Best batsman on poor pitches.

[Eclipse]

In this day and age of flat pitches it's hard to know what players actually have the skill to succeed or do well on a minefield given they are seen so rarely these days.

If I had to pick a batsman to bat on a green seamer with plenty of swing in the air and erratic bounce I would probably go for someone who could play a few shot's not to many but you cant just defend for ever on a wicket doing that much.

To be Honest I cant actually tell you who I think is the best in this situation but I would nominate S. Waugh in his prime as one of the better ones.

Other nominations would be Lara, Langer (the old version not the new super attacking one) Dravid??

(On a side not for a purely defensive point of view I think and I am not joking Gillespie would be one of the better blockers on these kind of wickets)

 

[Tim]

I thought Dravid was superb in NZ in 2002, he battled the conditions very well albeit at a snails pace.

 

[masterblaster]

Good thread this one, these are mine,

Steve Waugh - As mentioned

Justin Langer - As Mentioned

Mark Richardson - Does very well on those dodgy New Zealand
tracks and has a great technique.

Rahul Dravid - Quite brilliant in any sorts of conditions

Sachin Tendulkar - When he is at his best, he is one of the best players on dodgy pitches

Gary Kirsten - Very good on dodgy pitches as well

Jacques Kallis - Hell, he's good on anything, anytime

Graham Thorpe - Ive seen good innings from Thorpe in very trying conditions

thats as far as I can remember, im sure there are many, many more.

 

[southern man]

Mark Richardson.

 

[Jono]

Dravid is the first one that comes to mind that is currently playing. He was superb in NZ when you look at the conditions and the circumstances. He has such a brilliant way of adapting to how the game is going and how the conditions are, awesome stuff.

Steve Waugh in his prime as mentioned, Sachin and Lara can never be written off anywhere, anytime as well.

 

[Craig]

(On a side not for a purely defensive point of view I think and I am not joking Gillespie would be one of the better blockers on these kind of wickets)

No your 100% correct about Gillespie. For somebody to go for 40-odd balls and only score 1 run shows his patience instead of sloggers like Lee and Warne.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Shiv Chanderpaul.
Michael Atherton.
Rahul Dravid.

 

[hourn]

In recent times, Gary Kirsten was great on fairly dodgy pitched. Mark Richardson over in Kiwiland has down superbly as well.

Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar are good no matter you stick em on.

Steve Waugh just because he's so dogged and tough and he'd just hang in there.

A couple have mentioned Justin Langer but i don't know about that. he's pretty dogged and tough but he was nothing but a battler at test cricket in his olden days.

Hayden is batting like a freak these days, you could stick him on most pitches and he'd still be hitting the cover off it.

If Ponting managed to get through the first half hour and get himself set in, he'd be just as good as he is on good pitches - he's in freakish soughta form.

Stephen Fleming has a resilance about him and a top technique.

Having seen much of Boeta Dippenaar batting but saw a replay of a one dayer he played in recently on a fairly slow low and uneven wicket and he batted very well.

Lara is a hard one to judge because he is a champion but such a high backlift is something that could trouble him on dodgy wickets......but as i said the guys is probably the most talented bat in the world so you could probably stick him on anything.

Guys who would probably get troubled more than others would definetaly by Gilchrist and Graeme Smith. I also reckon Sehwag wouldn't have the best time of it and i don't know why but i get the feeling Laxman would as well even though i've never seen him bat on ordinary wickets....couldn't remember how the wicket was when he got that 270-odd but i don't think it was overly helpful for the bowlers....could be wrong.....

 

[tooextracool]

gary kirsten is da man- knows where is off stump is and is good at leaving the ball

mark richardson- i really dont know what it is abt this guy but everytime i see nz at 20/3 hes always still not out

michael bevan- for the one day game i think he is amazing on pitches that are often too slow or offer too much turn.

nasser hussain- he seems to play better on these wickets,like his 100 against SA at headingly wasnt it?

steve waugh- the list wouldnt be complete without him

oh and dont forget michael atherton- in my opinion he was the all time best!!

notice how none of these guys actually have great techniques, barring maybe atherton the rest all have a weakness but they play around it

 

[Langeveldt]

Mike Atherton

Rahul Dravid

Justin Langer

Gary Kirsten

Stephen Fleming

Mark Richardson

 

[Richard]

I really cannot believe so many people have mentioned Mark Richardson.
Has anyone actually analysed the wickets he's played his Test-career on?
Richardson is generally hopeless when there's seam and swing. He might be a blocker but just being a blocker who plays in somewhere that has stereotypically seam-friendly conditions and has lots of runs to his name doesn't make you a brilliant tough-conditions player.
For me regarding the question:
Atherton, Kirsten and Dravid are\were all very good. Fleming and Hussain are good, too. Stephen Waugh was also up with them.
The best player I've ever seen, though, quite seriously, is Neil McKenzie. Such a shame he's not as good as he needs to be at flat-track bullying.

 

[Tom Halsey]

I would like to vouch for Nasser, a real backs to the wall player.

Also, Athers was ever reliable.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Lara is a hard one to judge because he is a champion but such a high backlift is something that could trouble him on dodgy wickets......but as i said the guys is probably the most talented bat in the world so you could probably stick him on anything.

He's done it before.

He played a half-century innings in South Africa recently when the West Indian top-order collapsed in hugely seaming conditions against very good bowling. I rate that innings better than a few of his centuries and at least two of his doubles.

 

[Richard]

IIRR he was dropped during that innings.
Of course, please correct me IIRW.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Not that I can remember.

 

[twctopcat]

I wouldn't agree with Langer. He got owned by the swing of AA because of his shuffliing back feet and generally cannot handle the ball moving around.

 

[Eclipse]

The reason I said Lara is because of the many time's I have actualy seen him do well on poor wickets.
It is supprising I know given his high backlift and all but he has done it before many times.

I think Gilly is a little bit the same not so good with substancial seam movment but very good against the swinging ball.

It's almost like his bat is traveling so fast that the ball does not have time to swing away form the middle.

He very often makes runs in conditions were the ball is swinging around and were other batsman get beaten on the drive he middles it.

Apart form some really good inswing yorkers Gilly is my pick for the best player of swing bowling others will probably compleatly disagree with this but I will stick by it.

 

[thierry henry]

I really cannot believe so many people have mentioned Mark Richardson.
Has anyone actually analysed the wickets he's played his Test-career on?
Richardson is generally hopeless when there's seam and swing. He might be a blocker but just being a blocker who plays in somewhere that has stereotypically seam-friendly conditions and has lots of runs to his name doesn't make you a brilliant tough-conditions player.

Disagree. Richardson made runs in the 2002/03 series against India and they were some of the most seam friendly wickets in recent memory. His technique is very suitable for batting in tough conditions.

As for the worst, Laxman and Gilchrist come to mind as players who wouldn't have had anywhere near as nice a run in a bygone era. Laxman didn't even look like a batsman when he played in NZ last year.

 

[Eclipse]

Disagree. Richardson made runs in the 2002/03 series against India and they were some of the most seam friendly wickets in recent memory. His technique is very suitable for batting in tough conditions.

As for the worst, Laxman and Gilchrist come to mind as players who wouldn't have had anywhere near as nice a run in a bygone era. Laxman didn't even look like a batsman when he played in NZ last year.

I reckon you are making a big assumption there on Gilchrist. On poor wickets I have never seen Gilly struggle any more than the rest of the team. His match winning 149* against pakistan was on a seaming wicket with variable bounce and it was chancless.

He may have a big backlift but it's not a complicated one it's fairly stright up and down not like AA. Infact it's better than many batsman with much lower backlifts for the simple reason it's not complicated.

If you can site any examples of him struggeling I would like to see them.

 

[Kent]

Richard - I thought we sorted this out weeks ago. Richardson averages 30 in tests when his side scores less than 300, which is far from a disgrace. He has a superb record as an domestic opener in NZ, the most frequently dodgy f/c wickets on earth.

He can play and miss a lot, but blame the bowlers for not pitching it up on seaming wickets if that's the case. Generally he sticks to his chosen line and is an excellent judge of what he can leave.