5 best Ashes batsmen for England

4 Ken Barrington

Ken Barrington

One of England's greatest post-war batsmen, Ken Barrington almost always rose to the occasion when he played the Ashes and although he was not on the winning side in any of the 5 series that he played, his run-making against the Australians was quite extraordinary. He was an ultra-attacking batsman in his early years but later on became a far more cautious batsman by curbing his instincts and that led to a further glut of runs.

In total, he played 23 games against Australia and averaged almost 64 across those games, spread across 5 series. He also scored 13 half centuries in the Ashes and in addition to that, his highest career score of 256 also came against Australia in the at Manchester in the 1964 Ashes.

However, what is even more noteworthy is the fact that 4 out of his 5 centuries in the Ashes came in Australia and that is without a doubt, the mark of a batsman who saved his best for when the going got tough.