This is a very interesting topic, and there was a really good
article on cricinfo on this subject.
Cricket still relies mainly on averages, which do not tell the full story, for example Thilan Samaraweera has the same average as Brian Lara (and higher than Gavaskar, Waugh twins, Gilchrist, Laxman, Amla, De Villers etc), he's a good player no doubt, but he's no Lara.
In the article it mentions many indicators that are as important, if not more important than a players average but rarely get mentioned such as a player's percentage of the team's runs, scoring-shot percentage and a top-order/lower order wicket ratio/percentage. Cricket has a lot of catching up to do with regards to baseball and other sports in this field.