The greatest batsman from each Test team

[Isolator]

Sure he is - and not just one, either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Richard_(disambiguation)

 

[Engle]

FFS, "throw in the towel".

I just cannot stand such ill-educated comments. Nothing and nothing would EVER make Tendulkar throw in the towel.

I've not seen his dismissal in said second-innings, but I have read of it being a "dicey" pitch and won't criticise him until I see the shot.

Calm down. You're freakin' out unnecessarily. If you want to debate me, you'd do best to do it in a mature manner.

 

[haroon510]

Funnily, while making a post about this earlier it occurred to me how debatable this matter actually is. Really, there's only two cases where it's truly set-in-stone.

So who do you think? For argument's sake we'll say only players whose careers are over to be considered.

If I had to pick, I guess I'd go:
England - Grace (WG); and since 1900, Hobbs
Australia - I wonder now...
South Africa - Pollock (G)
West Indies - Headley (G), with Sobers a damn close second
India - Gavaskar, with Tendulkar all but certain to take over when he retires, though I so wish we could've seen more of Merchant as he might well have been better than either
New Zealand - Crowe (M), though that might change later in my life when I find-out more about Bert Sutcliffe as I'm planning to
Pakistan - Javed Miandad
Sri Lanka - currently de Silva (PA), but probably Sangakkara by the time he retires
Zimbabwe - Flower (A)

(This will almost certainly have been done before of course, but a quick search couldn't find anything glaringly obvious)

that seems about right.. although i would change Gavasker to Mohammad Azharuddin, Miandad to Inzi and Headley to Viv Richards. i would go with Mohammad Azharuddin over Gavasker any day in any type of cricket match..

 

[silentstriker]

that seems about right.. although i would change Gavasker to Mohammad Azharuddin, Miandad to Inzi and Headley to Viv Richards. i would go with Mohammad Azharuddin over Gavasker any day in any type of cricket match..

Haha, whaaaaaaaaaa....? It's sort of like comparing Imran Khan to Umar Gul.

 

[Richard]

Seperate to the topic at hand



Just noting that when people accuse others of Richard bashing it is not as if he is a Saint himself.

No, I'm not, and nor is anyone else. I do flatter myself I'm a bit less frequent with it than some, but anyway, I do think the "Tendulkar is a choker, Tendulkar can't hack the biggest challenges" notion is absurd, nothing more nothing less.

 

[Richard]

that seems about right.. although i would change Gavasker to Mohammad Azharuddin, Miandad to Inzi and Headley to Viv Richards. i would go with Mohammad Azharuddin over Gavasker any day in any type of cricket match..

I have never and will never consider Viv Richards to be as good a batsman as George Headley or Garfield Sobers, and certainly not Azharuddin (regardless of his match-fixing escapades) in the same class as either Gavaskar or Tendulkar.

Inzy vs Javed is a more open case, and I'd not have that many qualms about either being considered Pakistan's best.

 

[Beleg]

Australia - Ricky Ponting (Hayden)
South Africa - Kallis (Kirsten)
India - Tendulkar (Dravid)
West Indies - Lara (Chanderpaul)
Pakistan - Inzamam (Anwar)
Sri Lanka - Sangakkara (Jayasuria)
New Zealand - Martin Crowe (Nathan Astle)
Zimbabwe - Andy Flower (Johnson)
Bangladesh - Mohammad Ashraful (Bashar)

 

[Richard]

If I've got your cricket-watching time right, wouldn't disagree with any of that (Hayden excepted obviously) bar one thing...

Jayasuriya > de Silva?????????????!!!

 

[Goughy]

No, I'm not, and nor is anyone else. I do flatter myself I'm a bit less frequent with it than some, but anyway, I do think the "Tendulkar is a choker, Tendulkar can't hack the biggest challenges" notion is absurd, nothing more nothing less.

TBF, I didnt mention you complaining as you dont very often. My point was rather about others making comments.

 

[GIMH]

TBF Goughy, I think there are two types of Richard complainers, those who complain about his cricketing theories and the way he presents them, and those who just jump on his every word for the sake of it. I don't think anyone really minds the first lot, people like Pratyush might fall into this and I think, IIRC, that he and Rich get on well and talk quite a lot on MSN.

Anyhow, I'm no good at lists like this, but I'm interested in the Hobbs V Grace question. I imagine if I was to put up a poll Hobbs would win but there is quite a lot to be said for Grace. Tough one for me but I reckon I would go Grace.

And Sangakarra. Would he have been picked 2/3 years ago? Not saying that he shouldn't be picked, just interested

 

[Richard]

Anyhow, I'm no good at lists like this, but I'm interested in the Hobbs V Grace question. I imagine if I was to put up a poll Hobbs would win but there is quite a lot to be said for Grace. Tough one for me but I reckon I would go Grace.

TBH I'm not happy comparing them. I'm happy that Grace was several million miles ahead of all his contemporaries, and that Hobbs was the man who capitalised on the lessons Grace taught people about how to bat, and added his own parts to complete the idea of the modern batsman.

I still can't get away from the fact that at the start of Grace's career overarm bowling had only just been legalised, though. I am just not quite happy that Grace played the exact same game as Hobbs.

Hobbs was, to me, along with Trumper and Hill, the first batsman to master cricket as we know it today.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

England - Hobbs (would be Grace but not on Test achievement)
Australia - Bradman
South Africa - Pollock (G) (Not as good as Barry Richards but had slightly more chance to prove it.)
West Indies - Richards
India - Gavaskar (until Tendulkar retires)
New Zealand - Turner (probably should be Crowe really but never mind)
Pakistan - Javed Miandad
Sri Lanka - Aravinda de Silva
Zimbabwe - Flower (A)

 

[Anil]

England - Jack Hobbs
Australia - Donald Bradman
South Africa - Jacques Kallis, with a nod to Barry Richards & Graeme Pollock, if they had played more
West Indies - Garry Sobers
India - Sachin Tendulkar, with a nod to Vijay Merchant, if he had played more
New Zealand - Martin Crowe
Pakistan - Javed Miandad
Sri Lanka - Kumar Sangakarra
Zimbabwe - Andy Flower

for india, tendulkar is the best ever but with all due respect to merchant's abilities, he is not second..gavaskar is....
also for south africa, it's just the lack of tests played that would make a case to give it to kallis over richards and pollock...but yeah among saffies who have had a substantial career, it has to be kallis...

 

[JBH001]

In terms of batsman who have retired from the game.

England: Len Hutton.
Australia: Greg Chappell (2nd).
South Africa: Graeme Pollock.
West Indies: Gary Sobers.
India: Gavaskar.
New Zealand: M. Crowe.
Pakistan: Miandad.
Sri Lanka: Aravinda de Silva.
Zimbabwe: A. Flower.
Bangladesh: Too early to tell.

 

[slugger]

i dont like the lists.. i think there should be two.. one for the openers and one for the middle order.. for example crowe never opened but turner did.. sunny opend and cant recall to manny games where tendulkar did.. the playes ar coming in under different circumstancers.. 0/0 or 2/198 for example...

 

[Slifer]

Batsmen:
WI: Headley
Aust: Bradman
Ind: SRT
Eng: Hobbs
RSA: Kallis
Zim: A Flower
NZ: Crowe
Sl Sangakarra
PAk: Miandad

Bowlers:
WI: Marshall
Aust: Mcgrath
Ind: Kumble
Eng: Trueman
RSA: Donald
Zim: Streak
NZ: Hadlee
Sl: Murali
Pak: Imran

 

[SJS]

BATSMEN

1. Don Bradman
2. Jack Hobbs
3. Graeme Pollock
4. Gary Sobers
5. Sutcliffe/Crowe/Turner
6. Sachin Tendulkar
7. Zaheer Abbas
8. Arvinda D'Silva
9. Andy Flower

I am sorry but I cant put anyone from Bangladesh in this glittering list of stars.

 

[Fusion]

BATSMEN

1. Don Bradman
2. Jack Hobbs
3. Graeme Pollock
4. Gary Sobers
5. Sutcliffe/Crowe/Turner
6. Sachin Tendulkar
7. Zaheer Abbas
8. Arvinda D'Silva
9. Andy Flower

I am sorry but I cant put anyone from Bangladesh in this glittering list of stars.

Abbas greater than Miandad, Inzi, Hanif?

 

[SJS]

Abbas greater than Miandad, Inzi, Hanif?

Did you see Zaheer Abbas batting ?

 

[Fusion]

Did you see Zaheer Abbas batting ?

Not live, but certainly on tape. He was as elegant a batsman as any. I didn't mean to be rude by asking, just that not many pick him as Pakistan's greatest batsman. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on why you consider him better than the three I mentioned.