Here are the top 10 batsmen who scored the most Test runs in a calendar year. The list has some exciting players who have made a whole year of Test cricket their own.
No batter yet has ever crossed the mark of 2000 runs in a single year of Test cricket. And the possibility of someone achieving a feat of 2000 Test runs inside a year is less likely as cricketers now have three formats to play.
Considering the last decade, Alastair Cook ruled the 2010s by topping the decade chart for Test runs.
Now, let’s look into the list of players with the maximum runs scored in a single calendar year.
Most Test Runs in a Calendar Year
| PLAYER | RUNS | YEAR | MATCHES | INNINGS | AVERAGE | 100s | HIGH SCORE | NOT OUT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammad Yousuf (PAK) | 1788 | 2006 | 11 | 19 | 99.33 | 9 | 202 | 1 |
| Viv Richards (WI) | 1710 | 1976 | 11 | 19 | 90 | 7 | 291 | 0 |
| Joe Root (ENG) | 1708 | 2021 | 15 | 29 | 61 | 6 | 228 | 1 |
| Graeme Smith (SA) | 1656 | 2008 | 15 | 25 | 72 | 6 | 232 | 2 |
| Michael Clarke (AUS) | 1595 | 2012 | 11 | 18 | 106.33 | 5 | 329* | 3 |
| Sachin Tendulkar (IND) | 1562 | 2010 | 14 | 23 | 78.1 | 7 | 214 | 3 |
| Joe Root (ENG) | 1556 | 2024 | 17 | 31 | 55.57 | 6 | 262 | 3 |
| Ricky Ponting (AUS) | 1544 | 2005 | 15 | 28 | 67.13 | 6 | 207 | 5 |
| Ricky Ponting (AUS) | 1503 | 2003 | 11 | 18 | 100.2 | 6 | 257 | 3 |
| Michael Vaughan (ENG) | 1481 | 2002 | 14 | 26 | 61.70 | 6 | 197 | 2 |
Key Insights
Interestingly, Virat Kohli, who has seven (the most ever) calendar years with 2000+ international runs across formats, didn’t find a place either in this list or ODIs.
The former Australian captain, Michael Clarke, who had a wonderful year in 2012, has the highest average in a calendar year (minimum 1500 runs). He averaged 106.33 while scoring 1595 runs in 18 innings.
2012 was the year Michael Clarke scored the record for the most 200s in a single year. He smashed four double centuries that year.
Graeme Smith’s highest score in 2008 – 232 came against Bangladesh in a world record partnership for the first wicket with Neil McKenzie.
Joe Root, the English record holder for the calendar year run-aggregates in Test cricket, scored two double centuries along with a 186-run knock in 2021. He also scored three other centuries and six fifties in 2021. He missed the second-placed Vivian Richards’ 1976 tally by just two runs.
The seven Test centuries in Viv Richards’ 1710-run tally in 1976 (a record which stood for 30 years) put him along with Ricky Ponting, Aravinda De Silva, and Sachin Tendulkar in the joint second place in the list of players with the most Test centuries within a year.
The year 2006 belonged to two cricketers – Mohammad Yousuf and Muttiah Muralitharan.
Mohammad Yousuf scored 1788 in 2006, which is the maximum number of runs scored in Test cricket in a calendar year. Here’s how Mohammad Yousuf made the year 2006 his own.
Muralitharan, on the other hand, enjoyed the best year of his career that year, in terms of bowling.
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