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Who's the better lower order batsman?

G

gwo

U19 Debutant
GingerFurball said:
Jesus Christ, I'm not grouping McGrath with Martin, he's an example because he's probably the least talented tailender Australia have had while I've been watching cricket.

Martin's only an example because every other Aussie bowler has been useful to some degree with the bat.
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Bollinger?

Kaspa?

McGill?
 
Spark

Spark

Global Moderator
GingerFurball said:
I don't think it's a case of one being better than the other, they just have differing strengths.

Johnson's a more destructive batsmen when he gets going, whereas Hauritz is more obdurate. Hauritz will probably end his career having been the more consistent batsmen, possibly with a higher average, however Johnson will have played more memorable innings.

IMO, purely because of his destructive capabilities, Johnson should bat 8, Hauritz 9. If your 10 and 11 were Glenn McGrath and Chris Martin, you'd be wasting what Johnson can bring to the side with the bat by batting him below Hauritz.
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Agree with this. Hauritz can make a bowling's side life an exercise in frustration a la this morning but Johnson could potentially swing the game in a session. It's not just that he scores - it's how he scores. People talk about his pickup shot a lot and his slog but what strikes me the most is his backfoot 'slash' through cover. If ever you wanted to see what a 150g tracer looked like...
 
Richard

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Himannv said:
Disagree on your allrounder theory though. I love Specialists. :)
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Can't see how it can possibly be aught but an advantage to have those who are good enough to play on the back of one discipline being semi-competent in another. Having a top-quality bowling\batting-all-rounder who is able to play purely based on one of his disciplines and comes close to being able to play based on the other is always going to be very unusual, but having one who's a good-quality top-order batsman who also knows what he's doing sending a ball down or someone who can bowl to Test standard and also knows how to hold a bat and can average, say, 25 coming in at number-eight is always going to be better than having a batsman who can't bowl to any remote standard and a bowler who never scores a run. Obviously there's a limit to what anyone can do but you should always expect the best bowlers in the country to do as best with the bat as they can, wring whatever they can from what talent, even if it's little, that they have.

The thing you really want to get away from is having low-quality all-rounders (or "bits-and-pieces players") who add nothing-all-that-much to the side with bat or ball. Picking such players instead of quality specialist bowlers or batsmen is a bad error.
 
BoyBrumby

BoyBrumby

Englishman
gwo said:
Bollinger?

Kaspa?

McGill?
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Not seen a lot of Doug's batting, but I reckon you're being very harsh on Kasper mentioning him in the same breath as McGrath & MacGill.

Could bat a bit, IMHO.

EDIT: Or what Neil said. :ph34r:
 
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G

gwo

U19 Debutant
Point taken.

Kaspa was marginally better than McGrath towards the latter part of his test career (and I hold massive Queensland bias).

I think McGrath honestly much much better than MacGill with the willow. I tend to think of MacGill as a Martin with an very very occasional excellent cover drive.
 
vic_orthdox

vic_orthdox

Global Moderator
MacGill worked out his own weird technique, and towards the end of his career made some crucial runs. Had that infuriating habit of hitting the balls that are going to hit the stumps, and continually playing and missing to anything outside off.
 
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