Who do you rank higher? Stephen Waugh or Javed Miandad?

[Khaseer]

Both were very gritty and talented players.

I personally think they're about equal.

Edit: Yeah, purely as batsmen. Waugh wins as an overall cricketer for his captaincy and bowling abilities. And tests only as we all know Miandad in ODI's was clearly better.

cheers

 

[smash84]

I rate Miandad very highly....but for overall cricketer Steve Waugh any day

as batsmen it will be much closer though

 

[Burgey]

Steve Waugh, even as a batsman alone.

 

[Debris]

Probably pick Steve Waugh just because his ability to bat under pressure was unmatched for the second half of his career. But only just.

 

[social]

Waugh

One of the main reasons being that Miandad was undoubtedly favoured by home umpires as evidenced by the low proportion of his dismissals by lbw when playing in Pakistan

 

[uvelocity]

steve waugh

 

[Noble One]

Waugh made the CW ATG C XI and Miandad the E XI.

A fair reflection on the careers of both champions.

 

[Spikey]

Waugh

One of the main reasons being that Miandad was undoubtedly favoured by home umpires as evidenced by the low proportion of his dismissals by lbw when playing in Pakistan

he also has a low proportion of bowled dismissals in pakistan. maybe he was just putting the bails back on...

Just putting it out there - Miandad was never bowled in india, but he was given out LBW eight times. Perhaps he was being screwed over by Indian umpires?

 

[Spikey]

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

Most of them when he was between 50 and 89. The mystery deepens! Maybe the Indian umpires were taking getting him out into their own hands?!?!?!?

 

[Spikey]

In conclusion, Javed Miandad is a land of contrast

 

[smash84]

he also has a low proportion of bowled dismissals in pakistan. maybe he was just putting the bails back on...
Just putting it out there - Miandad was never bowled in india, but he was given out LBW eight times. Perhaps he was being screwed over by Indian umpires?

 

[harsh.ag]

I would rather watch Miandad and would have him ahead of Waugh if the batting line-up is strong. If it is not, then Waugh any day for his immense capability to stand up and deliver under pressure.

 

[fredfertang]

Javed was a complete **** and at the start of his career I detested him for it, but he was the sort of bloke who the longer he went on, and the worse he got, the more you had to, albeit grudgingly, admire him and in his case by the end of his career he was one of my favourite players. His spat with Lillee was hilarious, and his autobiography is an entertaining read (I'm assuming most of it was tongue in cheek - if it wasn't then he's still a ****)

I don't suppose he was ever quite the batsman Steve Waugh was, but then he didn't administer any Ashes spankings, so I'll always prefer him to Waugh for that reason alone

 

[bagapath]

steve was better in alien conditions. OTOH miandad was the greatest in home games; but merely very good outside of pak. guess that should swing this debate in favor of steve waugh AFAIC

 

[G.I.Joe]

Steve Waugh > the terrorist sympathiser.

 

[Arachnodouche]

Miandad buggered India all the time, but Waugh's achievements are the stuff of legend.

EDIT: w.r.t cricket, not buggering.

 

[Dan]

Miandad is a man I respect as an incredible batsman; Waugh is a batsman I respect as an incredible man. If that makes any sense.

My original contact with the game came during the Waugh era, and he was undoubtedly my first sporting hero. He was a batsman who could play any shot in the book if he wanted to, but held himself back to suit game situations and ruthlessly take out even the best of bowling attacks, mostly by grinding them into submission.

I mean, he made 150 against every International side, and one of few to have done it.

When he first started out, he was more flamboyant in his strokemaking than Mark, but scaled it back once he got dropped, and became an ATG batsman for it. I mean, when he started pulling out the slog-sweep again, plenty of people had clean forgotten he could play it to begin with, let alone as well as any other batsman in world cricket.

If Australia needed runs, he was the one you would back to make them (post-1990 Waugh, obvs), especially in foreign conditions. He played some of his best knocks in back-against-the-wall fashion - his twin tons in the 1997 Ashes one such example.

Plus he was a good-to-great captain, an underrated medium pace bowler (mostly because he wouldn't bowl himself), and did so much work for charities everywhere. And the most perfectly-scripted moment in sports history, IMO, was that cover drive off Richard Dawson (his only claim to fame, he was horrible) to bring up that ton on that Sydney evening. I remember sitting in the lounge room watching it.

So yeah, waxing lyrical a little bit, but as a (younger) kid I absolutely loved Steve Waugh. Perhaps I never grew out of it.

 

[Arachnodouche]

There was that terrible article on cricinfo describing his knack for symbolism as affected for securing his legacy. I loved him for it and wish our cricketers had more of that sort of pride and respect for the history of the game and history in general.

 

[Jager]

Disagree on Waugh being a great captain, I think he was far too quick to go on the defensive when in charge. Both were excellent 'crisis' batsmen, I'd take Miandad because of the era he played in and his mastery of spin. Very hard to separate them though.

 

[weldone]

Probably pick Steve Waugh just because his ability to bat under pressure was unmatched for the second half of his career. But only just.

'Ability to bat under pressure' is not one criterion that can work as a positive for any batsman while comparing to Miandad. Miandad's fighting spirit, his ability to bat under pressure, his ability to bat with the tailenders is the stuff of legends (just like in Waugh's second half).

On one famous occasion, Mr Sunil Gavaskar's wife (though not the best cricket expert ) was asked whom she'd want to bat if her team had to bat out a day for a draw ...one of those obvious questions journalists ask when they wanna hear the lady's husband's name from her mouth (also because Gavaskar had plenty of 4th innings heroics to his credit). To the journo's utter surprise, the lady's answer was Javed Miandad. She also went on to add - 'The man plays from his heart.'