But he never really put his hand up in First Class cricket in Australia to bang the door down. It was really only through One Day exploits that he properly started banging down the door. What he did in England was a great achievement, but without a weight of runs in the Shield wasn't particularly significant.
Definitely agree with this.
Yeah that's true (in fact I've said as much before to the "why did it take him so long to get picked?!?" crowd) - it's certainly not like he was being undeservedly left out of the side. I do feel though that even on the strength of his Shield numbers alone he would've been selected in another era or for another country though. He hadn't put up mediocre or sub-Test-standard numbers in the Shield in a general context; only in the context of his competition at the time. I definitely don't think his average would be as high as it is if he'd played a "full" career for Australia but I still think it'd be in the mid to high 40s. It's a bit speculative in general, which is why I find it hard to rate him... based purely on what he did at Test level I don't find him impressive enough to be considered a great though.
Who would you rate higher? Martyn or Hussey?
Yeah purely based on Tests I'd go Martyn.
Sehwag absolutely is a contender for an Indian ATG XI. He's the second greatest opener in our history.
Agree, but in my mind I don't think he's a greater cricketer than the guys I listed in the 5. It's very marginal though. He could probably replace Clarke.
Agree again. It will be interesting to note what sort of coverage the media give to Amla's 100th test and his retirement. Rarely lauded player (from what I observe), but so, so effective. That SA ATG middle order is difficult to get into with Kallis, Pollock, Nourse, Faulkner, DeVilliers all very good contenders. But Amla's name should be among them now I think.
