Ageing Genius - Lara, Ponting and Viv

[Burgey]

146 off 150 balls IIRC, the innings was just one long highlights package.

The look on May's face was priceless.. Will see if I can find a link to it.

Viv and Ponting both regarded perhaps most for their play of fast and short pitched bowling. Wonder if that's a part of the game that declines more noticably than others? Just putting it out there.

 

[Richard]

Like Sanz, I just don’t remember watching Viv in bad form. I’m sure it happened, but I have no recollection of it. All I remember, and admittedly it is foggy memory as I was in my early teens when Viv hung it up for good, is a devastating batsman that seemingly had no weakness. Any tapes/dvd’s that I have since watched of Viv also show no extended loss of form.

That's not generally the purpose of tapes and DVDs, is it? Sadly, to some extent, those sorts of things tend not to tell the complete story, but the story of a great player when he was great - not when he wasn't.

 

[Uppercut]

The look on May's face was priceless.. Will see if I can find a link to it.

Viv and Ponting both regarded perhaps most for their play of fast and short pitched bowling. Wonder if that's a part of the game that declines more noticably than others? Just putting it out there.

Maybe. Ponting seemed unwilling to put the pull shot away when it wasn't working for him, almost as a matter of pride.

 

[Jono]

his ODI knocks of late have been fantastic. Hitting them as well as I've seen for ages.

I was thinking of you when I first made the post regarding Ponting's form, which Jack read and made this thread.

You say that, and I agree. But its only every few innings. He's in and out. I just find it interesting. I definitely wouldn't say all his knocks have been late.

 

[Uppercut]

Kallis is a funny one, in that his eye has seemed to fail him regularly throughout his career. Honestly can't count the number of times I've seen him simply not sight a really full ball at all - has happened in every single series I've seen him involved in against England (1998, 1999/2000, 2003, 2004/05, more than ever in 2008, didn't see enough of 2009/10 to comment).

Really weird that he can have been so effective as he has been despite a pretty clear weakness.

You really think he carries that weakness all the time?

 

[Sanz]

That's not generally the purpose of tapes and DVDs, is it? Sadly, to some extent, those sorts of things tend not to tell the complete story, but the story of a great player when he was great - not when he wasn't.

Not entirely true. Your statement would stand right if we were specifically looking for a DVD/Tape of RIchards Batting, perhaps it would include the best of his batting even during his decline.

But your statement wouldn't be true If I am looking at a random match say 1988-89 WSC finals.

YouTube - AUSTRALIA vs WEST INDIES, 1988/1989 WSC 2nd FINAL

YouTube - AUSTRALIA vs WEST INDIES, 1988/1989 WSC 3rd FINAL, WI INN

Sorry No decline in display there. May be there was a statistical decline but from the matches I saw around 87-89, there was not much decline noticed.

 

[social]

I was thinking of you when I first made the post regarding Ponting's form, which Jack read and made this thread.

You say that, and I agree. But its only every few innings. He's in and out. I just find it interesting. I definitely wouldn't say all his knocks have been late.

IMO, Ponting's biggest problem is that he has stopped cashing in as regularly once he has gotten a start

A couple of years ago, his average score once he'd past 20 was something like 82

Lately, he's been getting lots of starts and chucking it away e.g. yesterday's odi in NZ

4, 15, 160 looks a lot better statistically than 4, 15, 57

 

[Spark]

Kallis did have a fairly low run for a while there, Ponting's showing signs of getting out of his too I reckon. A Test double against an admittedly ordinary Pakistan attack notwithstanding, his ODI knocks of late have been fantastic. Hitting them as well as I've seen for ages.

I've gotta agree with this. You know Ponting is in good form when he's driving on the up down the ground/ondriving, which he was doing supremely yesterday.

social makes a good point too though.

 

[silentstriker]

IMO, Ponting's biggest problem is that he has stopped cashing in as regularly once he has gotten a start

A couple of years ago, his average score once he'd past 20 was something like 82

Lately, he's been getting lots of starts and chucking it away e.g. yesterday's odi in NZ

4, 15, 160 looks a lot better statistically than 4, 15, 57

If that's the case, then it's just a mental thing that can be corrected and not necessarily a decline due to age and not having the same type of hand/eye coordination or something.

 

[Sanz]

Once again it is the same thing, I don't see any decline in Ponting's batting (due to age) except statistically. When he walks in to bat, it doesn't seem like his teeth are waiting to pop out . His shots are fine, he has been fluent while on crease.

 

[silentstriker]

Seen the pull lately?

 

[Jono]

He's slower on the pull, surely that's not in doubt?

 

[Ikki]

Actually, I agree with Sanz. If anything about Ponting being in a trough has troubled me is that he doesn't look like he's particularly troubled. Sure there are more periods in his innings where he looks less unsure but on the whole it's kinda been "oh he looks really good...**** what was that".

 

[Richard]

You really think he carries that weakness all the time?

It's almost inconceivable, and I've seen him bat against teams other than England not irregularly as well, and only rarely have I ever seen it afflict him. It's simply incredibly odd that it's virtually never failed to manifest itself against England.

 

[Richard]

Not entirely true. Your statement would stand right if we were specifically looking for a DVD/Tape of RIchards Batting, perhaps it would include the best of his batting even during his decline.

But your statement wouldn't be true If I am looking at a random match say 1988-89 WSC finals.

YouTube - AUSTRALIA vs WEST INDIES, 1988/1989 WSC 2nd FINAL

YouTube - AUSTRALIA vs WEST INDIES, 1988/1989 WSC 3rd FINAL, WI INN

Sorry No decline in display there. May be there was a statistical decline but from the matches I saw around 87-89, there was not much decline noticed.

Highlights packages centred on matches certainly rarely show players in decline either, because they tend to just show boundaries and wickets. Only rarely will a delivery featuring a batsman being dismissed in itself tell you much about any weakness in his game.