Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
Presuming, of course, that Saunders had fared as well as Barnes did had he played more against South Africa.And Barnes simply was not that freakish. Look at his rival Saunders. Had Saunders played as much as Barnes against South Africa he would have had a similar record if not better.
Really, it's fairly outrageous to suggest Saunders was Barnes' equal based on a whole 2 Tests against the SAfricans. Saunders' First-Class record is not remotely comparable to Barnes', for a start, and Barnes also did rather better than 9-66 and 6-110 against SA. Barnes also played them at a time they were Test-class; Saunders did not. Saunders' record against England (64 wickets at 25.31) is not in the same class as Barnes' against Australia (106 at 21.58).
Saunders was simply an excellent bowler. Barnes was an exceptional one, one perhaps more gifted than any bowler ever to walk the planet.