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Ponting - better ODI or Test player?

open365

International Vice-Captain
Tendulkar's not even the best ODI player of his generation - there were times in his Test career where he was streets ahead of everyone else, even Lara and Stephen Waugh.

I'm none too concerned about number of centuries, TBH, anyone can score centuries if they bat at the top of the order and play countless hundreds of games.Sure, Tendulkar did it better than almost anyone in the modern ODI era, but I don't think he did it anywhere near as well as he batted in Tests 1990-2002.
But no one has even came close to Tendulkar's centuries record, even in centuries per game.

And who the hell in Sachin's generation is a better batsman than him?
 

open365

International Vice-Captain
Well Bevan is certainly one of if not the greatest ODI batsmen of all time but Tendulkar and him were very different players so it's not a fair comparison.

Top order wise, i don't think anyone matched what Tendulkar did from the time that he played.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Bevan was a top-order player. And Tendulkar, too, was one of the greatest ODI players of the modern era.

No, no-one matched Tendulkar as an opener for most of his career, but equally, no-one matched him as a middle-order Test batsman for most of it either.
 

Salamuddin

International Debutant
POnting is an excellent player, the best in the world atm.

But having said that I do think some Aussies go overboard in their praise of him.....I've heard stuff like "he's the best batsman since Bradman".

I'm not really sure about that....Ponting has definitely benefited from playing in era where he has not had to face too many top class bowlers
If he really was the best since Brdaman, you would think he'd average considerably more than 59.....also is his record really superior to the likes of Lara, Tendulkar (both of whom probably hd their peaks ina better era for bowling) and Rahul Dravid (who away from home has a significantly higher average than Ponting).
 

Matt79

Global Moderator
Bevan was a top-order player. And Tendulkar, too, was one of the greatest ODI players of the modern era.

No, no-one matched Tendulkar as an opener for most of his career, but equally, no-one matched him as a middle-order Test batsman for most of it either.
The highest I ever saw him bat was 4, and he spent a sizeable majority of his career IIRC at positions lower than that.

Top order = opener or number 3 for me. Maaaybe 4 at a stretch, but he was a middle order batsman.
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Both

A top class free stroking test batsman will always succeed in the limited overs game. Pontings great qualities in the test arena make him a natural for the limited overs game.

Almost all the great test strokeplayers Richards, Lara, Tendulkar have been great one day players as well.

The only additional criteria one may want to add can be physical fitness and agility between wickets. This is still not a pre-requisite for tests and thats why people like Inzy will be found wanting in an all time limited overs side.

Ponting with his superb running between the wickets is in the same league as the other three giants mentioned above and for that the technique, classic stroke play and other skills (including mental strength) picked up in the longer version have to be thanked.

Test arena will produce great limited overs cricketers never the other way around.
 

sideshowtim

Banned
He's a modern master in both forms of the game. Undisputedly the best batsman of this millenium thus far. What a star. He's a magnificent captain as well. What a player.
 

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
Both

A top class free stroking test batsman will always succeed in the limited overs game. Pontings great qualities in the test arena make him a natural for the limited overs game.

Almost all the great test strokeplayers Richards, Lara, Tendulkar have been great one day players as well.

The only additional criteria one may want to add can be physical fitness and agility between wickets. This is still not a pre-requisite for tests and thats why people like Inzy will be found wanting in an all time limited overs side.

Ponting with his superb running between the wickets is in the same league as the other three giants mentioned above and for that the technique, classic stroke play and other skills (including mental strength) picked up in the longer version have to be thanked.

Test arena will produce great limited overs cricketers never the other way around.
That's a great post IMO. :cool:
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
The highest I ever saw him bat was 4, and he spent a sizeable majority of his career IIRC at positions lower than that.

Top order = opener or number 3 for me. Maaaybe 4 at a stretch, but he was a middle order batsman.
Well, if you're going to add middle-order into it (quite a complicated matter IMO, as if you take top-, middle- and lower-order that leaves about 2 positions for each) then yes, he would have been in that category.

I was thinking of him as a top-order player (as I've always thought of him as a four, given that that was his 2nd-best position, after three) based on the sort of idea that one-six = top-order and anyone below that with some batting ability = lower-order.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
A top class free stroking test batsman will always succeed in the limited overs game. Pontings great qualities in the test arena make him a natural for the limited overs game.

Almost all the great test strokeplayers Richards, Lara, Tendulkar have been great one day players as well.
Younis Khan? Mahela Jayawardene? Heck, Michael Vaughan for a time? Michael Slater? Mark Taylor? Kumar Sangakkara for a long while? Sherwin Campbell?

From the earlier era David Gower?

At a push you could even say Alec Stewart and Herschelle Gibbs.

Good Test strokeplayer does not neccessarily = good ODI player. In far more cases than not it will, yes, but not anywhere near all.
 

Swervy

International Captain
Younis Khan? Mahela Jayawardene? Heck, Michael Vaughan for a time? Michael Slater? Mark Taylor? Kumar Sangakkara for a long while? Sherwin Campbell?

From the earlier era David Gower?

At a push you could even say Alec Stewart and Herschelle Gibbs.

Good Test strokeplayer does not neccessarily = good ODI player. In far more cases than not it will, yes, but not anywhere near all.
David Gower was a good one day player!!!
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
No, he wasn't, he even said himself that he hated the format.

He was a good Test player in an era where it was even harder to accept that good Test players could fail to be good ODI players than it is now. Gower and Border are probably the two best examples, though obviously Gower was never in Border's class as a Test batsman.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Tendulkar's not even the best ODI player of his generation - there were times in his Test career where he was streets ahead of everyone else, even Lara and Stephen Waugh.

I'm none too concerned about number of centuries, TBH, anyone can score centuries if they bat at the top of the order and play countless hundreds of games. Sure, Tendulkar did it better than almost anyone in the modern ODI era, but I don't think he did it anywhere near as well as he batted in Tests 1990-2002.
Yes, for a time Tendulkar was the best Test player in the world, but he was an even better ODI player. The fact that someone like Bevan happened to be playing around the same time does not mean anything as far as rating Tendulkar's ability.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
No, it doesn't, but Tendulkar was not as far as I'm concerned as far ahead of the Anwars, Gangulys, Mark Waughs, etc. as he was ahead of the Laras and Stephen Waughs.

See?

Though of course it goes without saying that Tendulkar combined excellence at the two game-forms better than any other.
 

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