Fans of vintage West Indies – when they were at their peak – will enjoy this top 9 list monopolised by Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul
The West Indies have produced some of the iconic cricketers we have witnessed on the global stage, outstanding bowlers and incredible batters.
However, based on numbers, who are some of the most sensational West Indian batters to ever wield the willow?
We have listed the top nine run-scorers for the West Indies in Test cricket below.
9. Rohan Kanhai – 6,227 Test runs for West Indies
There aren’t many batters who score a double century as their maiden Test ton, but Rohan Kanhai is not many batters. To show that his 256 against India was not a fluke, Kanhai scored another double hundred, 217, three months later against Pakistan.
The number three batter might not have registered another 200, but he registered 13 more centuries, accompanied by 28 half-centuries, in a fruitful 16-year-long career that connected Gary Sobers’ generation with that of Clive Lloyd.
Kanhai scored 6227 runs in 137 innings at an average of 47.53.
8. Chris Gayle – 7,214 runs Test runs for West Indies
The Universe Boss, as he is known in T20 circles, had a game for every situation. He could close shop and stonewall bowlers, as he did against Australia in Adelaide in 2009. Gayle was at the crease for a marathon seven-hour-long unbeaten 165 to save the match for the West Indies. Then he flipped the switch and blitzed his way to a 70-ball century in the next Test.
In 2010, Gayle scored a masterful 333 against Sri Lanka to become the fourth batter to score two triple centuries in Test cricket. Gayle ended his 14-year Test career, from 2000 to 2014, with 7214 runs in 182 innings at an average of 42.18.
7. Desmond Haynes – 7,487 runs Test runs for West Indies
Haynes had one of the best starts a batter can have in Test cricket. He stared down Jeff Thomson and company as he recorded three consecutive half-centuries in his first three Tests. He added 36 more for a total of 39 half-tons in his six-year-long career. He also added, much more impressively, 18 centuries, with a high score of 184.
He was one-half of one of the West Indies’ most prolific opening partnerships with Gordon Greenidge. Haynes finished his career with 7487 runs in 202 innings at an average of 42.29.
6. Clive Lloyd – 7,515 runs Test runs for West Indies
Sir Clive Lloyd was the first West Indies batter to get 100 Test caps. He is also the most successful Test captain the West Indies have ever had. He had a 26-match unbeaten run that featured an 11-match winning streak.
With the bat, he was a destroyer of bowling attacks. He carved an unbeaten 242 against India in India in 1975 to register his best score in Tests. The double century was one 19 tons he registered in the 19 years he represented the West Indies. He also compiled 39 half-centuries. He ended his career with 7515 runs in 175 innings at an average of 46.9.
5. Gordon Greenidge – 7,558 runs Test runs for West Indies
England had a 341-run lead. David Gower thought his side had enough runs on the board and declared the innings. He had a good reason to be optimistic, England had dismissed the West Indies for 245 in the first innings.
What he hadn’t counted on was that Gordon Greenidge would single-handedly tear down the England bowling attack and leave him with an ignoble record: that loss made Gower the first captain since Norman Yardley, in 1948, to declare and lose the match at Lord’s.
Greenidge scored an unbeaten 214 in that match, the most famous of his four double centuries.
The opener finished his career with 19 centuries and 34 half-centuries. He scored 7558 runs in 185 innings at an average of 44.72.
4. Garry Sobers – 8,032 runs Test runs for West Indies
Garry Sobers bowled left-arm orthodox and wrist spin. He also bowled good medium pacers, and his bowling was the reason he earned his debut. Only a few people had any idea that Sobers would finish his career as one of the West Indies’ highest run-scorers.
Sobers showed his batting mastery when he scythed Pakistan’s bowling attack on his way to an unbeaten 365. The triple century was the first of six hundreds in 10 innings. The left-hander had an incredible conversion rate; he finished his career with 26 centuries and 30 half-centuries. His 8032 runs at an average of 57.78 came in 160 innings.
3. Viv Richards – 8,540 runs Test runs for West Indies
Sir Vivian Richards was one of the most destructive Test batters in the history of the format. He mowed down fast bowlers, sans helmet, and took the game to spinners. Richards had a staid start to his Test career, managing a single ton and a single 50 in his first eight Tests, then he turned on the afterburners.
The West Indian then amassed 1710 runs in his second year of Test cricket, and that was the record for the most runs in a calendar year over the next 30 years. That year was the first of a seven-year-long purple patch that saw Richards average 66 in Test cricket. The former West Indies captain registered his high score of 291 in 1976 against England.
Richards finished his career with 24 centuries and 45 half-centuries on his way to 8540 runs in 182 innings.
2. Shivnarine Chanderpaul – 11,867 runs Test runs for West Indies
Only two West Indian batters have scored more than 10,000 runs in Test cricket, and one of them is Chanderpaul. The middle-order batter had one of the most uncommon batting styles with his crab stance.
The Guyanese batter had a rollicking start to his Test cricket career, registering six half-centuries in his first 10 innings. He registered his highest score, an unbeaten 203, against South Africa in 2005. It was one of 30 centuries, which were accompanied by 66 half-centuries in his 21-year-long Test career. Chanderpaul is one of the most successful batters at number five, and he ended his career with 11867 runs in 280 innings at an average of 51.37.
1. Brian Lara – 11,953 runs Test runs for West Indies
The Recreation Ground in Antigua must have a special place in Brian Lara’s heart. This is where he broke Garry Sobers’ 36-year-old record to register the highest individual score in Test cricket in 1994. The West Indian’s record stood for six years before it was broken by Matthew Hayden, who decimated the Zimbabwe batting lineup on his way to 380.
Lara returned to the Recreation Ground in 2004 and reclaimed his spot at the top of the pile with an unbeaten 400 against England. It was only the tenth quadruple-century in all first-class cricket – this was his second entry, along with his 501 in first-class cricket. A year later, Lara passed Allan Border 11,174 runs to become Test cricket’s most prolific scorer. A record that was later broken by Sachin Tendulkar.
Lara finished his career with 11953 runs at an average of 52.88 in 232 innings. His 16-year-long career featured 34 centuries and 48 half-centuries.
Read next: Did Chris Gayle get named in this West Indies’ best Test XI of the past 40 years?