In the shadow of the Don: 7 batsmen with highest runs/innings over 52 tests

Ricky Ponting (Mtchs: 52, Inns: 92, Runs: 5857, Runs/Inns: 63.66, 100s-23, 50s-20)

Ricky Ponting: Uncompromising Run Machine

Ricky Ponting's 52 test streak

The most uncompromising batsman of his generation, Ricky Ponting was scoring at such a ridiculous regularity during a 4.5 year period that it seemed almost inevitable that he would end up at the top of the all-time batting charts. In a 52 test period from March 2002 to December 2006, Ponting scored nearly 6000 test runs, scoring an average 63.66 runs per innings. This was helped by an insane rate of scoring a century every 4 innings (compared to Bradman's 2.8)

A dip in form towards the end of his career meant that Ponting couldn't get past his longtime rival Sachin Tendulkar in terms of aggregates, but at his peak, he was perhaps the most consistent and hefty scorer of runs that this game has witnessed after Don Bradman. It is perhaps appropriate that an Australian occupies the top spot after the indubitable master.