How come...

[Richard]

The same with football, all the sweetest strikers of the ball are left footed. Must be some random genetics.

Roberto Carlos has been the best striker for how long now...? Rivaldo was reckoned to be the best aimer for quite a while, too.
Ivanesevic and Rusedski were the fastest servers for God knows how long. Roddick has changed that for the moment... but will there ever be a better woman's player than Navratilova?
Mark Williams and Jimmy White - the two most "naturally" talented players in the game IMO. Just because they don't skip round the table like Tony Drago and O'Sullivan doesn't mean they're any less talented AFAIAC.
Wilkinson - how much more do we need to say?
Lara, best player in The World for donkeys years, quite possibly regained that title since 2001\02.
Undoubtedly there is a lot of cases where lefties are the best. The question we must ask ourselves is: how many righties are there who top their sports? Does it equal or better these cases above? I can't be bothered to work it out, surely someone could?

 

[Richard]

But nobody's addressing the question...Forget abt. international cricketers...Have you noticed that lefties are naturally elegant? If so then why is it so?

I've never noticed anything much - I don't play with many left-handers (one of them is a total slogger) so I can't really comment.

 

[Swervy]

left handed or right handed batsmen dont really exist...whether you are leftie or a 'rightie (ahem) i think for a lot of people depends on how you were initially coached...i know of at least two of my mates who are left handed batters, but bowl and write etc with the right hand....and another mate bats right handed but writes left handed.

I think alot of the elegant thing of a leftie is that most of the time, the ball is going across the batsman (when a right armed bowler is bowling) and so quite often they have more room, or at least an angle of delivery which suits the elegant looking drive,or cut. Quite often when a left arm bowler comes on, a left handed batter all of a sudden looks just like a boring old right handed batter.

 

[marc71178]

Roberto Carlos has been the best striker for how long now...?

Erm, for never.

 

[Richard]

Name a better one.
You did realise I was talking power, not accuracy, yes?

 

[Neil Pickup]

Dwane Lee.

 

[Richard]

Who?

 

[Neil Pickup]

Exeter City midfielder.

His taking aim 25 yards out results in automatic duck-and-cover for anyone in the first 15 rows of the Big Bank.

 

[Rik]

left handed or right handed batsmen dont really exist...whether you are leftie or a 'rightie (ahem) i think for a lot of people depends on how you were initially coached...i know of at least two of my mates who are left handed batters, but bowl and write etc with the right hand....and another mate bats right handed but writes left handed.

Despite the coaching, there are some natural left-handers, I certainly batted left-handed from the very 1st time I picked up a bat, it's just much more natural and with my right leg being the dominant one, I'm very strong front-foot and also my right leg acts as the braced support leg when I'm bowling, with my left hand. I can throw with either although my left arm is the strongest but I tend to take much better catches with my right.

 

[Rik]

Who?

I think he's commenting on the fact that Roberto Carlos is a defender...

 

[twctopcat]

Roberto Carlos has been the best striker for how long now...? Rivaldo was reckoned to be the best aimer for quite a while, too.
Ivanesevic and Rusedski were the fastest servers for God knows how long. Roddick has changed that for the moment... but will there ever be a better woman's player than Navratilova?
Mark Williams and Jimmy White - the two most "naturally" talented players in the game IMO. Just because they don't skip round the table like Tony Drago and O'Sullivan doesn't mean they're any less talented AFAIAC.
Wilkinson - how much more do we need to say?
Lara, best player in The World for donkeys years, quite possibly regained that title since 2001\02.
Undoubtedly there is a lot of cases where lefties are the best. The question we must ask ourselves is: how many righties are there who top their sports? Does it equal or better these cases above? I can't be bothered to work it out, surely someone could?

I think your stretching it a bit with tennis and snooker, ronnie is the most naturally talented player and i don't think anyone disputes that. As for serving there is rusedski but sampras was as big a server as ivanisevic, if that was the case then there should be an abundance of fast left arm bowlers, all i can think of at the mo is khan. As for footie carlos is wide of the mark, like his shooting there are plenty who hit it harder i.e hasselbaink and beckham places it pretty well. I'd have said robert is the sweetest striker around. The fact is at grass roots football lefties seem more elegant but at the end of the day there are as many good lefties as righties in all sports, just lefties get noticed a tad more coz of the fact they're rare!

 

[Craig]

Roberto Carlos has been the best striker for how long now...? Rivaldo was reckoned to be the best aimer for quite a while, too.

Roberto is a defender and Rivaldo is a has-been and one over-rated player anyway. Kaka has been playing better then him at Milan anyway.

 

[Richard]

Rivaldo isn't anywhere near as good as he used to be, did I ever say that, but in his day (the sort of 1998-2000 time) he was as good as anyone I've ever seen (live, that is).

 

[Richard]

I think your stretching it a bit with tennis and snooker, ronnie is the most naturally talented player and i don't think anyone disputes that. As for serving there is rusedski but sampras was as big a server as ivanisevic, if that was the case then there should be an abundance of fast left arm bowlers, all i can think of at the mo is khan. As for footie carlos is wide of the mark, like his shooting there are plenty who hit it harder i.e hasselbaink and beckham places it pretty well. I'd have said robert is the sweetest striker around. The fact is at grass roots football lefties seem more elegant but at the end of the day there are as many good lefties as righties in all sports, just lefties get noticed a tad more coz of the fact they're rare!

Sampras was never quite as fast as Ivanesevic on the first - he just had a way better second. He also hit his groud strokes much harder and with much more accuracy - that's why they called him Pistol Pete and the greatest player ever to have picked-up a racket.
There aren't an abundance of left-arm bowlers but there are enough - and you've made a serious insult naming Khan but neglecting Chaminda Vaas, who is three times the bowler Khan will ever be.
And Hasselbaink hits it harder than Roberto Carlos? Don't make me laugh. There's nothing especially elegant about him, like there is with Beckham, Robert and the like, but in football if you ask me there's something entertaining in pure power, unlike in cricket. Just look at Julian Dicks.
And if you ask me Mark Williams and Jimmy White are much better, "naturally" or whatever, than O'Sullivan. Drago is brilliant on his day, though, and his speed around the table is value-for-money in itself.

 

[Richard]

Exeter City midfielder.

His taking aim 25 yards out results in automatic duck-and-cover for anyone in the first 15 rows of the Big Bank.

Roberto Carlos, meanwhile, has had guys in the wall ducking for cover for years...
Julian Dicks even broke a goalframe once - bet you never knew that!

 

[Richard]

Despite the coaching, there are some natural left-handers, I certainly batted left-handed from the very 1st time I picked up a bat, it's just much more natural and with my right leg being the dominant one, I'm very strong front-foot and also my right leg acts as the braced support leg when I'm bowling, with my left hand. I can throw with either although my left arm is the strongest but I tend to take much better catches with my right.

I know guys who bowl with their right arm and throw\write\bounce a basketball with their left.
It does get complicated in some cases. Generally the best thing is just to do what feels easiest for you.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Julian Dicks even broke a goalframe once - bet you never knew that!

Was that with a shot, or did he try starting a fight with it?

 

[marc71178]

that's why they called him Pistol Pete and the greatest player ever to have picked-up a racket.

They did?

One of maybe, but greatest ever - I wouldn't be so sure!

 

[twctopcat]

Sampras was never quite as fast as Ivanesevic on the first - he just had a way better second. He also hit his groud strokes much harder and with much more accuracy - that's why they called him Pistol Pete and the greatest player ever to have picked-up a racket.
There aren't an abundance of left-arm bowlers but there are enough - and you've made a serious insult naming Khan but neglecting Chaminda Vaas, who is three times the bowler Khan will ever be.
And Hasselbaink hits it harder than Roberto Carlos? Don't make me laugh. There's nothing especially elegant about him, like there is with Beckham, Robert and the like, but in football if you ask me there's something entertaining in pure power, unlike in cricket. Just look at Julian Dicks.
And if you ask me Mark Williams and Jimmy White are much better, "naturally" or whatever, than O'Sullivan. Drago is brilliant on his day, though, and his speed around the table is value-for-money in itself.

Well the fact is sampras was as fast as ivanisevic consistently in the late 120/early 130mph bracket and had a great 2nd serve, hence the 7 wimbledon titles.Only rusedski and roddick are in the 140 range, with phillipoussis. When referring to Khan i was talking about pace, hence the comparison with fast tennis servers as vaas bowls at 80, whereas Khan bowls in the high 80's.
You may laugh at hasselbaink but the fact is he does hit it just as hard as carlos in the 80mph region, your referring to carlos purely because of "that" free kick. The fact is that he doesn't get a look in anymore at real coz he can't strike it properly, he should stop aiming at row z!
Finally, ...... a 5 minute 147 sounds pretty nautral if you ask me. That may never be beaten.

 

[Richard]

Was that with a shot, or did he try starting a fight with it?

It was a penalty, in a reserve game against Leicester City in 1994\95.
He was just coming back from injury and Liverpool, and he got the chance to take one.
No-one and nothing was going to keep it out - sadly for Kevin Poole, he got a net falling on top of him. Fortunately the bar didn't. Fortunately for Julian and WHUR, the ball crossed the line.