Chris Cairns vs Shane Watson

[Athlai]

Craig's inability to identify Jakester is disappointing.

Cycling seems to have made his brain two tired.

 

[Craig]

Craig's inability to identify Jakester is disappointing.

Cycling seems to have made his brain two tired.

That's something I won't disagree on.

 

[NZTailender]

Craig's inability to identify Jakester is disappointing.

Cycling seems to have made his brain two tired.

Royalties please.

 

[Athlai]

I thought of you when I said it.

 

[Sir Alex]

Cairns easily by a country mile in all aspects including the hots.

 

[andyc]

Having not seen a whole lot of Cairns, am interested to hear why he's streets ahead of Watson in ODIs tbh.

 

[blahblahblah]

well one thing is surely different

thats the eras they have been in

well cairns has been undoubtedly one of the best all rounders of new zealand team and in a way all over the world

he had quality bastsman t bowl to and teams which actually played for the spirit of the game

but for watson , if u remove his performances against pakistan , he aint that big a shot

but ya i very much admire the way he came back into the team when he was thrown out in the beginning

i donno how it worked for him , but he never looked back again

i have seen very few all rounders who actually open the innings in batting and are natural 1st change choice in bowling also

 

[Furball]

Having not seen a whole lot of Cairns, am interested to hear why he's streets ahead of Watson in ODIs tbh.

Because he's not Shane Watson, that's why.

 

[benchmark00]

Would be more inclined to mount a case for Watson in test matches than ODI's itbt.

Cairns' stats are probably deceptively poor, but was the sort of guy who could turn, and win, a match on the back of his performance alone. Probably didn't have the technique and patience to do this at test level as regularly.

I think when the dust settles on their respective careers, Watson will probably have a better test career, and probably better ODI stats, but I think Cairns will always be the more valuable ODI player and Watson a more valuable test asset.

 

[NZTailender]

I thought of you when I said it.

 

[lockton2skipper]

cairns by a mile.

 

[Top_Cat]

Would be more inclined to mount a case for Watson in test matches than ODI's itbt.

Cairns' stats are probably deceptively poor, but was the sort of guy who could turn, and win, a match on the back of his performance alone. Probably didn't have the technique and patience to do this at test level as regularly.

I think when the dust settles on their respective careers, Watson will probably have a better test career, and probably better ODI stats, but I think Cairns will always be the more valuable ODI player and Watson a more valuable test asset.

Werd. Cairns was immense for NZ for years in ODI's.

EDIT: It's interesting how Watto supporters tend to mention his stats. Was the biggest argument on here when he was trying to get into the side in the first place ("He averages almost 50 in FC cricket!"). Think it's an interesting reversal (some would say cognitive dissonance) of someone like Cairns where his stats don't provide convincing evidence of his match-winning abilities in that Watto doesn't have many obvious match-winning knocks to support his stats. Reckon the perception about Watto is that he's a great front-runner but falls into a hole in a tough situation. It's a tough perception to shake, tbh, but there's no reason why he can't. Cairns did.

Good in a chase, but.

 

[Flem274*]

Someone posted some stats a while back that between (off the top of my head) 1997 to 2004, Cairns averaged 43 with the bat and 27 with the ball.

 

[vcs]

Watson was Man of the Series by a mile in the last Champions Trophy, so he has matched Cairns in that regard atleast.

 

[Athlai]

Watto for the banker, Cairns for the gambling man.

 

[tooextracool]

Would be more inclined to mount a case for Watson in test matches than ODI's itbt.

Cairns' stats are probably deceptively poor, but was the sort of guy who could turn, and win, a match on the back of his performance alone. Probably didn't have the technique and patience to do this at test level as regularly.

I think when the dust settles on their respective careers, Watson will probably have a better test career, and probably better ODI stats, but I think Cairns will always be the more valuable ODI player and Watson a more valuable test asset.

Im actually going to go the other way on this one. I think Watson will end up being the better ODI player because his bowling is actually useful in this format and he's proven himself to be a quality limited overs player. As far as tests are concerned, dont think Watson will ever come close to being the strike bowler that Cairns was for years (has 13 5fers and a 10 fer) both because of his limitations as a bowler as well as due to his injury record. Cairns was good enough to make it into most sides as a bowler alone while he was fit, the fact that he could turn a test match on its head in the matter of a session with the bat was simply superfluous.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Cairns beat Flintoff in a poll on CW around last year IIRC.

 

[Smudge]

Cairns has packed better fudge than Watto, so Cairns it is.

 

[NZTailender]

I don't think there have been any players who have captivated or entertained me more as Cairns. He was the cricketer I wanted to be when I grew up.

 

[shankar]

Im actually going to go the other way on this one. I think Watson will end up being the better ODI player because his bowling is actually useful in this format and he's proven himself to be a quality limited overs player. As far as tests are concerned, dont think Watson will ever come close to being the strike bowler that Cairns was for years (has 13 5fers and a 10 fer) both because of his limitations as a bowler as well as due to his injury record. Cairns was good enough to make it into most sides as a bowler alone while he was fit, the fact that he could turn a test match on its head in the matter of a session with the bat was simply superfluous.

I've not caught much of his bowling since then but Watson was quite impressive with the ball in the series in India when the rest of the Aussie bowlers (except Johnson to an extent) struggled.