Lara versus Ambrose : Comparing West Indian Batting Genius !!
This is one comparison that has come to us where two all time greats are being compared. This is not a case where we can say things like x is not fit to lick the muck of y's shoes. No sir ! These are two all time greats and we need to look very carefuly to see the subtle differences and settle this argument.
Consistency
There has ben a lot of discussion of late about Tendulkar's batting. His supporters refuse to accept that he has slipped into a batting form from which he will never recover and should retire. To support this argument they offer his average of 90 something in test matches in 2004. Similar averages are toted by Laxman's fans to boost his claim to a place in the Indian ODI team.
However the detractors in both these cases point out, and with a lot of merit, to what is hidden behind these averages, viz, an inconsistency that is totally unacceptable from top notch players.I think consistency of performance over long periods of time really show the good from the great and the all time great.
So, I decided to check the stats of these two West Indian greats on this attribute. I tel you a shock of huge [proportions awaited me.
Lara and Ambrose have played 98 and 116 matches (Lara todate0. I decided to track their cumulative average over their careers. It is obvious that in the early part of their careers, the fluctuations would be more, in either direction, since the smal number of innings can easily skew the average with one great innings or a few very bad ones.
So I decided to leave out the first 30 test matches. It tok away the realy turbulent period of Lara when his averaged had diped to as low as 22.0 And I believe in being very fair in in my choice of stats.
Now, I took the average of both players at the end of the 30th test, I took the average at the end of the entire period under consideration and I took the highs and the lows in between.
Taking the starting average as 0.00, I then compared it to the high, the low and the final. Thus the figures for the high, low and end averages indicate the deviation from the starting point. Here are the results.
PLAYER......START......HIGH........LOW.....END
Lara...............0.00.........-2.41........- 11.18...- 4.66
Ambrose .......0.00.....+ 0.15........- 1.76......- 0.65
I have always known Ambrose to be an extremely consistent batsman but I must admit that even I was extremely impressed by these remarkable testimonies of this remarkable batsman !!
Conclusion : Ambrose was one of the most consistent batsmen in the history of the game with his cumulative average over the last 68 tests of his career moving in a band of less than 2 runs per innings !!! For Lara the fluctuation is SIX times as much. Futhermore Lara continuously declined after his first 30 test matches while Ambrose touched greeater heights on more than a dozen occasions !!
The gap between Ambrose's highest and lowest ever test innings was only 53 runs ! For Lara the gap is a shocking 400 runs. Lara , on this parameter, is the worlds most inconsistent batsman. No other batsman in the history of the game has such a HUGE gap betwen his best and his worst !!
Price on his wicket
There is always a lot of discussion on how the really great batsmen put a high price on their wickets and refuse to surrender their wickets to bowlers, howsoever great. Now how does one measure this characterstic. It is quite simple really and this is what we found.
Ambrose simply refused to give up his wicket and actually managed to thwart the efforts of the finest bowlers in the world on as many as 29 occasions in his 98 tests.
Lara, who played 18 tests more and arguably against declining world bowling standards, refused to yield his wicket to bowlers only 6 times in 116 tests. Shameful I would say.
Conclusion : Ambrose was a fighter who put a great value to his wicket and was successful once every 3.37 tests whil for Lara this figure was a deplorable once every 19.3 tests !!
Minnow basher Lara
Throughoput his career Ambrose reserved his best performances against the best sides. So much so that when it became clear that a very weak Bangladesh were on the verge of gaining test selection, this gallant batsman refuse to participate in such non-contests and promptly retired from the game. We all know that Lara's has a massive test average against Bangladesh.
Even against Zimbabwe, which we took for comparison since both these batsmen played against this team, he has averages higher than against sides like India, Pakistan, New zealand, Australia, South Africa.
Ambrose on the other hand, has his lowest average against Zimbabwe !! He averages more against all other test playing countries. . He averaged 100 % more against South Africa and Australia than he did against Zimbabwe, 160 % more against England, over 340% better against India and New Zealand and a whopping 480 % more against sri Lanka !!!
Conclusion : Like all great sportsmen, Ambrose was at his sublime best against the best sides in the world and refused to waste his talents and lost interest when facing weak opposition.
And all this when he had to shore up the innings in the company of tailenders most of the time and besides being the teams star bowler as well !!
We dont want to insult the intelligence of our clientele by writing down the final conclusion. Its so obvious !!
. I will pay the damages. 
) and tells me off for being inherently slack, and letting down the team, and then I start sulking in my chair and feeling disconsolate. Thank God it was just a dream...
