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Originally Posted by ReallyCrazy
umm i never claimed he was a dravid, a tendulkar or a lara. But he IS better than a lot of players you have over there. He's much better than trescothick who only averages 42.91 now and who averaged less than Ganguly before the current series against the WI.
In fact, he's much better than any England player. Vaughan only averages 3 runs more in tests (boosted by his recent scores against a weak WI side) and is a dismal OD player. He makes the OD team only because he is the captain.
He averages 2 runs less than Thorpe and Chanderpaul in tests...there is not much in between them, is there? And ofcourse he's a lot better in ODs.
Nasser Hussain averaged something like 35 in tests and 25 in ODIs. What a worthless player he was and he played 96 tests for England. Moreover he was captain 
Butcher averages 37 or something the last time I checked.
A lot of Australian supporters would say Mark Taylor was a great test batter? And what was his average? 40? |
As it stands at the moment, I would say Thorpe and Vaughan are better batsmen than Ganguly, and to be honest, Flintoff probably is as well...dont be looking at averages..everyone knows they arent the be all and end all of things. I may even rate Trescothick higher than him..and I have no doubts that players like Strauss and Bell are infact better batsmen who need to prove themselves to be.
Surely Vaughans average was also boosted by him knocking big runs vs Australia as well.
Anyway, I dont rate Ganguly particularly highly as a batsman. Bowl fast and straight and fairly short to him and he ***** himself.He just doesnt have the technique to deal with it. I think he is very lucky not to have batted at Perth vs Lee coz I think he would be made a fool of.This is one of the reasons why he does well in ODI (maybe a bit like BEvan in this way)..he doesnt have to worry too much about short stuff.
Two moments standout for me..and both involve Flintoff..first was in the last series England had in India...Flintoff knew exactly where to bowl to Ganguly,and he ran circles all round him.Great stuff to watch, but Ganguly didnt know what had hit him.
Second was in world cup. England vs India...Flintoff vs Ganguly and Flintoff just made Ganguly look awful, footwork was poor, shot selection was a joke..and that is because Ganguly was bricking it that he was going to get the short stuff.
Of course when conditions suit him, and he gets his eye in he can look really good, but so can a number of batsmen around the world.
So whoever said he was one of the greats..no he isnt