Who Is the Leading Runscorer for Every Nation in ODI Cricket?

Ever wondered who your country’s leading runscorer in one-day international (ODI) cricket is?

Well, not to worry as we are about to reveal the identity of just who that batsman is for each particular Test-playing nation, starting in reverse order. However, there are no prizes for guessing who heads the pile…

* The following ODI batting records only include those matches in which players represented their countries and not, for example, International Cricket Council fixtures. All stats have been taken from ESPNCricinfo.

10: Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
Tamim Iqbal	2007-2013	124	124	1	3,702	154	30.09	4,723	78.38	4	25	12	415	50

Iqbal is a swashbuckling left-handed opener, who has been entertaining crowds for the past seven years with a no-nonsense style of batting, particularly his powerful off-side strokes, including a cover drive to dream of.

9: Paul Collingwood (England)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
PD Collingwood	2001-2011	197	181	37	5,092	120*	35.36	6,614	76.98	5	26	7	365	74

No other Englishman has either played more 50-over contests or scored more ODI runs than the gritty Durham all-rounder.

The pinnacle of his limited-overs career came in February 2007 when he produced a man-of-the-series display to help England win the Commonwealth Bank Series Down Under.

8: Andy Flower (Zimbabwe)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
A Flower	1992-2003	213	208	16	6,786	145	35.34	9,097	74.59	4	55	13	-	-

Flower was a pugnacious and highly skilled middle-order batsman for the Southern African minnows, whose mountain of runs always helped his country punch well above their weight in the shorter form of the game.

7: Stephen Fleming (New Zealand)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
SP Fleming	1994-2007	279	268	21	8,007	134*	32.41	11,214	71.40	8	49	17	822	63

A tall and elegant left-handed opener, Fleming led from the front for the Black Caps throughout a highly successful 13-year ODI career, which included eight tons, although none better than his match-winning effort against South Africa in the 2003 World Cup at the Wanderers.

6: Brian Lara (West Indies)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0
BC Lara	1990-2007	295	285	32	10,348	169	40.90	12,996	79.62	19	62	14

For such a great player, the Trinidadian’s ODI record could perhaps have been slightly more impressive—compatriot Chris Gayle even scored two more tons than Lara—but his national runs aggregate is still unlikely to ever be surpassed though.

5: Jacques Kallis (South Africa)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
JH Kallis	1996-	320	306	53	11,545	139	45.63	15,774	73.19	17	86	16	910	137

To have an ODI average of 45 from a mammoth 320 internationals just says everything about the great Proteas all-rounder, with only Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar having registered more than his 86 ODI half-centuries.

4: Inzamam-Ul-Haq (Pakistan)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0
Inzamam-ul-Haq	1991-2007	375	348	52	11,701	137*	39.53	15,769	74.20	10	83	20

What Inzy lost when it came to his immobility in the field, he more than made up for with the mountain of runs that he scored for his country during a 16-year ODI career.

The highlight came just a few months after his debut when he was part of the only Pakistan team to have won the World Cup, in 1992.

3: Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0
ST Jayasuriya	1989-2011	441	429	18	13,364	189	32.51	14,644	91.25	28	68	34

Only one man, the Little Master, represented his country more times in the 50-over game than the destructive left-handed Sri Lanka opener did, while very few batsmen can better his overall career strike-rate of 91.25.

2: Ricky Ponting (Australia)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
RT Ponting	1995-2012	374	364	39	13,589	164	41.81	16,944	80.19	29	82	20	1,223	159

Only Tendulkar has scored more than Ponting's 29 limited-overs hundreds for Australia, which included 140 not out to help beat India in the 2003 World Cup final and his remarkable effort of 164 from just 105 balls against South Africa at the Wanderers.

1: Sachin Tendulkar (India)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0
SR Tendulkar	1989-2012	463	452	41	18,426	200*	44.83	21,367	86.23	49	96	20

It is hard to know where to start when it comes to the greatest player of the modern age, with the little man having played in more matches, scored more runs and recorded more fifties and centuries than any other player in ODI history during his illustrious 23-year limited-overs career.

Not only that, but the India opener was the first batsman to ever register a double-hundred in this form of the game, which came against South Africa in February 2010 at Gwalior.

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