Who is better, Barnes or Richards?
Sydney Barnes leads with a GOAT score of 90.3 against 90.2 for Viv Richards — a gap of 0.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Barnes vs Richards
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Sydney Barnes above Viv Richards: 90.3 vs 90.2. Sydney Barnes leads on Statistics, Dominance, Peak. Viv Richards leads on Longevity, Honours.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
BarnesWinner
90.3Barnes wins: Dominance, Peak, Statistics
Richards
90.2Richards wins: Longevity, Honours
Candidates
Locked to CricketShareable URL · /compare/sydney-barnes-vs-viv-richards
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🏴 Sydney Barnes
90.3
Barnes leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Sydney Barnes
2. Viv Richards
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Career stage · GOAT pace
Through year 5 · Form index per season1. 🏴 Viv Richards5 years played · career day 3,286316 runs
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🏴 Sydney Barnes5 years played · career day 4,381100 runs
-68.4% vs Richards at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🏴 Barnes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 49 |
| 🏴 Richards | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 316 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 year periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | BarnesRetired | RichardsRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Test wickets | 189 | — |
| Test bowling average | 16.43 | — |
| Five-wicket hauls | 24 | — |
| Tests played | 27 | — |
| Best innings figures | 9 | — |
| Test runs | — | 8,540 |
| Test centuries | — | 24 |
| World Cups | — | 2 |
| Test average | — | 50.23 |
| ODI runs | — | 6,721 |
| Wisden Cricketer of the Century | — | 1 |
| Dominance w25% | 94 | 90 |
| Peak w20% | 96 | 93 |
| Longevity w20% | 82 | 88 |
| Honours w20% | 84 | 90 |
| Statistics w15% | 96 | 90 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Barnes90.3
Richards90.2
FAQ
Where does Richards beat Barnes?
Richards scores higher on honours, longevity. Barnes leads on peak, dominance, statistics.
How is the Barnes vs Richards score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Barnes: 90.3, Richards: 90.2.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Barnes vs Richards. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.