Most and least wins in Test matches

These are for all Tests up to 30 Sep 2022 (except the ICC XI v Aus Test in 2005).

A total of 1888 players have played in 5 or more Tests.

It is easy enough to see who have seen the most wins. That is given in the next table. Naturally, this depends on how many Tests the player got to play in.

The first 4 are from the great Australian teams of the mid-1990s to the 2000s, headed by RT Ponting with 107. Next is SK Warne with 91.

The best by a current player is JM Anderson in 6th place with 78, followed by his partner SCJ Broad in 8th/11th place with 72.

The best by an Indian player is also 72 by SR Tendulkar (sharing the 8th/11th position with Broad, Gilchrist and Mark Waugh).

But it is more interesting to see those who did the best on a percentage basis, as we will see below.

These are those who have seen wins in all of their Tests.

It is a short list with only 4 names. The first name may not be familiar to many cricket followers of today.

Eldine Baptiste, who played in a strong West Indies team of the 1980s, saw wins in all 10 of his Tests. There are three others with 100% records in 5 Tests, and they are not particularly well-known.

GJ Bailey was more successful in limited-over matches than in Tests, and had captained Australia in 29 ODIs. His only Tests were in the Ashes whitewash of 2013-2014.

KA Archer is the elder brother of the better-known RG Archer.

Lord Hawke was a rather undistinguished batsman but got Test opportunities mainly because only amateurs could captain England in those days.

Now we look at a longer list of 38 players who saw wins in at least 75% of their Tests:

Note current players such as AR Patel and J Yadav who have 5 wins and 1 draw, giving a win percentage of 83.33 %. The only other Indian player with 5/6 is KK Nair.

And what about those who saw the least wins ?

A total of 165 players did not see any win in their careers of 5 Tests or more.

Here we list those who played 12 or more Tests without seeing a win:

The first name of B Sutcliffe of New Zealand is rather unexpected, as he was probably NZ’s best batsman for most of his 42-Test career. NZ did win a few Tests during his career, although he missed those matches. After him there is BC Strang of Zimbabwe who played in 26 Tests.

No current player here. The most Tests by an Indian player are 18 by BK Kunderan followed by 12 by PG Joshi.

Next we will take up the cases of most and least losses, followed by the cases of most and least draws.

Captains who never won, never lost and never drew their Tests

The last of our survey of performances of Test captains.

Those who never won any Test:

This applies to 4 or more Tests.

The first two are predictably from the earlier Bangladeshi teams, although the number 3 is more surprising. He is followed by a Zimbabwean and a South African. The highest by India is surprisingly Vinoo Mankad with 6. Also note DK Gaekwad (lost all 4) and K Srikkanth (drew all 4).

The highest by a Test player is 42 Tests (23 losses, 19 draws) by B Sutcliffe, who was among the best batsmen from NZ for most of his career. He had captained his team in 4 Tests.

Those who never lost any Test:

This list is for 2 or more Tests.

W Armstrong heads this list with 10 Tests (8 wins and 2 draws) and DB Close and FG Mann both with 7. Current player AM Rahane has the best for India with 5 (4 wins and a draw). He is followed by Srikkanth with 4 draws.

The highest for any player is 21 (12 wins and 9 draws) by India’s RK Chauhan.

Those who never drew any Test:

These are for 4 or more Tests.

Headed by Waqar Younis with 17 (10 wins and 7 losses) and current Zimbabwean captain Brendan Taylor with 16 (a less impressive 3 wins and 13 losses). India’s best (?) is DK Gaekwad with 4 losses. Current South African Q de Kock also has 4. The trio of those with 4 wins out of 4 are also here: Bacher, Babar Azam and Lord Hawke.

The record for all Test players is held by current SA player AK Markram with 24 (14 wins and 10 losses) followed by GA Lohmann with 18 (15 wins and 3 losses).

Analyzing Test captaincies – 4

Here we look at captains with no wins, no losses and no draws.

No Wins:

These are captains in 4 or more Tests with no wins.

Headed by M Ashraful of Bangladesh with 13 (12 losses and 1 draw). The next (IT Botham) is more surprising. Another Bangladeshi Khaled Mashud also has 12.

In recent years there are AG Cremer (8) and KC Brathwaite (5).

From India there are MH Mankad (6), S Venkataraghavan (5) and others with 4.

No losses:

These are captains in 2 or more Tests with no losses.

WW Armstrong with 10 heads this list, with 8 wins and 2 draws.

Next are DB Close and FG Mann with 7.

In recent years there is only AM Rahane with 2; both of these wins were when he was standing in for Kohli.

From India we also have Srikkanth with 4 (all draws).

No draws:

These are captains in 3 or more Tests with no draws.

Headed by Waqar Younis (17, 10 wins and 7 losses). The next is Shakib with 14 (3 wins and 11 losses).

Others from recent times (other than Shakib) include R Herath, KC Brathwaite and RAS Lakmal with 5.

Brathwaite has 5 losses out of 5.

From India there is DK Gaekwad with 4 (all losses). He is presently India’s oldest living Test player.