Players with at least 100 Tests whose average never dropped below 40

As far as batting statistics are concerned, the career average of a batsman is perhaps the one number that gives anyone a fairly clear idea about his prowess. Needless to say, a batsman who has played at least a 100 Test matches must have peaks and troughs, as is the case in a long career in any sports.

Hence, at some points in his career, a batsman's average might drop below a certain threshold. In the case of Test batting, 40 is regarded as a decent average and there are a handful of such batsmen who did not let their career average drop below that threshold during their long careers. Even at their worst, they were not that poor. Here is a look at five of those batsmen. In fact, there are no others.

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#5 Sourav Ganguly

When anyone talks about consistency in Test match batting then the former Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly perhaps does not come to everyone’s minds. The middle-order batsman might not have had a particularly high career average (42.18) and may have suffered from difficulties with the moving ball and the short balls, but he never performed below a certain level.

Ganguly played 118 Test matches for India in a career spanning around 12 years (1996-2008) and the lowest career average that he ever had in his career was 40.42. So he did not score many big hundreds but Ganguly was not one who got into a sustained run of bad scores.

#4David Gower

David Gower

Gower is often regarded as one of the greatest batsmen to have been produced by England and in his 117 Test career, David Gower enthralled crowds with his silken strokeplay. Over the course of his career, he became typecast as a moody sort of player, who might end up doing poorly for no discernible reason.

Gower acknowledged as much in an interview, "I was never destined to be on the ball 100% of the time. I don't have the same ability that Graham Gooch has, to produce something very close to his best every time he plays.”

Naturally, he had his bad patches in his career but the left-hander never let his career average dip below 40.53 and therein lies one of the reasons for his greatness. Even when he was not in his best touch he was better than many but at the same time, his temperamental streak perhaps meant that he could only clock a career average of only 44.25.

#3 Alastair Cook

Alastair Cook

Once he finally hangs up his boots, Alastair Cook will go down in history as one of the great opening batsmen in the history of Test cricket. Much of it will have to do with his technique, temperament, defensive excellence, the ability to play marathon innings and also his consistency.

Needless to say, like all other batsmen he has had horrible patches of form as well and many of those have come in the past 5 years.

That being said, his heavy scoring during the good patches of form and general ability to dig in despite not being in good form has ensured that his average never dropped below 40.88 at any point in his career. He has recorded a career average of 45.73.

It is also important to point out that Cook has played as many as 154 Test matches in his career and hence, the fact that he never averaged below 40.88 is truly a remarkable achievement.

#2 Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar

The former Indian great is perhaps the greatest opening batsman to have played the game in the last 70 years and Sunil Gavaskar’s Test record is something that inspires admiration even among those who never watched him bat.

His superb technique, hunger for runs, patience and ability to score runs on the most treacherous tracks made him the great batsman that he was.

His career spanned 125 Test matches stretched over a period of 16 years (1971 to 1987) and for much of that period, he remained the world’s premier batsman. Gavaskar averaged 51.12 during the course of his career but what makes him an even better batsman is the fact that he never averaged less than 47.70 at any point in his career.

That is an average that is more than the career average of many excellent batsmen and it is only natural that he is still considered one of the greatest batsmen to have played Test cricket.

#1 Javed Miandad

Javed Miandad

If anyone wants to talk about the gold standard of Pakistani batting, then it is very difficult to look beyond Javed Miandad. He was arguably the world’s greatest batsman in the 1980s and remains one of the greatest batsmen to have played the game.

In addition to that, Javed Miandad was the proverbial run machine during major parts of his 124 Test long career, spanning 17 years (1976-1993).

He had a technique of his own but it worked all over the world and that is exemplified in his career average of 52.57. However, what makes him an even more uniquely consistent batsman is that his career average never actually dropped below 51.75.

Maintaining that level of consistency and keeping his career average of 51 during the course of 124 Test matches is a stupendous achievement. It is no surprise that Javed is still talked about for being one of the greatest batsmen to have played Test cricket.