Top 5 Batsmen with Highest Striking Average in ODI Cricket

Top 5 Batsmen with Highest Striking Average in ODI Cricket: ODI format is that captivating form of the game which has produced some of the most extraordinarily swashbuckling talented breed of cricket batters you could ever see.

The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, Vivian Richards, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, and Sourav Ganguly are some of the extravagant names which have glittered the format chivalrously.

Average and strike rate are the two critical virtues to judge about the success and stamp of a batsmen’s abilities in the game of cricket. If a batsman holds a top notch average but has a relatively lower strike rate, then he cannot win you matches. At the same time, if a someone holds a belligerent strike rate but a mediocre level of consistency (average), then he is nothing more than a one inning wonder. So, we make an elusive list which is one of its own kind by combining both the virtues of a batter in ODI cricket.

Let’s have a look at the Top 5 Batsmen with Highest Striking Average in ODI Cricket. (Minimum 100 matches):

*Points = (Average + Strike Rate/2)

5. Sir Vivian Richards (West Indies) – 68.5 points:

There is hardly any list on ODI batsmen in which this legendary calypso king, Sir Vivian Richards doesn’t feature. In his days, he was like a swagger who walked across the stumps to whip the fast bowlers over square leg in absolute disarray or majestically lofted the ball over the extra cover. He was a great improviser and had an exuberant repertoire of strokes in his armor. Mind you, those bowlers were the likes of Imran Khan, Denis Lillee, Wasim Akram, Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham who were no mug with the ball on lively tracks.

In an era where the average strike rate of the batters was 65 and average of top 7 batsmen were 29, this eccentric cricketer possessed a devastating strike rate of 90 and impeccable average of 47 which highlights his towering greatness and supremacy. He was a big match player and who knows this better than the Australians whom he slaughtered all around the park in his marathon knock 138 in the 1979 World Cup final at a strike rate of 87. This guy has left behind a great legacy and only his name is enough to boast the ghost of vengeance and menace in the opponents mind.