Placing our bets on "Test Cricket's Young Fab Four"

[Furball]

do root (in australia) and kohli (in england) have the biggest holes in their cvs and points to prove?

can't think of one for kw or smith.

Smith is garbage in Asia.

 

[Furball]

South Africa for KW.

Would venture to say that none of them have tonned up on a raging seamer either like Rahane or Warner have.

Root belted 130 on a pitch Australia were 60 all out on.

 

[morgieb]

do root (in australia) and kohli (in england) have the biggest holes in their cvs and points to prove?

can't think of one for kw or smith.

AFAIK Smith hasn't scored a ton in Asia, that's a bit of a hole. Not as big as Kohli in England, but it does show that he doesn't have a perfect record either.

 

[91Jmay]

South Africa for KW.

Would venture to say that none of them have tonned up on a raging seamer either like Rahane or Warner have.

Root at the Wanderers was a proper seamer. England bowled like morons and no one else really got close to his score for rest of match.

 

[NZTailender]

yeah kane was terrible in the 45 all out series.

That was during his 'lost' stage. Entered averaging 32 and left averaging 30, before scoring a few 50s in our abysmal England tour. Then he scored a hundred in Bangladesh has hasn't looked back.

I mean that's literally the halfway point in his career.

First 25 Tests: 1385 runs @ 31.47
Last 25 Tests: 2924 runs @ 73.10

 

[OverratedSanity]

South Africa for KW.

Would venture to say that none of them have tonned up on a raging seamer either like Rahane or Warner have.

Root at Trentbridge surely.

 

[GIMH]

Root at Trentbridge surely.

Yeah, unarguably the best innings of all time. Fact.

 

[Jono]

Root belted 130 on a pitch Australia were 60 all out on.

This could be any pitch of any quality outside Australia tbf

 

[TheJediBrah]

AFAIK Smith hasn't scored a ton in Asia, that's a bit of a hole. Not as big as Kohli in England, but it does show that he doesn't have a perfect record either.

Well this series against SL is his first Test series in Asia since he became good. He toured India in 2013 and made a 92 IIRC but wasn't quite the same player at that stage.

not sure if UAE counts as Asia but I guess he played the 2 tests there in 2014?

 

[morgieb]

Well this series against SL is his first Test series in Asia since he became good. He toured India in 2013 and made a 92 IIRC but wasn't quite the same player at that stage.

not sure if UAE counts as Asia but I guess he played the 2 tests there in 2014?

It should, and yes he did. Got a 90-odd there as well IIRC.

 

[Zinzan]

So If KW guns it in SA, will he be the only one with no area of doubt left on his resume?

 

[OverratedSanity]

I think it's stupid that we're talking about blots in country records so early into their careers. I mean, even most ATGs have a couple of places they did really poorly in. Lara never did well against India, Kallis always sucked balls in England, Dravid was terrible in SA, etc. and we're applying these criteria to players who've barely toured every country once? Seems really silly to me.

Imo, the only one with a real blot on his resume in terms of batting in different conditions is Kohli, because in addition to simply not getting runs ( which can happen to even the greatest players even when they're not actually playing badly), he just looked utterly inept and had no idea how to handle the conditions. It's a genuine flaw in his game which was well and truly exposed, and not just a box which he failed to tick.

 

[hendrix]

If we're still unconvinced by any one of these 4 then we have extremely high standards.

 

[Jono]

yeah people are ****.

 

[Jono]

care to list them? I can think of maybe 2 truly great innings from Rahane, whereas I can think of maybe 4 for Root and around 5-6 for KW and Kohli

I have Lord's, Melbourne, Kingsmead and Delhi. Wellington probably just falls short, but it was very good. So your'e right, he's probably behind KW and Root.

 

[Zinzan]

I think it's stupid that we're talking about blots in country records so early into their careers. I mean, even most ATGs have a couple of places they did really poorly in. Lara never did well against India, Kallis always sucked balls in England, Dravid was terrible in SA, etc. and we're applying these criteria to players who've barely toured every country once? Seems really silly to me.

Imo, the only one with a real blot on his resume in terms of batting in different conditions is Kohli, because in addition to simply not getting runs ( which can happen to even the greatest players even when they're not actually playing badly), he just looked utterly inept and had no idea how to handle the conditions. It's a genuine flaw in his game which was well and truly exposed, and not just a box which he failed to tick.

Yeah I was tongue in cheek, every batsman has to have some side that they have their 'poorest' record against or one particular country they didn't do well in. Only if it's more generic that than, like someone averaging 20 in Asian and 70 out of Asian does it really mean anything.

 

[Adders]

I think it's stupid that we're talking about blots in country records so early into their careers. I mean, even most ATGs have a couple of places they did really poorly in. Lara never did well against India, Kallis always sucked balls in England, Dravid was terrible in SA, etc. and we're applying these criteria to players who've barely toured every country once? Seems really silly to me.

Imo, the only one with a real blot on his resume in terms of batting in different conditions is Kohli, because in addition to simply not getting runs ( which can happen to even the greatest players even when they're not actually playing badly), he just looked utterly inept and had no idea how to handle the conditions. It's a genuine flaw in his game which was well and truly exposed, and not just a box which he failed to tick.

Agree 100%.

I can't understand how lack of runs in Aus for Root can be called a blemish on his resume when he's played one series there FFS. Every great player can have a dud series and that particular one for Root was probably against the best fast bowling seen in a couple of decades.

Sure at the end of his career after 3 or 4 series downunder and he''s averaging low 30's there, then you can certainly call it against him.

Even though you say Kohli looked all at sea in Eng, same goes for him........it was only one series. I certainly wouldn't bet against him bossing it next time he tours.

 

[GIMH]

Root was also not helped in that series by them screwing around with him non stop. Been a different player ever since.

 

[Burgey]

Root was also not helped in that series by them screwing around with him non stop. Been a different player ever since.

Cry me a river.

 

[Jono]

"root", "screwing around"

keep it clean bloke