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Textbook Top 7

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Thought this might be interesting. Out of current players, pick a batting lineup out of the most technically correct, textbook-style batsmen you can think of.

Only three rules:
1. Openers must have opened in test cricket
2. Must include a wicket keeper who has kept in test cricket
3. Current players only

A lineup I've quickly knocked up:

1. Michael Hussey
2. Daren Ganga
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Jacques Kallis
5. Sachin Tendulkar
6. Ashwell Prince
7. Abraham de Villiers (wk)

I'm sure someone can out-do me on this though.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
There's another thread like this somewhere.

edit: Found it. It's about a complete side though, not just a batting order: http://forum.cricketweb.net/showthread.php?t=17229

I'd probably bring change my top 7 from that thread a bit. Bring in Hussey, at least. Cook's got a pretty solid technique as well. Though there is a bit of a clash between rating batsmen on their technique and how textbook they are..

Stephen Fleming
Alastair Cook
Rahul Dravid
Jacques Kallis
Michael Hussey
Shane Watson
Kumar Sangakkara?

Not really any technically proficient keeper-batsmen out there at the moment. Sangakkara is reasonably solid, so I'd probably go with him. I don't think de Villiers technique is all that good anyway, and he doesn't keep all that often. Most of the other inclusions are either self-explainitory or explained in the other thread.
 
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FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
Prince EWS said:
I apoligise. I usually check but I didn't think such a thread would exist.
No need to apologise. It's a perfectly reasonable thread, I was just pointing out the other one so there'd be something to add the discussion.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Difference between textbook and just good technique. Since the topic asks for textbook:

Atapattu
Ganga
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kallis
Younis Khan
Sanga

I don't think Prince has a textbook technique, he's just very very solid. And AB is a very attractive batsman, but I think if you watch him carefully you'll see he puts hit front foot forward down the pitch most times, rather then forward and towards the ball. That's mainly when he's driving though, as his defense is very textbook.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Jono said:
Difference between textbook and just good technique. Since the topic asks for textbook:

Atapattu
Ganga
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kallis
Younis Khan
Sanga

I don't think Prince has a textbook technique, he's just very very solid. And AB is a very attractive batsman, but I think if you watch him carefully you'll see he puts hit front foot forward down the pitch most times, rather then forward and towards the ball. That's mainly when he's driving though, as his defense is very textbook.
Yeah, I don't particularly rate AB as having a textbook technique - however I don't hold that opinion of any of the current 'keepers so he ended up in the side. Sangakarra plays away from his body quite a bit so I ruled him out.

Atapattu is someone I didn't even think of - most likely due to his lack of cricket of late - but he certainly deserves to be in the side.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
FaaipDeOiad said:
There's another thread like this somewhere.

edit: Found it. It's about a complete side though, not just a batting order: http://forum.cricketweb.net/showthread.php?t=17229

I'd probably bring change my top 7 from that thread a bit. Bring in Hussey, at least. Cook's got a pretty solid technique as well. Though there is a bit of a clash between rating batsmen on their technique and how textbook they are..

Stephen Fleming
Alastair Cook
Rahul Dravid
Jacques Kallis
Michael Hussey
Shane Watson
Kumar Sangakkara?

Not really any technically proficient keeper-batsmen out there at the moment. Sangakkara is reasonably solid, so I'd probably go with him. I don't think de Villiers technique is all that good anyway, and he doesn't keep all that often. Most of the other inclusions are either self-explainitory or explained in the other thread.
Assuming form doesn't matter, Tendulkar easily has the best technique in world cricket. He wouldn't make it on form though.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
silentstriker said:
Assuming form doesn't matter, Tendulkar easily has the best technique in world cricket. He wouldn't make it on form though.
Actually, I'd include him as well, probably for Hussey on the basis of the "textbook" term used in the first post. Jono has a good point, and IMO a textbook batsman has a complete range of strokeplay as well as a solid method of playing said shots, and a good defensive technique, and Tendulkar's range of shots is really second to none. There's nothing he doesn't play well.

I'd rate Hussey next to Dravid as having the best technique in world cricket at the moment, and his discipline around off stump is absolutely phenomenal. I don't think he's a textbook player though, and he scores the vast majority of his runs in a couple of areas and plays a couple of shots in a very unorthodox manner, so he goes out. Cook goes out for a similar reason for Atapattu.

It's sort of like, say, Steve Waugh. He obviously had a very solid technique, but you could never call him a textbook player.
 
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Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Yep that's exactly correct.

I was having a discussion with a mate regarding Hussey a while back. He described Hussey as text book and I disagreed. He sort of interpreted that as me picking holes in Hussey's technique and denigrating it which couldn't be further from the truth. I was just stating pretty much what you just said there. He's very fidgety at the crease, and scores his runs in a few main areas (covers as well). One of the most solid players around, but not exactly textbook.

A textbook technique IMO is what you described. For example if I wanted to describe who had a more textbook technique between Atapattu and Hussey, I would say Atapattu, but who has a better technique overall in the sense that who is more likely to make runs and do his job whilst not being dismissed, I'd pick Hussey.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
Yeah. Regarding technique, the way I think about it is basically that a batsman with a good technique has the ability to combat a range of deliveries in any area on any sort of surface without endangering his wicket or giving up his ability to score. Hussey has a brilliant technique because he has such great discipline and plays his run scoring shots nearly flawlessly. It's basically impossible to imaging Hussey getting out driving through the covers, because he plays it so perfectly and is so careful selecting which ball to hit. Yet he scores a huge percentage of his runs with that shot, and his scoring rate isn't exactly slow.

As you say, being a textbook batsman is different. Often they'll go hand in hand of course, but you don't need to be able to hook and pull to have a good technique, but a textbook batsman should be able to play those shots. A textbook batsman could easily have technical flaws though.

Anyway, my top 7:

Stephen Fleming
Marvan Atapattu
Rahul Dravid
Jacques Kallis
Sachin Tendulkar
Shane Watson
Kumar Sangakkara
 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
All time:

Sunil Gavaskar
Len Hutton
Greg Chappell
Sachin Tendulkar
-
-
-
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
I don't think Prince has a textbook technique, he's just very very solid. And AB is a very attractive batsman, but I think if you watch him carefully you'll see he puts hit front foot forward down the pitch most times, rather then forward and towards the ball. That's mainly when he's driving though, as his defense is very textbook.
still awta, 8 years later. AB is just God-like, but not textbook. Definitely doesn't plant his foot as much though.
 
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watson

Banned
All time:

Sunil Gavaskar
Len Hutton
Greg Chappell
Sachin Tendulkar
-
-
-
01. Sunil Gavaskar
02. Len Hutton
03. Peter May
04. Greg Chappell
05. Sachin Tendulkar
06. Jacques Kallis
07. John Waite


Geoff Boycott unlucky to miss out.

John Henry Bickford Waite was born in Johannesburg on January 19 1930. His father instilled a love of cricket in him, along with a sound technical approach to batting.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/sport-obituaries/8597459/John-Waite.html
 
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Zinzan

Request Your Custom Title Now!
01. Sunil Gavaskar
02. Len Hutton
03. Peter May
04. Greg Chappell
05. Sachin Tendulkar
06. Jacques Kallis
07. John Waite


Geoff Boycott unlucky to miss out.
Good selections overall, although I would try to squeeze in Boycott, Bradman & Dravid (just not sure who I'd replace.)
 

harsh.ag

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
For the current lot:

Alastair Cook
Che Pujara
Hashim Amla
Virat Kohli
Kevin Pietersen
Michael Clarke/ Younis Khan
AB de Villiers (w)

Can't think of a keeper with a better textbook technique.
 

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