Best individual years from a cricketer

[The_CricketUmpire]

Mark Taylor's debut year in Test cricket (1989) - yielded 1219 runs (average = 64.15) was outstanding.

Only two other players: Alistair Cook - 1013 runs in 2006 (average = 46.04) and Adam Voges - 1028 runs in 2015 (average = 85.66) have scored 1000+ runs in their debut year in Test cricket.

 

[mr_mister]

Aravindas '97 test output flies under the radar

Got 3 tons in 3 consecutive innings twice. In April then in August

 

[Burgey]

Tubby Taylor 1219 runs at 64 opening the batting in 1989. Had a great start to his career.

Edit: beaten

 

[_00_deathscar]

Tubby Taylor 1219 runs at 64 opening the batting in 1989. Had a great start to his career.

Edit: beaten

Much like Mark Taylor’s bat

 

[peterhrt]

WG Grace in first-class cricket.

1871. 2739 runs average 78. Next most runs Jupp 1068 av 24. Next best average Daft 565 av 37. Grace scored 10 centuries, nobody else more than one. Also took 79 wickets.

1873. 1805 runs av 72. Next most runs Jupp 1052 av 25. Next best average Daft 416 av 41. Also took 75 wickets. Grace was now 25 and became the first to pass 10,000 runs in first-class cricket. His career average was 61. Next highest career average to date 29.

1876. 2622 runs av 62. Next most runs Lockwood 1261 av 32. Next best average Walter Read 588 av 42. Also took 130 wickets.

1877. Leading wicket-taker with 179 average 12. Also scored most runs, 1474 average 39.

 

[mr_mister]

Grace was a beast. Seems like playing til his 50s kinda crippled his average a bit

I'd thought it sort of hovered around 40 his whole career previously with occasional super strong years. Didn't know he got it as high as 60 overall before the natural decline with age. Makes sense of course but still. Very ahead of his time

Could have had a test average of 50 if he got to play more of them in his youth for that matter

 

[OverratedSanity]

Grace was a beast. Seems like playing til his 50s kinda crippled his average a bit

I'd thought it sort of hovered around 40 his whole career previously with occasional strong years. Didn't know he got it as high as 60 overall before the natural decline with age

He was Bradman-esque until his 30s

 

[wpdavid]

Gooch in 1990

 

[trundler]

Gooch in 1990

Has it been that long for you?

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Many would agree that Sikander Raza is having a great year for himself.

 

[a massive zebra]

Grace was a beast. Seems like playing til his 50s kinda crippled his average a bit

I'd thought it sort of hovered around 40 his whole career previously with occasional super strong years. Didn't know he got it as high as 60 overall before the natural decline with age. Makes sense of course but still. Very ahead of his time

No you couldn't be more wrong here. The true class of Grace shows through when you compare his performances season by season against his leading contemporaries. When he began playing first class cricket, the other leading batsmen were Robert Carpenter, Tom Hayward and Richard Daft. Their career averages were in the mid 20s, although they all achieved multiple seasonal averages of over 30. For around ten years between approximately 1866 and 1876, Grace would routinely be the best batsman in England by a million miles, averaging 50-80 where the next best batsman averaged about 30, and score 5-10 centuries when nobody else managed more than 1.

Between 1866 and 1876, Grace scored 16,264 runs in first class cricket @ 56.66 with 56 centuries. Over this period, the next highest run scorer was Harry Jupp who made 11,000 runs @ 24.88 with 8 centuries and the next highest average (among regular players) was recorded by Richard Daft who made 5,379 runs @ 32.60 with 6 centuries. No one, not even Bradman, has ever achieved a greater level of dominance over their peers.

 

[a massive zebra]

To look at W.G. Grace's dominance another way, these batsmen had scored over 5,000 runs in first class cricket at an average of over 20 by the end of the 1873 season:

W.G. Grace 10,669 runs @ 61.51 with 38 centuries.
Harry Jupp 9,987 runs @ 24.53 with 8 centuries
William Beldham 7,043 runs @ 21.47 with 3 centuries
George Parr 6,626 runs @ 20.20 with 1 century
Richard Daft 6,427 runs @ 29.48 with 6 centuries
Lord Frederick Beauclerk 5,525 runs @ 25.11 with 5 centuries
Bob Carpenter 5,184 runs @ 24.80 with 4 centuries

So the next best batsman ever up to that point averaged less than half as much as Grace and made a mere fraction of the centuries.

 

[ankitj]

Tendulkar in 2010

Came close to beating Yousuf's record for most runs in a calendar year and came very close to 900 rating points. But then NZ tamed him in 2-test series. Ugh.

 

[Sunil1z]

Tendulkar in 2010

Came close to beating Yousuf's record for most runs in a calendar year and came very close to 900 rating points. But then NZ tamed him in 2-test series. Ugh.

Tendulkar was at 885 ratings points after 3rd Test in SA(2011 series). So he could have got 900 ratings points if he didn’t skip WI tour in 2011 and performed well in that tour as he lost around 15 points for skipping that series.

 

[wpdavid]

Has it been that long for you?

Er, OK. I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about.

Anyway, here's another.
Everton Weekes in 1948 scored 878 runs at an average of 87.8, including five consecutive hundreds.

And Jonny Bairstow this year: 1061 runs at 70.7 isn't too shabby.

 

[AndrewB]

Between 1866 and 1876, Grace scored 16,264 runs in first class cricket @ 56.66 with 56 centuries.

He also took 907 wickets @ 14.55.

 

[Coronis]

1930 Bradman 6 tests 978 @ 122.25 4 centuries

 

[Chubb]

Between November 2000 and the end of 2001 Andy Flower scored 1466 runs at 133.27.

Notably both Murray Goodwin and Neil Johnson had left Zimbabwe when he began that run of form.

 

[kingkallis]

1998 - Allan Donald (80 wickets ) & Shaun Pollock ( 69 wickets )

 

[kingkallis]

2007 - Jacques Kallis ( 1242 runs at 86. 42, 20 wickets at 25.75 )