Cricket

From Babar Azam to Ben Stokes: Top 10 Test run-scorers of 2022

January 3, 2023

Unlike white-ball cricket, the year 2022 did not see a lot of Test fixtures. Only a few series took place last year, most probably due to the major T20 events such as the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup.

As many as 48 matches took place in 2022, which began with Bangladesh’s tour of New Zealand in January. The last two matches were the Boxing Day Tests played amongst South Africa-Australia and Pakistan-New Zealand. While Australia won their match against the Proteas, the contest between Pakistan and New Zealand ended in a draw.

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam finished 2022 as the leading run-getter, amassing over 1100 runs at an outstanding average of 59.94 with the help of four hundreds and seven half-centuries, including 196 being his best score.

Apart from Babar, only three other batters were able to score more than 1000 runs in 2022. While former England captain Joe Root finished at two short of 1100 runs in 15 games, Australian sensation Usman Khawaja scored 1080 runs from 11 matches.

Similarly, England’s explosive batter Jonny Bairstow also had a fantastic last year, scoring 1061 runs in 10 games. Test skipper Ben Stokes too part of this list with 870 runs from 15 matches, including two centuries and four fifties. Interestingly, no Indian batter was in the list of top-10 highest run-scorers in 2022.

Top-10 highest run-getters in Tests in 2022:

Babar Azam (Pakistan)
Matches: 9, Runs: 1184, Average: 69.64, Highest: 196, 100s: 4, 50s: 7
Joe Root (England)
Matches: 15, Runs:1098, Average: 45.75, Highest: 176, 100s: 5, 50s: 2
Usman Khawaja (Australia)
Matches: 11, Runs: 1080, Average: 67.50, Highest: 160, 100s: 4, 50s: 5
Jonny Bairstow (England)
Matches: 10, Runs: 1061, Average: 66.31, Highest: 162, 100s: 6, 50s: 1
Marnus Labuschagne (Australia)
Matches: 11, Runs: 957, Average: 56.29, Highest: 204, 100s: 4, 50s: 1
Steve Smith (Australia)
Matches: 11, Runs: 876, Average: 58.40, Highest: 200*, 100s: 2, 50s: 5
Ben Stokes (England)
Matches: 15, Runs: 870, Average: 36.25, Highest: 120, 100s: 2, 50s: 4
Zak Crawley (England)
Matches: 15, Runs: 844, Average: 30.14, Highest: 122, 100s: 2, 50s: 3
Imam-ul-Haq (Pakistan)
Matches: 8, Runs: 837, Average: 55.80, Highest: 157, 100s: 3, 50s: 3
Abdullah Shafique (Pakistan)
Matches: 9, Runs: 823, Average: 51.43, Highest: 160, 100s: 3, 50s: 2