Your average at No. 4 is not your average opening
Batting average treats every innings the same. It isn't — batting position changes your impact, and so does format and entry point.
PlayStats · 16 August 2026 · 2 min read
Ask a player their average and they'll give you one number. Ask from what position and the certainty fades — "mostly four, opened a bit when we had players missing, floated in the T20s." One number, three different jobs.
This is the problem with a career average: it flattens positions that have almost nothing in common. An opener in a two-day game looks at catching fields and bowlers with a new ball. A No. 5 in the same match arrives at 3/140 or 3/40 — two entirely different entry points. A No. 3 in a T20 has a powerplay to negotiate. Blanket averaging doesn't tell the full story.
The same player, split by batting position
Split the record by position and the flattening separates. A career average of 34.3 might actually look like this:
| Position | Inns | Avg | SR | Out < 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening | 14 | 22.5 | 48.23 | 6 |
| No. 3–4 | 21 | 46.2 | 61.55 | 3 |
| No. 5+ | 9 | 24.8 | 74.01 | 4 |
Same player. The middle-order number is a selection argument; the opening number is a conversation about technique. Neither is visible in a blanket average.
What to read once it's split
The position split opens the coaching conversation. Three things are worth reading behind it:
- Entry score. When you arrive matters as much as where you bat. Entering at 2/15 and at 2/115 are different assignments, and your record splits across them too.
- The settling phase. Your dot-ball and scoring-shot percentages in your first twenty balls tell you what your start actually looks like, position by position. Slower starts are not fatal at No. 3 in a two-day game; they are at No. 6 in a T20.
- Cheap dismissals. Count your outs under 10, position by position. A high average with multiple outs under 10 is a different profile from a low average built on consistent 20s — and they need different work.
For coaches: the whole list, not the loud profiles
The same splits matter more one level up. When you're picking between two players for one middle-order spot, their overall averages can be comparable — that's why the debate exists. Their records split by top, middle and lower order, by entry score and settling phase, usually aren't. PlayStats runs these views across a full grade, every player on every card, so the comparison is there before Tuesday selection — not after a winter of spreadsheet work.
One habit worth building, whether you're picking a side or arguing your own case for a spot up the order: stop quoting the flat average. Ask what the number was for that job. The answer is usually more interesting — and more useful — than the blanket number.