Players who are exceptional in one format and dire in another

[quincywagstaff]

Haven't seen him mentioned yet but Kim Hughes. His Test batting average of 37 undersells him a bit as he disintegrated for various reasons in his last few Tests against the West Indies. He was a quality Test bat for most of his career.

But as a ODI bat - where his attacking style presumably would've suited him - he never really delivered. Never scored a century in 97 matches and averaged just 24.

Mark Taylor another one - very good Test batsman but largely an ordinary ODI bat. Probably lucky to play as many ODI as he did (113) and to get only one century as an opener at a very slow strike rate (under 60) isn't impressive by any standard.

 

[hendrix]

Guptill was given WAY more than his fair go at opener.

It's really not difficult at all to see why he hasn't succeeded as an opener in test cricket. He plays cricket the same way he plays golf. He has very little ability to let the ball come to him and play it under his eyes. On top of this he doesn't read length particularly well and is constantly caught pushing on the front foot to back-of-a-length deliveries.

Moreover, Martin Crowe spent a lot of time with him and was unable to correct his deficiencies. Anyway, it's arguable his playing cricket like golf style is what enables him to use his long levers to hit those huge sixes and makes him so dangerous in the shorter formats. So it's extremely unlikely that he'll ever significantly improve as a test batsman.

He should remain opener as there is noone conclusively better though.

 

[vcs]

Yeah, Lara was awesome in ODIs up until '98 or so. Remember a tri-series in SA where he was the only one scoring centuries, while Waqar, Wasim, Donald and Ambrose/Walsh were destroying batting lineups in every game. He also made a great century against Pakistan chasing in a game where Basit Ali scored a very quick hundred.