Best ever ODI batsman

[MrIncredible]

Not to mention the many cup finals were Sir Viv made it his bizness to stamp his authority

 

[Blaze 18]

**** I hate the concept of 'winning matches single-handedly'. It never, ever happens. If someone takes all ten wickets - all bowled and lbw - and scores more runs himself than the whole opposition lineup, then we can start talking about it. Man of the match in a winning cause, is different.

+ 1. I have never been a fan of that theory either.

 

[Spark]

Yeah it's pretty tough to win a match single-handedly given you need two hands to hold the bat

 

[Shri]

! Good one.

 

[Migara]

Technique is irrelevant afaic. And how many games did Richards win single-handedly? Both players had long careers, and Bevo would've lasted until 2007 had he not got the sack.

I am not doubting Richards' ability. But I am doubting that of Bevan. Short ball was legalised after he retired IIRC. Was a good player of cut and fair with pull, but he did struggle with perfume balls.

 

[Migara]

If Bevo was so slow, why did Australia win so many games when he was batting?

That is because Warne and McGrath combined to shot the opposition to scores what Bevan can get at his pace. Put that Bevan in Zim team, and won't be a huge match winner.

 

[kingkallis]

Valid point!

 

[Migara]

And on other hand put Sachin or Viv in a Zim team, (or even Jayasuriya) and they'll be scripting more wins, because when they fire, they leave the opposition in disarray.

 

[Prince EWS]

That is because Warne and McGrath combined to shot the opposition to scores what Bevan can get at his pace. Put that Bevan in Zim team, and won't be a huge match winner.

Nah, if anything the opposite happened - Bevan was a master of calculating the amount of risks he had to make in a chase, so if Warne and McGrath had rolled the opposition for 220, he'd bat at the pace most likely to ensure a win. That'd be pretty slow as it was all about making sure there wasn't a collapse with a small target to chase.

If what you're saying was true, he'd have scored just as slowly in the first innings as he did in the second, and then got bailed out - but he didn't.

Strike rate batting first: 79.69
Strike rate batting second: 67.60

Now I still think it's fairly obvious Viv was the better player, but criticism of Bevan's strike rate doesn't take the match context into consideration.

 

[GotSpin]

Can the moderators add Jayasuriya to the poll. Too underrated IMO. If Dean Jones is there so should he

 

[Anil]

it's between viv and sachin, no one else really belongs in the discussion...richards for me and sachin as the greatest ever opener and 2nd best all-time batsman...

 

[Blaze 18]

Yeah, people tend to overlook that Sanath Jayasuriya was a scary ODI batsman for the majority of his career. He is way past it now, though. Should have retired at least two years back.

 

[Furball]

Played as an opener for most part of his career. Hence got significantly less number of not outs compared to Bevan ala Dhoni.

Also averages 49 as an opener over 323 matches.

 

[miscer]

ill repeat what I said earlier about sachin vs viv.

Sachin started playing when he was 16 years old. You read that right, 16. IDK about you but I was a frail little boy at 16. Tendulkar 19-20+ averages 48/47+ without losing any of his centuries or a significant number of runs.

 

[ankitj]

Nah Greenidge was very under-rated in ODIs.

Agree with that. Greenidge has a fantastic average and has the second best frequency of winning MoM awards in ODIs, next only to Sir Viv. Tendulkar comes 3rd.

 

[ankitj]

**** I hate the concept of 'winning matches single-handedly'. It never, ever happens. If someone takes all ten wickets - all bowled and lbw - and scores more runs himself than the whole opposition lineup, then we can start talking about it. Man of the match in a winning cause, is different.

Agree with that (I agree with a lot things you say )

 

[Himannv]

Its between Viv, Bevan and Tendulkar for me. Voted for Viv in the end although I think Bevan seems to be slightly underrated by the CW crowd at the moment considering the number of votes he's got.

Dean Jones, Abbas, de Silva and Ponting are all fair calls though I reckon.

 

[Migara]

Nah, if anything the opposite happened - Bevan was a master of calculating the amount of risks he had to make in a chase, so if Warne and McGrath had rolled the opposition for 220, he'd bat at the pace most likely to ensure a win. That'd be pretty slow as it was all about making sure there wasn't a collapse with a small target to chase.

If what you're saying was true, he'd have scored just as slowly in the first innings as he did in the second, and then got bailed out - but he didn't.

Strike rate batting first: 79.69
Strike rate batting second: 67.60

Now I still think it's fairly obvious Viv was the better player, but criticism of Bevan's strike rate doesn't take the match context into consideration.

That only a exaggeration of the basic trend. On average batsmen tend to score less quickly in the 2nd innings. The SR's post 1995 are 75 and 72 for batting 1st and second. I'd love to see whether your hypothesis is correct. Whether Bevan's SR increases in direct proportion to the chasing total. But my 2 cents is that it would hit the plateau much quicker than many of the great batsmen.

 

[Debris]

it's between viv and sachin, no one else really belongs in the discussion...richards for me and sachin as the greatest ever opener and 2nd best all-time batsman...

Oh well, if you say no-one else belongs in the conversation it must be true.

 

[Ikki]

The strike rate of 75 vs 86 and longevity, and to add, the ability to play the short ball.

Longevity seems to be the main argument for Tendulkar. And his average is 8 less than a player who couldn't even play the short ball, fairly embarassing for Tendulkar. Stirkerate is probably a factor of Tendulkar playing into the modern era.

The arguments for Richards have been more convincing.

If Bevo was so slow, why did Australia win so many games when he was batting?

Bevan only played slower when chasing. He scored at exactly the right speed to win the match. When we were setting a score, his SR was 80.