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Best Batsmen in the 50s?

H

hang on

State Vice-Captain
There were many -

Hutton
May
Worrell
Weekes
Walcott
Cowdrey
Harvey
Sobers (sort of)
Mohammad
Compton
Another

Who do you think was the best batsman of the lot? (for example, Hutton or Sobers were the best batsmen to have played in the 50s)
Who do you think think was the best batsman of the 50s - best performing in the 50s?
How would you rank the top 5 in both categories?
 
Howe_zat

Howe_zat

Audio File
My first thought was for Hutton, who I consider to be of the best few batsmen of all time. As tangy said in the other thread:

fredfertang said:
1. Never batted on Australian shirtfronts before the war
2. Missed his best years - 24-30 - because of the war
3. Played most of his career (ie after the war) with one arm shorter than the other because of his wartime accident
4. English wickets were generally "sporting" after the war
5. Had to put up with the stress of being England's first professional captain

Still averaged 56 in Tests and 55 overall
Click to expand...
After him, I would suggest Weekes. I admit I don't know a great deal about this time period, but Weekes' record is outstanding.
 
bagapath

bagapath

International Captain
Compton peaked in the 40s and, by his standards, faded out in the next decade. Sobers' record in the 50s is heavily twisted upwards by the world record score he made. he had a more productive and longer reign as a great batsman in the following decade. but in the 50s, he wasnt a major force with the bat.

so, the answer has to be from one of the three Ws, Hutton, May or Harvey.

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

of the six prime candidates walcott and weekes failed in both england and australia. worrell wasn't a great success against and in australia. since england and australia were the most important test playing nations of the decade, this black mark kind of weakens their cases. the same holds true for harvey against england. he wasnt as great a success against the old enemy as he would have liked to be.

peter may had the reputation and the numbers to be called the most influential batter of the era. he was capable of attacking and defending according to the need of the hour. had a long and productive career as the leader and talisman of the team. he was a big match player too. on the negative side, he wasnt a success against pakistan and failed in south africa.

the other candidate, len hutton, failed in that same home series against pakistan in 1954. he was below par in new zealand as well. but he was a great player throughout the decade against everybody else. practically decimated the windies wherever he played them.

all things considered, i would rank them in the order of...

hutton
may
weekes
harvey
walcott
worrell
 
Last edited:
A

abmk

State 12th Man
bagapath said:
Compton peaked in the 40s and, by his standards, faded out in the next decade. Sobers' record in the 50s is heavily twisted upwards by the world record score he made. he had a more productive and longer reign as a great batsman in the following decade. but in the 50s, he wasnt a major force with the bat.

so, the answer has to be from one of the three Ws, Hutton, May or Harvey.

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

of the six prime candidates walcott and weekes failed in both england and australia. worrell wasn't a great success against and in australia. since england and australia were the most important test playing nations of the decade, this black mark kind of weakens their cases. the same holds true for harvey against england. he wasnt as great a success against the old enemy as he would have liked to be.

peter may had the reputation and the numbers to be called the most influential batter of the era. he was capable of attacking and defending according to the need of the hour. had a long and productive career as the leader and talisman of the team. he was a big match player too. on the negative side, he wasnt a success against pakistan and failed in south africa.

the other candidate, len hutton, failed in that same home series against pakistan in 1954. he was below par in new zealand as well. but he was a great player throughout the decade against everybody else. practically decimated the windies wherever he played them.

all things considered, i would rank them in the order of...

hutton
may
weekes
harvey
walcott
worrell
Click to expand...
may was too much of a home bully to be put at no2 in that list. I'd put hutton first, harvey next.
 
Burgey

Burgey

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Think Worrell should be quite high here tbh. Would have him as the highest of the three W's.
 
Dissector

Dissector

International Debutant
Yeah I would rate Worrell above May, Walcott and Weekes who were all home-track bullies. Hutton was clearly the best batsman of the decade.
 
H

hang on

State Vice-Captain
too young to have seen those in the 50s - started watching cricket in the early 70s - but am curious as to why worrell is rated above weekes and walcott when most pundits of the game have him below the two. is it just the "minnow bashing", so to speak, aspect of it?
 
Burgey

Burgey

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I can't dig it up, but SJS (revered poster on here tstl) made an excellent post some time back explaining Worrell's record in context. Was a genius post tbh.
 
flibbertyjibber

flibbertyjibber

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Wasn't born till the 70's so not got the foggiest. Too difficult to make a fair judgement without having seen them all.
 
L Trumper

L Trumper

State Regular
flibbertyjibber said:
Wasn't born till the 70's so not got the foggiest. Too difficult to make a fair judgement without having seen them all.
Click to expand...
Just out of curiosity how do you judge churchill, blair, cameron as prime ministers?

Back to the topic
Hutton was the best among others. In my opinion he is arguably the greatest post war batsman sans sobers, also the greatest opening batsman too.
 
archie mac

archie mac

International Coach
A tough one:wacko:

Hutton entered the 50s after the war had robbed him of some golden years and had left one arm shorter than the other after a gym accident. This limited Hutton's shot selection the hook stroke for instance which he played grandly in the 30s was now denied. A fact Miller and Lindwall were quick to take advantage off in the 40s and would pepper the helpless Hutton with bouncers.

I have read a lot about Hutton and Compton, it seems most bowlers preferred to bowl at Hutton. If the bowler delivered a good ball Hutton would play a defensive stroke where as Compton would often hit a bowlers best delivery to the boundary.

All of this suggests (to me at least) modern bowlers would have developed a game plan setting fields to frustrate Hutton if not dismiss him, where as Compton may have thrived in modern times especially in the shorter forms of the game.

May was also a class act of the period and should always be included in any discussion of the best players of his generation.

The Three Ws were all greats and even after reading that fine post by SJS (I could not find it either) I still rate the shortest of the three Ws, Weekes as the best. He was often referred to by the same nickname as that other great WI batsman before him Headley as the "Black Bradman." High praise indeed.

Harvey is the other one, not sure what his average was at the end of the 50s but I imagine it was 50+ he was the undoubted best player of spin with opponents often commenting how far down the track he would come to attack the spinners and despite this habit he was never once out stumped in a Test. If you were picking the best team in history to play South Africa, Harvey would be first choice his efforts against them were phenomenal.

My vote is Hutton despite his arm injury he still dominated and perhaps without the injury and without the loss of the war years he would be clearly considered the 2nd best batsman in the annals of cricket history:cool:
 
flibbertyjibber

flibbertyjibber

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L Trumper said:
Just out of curiosity how do you judge churchill, blair, cameron as prime ministers?

Back to the topic
Hutton was the best among others. In my opinion he is arguably the greatest post war batsman sans sobers, also the greatest opening batsman too.
Click to expand...
Can't judge Churchill properly as i wasn't around but most historians say he was a goodun.

Blair is a **** who should be on trial in the Hague.

Cameron, still too early but ConDem alliance seems a bit of a disaster, then again Brown was too so no change really.
 
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