Cricketers with similar careers

[Cricketismylife]

Not sure if this has been done before but thought I'd start a thread on cricketers, whose careers took a very similar path, both in terms of style of play, statistics, achievements and length of play. The first one I noticed is Mohammad Azharuddin and Salim Malik, with the similarities being amazing.

Both were born in 1963, both scored a very similar amount of career runs, with Malik under 6000 and Azhar over 6000, both played a similar amount of tests (Azhar 99 to Malik's 103). They also both batted in the middle order and were stylish classy players, not quite in the top league like their teammates Javed/Inzamam and Sachin/Dravid, but still had impressive averages 43/44 and 45 especially considering that both of them missed the batting era of the 2000s. Azharuddin was famous for his wristwork and timing, especially through the leg side, while Malik was described by Gower as batting wearing "velvet gloves."

Both had a list of matchwinning innings, both went onto captain their sides, and both went on to cheat the game of cricket through matchfixing.

 

[Black_Warrior]

So you want us to list players that we think had similar careers?

 

[G.I.Joe]

Dravid and Ponting.

Debuted same (?) year, narrowly missed out on century on debut, bat #3, ~ 13,000 Test runs, average 50+.

 

[Satguru]

Dravid ponting definitely... promising talents who started their careers about the samne time, grew into very good batsmen in the early 2000s, were undoubtedly the two best batsmen in the world from 2002-2006, and then experienced declines during which their averages dropped from the high 50s to around 52-53. Both now probably at the twilight of their careers.

 

[Bonnie Prince C]

Dravid ponting definitely... promising talents who started their careers about the samne time, grew into very good batsmen in the early 2000s, were undoubtedly the two best batsmen in the world from 2002-2006, and then experienced declines during which their averages dropped from the high 50s to around 52-53. Both now probably at the twilight of their careers.

Don't completely agree with the above. Ponting yes, Dravid is not definite IMO. I personally say it was Ponting and Yousuf, Kallis and Dravid were very similar. Lara and Hayden were pretty close to Dravid at that time also.

 

[Satguru]

Don't completely agree with the above. Ponting yes, Dravid is not definite IMO. I personally say it was Ponting and Yousuf, Kallis and Dravid were very similar. Lara and Hayden were pretty close to Dravid at that time also.

Im not basing it simply on stats, Dravid simply played some stunning, memorable, match-winning ATG-level innings in that period... the 148 at headingly, the 2003 adelaide 'dravid' test, 270 at rawalpindi to win the series, the twin fifties at sabina to win the series in 2006.. for me, he was the second best batsman in the world in that period imo.

 

[ankitj]

Allan Border and Steve Waugh

 

[ankitj]

Graeme Pollock and George Headley

 

[Prince EWS]

Don't completely agree with the above. Ponting yes, Dravid is not definite IMO. I personally say it was Ponting and Yousuf, Kallis and Dravid were very similar. Lara and Hayden were pretty close to Dravid at that time also.

My program says the best 15 batsmen from that exact time period were:

1. RT Ponting (Aus)
2. R Dravid (Ind)
3. Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)
4. BC Lara (WI)
5. JH Kallis (SA)
6. ML Hayden (Aus)
7. Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak)
8. KC Sangakkara (SL)
9. Younis Khan (Pak)
10. S Chanderpaul (WI)
11. GC Smith (SA)
12. V Sehwag (Ind)
13. DPMD Jayawardene (SL)
14. SR Tendulkar (Ind)
15. JL Langer (Aus)

So his claim is backed up by stats, even if it wasn't based on them.

 

[Bonnie Prince C]

Im not basing it simply on stats, Dravid simply played some stunning, memorable, match-winning ATG-level innings in that period... the 148 at headingly, the 2003 adelaide 'dravid' test, 270 at rawalpindi to win the series, the twin fifties at sabina to win the series in 2006.. for me, he was the second best batsman in the world in that period imo.

You're entitled to your opinion. For me I don't think he was "undoubtedly" in the top 2. I would agree he definitely has a claim to being in the top 2 though.

 

[Satguru]

You're entitled to your opinion. For me I don't think he was "undoubtedly" in the top 2. I would agree he definitely has a claim to being in the top 2 though.

Yeah, Kallis and Lara were awesome too. Yousuf though is weird... 2002 he feasted on zimbabwe, bangladesh and west indies, was just ok in 2003-05 and then had a monstrous 2006, nowhere near as consistent over the whole period as Ponting, Dravid, Lara and Kallis

 

[Bonnie Prince C]

Yeah, Kallis and Lara were awesome too. Yousuf though is weird... 2002 he feasted on zimbabwe, bangladesh and west indies, was just ok in 2003-05 and then had a monstrous 2006, nowhere near as consistent over the whole period as Ponting, Dravid, Lara and Kallis

I am potentially over-rating Yousuf based on his epic 2006, I'll admit that.

 

[Cricketismylife]

Dravid and Ponting is good, Border and Waugh even better.

I have another 1. Wavell Hinds and Sherwin Campbell. Hinds played 45 tests to Campbell's 52, both scored around 2600-2900 runs at an average of 33/32. Hinds started off smashing a hundred against a decent Pakistan attack, Campbell made some good scores against England and a double against NZ. Both were openers ended up underachieving, and never lived up to the hype. They also managed to make 4 and 5 test hundreds each; each had a classic innings against strong opposition. For Campbell it was a hundred against Australia in the 99 series in West Indies, famous for Lara's heroics, which couldnt have happened without Campbell's hundred in that third test. Similarly, Hinds made a double against SA, to set up a victory against them.

Their playing style was also similar. They would generally play a lot of dot balls and were not great at rotating the strike, and would then flash extremely hard and collect a boundary, often in lucky ways. Their techniques were not tight enough against decent bowlers, and both of them got trapped in the crease hanging back when they should have been forward. Both of them opened as they preferred the ball coming on to the bat as opposed to spin.

 

[morgieb]

Graeme Hick and Michael Bevan. Brilliant FC batsmen but struggled in tests due to technique flaws. Had very good OD records, though of course Bevan's one was much better. Both bowled a bit of spin.

 

[fredfertang]

Graeme Hick and Michael Bevan. Brilliant FC batsmen but struggled in tests due to technique flaws. Had very good OD records, though of course Bevan's one was much better. Both bowled a bit of spin.

... and Neil Fairbrother, 'cept the bowling, his little dobbers were awful

 

[sledger]

Sehwag and Afridi. Basically the same player.

 

[Prince EWS]

... and Neil Fairbrother, 'cept the bowling, his little dobbers were awful

Fairbrother wasn't as good at First Class cricket as Hick and Bevan though; I mean he was a good player but better CC players than he have failed to make an impact at Test level. Hick and Bevan were something else. Fairbrother's probably closer to Nick Knight than Hick or Bevan as a player.

 

[kyear2]

This might be a stretch, but how about Wally Hammond and Greg Chappell. Both ATG top 10 batsmen who were classical front foot players who played mostly in the v, both sublime slip fielders who at some time held the record most most catches in a career. Both were more that useful fast medium bolwers who could surprise the oppsition and most importantly, while both could have dominated most era's, they were both over shadowed in their own by more dominat players/personalities.

 

[CricAddict]

Darren Bravo and Brian Lara

 

[Prince EWS]

Merchant de Lange and Pat Cummins