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Jayasuriya vs Richards

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
RichardsWinner
90.2

Richards wins: Dominance, Honours

Jayasuriya
89.3

Jayasuriya wins: Peak, Longevity, Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Cricket

Shareable URL · /compare/sanath-jayasuriya-vs-viv-richards

Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🏴 Viv Richards
90.2

Richards leads in 2 of 5 weighted categories. Never lost a Test series as captain and batted without a helmet.

1. Viv Richards
90.2
2. Sanath Jayasuriya
89.3

Category breakdown

Season form · Centuries per year

Career timeline · Centuries per year

Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.

GOAT pace tracker

Career stage · GOAT pace

Through year 5 · Centuries per year
1. 🏴 Viv Richards5 years played · career day 3,286316 runs
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇱🇰 Sanath Jayasuriya5 years played · career day 2,555205 runs
-35.1% vs Richards at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇱🇰 Jayasuriya0000105317
🏴 Richards000055316

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 years are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricJayasuriyaRetiredRichardsRetired
ODI runs13,4306,721
ODI wickets323
World Cup titles1
Test runs6,9738,540
Fastest ODI fifty (balls)17
Test centuries24
World Cups2
Test average50.23
Wisden Cricketer of the Century1
Dominance w25%8690
Peak w20%9493
Longevity w20%9088
Honours w20%8690
Statistics w15%9290

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Richards90.2
Jayasuriya89.3
The people
Jayasuriya
Richards

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