Best Batsmen By Country

[Prince EWS]

Who's the best Welsh batsman? All their Test players I can think of were bowlers, or Geriant Jones.

Cyril Walters?

 

[benchmark00]

Is the qualification for this born in, or played for?

 

[Daemon]

As long as they were eligible for selection for the particular country at any point during their careers I guess

 

[Satyanash89]

Australia: Obvious
England: Len Hutton
West Indies: George Headley
India: Sunil Gavaskar
Pakistan: Javed Miandad
South Africa: Graeme Pollock
Sri Lanka: Aravinda de Silva
New Zealand: Martin Crowe

Would like to hear why some people consider Gavaskar>Tendulkar. Tendulkar has achieved more than Gavaskar did against equally good attacks, for a longer period of time, with far more flair while not compromising on his defense either. I dont think its outrageous to put Gavaskar ahead of him but id genuinely like to hear the reasoning behind it because i personally cant really think of any concrete ones

Similar for de Silva over Sanga as well

 

[mohammad16]

Lara is probably the most underrated All time great ever.

I would put him as the best batsmen of all time after Bradman factoring in the entertainment value and sheer domination of spin. Easily the most exciting batsmen ever. The most frustrating part about Lara is that he actually under achieved, half the time his mind was really not up for it. When on song, I doubt there is a batsmen in history that could match his domination apart from Viv, but Lara was more exciting to watch than Viv.

 

[fredfertang]

Australia - Bradman
England - Hutton
South Africa - Richards
India - Tendulkar
West Indies - Sobers
Pakistan - Miandad
Sri Lanka - Jayawardene
New Zealand - Crowe
Zimbabwe - Flower
Bangladesh - Tamim

Interesting exercise - only really stumbled over South Africa and whether Graeme Pollock was the right choice

 

[MW1304]

Sanga over Jaya suuurely.

 

[Burgey]

Italy's best would be Denis Compton.

 

[benchmark00]

Italy's best would be Denis Compton.

What connection to Italy does Compton have?

 

[centurymaker]

viv over sobers surely

 

[Viscount Tom]

What connection to Italy does Compton have?

Not sure, I think in his old age he's got him mixed up with Ted Dexter.

 

[Teja.]

Australia - Bradman
England - Hutton
South Africa - Richards
India - Tendulkar
West Indies - Sobers
Pakistan - Miandad
Sri Lanka - Jayawardene
New Zealand - Crowe
Zimbabwe - Flower
Bangladesh - Tamim

Interesting exercise - only really stumbled over South Africa and whether Graeme Pollock was the right choice

I agree with this with the exceptions of Jack Hobbs, Herbie Taylor and Kumar Sangakkara for England, SA and Sri Lanka, respectively.

Also can pick Headley over Sobers on a different day.

 

[Prince EWS]

I agree with this with the exceptions of Jack Hobbs, Herbie Taylor and George Headley for England, SA and the Windies, respectively.

You think Jayawardene is better than Sangakkara too? It's a bit of a weird one. How come?

 

[Teja.]

You think Jayawardene is better than Sangakkara too? It's a bit of a weird one. How come?

Haha, I independently noticed and edited the minute before this post.

I personally don't rate Jayawardene particularly highly actually, in this relative context. Sangakkara conclusively better, for mine.

I actually picked Headley initially as you quoted but 1) Sobers/Headley has always been a bit of a Merchant for me. 2) Quoting Fred's post and making four changes was a bit far.

 

[cricmahanty]

Australia- The Don
England- Jack Hobbs (Wally, Hutton run him close)
India- Sachin Tendulkar (Sunny, Dravid are close)
West Indies- Brian Lara (Sorry Viv and sorry Headley)
South Africa- Jacques Kallis
Pakistan- Zaheer Abbas
New Zealand- Martin Crowe
Sri Lanka- Kumar Sangakkara
Zimbabwe- Andy Flower
Bangladesh- Shakib-al Hasan

 

[benchmark00]

Not sure, I think in his old age he's got him mixed up with Ted Dexter.

Makes a mean spag bol tbf.

 

[fredfertang]

You think Jayawardene is better than Sangakkara too? It's a bit of a weird one. How come?

I knew Sanga's stats were better than Jaya's but hadn't realised just how much - just went on instinct and what I've seen which is as an Englishman, so pleased to see that Sanga averages 35 against us and Jaya 60 - that's what convinced me!

 

[Satyanash89]

I knew Sanga's stats were better than Jaya's but hadn't realised just how much - just went on instinct and what I've seen which is as an Englishman, so pleased to see that Sanga averages 35 against us and Jaya 60 - that's what convinced me!

Mahela's as bad as Sehwag when the ball starts to swing though. Sanga over the last few years has played some really great innings overseas too.
Mahela is just about the most overrated batsman of the generation imo... just because he's classical and elegant most people dont criticize his away record as much as they do, say Sehwag's. He's failed repeatedly everywhere except the SC

 

[L Trumper]

Australia - Bradman
West Indies - Sobers
England - Hobbs (not considering Grace for the list)
South Africa - G Pollock
India - Tendulkar
Pakistan - Miandad
Sri Lanka - Sangakkara
New Zealand - Crowe
Zimbabwe - Flower

 

[doesitmatter]

India -- SRT
WI - Viv
NZ - MCrowe
Aus -- Don
Eng -- Hobbs
Pak -- Miandad
SL - Aravinda
SA - BRichards
Zimbabwe - AFlower
Bangladesh - Shakib