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Best Batsman of the Last 10 Years

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Im sure many of you have read this already, but I have not seen it mentioned.
This was originally from the UK Wisden Cricketer and I read it in South African Sports Illustrated.

I thought it was relevant given the votes currently going on.

The theory was that averages, emotions and memories are not the best ways to subjectively rationalize who was the best batsmen.

They set 10 criteria that players were ranked in and then the list was produced.

The 10 Criteria (each of equal weighting)
  • Score Ratio- Batting Average divided by that of their contemporaries
  • Failure Rate- % of Innings under 20
  • Conversion Rate- % of innings greater than 20 converted into 100s
  • % of Match Centuries- % of all centuries in matches he played that were made by that individual
  • % of Batsmens Runs- % of total runs scored in a game that were made by that individual
  • % of Own Teams Runs
  • Strike Rate
  • Top Scorer- % of games in which he was top scorer
  • Conventional Averages
  • % of Centuries in Victories

There was one guy that topped the list by a mile and that was......Matthew Hayden. It was not even close.

Top 10

1 Hayden
2 Tendulkar
3 Ul-Haq
4 Ponting
5 Lara
6 Sehwag
7 de Silva
8 G. Smith
9 Anwar
10 Cullinan

THe most amazing thing about seeing the broken down figures is what a successful career Cullinan had and the number of times he scored runs when no-one else was capable. He has become a bit of a joke figure but looking at his career breakdown all I can say is "Wow". I was surprised.

EDIT- Before people ask, Dravid and Kallis were 11th and 12th respectively
 
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silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
That is very interesting. Can you do the same thing for Sachin & Lara (from 1991-2000)? I always thought Hayden was the best opener since Gavaskar, but I wouldn't have put him ahead of Ponting, let alone Lara & Tendulkar. I still wouldn't put Ponting & Inzamam ahead of Lara. Again, this is taking the whole career, not just 10 years.

I bet both would be higher. I realize that is not the point, but I would just like to see the results.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
silentstriker said:
That is very interesting. Can you do the same thing for Sachin & Lara (from 1991-2000)? I always thought Hayden was the best opener since Gavaskar, but I wouldn't have put him ahead of Ponting, let alone Lara & Tendulkar. I still wouldn't put Ponting & Inzamam ahead of Lara. Again, this is taking the whole career, not just 10 years.

I bet both would be higher. I realize that is not the point, but I would just like to see the results.
I didnt do this, it was done by Cricketer magazine. It would take a hell of a lot of work to do this or something similar for a different time period.

I would love to cliam it as my own work, but I mentioned at the top of the post where it came from.:) I wish it was mine
 

FRAZ

International Captain
Goughy said:
Top 10

1 Hayden
2 Tendulkar
3 Ul-Haq
4 Ponting
5 Lara
6 Sehwag
7 de Silva
8 G. Smith
9 Anwar
10 Cullinan

Number 2,3,6,7,9 and may be 5 also , under jeopardy tbh if the umpiring standard is the same like the one recently ..
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
FRAZ said:
Number 2,3,6,7,9 and may be 5 also , under jeopardy tbh if the umpiring standard is the same like the one recently ..
Why hijack this thread when there are plenty of other threads you can vent your opinions on a seperate issue?

Rhetorical qustion, no need to respond
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
It surprised me Matty was top, but when I stop to think that's probably more reflective of my own prejudices I guess . I'm not a particularly big Hayden fan, either as player or personality. The vague hint of the FTB hangs around him & he's a bit of a blow-hard too.

Fat Gray being so high is a bit of a shock tho, confirmed non-fan as I may be.

Who was the top Pom & where did he rank?
 

FRAZ

International Captain
Tendulkar
Inzamam
Brian Charles Lara
Dravid
Sehwag
Saeed Anwar
Jayasuriya
Yousaf
Laxman
 

TT Boy

Hall of Fame Member
FRAZ said:
Tendulkar
Inzamam
Brian Charles Lara
Dravid
Sehwag
Saeed Anwar
Jayasuriya
Yousaf
Laxman
8-) Why the list? Goughy did not ask for your top ten (or nine).
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Top Pom according to the list by Wisden Cricketer, and reproduced by SASI, (I just wanted to reitterate that agian as people seem to miss it on the original post) was Trescothick at #13
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
I liked the 10 criteria used by the magazine to try and take bias, emotion and the human element of the judgement and the list they produced seems reasonable.

However, having looked at the article in depth, I dont like the scoring system.

Applying my scoring criteria to the predefined set of 10 criteria the rankings would be

1 Tendulkar
2 Hayden
3 Lara
4 De Silva
5 Dravid
6= Sehwag
6= Cullinan
6= Flower
9= Kallis
9= Ul-Haq

11 Ponting
12 Gilchrist
13 Waugh

The numbers get too small and close to make any conclusions below this.

I dont know if its a better list and Ill admit that their investigation was deeper, but I was not a fan of the scoring system.
 
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silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Goughy said:
I liked the 10 criteria used by the magazine to try and take bias, emotion and the human element of the judgement and the list they produced seems reasonable.

However, having looked at the article in depth, I dont like the scoring system.

Applying my scoring criteria to the predefined set of 10 criteria the rankings would be

1 Tendulkar
2 Hayden
3 Lara
4 De Silva
5 Dravid
6= Sehwag
6= Cullinan
6= Flower
9= Kallis
9= Ul-Haq

11 Ponting

I dont know if its a better list and Ill admit that their investigation was deeper, but I was not a fan of the scoring system.
Thats a bit better. Flower IMO is a bit higher than he should be, mainly because of the 'highest score in the side' criteria? I still can't see Hayden being better than Lara, and I do think Ponting is better than Flower/De Silva/Cullinan/Kallis/Ul-Haq/Sehwag, and even Dravid. I would have him as like #3, maybe #4, but no lower.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
My choice would be:

1. Tendulkar
2. Lara
3. Ponting
4. Dravid
5. Hayden
6. Ul-Haq

Take your pick after #6. Sehwag is great, but he needs to solve his problems with the short ball before he can climb into the top six-eight.
 

Pothas

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Goughy said:
I liked the 10 criteria used by the magazine to try and take bias, emotion and the human element of the judgement and the list they produced seems reasonable.
Cricket is about emotion and the human element in judging a player.
If is about stats why dont you play on microsoft excell?
 
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open365

International Vice-Captain
DE.Silva so high up?

I'm suprised, i've only seen highlights of one of his innings but i never thought he was that good.

I'm not sure about the best, but my favourite batsmen are

1.Hayden
2.Smith
3.Lara
4.Tendulkar
5.Mal Loye
 

TT Boy

Hall of Fame Member
open365 said:
DE.Silva so high up?

I'm suprised, i've only seen highlights of one of his innings but i never thought he was that good.

I'm not sure about the best, but my favourite batsmen are

1.Hayden
2.Smith
3.Lara
4.Tendulkar
5.Mal Loye
8-) :laugh:
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
open365 said:
Okokokok, i'll change it.

1.Hayden
2.Smith
3.Lara
4.Tendulkar
5.Law
Hey man, no need to change it. Dont be embarrassed or ashamed that you like Loye,:laugh: You did say fav not best so nothing wrong with that.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Pothas said:
Cricket is about emotion and the human element in judging a player.
If is about stats why dont you play on microsoft excell?
Its part of it but just because someone has an opinion does not make it right and there has to be a way to attempt to cut through all the crap to attempt to find an answer.

Thats what the atricle attempts to do. It does not say who you should like or want to watch but break it down.

I mean if I said Vaughan was the best batsman it would be my opinion but I would be wrong. I may think I was right, but just because its my opinion does not make it correct.

BTW I dont
 

Barney Rubble

International Coach
Goughy said:
Top Pom according to the list by Wisden Cricketer, and reproduced by SASI, (I just wanted to reitterate that agian as people seem to miss it on the original post) was Trescothick at #13
So, so glad this list has him up there. I've been pushing his case for so long as one of the world's top batsmen, but there are very few easily-findable stats to back me up, aside from the sheer weight of runs he has behind him.

As regards Hayden, I was utterly shocked to see him at the top of the list - but fair play to him, he's a fantastic player. I was almost 100% sure it would be either Lara or Dravid at the top of that list.

Very interesting stuff Goughy, cheers. :)

P.S. When I saw this thread, I thought it said "Best Batman of the last 10 years" - my reply was going to be "Definitely Christian Bale"....:laugh:
 
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