Who is South Africa's Greatest Batsman

[Jono]

How the **** is he ugly to watch. I'll cop boring, even if I don't agree, but he is textbook. His cover drives are awesome to watch.

 

[Cabinet96]

Yeah, I never get it. Love watching Kallis bat.

 

[Shri]

Yeah those cover drives after he has put you to sleep are dream like.

 

[Jono]

Go watch Ashwin bat ya ****

 

[Shri]

Of course.

 

[kyear2]

Hard to see how one could watch Kallis bat and watch Pollock innings and read about Pollock and come to the conclusion that Kallis is the better batsman based purely on longevity.
Again just my opinion of course.

 

[akilana]

By watching AB and G Smith bat, I came to the conclusion AB is better.

 

[akilana]

Kallis is ugly to watch is the stupidest thing posted on CW.

 

[Shri]

Hey if people want to doze off during an innings only to be woken up from a wet dream by commentators screaming about a glorious cover drive, each to their own I suppose. The shots aren't ugly to watch, the innings are.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Kallis is ugly to watch is the stupidest thing posted on CW.

Wouldn't call him ugly persay, but he's probably the last among the great batsmen of the generation I'd choose to watch. It's something very subjective... Can't be dismissed

 

[Goughy]

Greatest = Kallis without a shadow of a doubt. The weight of runs and average counts a lot in an argument for "The Greatest." Best batsman is a different debate though.

 

[91Jmay]

Honestly I have no idea. I think he looks wonderfully balanced at the crease and there's nothing wrong, persay with his batting aesthetically.
But it's just a pet peeve of mine that I reserve the high tiers of my personal ATGs for batsmen that have played loads of memorable innings. Now you'll say I haven't watched enough of SA's cricket and will point out instances where Kallis has produced monumental innings. Fair enough.

But personally I find the other great modern batsmen like Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, Dravid, Sanga have such a glittering array of great innings, which imo Kallis doesn't have. It's entirely subjective but there you go

Never did I say Kallis isn't one of the all time great batsmen though... He is... Just nowhere near one of my favorites

Dravid and Sangakarra's names doesn't belong with those lot IMO. Sachin, Lara, Ponting are a tier above Kallis, Dravid and Sanga.

 

[kyear2]

Dravid and Sangakarra's names doesn't belong with those lot IMO. Sachin, Lara, Ponting are a tier above Kallis, Dravid and Sanga.

Fully agree with this. Not sure if it's a full tier, but definitely above.

 

[DDP]

Fully agree with this. Not sure if it's a full tier, but definitely above.

Disagree. I think Kallis definitely deserves his place next to Lara Sachin if Ponting is in the same bracket as well. Would add Sanga to that too.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Dravid and Sangakarra's names doesn't belong with those lot IMO. Sachin, Lara, Ponting are a tier above Kallis, Dravid and Sanga.

I didn't say they are on the same tier.
I only said that those are acknowledged to be the greatest of the modern batsmen. And they are

 

[Shri]

Lol you guys are clueless. Dravid was one of the best ****ing test bats in the world before his decline much like Ponting but in a different way.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Lol you guys are clueless. Dravid was one of the best ****ing test bats in the world before his decline much like Ponting but in a different way.

Yep. Sad that Dravid has somehow been relegated to a status of not quite as good as even kallis and Sanga. For me, after the trifecta of Sachin, Ponting and Lara, it's Dravid. Won us more overseas games than anyone else

 

[91Jmay]

Lol you guys are clueless. Dravid was one of the best ****ing test bats in the world before his decline much like Ponting but in a different way.

No he wasn't much like Ponting in his prime. He didn't take bowlers apart like Ponting, Sachin or Lara did. When did Dravid take an attack to pieces like one of Ponting's numerous double tons? When did he win a WC final with a devastating knock? Dravid was a great player and one of the best ever, but he couldn't take over a game by dominating bowlers on a regular basis. That's the mark of greatness.
Dravid's 177 against Sri Lanka is probably the closest he got to a dominating innings on the Ponting scale, but he didn't do it as consistently.

 

[OverratedSanity]

No he wasn't much like Ponting in his prime. He didn't take bowlers apart like Ponting, Sachin or Lara did. When did Dravid take an attack to pieces like one of Ponting's numerous double tons? When did he win a WC final with a devastating knock? Dravid was a great player and one of the best ever, but he couldn't take over a game by dominating bowlers on a regular basis. That's the mark of greatness.
Dravid's 177 against Sri Lanka is probably the closest he got to a dominating innings on the Ponting scale, but he didn't do it as consistently.

That's why he said Dravid was one of the best in the world in a different way

 

[Spark]

What was that WI match where Dravid got two fifties on a pitch where getting 15 looked like a decent effort? Probably the only batsman capable of that.