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Elegant and Smooth XI
- Thread starter Xuhaib
- Start date
Gajanayake
School Boy/Girl Captain
SJS said:
Very, very surprised that no one mentioned VVS Laxman before you SJS.
He is one of the the most elegant batsmen that I have ever seen.
Another surprise was the lack of mention of David Gower's name - fantastic player to watch.
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
I am still surprised Hooper figures in so few of these lists. And I think Martyn is not a bad candidate either.
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
And from those one has only read about :-
1.Jack Hobbs (5410 runs at 57.0) :
“Hobbs is always at his best, even if he fails to put up a big score. This is no paradox…..I always think of him today as I saw him once playing forward to Blythe beautifully, a majestic rhythm governing the slightest movement. He was clean bowled…for none, but nobody other than a giant of the game could have made a duck so immaculately. He played cricket as a proud Roman might have played it.” (Cardus)
2. Reggie Spooner (481 runs at 32.1) :
“The tall and slim figure of Spooner, rhythmically stroking the ball with strong and flexible wrists, soon became synonymous with classical purity and apparently effortless elegance. He was as an aristocrat at the crease, graceful, poised and confident.” (The Cricketer) “In point of style there are few batsmen of the present day to compare with him. Not even L. C. H. Palairet himself-usually regarded as the most graceful player of this generation-is better worth looking at.” (Wisden Almanac 1905)
3. Walter Hammond (7249 runs at 58.5 & 83 wkts at 37.8) :
“…a batsman whose every movement at the crease seemed to call out for the genius of the Grecian sculptor. When you watched him, a still small voice whispered in your ear, ‘Here’s beauty, fleeting, passing before our eyes, bring pencil, or brush, or, best of all, chisel to preserve forever its grace for those who are to come after….’ Here was elegance once seen in Palairet wedded to the power once wielded by MacLaren” (Thomson)
4. Ernest Tyldesley (990 runs at 55.0) :
“He is never brutal, not even when he is driving and cutting at his best. He reminds me of the stupid old verse: He kicks you downstairs with such infinite grace, You’s think he was handing you up.” (Cardus)
5. K.S. Ranjitsinhji (989 runs at 45.0) :
“Ranji never smashed the best attack of his day with the sudden vehemence of Trumper. Ranji did not rout his bowlers; he lured them onwards to ruin by the dark, stealthy magic of hios play; the poor men were enchanted into futility………His cricket was not of our soil and green grass; it had the sinuous beauty and the sense of wizardry which we associate with his own land. Through our English game, born at Hambledon, shone a light from the East, and it passed away for ever with the passing of Ranjitsinhji.” (Cardus)
6. Frank Woolley (3283 runs at 36.1 & 83 wkts at 33.9) :
“Of course Woolley can spread beauty wherever he goes, but at Bramaal Lane one thinks of him as one thinks of a butterfly on a summer’s day"
"It was while an August afternoon turned to evening in Kent. The tumult and shouting for the day were over, and now we all sat quiet, just waiting for stumps to be drawn while Kent played out time in the calm light. Woolley made gentle movements with his bat. His body would fall a little forward as he flicked a ball to the off side; there seemed no weight in him when he negligently trotted down the pitch. And as the sun shone more and mone aslant, the light seemed to put this batsmanship Woolley under a glass; we had cool and polished contour given to it, the hard outlines of reality were lost in soft shades.”(Cardus)
7. Bert Oldfield (1427 runs at 22.7 & 78 catches and a remarkable 52 stumpings in 54 tests) :
“There are stumpers who do their work by stealth. Oldfield is the gentlemanly Starkey of wicket-keepers; he whips off the bails quitly and turns his head to the square-leg umpire and formally asks, ‘How’s that?’ He seems to apologise to the batsman as though saying, ‘Terribly sorry to have to stump you like this, sir – and behind your back! – but I have no alternative. Anyhow, I am doing it as nicely as I can, only the leg bail. God afternoon; there’s the pavilion on the right. Mind the step.’” (Cardus)
8. Ray Lindwall (1502 runs at 21.1 & 228 wkts at 23.0) :
“An incredibly smooth run up, followed by a beautiful action, in which only the arm was lower than perfection decreed. The acceleration to the crease and the twinkling feet lent the illusion of his being pulled in on wheels by a hidden wire.” (JJ Warr)
9. Harold Larwood (485 runs at 19.3 & 78 wkts at 28.4) : “
He measured a 26 pace run, but he bowled off the fourteenth pace. His acceleration…was smooth and menacing. On the hard grounds of Australia his feet could be heard beating a quickening tattoo….It was a perfect action and the perfection continued into the delivery itself. He had longish arms, the left shoulder pointed in the direction the ball was supposed to go and the shoulder got to the fullest height possible before it started to swing downwards and outwards…with perfect timing, to join the swing of the right arm flashing round with the ball in hand as if fastened to the rim of a wheel.”
"The nearest approach I have seen to Larwood’s action is that used by Ray Lindwall. By half closing the eyes and watching Lindwall it was easy to think here was Larwood again…on one occasion a Northamptonshire spectator accused the Australian of copying Larwood …(intending) his observation to be sarcastic but Lindwall quashed him in a second when he asked, so very earnestly, ‘And why shouldn’t I copy the master.’" (Bill Bowes)
10. Alec Bedser (236 wkts at 24.9) :
"Not for nothing was a race horse named after him. …his action was a fine one. In parts it was classical, with the weight thrown well back on the right foot at the start of the final swing, the shoulders giving full momentum to the delivery and the follow through as near to perfection as you are likely to see.” (Woodcock)
11. Colin Blythe (100 wkts at 18.63) :
“A great slow left-armer, possessing a classical delivery and looping flight. His action was elegant and smooth, a few strides leading into a perfect upright sideways-on delivery. He pitched the ball up to encourage the drive into a strong off-side field, and with sufficient spin to trap any batsman unwise enough to try and hit against it. He varied his pace well, and was deceptive through the air, with more pace than most batsmen realised until too late”. (Dave Liverman)
1.Jack Hobbs (5410 runs at 57.0) :
“Hobbs is always at his best, even if he fails to put up a big score. This is no paradox…..I always think of him today as I saw him once playing forward to Blythe beautifully, a majestic rhythm governing the slightest movement. He was clean bowled…for none, but nobody other than a giant of the game could have made a duck so immaculately. He played cricket as a proud Roman might have played it.” (Cardus)
2. Reggie Spooner (481 runs at 32.1) :
“The tall and slim figure of Spooner, rhythmically stroking the ball with strong and flexible wrists, soon became synonymous with classical purity and apparently effortless elegance. He was as an aristocrat at the crease, graceful, poised and confident.” (The Cricketer) “In point of style there are few batsmen of the present day to compare with him. Not even L. C. H. Palairet himself-usually regarded as the most graceful player of this generation-is better worth looking at.” (Wisden Almanac 1905)
3. Walter Hammond (7249 runs at 58.5 & 83 wkts at 37.8) :
“…a batsman whose every movement at the crease seemed to call out for the genius of the Grecian sculptor. When you watched him, a still small voice whispered in your ear, ‘Here’s beauty, fleeting, passing before our eyes, bring pencil, or brush, or, best of all, chisel to preserve forever its grace for those who are to come after….’ Here was elegance once seen in Palairet wedded to the power once wielded by MacLaren” (Thomson)
4. Ernest Tyldesley (990 runs at 55.0) :
“He is never brutal, not even when he is driving and cutting at his best. He reminds me of the stupid old verse: He kicks you downstairs with such infinite grace, You’s think he was handing you up.” (Cardus)
5. K.S. Ranjitsinhji (989 runs at 45.0) :
“Ranji never smashed the best attack of his day with the sudden vehemence of Trumper. Ranji did not rout his bowlers; he lured them onwards to ruin by the dark, stealthy magic of hios play; the poor men were enchanted into futility………His cricket was not of our soil and green grass; it had the sinuous beauty and the sense of wizardry which we associate with his own land. Through our English game, born at Hambledon, shone a light from the East, and it passed away for ever with the passing of Ranjitsinhji.” (Cardus)
6. Frank Woolley (3283 runs at 36.1 & 83 wkts at 33.9) :
“Of course Woolley can spread beauty wherever he goes, but at Bramaal Lane one thinks of him as one thinks of a butterfly on a summer’s day"
"It was while an August afternoon turned to evening in Kent. The tumult and shouting for the day were over, and now we all sat quiet, just waiting for stumps to be drawn while Kent played out time in the calm light. Woolley made gentle movements with his bat. His body would fall a little forward as he flicked a ball to the off side; there seemed no weight in him when he negligently trotted down the pitch. And as the sun shone more and mone aslant, the light seemed to put this batsmanship Woolley under a glass; we had cool and polished contour given to it, the hard outlines of reality were lost in soft shades.”(Cardus)
7. Bert Oldfield (1427 runs at 22.7 & 78 catches and a remarkable 52 stumpings in 54 tests) :
“There are stumpers who do their work by stealth. Oldfield is the gentlemanly Starkey of wicket-keepers; he whips off the bails quitly and turns his head to the square-leg umpire and formally asks, ‘How’s that?’ He seems to apologise to the batsman as though saying, ‘Terribly sorry to have to stump you like this, sir – and behind your back! – but I have no alternative. Anyhow, I am doing it as nicely as I can, only the leg bail. God afternoon; there’s the pavilion on the right. Mind the step.’” (Cardus)
8. Ray Lindwall (1502 runs at 21.1 & 228 wkts at 23.0) :
“An incredibly smooth run up, followed by a beautiful action, in which only the arm was lower than perfection decreed. The acceleration to the crease and the twinkling feet lent the illusion of his being pulled in on wheels by a hidden wire.” (JJ Warr)
9. Harold Larwood (485 runs at 19.3 & 78 wkts at 28.4) : “
He measured a 26 pace run, but he bowled off the fourteenth pace. His acceleration…was smooth and menacing. On the hard grounds of Australia his feet could be heard beating a quickening tattoo….It was a perfect action and the perfection continued into the delivery itself. He had longish arms, the left shoulder pointed in the direction the ball was supposed to go and the shoulder got to the fullest height possible before it started to swing downwards and outwards…with perfect timing, to join the swing of the right arm flashing round with the ball in hand as if fastened to the rim of a wheel.”
"The nearest approach I have seen to Larwood’s action is that used by Ray Lindwall. By half closing the eyes and watching Lindwall it was easy to think here was Larwood again…on one occasion a Northamptonshire spectator accused the Australian of copying Larwood …(intending) his observation to be sarcastic but Lindwall quashed him in a second when he asked, so very earnestly, ‘And why shouldn’t I copy the master.’" (Bill Bowes)
10. Alec Bedser (236 wkts at 24.9) :
"Not for nothing was a race horse named after him. …his action was a fine one. In parts it was classical, with the weight thrown well back on the right foot at the start of the final swing, the shoulders giving full momentum to the delivery and the follow through as near to perfection as you are likely to see.” (Woodcock)
11. Colin Blythe (100 wkts at 18.63) :
“A great slow left-armer, possessing a classical delivery and looping flight. His action was elegant and smooth, a few strides leading into a perfect upright sideways-on delivery. He pitched the ball up to encourage the drive into a strong off-side field, and with sufficient spin to trap any batsman unwise enough to try and hit against it. He varied his pace well, and was deceptive through the air, with more pace than most batsmen realised until too late”. (Dave Liverman)
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
Yes Gower was easy on the eyes but I think he has the natural advantage of being a left handerGajanayake said:
. They always look good. As I always say, just practice your strokes in front of a mirror and you will be surprised to see how much more graceful you look. Better still, watch a match on TV through a mirror (I do sometimes trying to see a match from the toilet with a badly placed TV 
) and you will be amazed at how elegant the right handed batsmen lok through the mirror !!PS I thought hard and long before leaving him out for Kim Hughes.
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archie mac
International Coach
Is it Ernest or Johnny Tyldesley, you are thinking of SJS?
I have read they were both pretty good to watch, but have heard a lot more about Johnny
I have read they were both pretty good to watch, but have heard a lot more about Johnny
archie mac
International Coach
No worries, I must admit to being a little surprised that you found no place for VT TrumperSJS said:
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
I'll tell you why.archie mac said:No worries, I must admit to being a little surprised that you found no place for VT Trumper
I have read so much about the genius of Trumper, his ability to master all surfaces including a bad English season on his first visit, his imperious strokeplay and so on. Most of it brings to mind a picture of a very aggressive yet very accomplished batsman in the mould of say Viv Richard perhaps with great technical skils to match and surely with great footwork. But I dont find the same adjectives used for Trumper as are used for , say Ranji or Woolley or Spooner or others with silken smooth batting. He to me is Tendulkar to Ranji's Laxman.
In fact, it was in reading an article on Trumper that I came across the excerpts on Ranji I quoted earlier. . Here it is for you to read.
God no doubt could create a better batsman than Victor Trumper if He wished, but so far He hasn't. Ranjitsinhji is the only cricketer that might be instanced as Trumper's like in genius. But even Ranji was not a great match winner on all wickets, Even Ranji never smashed the best attack of the day with the sudden vehemence of Trumper. Ranji did not rout the bowlers.....Trumper put them to sword.
'His bent is all agressive', wrote Fry,
Similarly for Woolley :-
Woolley hardly ever seems to hit a ball; of him you can say that his strokes are strokes. Surely he just caresses the ball with a bat of velvet surface (I immediately think of Laxman). One day an assertion of some primitive nature left somewhere in Woolley will impel him to smite once with all his might, and then the ball will pass far beyond the fields of Kent. For the force even of his caresses is strong enough; the secret of his motive is timing.
He gives us the lyrical in batsmanship, just as Trumper gave us the dramatic. When Trumper batted, he met the onslaught of the bowler with an onslaught of his own as vehement (reminds me of Richards and Tendulkar).
There was a conflict of will and skill when Trumper and a fast bowler were face to face, and so we had the dramatic, which thrives on conflict. Woolley does not seek to be in stern opposition against a furious attack; he meets it effortlessly.....we get no drama from Woolley.
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Magrat Garlick
Global Moderator
SJS said:
That is a splendid quote.
archie mac
International Coach
I just re-read MA Noble's passage about Trumper in the 'Games The Thing'. He does state most of what you have said, but also uses the word 'Beautiful', when describing his batting. Also I have read that Kippax and Archie Jackson were very stylish batsman, and that Kippax based his batting on Trumper and Jackson on Kippax.SJS said:
I need that time machine, or perhaps we are better off not knowing