Jimmy Neesham’s average of 277.00: Highest average achieved by a New Zealand batsman

The batting average achieved by Neesham is the ninth highest average achieved in a Test career.

 

Jimmy Neesham, during his century knock against West Indies reached an average of 277.00 before he was dismissed. His average is the highest achieved by a New Zealand batsman. Bharath Seervi provides a statistical analysis on highest averages achieved in Test cricket.

 

Having scored back-to-back centuries in his first two Tests, Jimmy Neesham has written his name into record books by reaching an average of 277.00 in his career. Neesham had scored 33 and 137 not out in his debut Test against India at Wellington in February earlier this year.

 

Thus he averaged 170.00 before his second Test which was against West Indies at Kingston. Batting at No 6, he added another 107 runs to his tally before being dismissed. Hence his average reached 277.00 before he walked back to the pavilion.

 

Neesham’s batting average of 277.00 is the highest achieved by any New Zealand batsman at any point in Test career. He overcame Hamish Marshall, who was averaging 255.00 before he was dismissed in the first inning of his third Test. The table below lists the highest batting averages achieved by the Kiwi batsmen.

 

Highest batting average achieved by any New Zealand batsman:

 

Batsman	Avg	Scores	Period
Jimmy Neesham	277	33, 137*, 107	2014
Hamish Marshall	255	40*, 69, 146	2000-2005
Mathew Sinclair	222	214, 8	1999-2000
Hamish Rutherford	194	171, 23	2013
Tim McIntosh	194	34, 24*, 136	2008

 

The batting average achieved by Neesham is the ninth highest average achieved by any player in a Test career. The highest average achieved by a player in his Test career is 336 by Lawrence Rowe who had scored 214, 100 not out and 22 runs in his first three Test innings. There are four others who managed to pull up their average above 300. Below is the table listing the highest averages in Test career.

 

Highest batting average achieved by a player in Test career:

 

Batsman	Team	Avg	Scores	Period
Lawrence Rowe	West Indies	336	214, 100*, 22	1972
David Lloyd	England	308	46, 214*, 48	1974
Tip Foster	England	306	287, 19	1903
Jacques Rudolph	South Africa	303	222*, 71	2003
Ian Bell	England	303	70, 65*, 162*, 6	2004
Rohit Sharma	India	302	177, 111*, 14	2013
Frank Worrell	West Indies	294	97, 28*, 131*, 38	1948
Faf du Plessis	South Africa	293	78, 110*, 78*, 27	2012
Jimmy Neesham	New Zealand	277	33, 137*, 107	2014
Yasir Hameed	Pakistan	275	170, 105	2003

 

With  Neesham setting up a new record for New Zealand, below is the list of highest averages achieved by a batsman for each Test team.

 

Highest averaged achieved by batsmen for each Test team:

 

Batsman	Team	Avg	Scores	Period
Shaun Marsh	Australia	222	141, 81	2011
Aminul Islam	Bangladesh	151	145, 6	2000
David Lloyd	England	308	46, 214*, 48	1974
Rohit Sharma	India	302	177, 111*, 14	2013
Jimmy Neesham	New Zealand	277	33, 137*, 107	2014
Yasir Hameed	Pakistan	275	170, 105	2003
Brendan Kuruppu	Sri Lanka	223	201*, 19, 3	1987-1988
Jacques Rudolph	South Africa	303	222*, 71	2003
Lawrence Rowe	West Indies	336	214, 100*, 22	1972
Dave Houghton	Zimbabwe	198	121, 41*, 36	1992

 

(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)

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