Test series with at least one century to seven. A classy and inventive 149 agaisnt India in Perth in January was his finest hand no the 50-over game, while his 61 not out against Pakistan kept Australia alive in the World T20. 

Virat Kohli (Ind) 1,257 runs at 89.78 in 21 matches. 3x100s, 9x50s. HS: 200

Runs breakdown – Test: 251 at 62.75. ODI: 381 at 76.20 T20: 625 at 125

Already recognised as the ODI master, Kohli has added the title of T20 king to his reputation in 2016 after a string of stunning performances in the ICC World T20. It was the second time in succession Kohli was the leading run-scorer at the showpiece T20 event, with the Indian run machine almost single-handedly seeing his side through to the semi-finals of the tournament. To date, India's Test skipper has only had four trips to the middle in the Test format, but the first of those was a wonderful double hundred. And in ODIs, he remains the best in his craft, making two hundreds and two fifties in just five innings (all away against Australia) at an average of 76 and a strike-rate of 99. 

Hashim Amla (SA) 1,196 runs at 62.94 in 21 matches. 4x100s, 7x50s. HS: 201

Runs breakdown – Test: 451 at 90.20. ODI: 437 at 43.70. T20: 308 at 77

Amla finds fewer headlines than the three men above him but one senses that's just the way he likes it. The silky South African has been Mr Consistent across all three forms in 2016, with only volume of cricket keeping him from being higher up this list. His near-12-hour 201 against England during a turbulent time for his country's cricket team was a captain's knock of the highest calibre, and he backed it up at Centurion with a magnificent double of 109 and 96. Two hundreds and two fifties in 11 ODIs, and four half-centuries in just seven T20 innings underlines the fact that this is a man for all formats and all situations. 

Alex Hales (Eng) 1,166 runs at 35.33 in 26 matches. 2x100s, 9x50s. HS: 133no

Runs breakdown – Test: 537 at 28.26. ODI: 520 at 74.28. T20: 109 at 15.57

Second to only Root among his compatriots on this list, Hales' ODI form has been a revelation for England this year, which has likely paved the way for his extended opportunities in the Test side, in which his record is far less flattering. Brutal and belligerent at his best, Hales is topped only by Smith and Root in 2016 in ODI runs, having begun the year with four straight half-centuries - including a 99 - against the Proteas and finishing that series with a deserved hundred. Another followed against Sri Lanka, and it will be interesting to see which way the big-hitting right-hander goes under the coaching of Trevor Bayliss; a limited-overs blaster or a batsman capable of adapting his game effectively to Test cricket as well. 

Dinesh Chandimal (SL) 1,153 runs at 36.03. 3x100s, 7x50s. HS: 132

Runs breakdown – Test: 422 at 38.36. ODI: 420 at 60. T20: 311 at 22.21

A fighting century in Colombo that his coach described as his finest ever was – so far – the apogee of what's been an important year for Chandimal, with the right-handed middle-order batsman having to help skipper Angelo Mathews fill the shoes of giants Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena. It was Chandimal's seventh Test ton and second of the year, after his superb 126 against England at Chester-le-Street. In the ODI game, he's been in super touch; from eight innings, he'd made a century and eight fifties. In T20 cricket, he's been Sri Lanka's most productive run-scorer, but it's in the Test match environment that his country needs him to stand up regularly, home and away, and the signs are good so far in 2016 that that will indeed be the case. 

Jonny Bairstow (Eng) 1,046 runs at 69.03 in 16 matches. 3x100s, 4x50s. HS: 167no

Runs breakdown – Test: 992 at 76.30. ODI: 54 at 27. T20: NA

Bairstow was phenomenal on the county circuit in 2015 and he's been successful in transferring that form into the international arena in his second life as a Test cricketer. England have played more Test cricket than anyone this year and Bairstow has been in phenomenal touch, striking 992 runs to lead all comers. Only six players in Test cricket to have posted three 140-plus scores while playing as a wicketkeeper, a feat the ginger-haired Englishman has managed in a single year. And while he's only really dipped his toes into limited-overs international cricket (17 ODIs, 20 T20Is), the aggression with which he bats in Test cricket suggests a productive career in those formats is only a matter of time. 

Kane Williamson (NZ) 1,042 runs at 49.61 in 21 matches. 1x100, 9x50s. HS: 113

Runs breakdown – Test: 414 at 69.00. ODI: 245 at 35.00. T20: 383 at 47.87

Williamson plundered 113 in the second Test against Zimbabwe earlier this month, a feat that in and of itself doesn't necessarily appear so impressive. But it was the fact that he'd already scored centuries against all other Test nations – a day before his 26th birthday – that made hundred No.14 the icing on the cake. None of the other dozen players to have posted centuries against all Test countries had done it before they'd turned 30. With Brendon McCullum's retirement, the right-hander has added the responsibility of captain to his status as the Black Caps' best batsman, and given his importance to the side in all three formats, his brilliance will be tested as he shoulders a considerable burden in the coming years.

David Warner (Aus) 1,020 at 40.80 in 23 matches. 3x100s, 5x50s. HS: 122no

Runs breakdown – Test: 324 at 36. ODI: 511 at 63.87. T20: 185 at 23.12

Warner began the calendar year with a Test hundred on his home patch in Sydney, and while lean tours of New Zealand and Sri Lanka followed in the Test format, he has continued to grow as a batsman in ODIs. Off the back of a stunning IPL campaign, Warner was Australia's best in the tri-series in the Caribbean, striking his sixth ODI ton and second of the year. It says a lot about the dynamic left-hander that his failures often transfer into team failures; the 3-0 humbling in Sri Lanka, and the failed World T20 tournament both saw Warner well below his best. But with his 30th birthday in October, he could well be entering into the most fruitful part of his international career. 

Martin Guptill (NZ) 1,013 runs at 46.04 in 20 matches. 1x100, 8x50s. HS: 102

Runs breakdown – Test: 219 at 31.28. ODI: 402 at 57.42. T20: 392 at 49.00

The explosive Black Caps opener could hardly make a run in Tests against Australia last summer but he's been in irresistible form in the shorter versions, where he seems at his most comfortable. A particularly clean striker of the ball, Guptill has bullied plenty of attacks this year and was especially destructive on his home patch against Sri Lanka and Pakistan in both ODIs and T20s. Scores of 102, 90, 82 and 59 in seven ODI innings highlight the kind of form he's been in, though a blockbusting 80 from 48 against Pakistan was his lone big contribution at the World T20.