Remembering Bradman: The top 10 Test batting ratings

Ben Stokes produced one of the best fourth-innings knocks ever seen in Test cricket this week, and Kusal Perera arguably topped it against South Africa when he hit an unbeaten 153 against South Africa in February, far away from the spotlight of the British tabloids. 

But while taking nothing away from these innings, incredible and memorable as both were, modern day Test batting is still dominated by the likes of Steve Smith, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson. 

On what is the 111th anniversary of the birth of Sir Donald Bradman, it seems only fitting to ask the question: where do these players rank among the all-time greats?

Comparison across generations is difficult – the game has changed drastically over the years – but perhaps the best tool for comparison is the official ICC Player Rankings to discover the batsmen who, at their absolute peak, earned ratings points that propelled them beyond the very good and into the cream of the crop. 

The ICC's top 10 of all time is an analysis of the highest batting peaks in Test history, which the ICC itself explains as "snapshots of greatness … it's not so much how high a player gets as how long he stays there".

1. Sir Donald Bradman (Aus)
Top rating: 961 v India, Feb 10, 1948

No surprises that Bradman tops the list here, but what's more interesting is that the Boy from Bowral's peak period came in the final year of his career. So what did Bradman do to become the only player in Test history to push beyond 950 ICC ratings points? Well the legendary right-hander played 15 of his 52 Tests after WWII, returning to Test cricket with scores 187 and 234 in consecutive Tests in the summer of 1946-47. Three matches then passed in which he didn't reach triple figures before the visit of India the following summer, against whom he made 185 in the first Test, 13 in the second, 132 and 127no in the third (the only time in his career he did the century double), 201 in the fourth and 57no in the fifth. The final Test finished on February 10, with the Don's devastating run streak duly recognised with the historic rating of 961.

2. Steve Smith (Aus)
Top rating: 947 v England, December 30, 2017

Steve Smith's run-scoring spree in this 2019 Ashes series saw him quickly rise in the ICC rankings but even his twin tons at Edgbaston couldn't bring him near his best-ever ranking that made him officially the 'best since Bradman' in December 2017. He'd put himself into the all-time top 10 early in 2017 with centuries at home against Pakistan and away against India. Those run-scoring feats continued into the 2017-18 Ashes series at home where he continued his imperious form, making an unbeaten 141 in the first Test and 239 in the third Test. That had lifted him to 945 points to equal Sir Len Hutton, but then his 76 and unbeaten 102 in the Boxing Day Test took him to the peak of 947.

3. Sir Len Hutton (Eng)
Top rating: 945 v West Indies, April 3, 1954

Hutton is best remembered for the stunning 364 he made as a 22-year-old in just his sixth Test, but it was almost 16 years after that knock when he hit his absolute peak, according to the ratings system. Taking on the West Indies in the Caribbean in a five-match series that was drawn 2-2, Hutton made 72 and 77 in a losing cause in the second Test as England slipped to defeats in the opening two matches. His 169 in the third Test was the only hundred of the match in an England win, and he backed it up with a stunning 205 in the fifth and final Test – an innings ranked by Wisden in 2001 as the 60th best of all time.

=4. Sir Jack Hobbs (Eng)
Top rating: 942 v Australia, August 23, 1912

Hobbs' top rating came just four-and-a-half years into his legendary career, and interestingly followed a string of half-centuries as opposed to big hundreds like the aforementioned pair. That said, the Englishman had managed scores of 187, 126no, 187, 178 and 107 in the 11 Tests leading up to his lofty rating of 942, which came immediately after his 66 was the top first-innings score in England's Ashes-winning effort in August 1912.

=4. Ricky Ponting (Aus)
Top rating: 942 v England, December 5, 2006

Devastated by Ashes defeat in 2005, Ponting bounced back stronger than ever when he had his shot at retribution against the Old Enemy in the summer of 2006-07. He began with a stunning 196 in the first innings of the first Test in Brisbane to set the tone for the series, backed it up with 60no in the second innings and then made 142 and 49 as the series moved to Adelaide. During that second hundred, made in his 108th Test, his average touched 60, and his stunning run of form was recognised with the equal-third highest Test batting rating ever.

6. Peter May (Eng)
Top rating: 941 v Australia, August 27, 1956

The least decorated batsman on this list, May nonetheless scaled serious heights when his double of 83no and 37no helped England draw the fifth Test of the 1956 Ashes, handing them a 2-1 series win. Prior to that, he'd made three hundreds and five fifties in his previous nine Tests. One of those centuries – a second-innings 112 against South Africa at Lord's a year earlier – gave the home side a remarkable come-from-behind win, and came in at No.61 when Wisden released its top 100 Test innings in 2001.

=7 Kumar Sangakkara (SL)
Top rating: 938 v England, December 5, 2007

Sangakkara was halfway through a Test career that produced a record number of runs for Sri Lanka when he matched the above West Indian trio on 938 ratings points. The prolific left-hander had an extraordinary 2007, going on a run of seven hundreds in nine Tests against five different nations. It began with his famous 287 against South Africa, as part of a world record partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, then continued against the Black Caps with unbeaten scores of 100 and 156. Against Bangladesh, he made 200no and 222no, plundered 57 and 192 in Hobart against Australia, then finished off with 92 and 152 against England in Kandy. In all, Sangakkara had piled on 1529 runs – more than 12 per cent of his career tally of 12,400 – at 152.90 in just 14 innings.

=7. Sir Clyde Walcott (WI)
Top rating:  938 v Australia, June 15, 1955

The first batsman to appear outside of traditional powerhouses of Australia and England, Walcott reigned as one of the three 'W's for the West Indies alongside Sir Everton Weekes and Sir Frank Worrell during the 1950s. It was in the middle of that decade that the sometimes keeper-batsman hit his ratings high, courtesy of a runs spree against Australia in the Caribbean. Remarkably, in a five-match series that the Australians won 3-0, Walcott scored five hundreds, with his string of scores reading: 108 & 39, 126 & 110, 8 & 73, 15 & 83, 155 & 110.

=7. Sir Vivian Richards (WI)
Top rating: 938 v England, March 31, 1981

What's a top 10 batting list without the Master Blaster? Richards wielded his willow with supremacy for some 17 years in Test cricket, and it was six-and-a-half years after his debut that his ICC batting rating reached rare air. After the No.3 posted a seven-hour unbeaten 120 in a tense Test in Pakistan in which only the hosts captain, Javed Miandad (57), also passed 50, he returned to the Caribbean and produced two hundreds in three Tests against England. The first was a devastating 182no from 256 balls that set up a comfortable win (ranked 69th on Wisden's Top 100 Test innings in 2001), while the second was a more measured 114 in a drawn affair in Antigua, the result sealing a series win for the hosts.

=7 Sir Garfield Sobers (WI)
Top rating: 938 v India, January 17, 1967

Sobers had passed 50 in nine of his past 11 Test innings when his ICC rating hit 938 – the equal-seventh highest of all time. A run of five consecutive half-centuries in India, two of them unbeaten, was preceded by a superb series in England in 1966, when arguably the greatest allrounder of them all made scores of 161, 46 & 163no, 3 & 94, 174, 81 & 0 to take his team to a memorable series victory, considered by many to be his finest hour.

Looking for Kohli, Williamson or even Joe Root? You won't find them in this list – which should tell you plenty. Kohli comes in at No.11 on the all-time list with his highest rating of 937 points coming against England in August 2018. Root ranks 22nd on the list with his peak coming in the 2015 Ashes on home soil when he reached 917 points while Williamson has a best of 915 rating points which he achieved against Sri Lanka last December.

*All rankings courtesy of the ICC's official rankings system

2019 Qantas Ashes Tour of England

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner.

England squad: Joe Root (c), Moeen Ali, Jimmy Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes (vc), Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.

First Test: Australia won by 251 runs at Edgbaston

Second Test: Match drawn at Lord's

Third Test: England won by one wicket at Headingley

Tour match: Australians v Derbyshire, August 29-31

Fourth Test: September 4-8, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: September 12-16, The Oval