Ranking the world's top 10 Test cricketers

Australian skipper Steve Smith is widely considered to be the best Test cricketer in the world, but if you had to pick a top 10, who would take up the other nine spots and in what order?

My assessment is based on Test cricket over the past three years, with the stats quoted next to each player corresponding to that period.

1. Steve Smith (Australia, 28) – 4047 runs at 74, 17 centuries, 36 Tests
What needs to be explained, really? Smith is dominating the Test format like only a handful of cricketers ever have in more than a century of its existence. What’s most impressive about Smith is the way he flourishes away from home. Over the past three years he has, incredibly, averaged 64 on the road, with eight tons from 18 Tests.

2. Virat Kohli (India, 29) – 3157 runs at 64, 12 centuries, 33 Tests
It’s hard to split Kohli and Mitchell Starc. This was an easier choice until Kohli flopped at home against Australia earlier this year, but that failure brought him back to the field. Like Smith, Kohli is brilliant at adapting to foreign conditions, having averaged 55 with the bat away from home the past three years, with five tons from 14 Tests.

Kohli’s performance in Australia three summers ago was astonishing – 692 runs at an average of 86, including four tons from four Tests. This year’s series against Australia aside, the Indian captain has a knack for scoring runs just when his team most need them. This is a habit he will need to continue over the next year as India take on the frightfully difficult challenge of playing 12 Tests in South Africa, England and Australia.

3. Mitchell Starc (Australia, 27) – 124 wickets at 25, 667 runs at 21, 26 Tests
A 197cm left-armer who swings the ball at up to 154kmh, Starc adds invaluable variety to any bowling attack. Starc rarely has a quiet Test, capable of taking wickets in clusters even when he’s not on song. Most importantly, when assessing his overall value, Starc is effective in Australia or on the road, an incredibly rare talent in this age of cricketers who are kings at home and paupers away.

Over the past three years, Starc has grabbed 57 wickets at 21 across his 12 Tests in England, Sri Lanka, India and the West Indies. Adding to Starc’s value is his generous ability with the blade – he has cracked six half centuries, including three away from home in England and India.

(AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

4. Ravi Ashwin (India, 31) – 197 wickets at 24, 1161 runs at 27, 34 Tests
Based purely on numbers, Ashwin deserves to be positioned above Starc – he’s comfortably scored more runs and taken more wickets at better averages. What raw stats don’t reveal is that Ashwin is far less effective than Starc across a variety of conditions.

Unbelievably, 92 per cent of Ashwin’s career wickets have been taken in Asia or the Caribbean, where pitches now tend to be similar to Asian decks – dry and spin friendly. Across his career, Ashwin has taken just 24 wickets at an average of 57 from his Tests outside those countries, in Australia, England and South Africa. With 12 Tests in these nations over the next 13 months, Ashwin has a chance to correct that record.

5. Ben Stokes (England, 26) – 2150 runs at 38, 5 centuries, 73 wickets at 34
This is probably the most controversial placement on my list. But Stokes’ lofty ranking is reflective of two things – the heavy weighting I give to players who perform well away from home, and the enormous value of a true all-rounder, one who arguably could be picked based on their batting or bowling alone.

Stokes is now England’s third-best batsman after Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow. He’s also England’s third-best quick, clearly a better bowler across all conditions than home-track bully Chris Woakes. Every Test team in the world is scrambling to find someone who can justify a spot in their top six on batting alone while also being an effective bowler. But only two men in world cricket fit this criteria – Stokes and Bangladesh talisman Shakib al-Hasan.

Away from home over the past three years, Stokes has averaged 37 with the bat and 33 with the ball, with tons in India and South Africa, a five-wicket haul in India, and four-fors in the UAE and South Africa.

6. Kagiso Rabada (South Africa, 22) – 102 wickets at 23, 22 Tests
Bowlers win Tests and Rabada is the most natural wicket taker in the format, owning an extraordinary strike rate of 39.8. Among bowlers with at least 100 wickets in the history of Test cricket, only one man has a better figure and that’s Englishman George Lohmann, whose career finished 121 years ago.

As another measure of just how good Rabada is at this early stage of his career, consider that Australian legend Glenn McGrath after 22 Tests had nine less wickets and averaged 25.8 versus Rabada’s 22.7.

Not to mention that Rabada is only 22 years old, four years younger than McGrath was at that same stage. It’s truly frightening to think just how good Rabada can become.

(AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

7. Kane Williamson (New Zealand, 27) – 2576 runs at 66, 9 centuries, 26 Tests
The Kiwi skipper has the major disadvantage of representing a team which doesn’t get to play anywhere near as many Tests as the likes of Australia, England and India. Over the past three years, Williamson’s only been afforded 26 Tests, compared to English skipper Joe Root’s tally of 41 matches.

But Williamson has made the most of his limited opportunities, averaging 68 at home and 64 away in that period. With four tons from 11 Tests on the road in that time he’s underscored his ability to prosper in foreign conditions.

8. Joe Root (England, 26) – 3767 runs at 53, 8 centuries, 41 Tests
Root’s inability to convert half centuries into tons is well publicised, and is a key reason why he isn’t higher up this list. He is, however, an extremely consistent batsman, with his current struggles in the Ashes being a rare bad series for the Englishman.

Root has had generous success outside of England over the past three years, averaging 50 on the road, including 55 in Sout Africa, 57 in the UAE, and 49 in India.

9. Shakib al Hasan (Bangladesh, 30) – 1065 runs at 46, 2 centuries, plus 48 wickets at 35, 14 Tests
A freakishly talented cricketer, the Bangladeshi all-rounder gets to play a minuscule amount of Test cricket compared to players from the more powerful teams. The fact he’s only played 14 Tests in the past three years is unfortunate, and also makes it harder to judge him against his contemporaries.

Shakib was hugely impressive against Australia in two Tests in Bangladesh earlier this year, taking 12 wickets at 22, as well as making a very important 84 as the Tigers won the first match. He is a genuine top six batsman who looks equally comfortable whether trying to blunt an attack or demolish it. With the ball, Shakib is precise and crafty.

10. Jonny Bairstow (England, 28) – 2472 runs at 45, 4 centuries, 34 Tests
Bairstow has been the seventh-highest runscorer in Test cricket over the past three years while becoming a tidy keeper. He is now clearly England’s second-best batsman after Root due to his ability to make runs both away from home and against the world’s three best bowling attacks – Australia, South Africa and India.

Bairstow made 359 runs at 72 in South Africa two years ago, 352 runs at 44 in India last year and has been a shining light for England in this current Ashes, with 241 runs at 40. In terms of Test wicketkeepers, Bairstow is ever so marginally ahead of Sout Africa’s Quentin de Kock and New Zealand’s vastly underrated BJ Watling.

Honourable mentions: Quentin de Kock (South Africa), Josh Hazlewood (Australia), Vernon Philander (South Africa), James Anderson (England), and Dale Steyn (South Africa).