Sangakkara redux.

[hang on]

An article in the Independent by Brenkley about Sangakkara and his mediocre record in England leads me to open up the floor to the distinguished members of this forum!

Sangakkara spurns gilt-edged chance to put record straight - Cricket, Sport - The Independent

Given that there are still 3 more innings in this series - hopefully - it is a mite early to be writing him off, but I still can't help feeling a bit disappointed by his lack of runs so far, and, more importantly, the concurrent failure to cement his position as one of the really great batsmen in the modern game.

His stats, for those who care:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/50710.html?class=1;template=results;type=batting

 

[Athlai]

Reckon hes been out of form for a good year now.

Looking at his results though its mostly just in the series I've watched while he has scored ridiculous amounts of runs at other times.

Beggared if I know just know that I thought he looked out of touch against the West Indies in that woeful series.

 

[Spark]

He's not looked particularly convincing in any of his knocks thus far tbh.

 

[hang on]

i am biased, i will freely admit. he is one of my favourite cricketers - along with jayawardene - and i get a bit miffed when his critics, correctly, bring up the lack of excellent records in a few countries to question his place in the pantheon. i have also done the same in a rare moment of objective criticism in the past but it's not the norm!

he managed to, finally, score a 100 in india in 2009, and somewhat stifle some criticism. was hoping for him to do the same and better in england....

 

[vcs]

Reckon hes been out of form for a good year now.

Looking at his results though its mostly just in the series I've watched while he has scored ridiculous amounts of runs at other times.

Beggared if I know just know that I thought he looked out of touch against the West Indies in that woeful series.

He was pretty good against W. Indies. Averaged 76 with a 150 in one innings, and the pitches in that series were fairly helpful for bowlers IIRC with overcast conditions around.

 

[hang on]

i watched bits of the windies series and the pitches looked pretty flat to me. gayle scored a triple!

 

[Athlai]

Pitches were flat as heck IMO and the West Indies didn't bring much of an attack. I don't think I've seen Sanga ever bat so scratchily before, he usually bats like pure ***.

 

[vcs]

i am biased, i will freely admit. he is one of my favourite cricketers - along with jayawardene - and i get a bit miffed when his critics, correctly, bring up the lack of excellent records in a few countries to question his place in the pantheon. i have also done the same in a rare moment of objective criticism in the past but it's not the norm!

he managed to, finally, score a 100 in india in 2009, and somewhat stifle some criticism. was hoping for him to do the same and better in england....

More than just the averages, I would say it is the paucity of centuries in England, India and SA that is the real blemish in his record.. no one really cares that Gilchrist averaged in the 20s in India and only about 40 in England because he was able to produce match-turning centuries when it mattered..

 

[vcs]

Pitches were flat as heck IMO and the West Indies didn't bring much of an attack. I don't think I've seen Sanga ever bat so scratchily before, he usually bats like pure ***.

Roach bowled quite well TBH.

 

[hang on]

kallis and hayden haven't done too well in england either. kallis, i knew, but could never understand given his superb technique.

but hayden i'd completely forgotten about. ponting's another who hasn't totally convinced in england though one of the best knocks i've ever seen anywhere was played by him in 05. fabulous rearguard match saving 100.

 

[hang on]

More than just the averages, I would say it is the paucity of centuries in England, India and SA that is the real blemish in his record.. no one really cares that Gilchrist averaged in the 20s in India and only about 40 in England because he was able to produce match-turning centuries when it mattered..

yeah, that's a good way of explaining it. the saffer record is ok, to be fair. averaging almost 40 after having played there very early on in his career. even tendulkar, till the last series, hadn't exactly done well there, though, u are right, he had scored some fantastic 100s there.

 

[hang on]

mentioned it in the series thread but thought it's worth mentioning again...

arnold, during his commentary stint, when pushed by hussein to choose between sangakkara and jayawardene, chose the latter on the basis of being a more complete batsman capable of handling pressure better. he did preface that comment by saying that sangakkara was a fantastic test player and so he might have been judging them as overall batsmen (tests and odis) as opposed to tests...not really clear about that bit.

what is the general consensus in sri lanka? who is considered the better batsman by the congnoscenti?

 

[salman85]

Since i still don't have an answer to this,can anyone tell me what's up with his helmet?

 

[GotSpin]

Roach bowled quite well TBH.

The pitches were quite flat that series. When Gayle scores a triple ton you know the bowlers aren't exactly enjoying themselves.

Roach was bowling extremely well that series although he has since lost his line a bit

 

[Himannv]

I think he's showing lack of interest at the moment tbh.

 

[ankitj]

he is one of my favourite cricketers - along with jayawardene

Mine too.

 

[Xuhaib]

most greats have one or two bogey places not a big concern he's already an ATG for me.Sachin was lucky/committed to have such a late career resurgence or he would have ended up with a mediocre record in SA.People over here analyze to much.

 

[hang on]

perhaps, xuhaib. but, as mentioned by vcs, there were are some major gaps in terms of 100s that need tending to. all players have some gaps as u rightly mentioned, it is just when there are a few gaps too many that eyebrows start being raised. i was having a look at his stats and he needs to score 100s in saf, england, west indies. he managed to get one in india in his last test there.

 

[Xuhaib]

He has not been to SA for ages and the current or recent past Windies should not be seen as a barometer of success.Yes you need to make runs against who ever you face but not have a hundred against Sulaiman Benn or Pedro Collins should not be a blot on his CV. I admit his English record needs improving but he still have 3 chances remaining but it doesen't happen we should take it as an anomaly rather holding it as a major blow to his legacy.

 

[vcs]

Well, when we are comparing batsmen at that level we are always nit-picking. If we can criticize the records of Sehwag, Jayawardene, Yousuf etc. based on these small things then yes, the same should apply to Sangakkara as well. Again with Tendulkar, there was less criticism of his record against SA because he scored brilliant one-off hundreds in 3/4 series he had played there before 2010, albeit his average was not that good.