Top 5 highest year-end averages for runs scored across all formats

#4 Jacques Kallis – 70.96 (2004)

Kallis made more than 2000 runs in a calendar year across all formats, four times

Kallis is probably the greatest all-rounder cricket has seen alongside Sir Garfield Sobers. Kallis made more than 2000 runs in a calendar year across all formats, four times. Very few can match that. But 2004 became his watershed year when he piled on 2058 runs at 70.96 with 8 centuries, 11 half-centuries and 10 not-outs. Unlike Clarke’s 2012, Kallis’ year was not full of colossal daddy-hundreds.

Instead, he was consistent right through, failing little and scoring consistently. There were a lot of half-centuries that could’ve been converted into centuries. Kallis scored tons against every team he played against that year. The performances in Tests and ODIs were remarkable even though his game was built against technical correctness. Only 8 of the 39 innings were dismissals in single digits, way lower than the 19 fifty-plus scores – mark of a great batsman!