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11th Match - New Zealand v Pakistan (22nd March)

Who will win this match?


  • Total voters
    11
  • Poll closed .

Black_Warrior

Cricketer Of The Year
We can discuss that in isolation when talking about Smith the captain. But the context here is that Chappell was using that to discredit him as a captain. Whether he was defensive or not, he took that team to number 1 position and won 2 series in Australia. I don't think anyone associated with South Africa cricket would have anything but positive things to say about Smith the captain. Yet Chappell would repeatedly take digs at him, compare him with Clarke and demonstrate how much better Clarke was, when it was Smith's team sitting at number 1.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
By that logic Ricky Ponting is the best captain of all time though.

Not really saying you're wrong but I don't think the fact that Smith's team was #1 and they won series in Australia means that he's a better captain than Clarke necessarily, or that Chappell's criticisms of him were unfounded.

I do agree though that Chappell's only note when it comes to analysing captaincy is finding who the most attacking captain is and proclaiming them the superior one, which can get ridiculous at times.
 

Black_Warrior

Cricketer Of The Year
Ok let's isolate Graeme Smith's captaincy for a second here. That isn't really in debate here. We can have our own views on whether he was a good captain or not and have our arguments. The issue here is the arguments that Chappell uses. Never seen him make the same criticism against Ponting though. You're right, just being number 1 does not make one necessarily a great captain. But then why was Ponting off the hook? Once McGrath and Warne left, Ponting's team repeatedly failed to pick up 20 wickets. I didn't see any jibe about 'negative' or 'defensive' captaincy then. But when Dhoni with far inferior bowlers fails to do that, Chappell will be the first one to knock him down.

Whenever he has talked about great captaincy, it has always been an Australian captain he has put forward as a great leader (usually Benaud, or Border or Clarke and now Steve Smith) and everyone else whether Cook, Dhoni, Misbah, Smith (Graeme) fall short.

My point isn't about whether Graeme Smith was a great captain or not. We can discuss that in another topic at another time. My point is that I have found a tendency of national bias in his analysis, which is why when he comes out and criticizes Smith or Dhoni, it's not really a credible source for me.

As far as his overall analysis is concerned, yes he can be very sharp about a lot of tactical matters and I find them insightful and his analytical or tactical ability is not in question here.

Just to go back to the original conversation and how this started.

The original point was Chappell seems to think Ross Taylor struggles against pace.

My response is that it doesn't really say much because it's from Chappell and it's non Australian player.
 
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91Jmay

International Coach
Yeah, i'm not disagreeing with your point on Chappell nor am I saying Smith was a poor captain. I'm just saying he was pretty objectively defensive.
 

weldone

Hall of Fame Member
"a bit of grass but dry underneath" says Williamson while leaving out Boult and Southee yet again

Interesting call - guess we'll find out within the first 3 overs of NZ innings (as Amir will bowl 2 of them)
 

Niall

International Coach
Irfan is without doubt the most overrated bowler in limited overs cricket at the moment, never ever wins a match.
 

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