Top 50 Greatest test batters

[sayon basak]

Usually a list like this doesn't include Gilchrist. Wonder why. There is Sanga, there is Flower (quite high) and also there is Walcott...but no Gilchrist.

Because Gilchrist is not as good with the bat as the others you mentioned.

 

[DrWolverine]

Because Gilly is not a top 50 batsman.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Because Gilly is not a top 50 batsman.

I'd have Gilly in my top 50 personally tbh.

1) Bradman
2) Sobers
3) Sachin
4) Hobbs
5) Hutton
6) Viv
7) Smith
8) Lara
9) Gavaskar
10) Headley
11) Sutcliffe
12) Border
13) Ponting
14) Sangakkara
15) Kallis
16) Dravid
17) Pollock
18) Chappell
19) Root
20) Waugh
21) Nourse
22) Miandad
23) Walcott
24) Barrington
25) Weekes
26) Younis
27) Compton
28) May
29) Worrell
30) de Villiers
31) Williamson
32) Harvey
33) Crowe
34) Lloyd
35) Kohli
36) Amla
37) Greenidge
38) Boycott
39) Flower
40) Kanhai
41) Greenidge
42) Inzamam
43) G Smith
44) Sehwag
45) Hayden
46) Mitchell
47) Cook
48) Gilchrist
49) Chanderpaul
50) Gooch

 

[Johan]

didn't make my top 50 tbh, tho Very good and definitely comparable to the ones I put last in my top 50.

Ignoring Pre-Golden Era

1. Bradman
2. Hobbs
3. Tendulkar
4. Hutton
5. Richards
6. Sobers
7. Smith
8. Lara
9. Hammond
10. Gavaskar
11. Sutcliffe
12. Headley
13. Pollock
14. Chappell (WSC)
15. Border
16. Root
17. Ponting
18. Kallis
19. Sangakkara
20. Waugh
21. Dravid
22. Compton
23. Barrington
24. Chappell (No WSC)
25. Trumper
26. Ranjitsinhji
27. Weekes
28. May
29. Walcott
30. Harvey
31. Boycott
32. Nourse
33. De Villiers
34. Barry
35. Worrell
36. Kohli
37. Crowe
38. Miandad
39. Younis Khan
40. Williamson
41. Hill
42. Flower
43. Lloyd
44. Kanhai
45. Gooch
46. Cowdrey
47. Amla
48. Greenidge
49. McCartney (hardest one)
50. McCabe

 

[DrWolverine]

Ignoring Pre-Golden Era

Golden Era? When was that?

 

[Johan]

Golden Era? When was that?

1895-1914

 

[capt_Luffy]

I'd have Gilly in my top 50 personally tbh.

1) Bradman
2) Sobers
3) Sachin
4) Hobbs
5) Hutton
6) Viv
7) Smith
8) Lara
9) Gavaskar
10) Headley
11) Sutcliffe
12) Border
13) Ponting
14) Sangakkara
15) Kallis
16) Dravid
17) Pollock
18) Chappell
19) Root
20) Waugh
21) Nourse
22) Miandad
23) Walcott
24) Barrington
25) Weekes
26) Younis
27) Compton
28) May
29) Worrell
30) de Villiers
31) Williamson
32) Harvey
33) Crowe
34) Lloyd
35) Kohli
36) Amla
37) Greenidge
38) Boycott
39) Flower
40) Kanhai
41) Greenidge
42) Inzamam
43) G Smith
44) Sehwag
45) Hayden
46) Mitchell
47) Cook
48) Gilchrist
49) Chanderpaul
50) Gooch

Do you like legit don't rate Wally in your Top 50??

 

[sayon basak]

Do you like legit don't rate Wally in your Top 50??

Can't you be a bit more peaceful?

 

[Johan]

I'd have Gilly in my top 50 personally tbh.

1) Bradman
2) Sobers
3) Sachin
4) Hobbs
5) Hutton
6) Viv
7) Smith
8) Lara
9) Gavaskar
10) Headley
11) Sutcliffe
12) Border
13) Ponting
14) Sangakkara
15) Kallis
16) Dravid
17) Pollock
18) Chappell
19) Root
20) Waugh
21) Nourse
22) Miandad
23) Walcott
24) Barrington
25) Weekes
26) Younis
27) Compton
28) May
29) Worrell
30) de Villiers
31) Williamson
32) Harvey
33) Crowe
34) Lloyd
35) Kohli
36) Amla
37) Greenidge
38) Boycott
39) Flower
40) Kanhai
41) Greenidge
42) Inzamam
43) G Smith
44) Sehwag
45) Hayden
46) Mitchell
47) Cook
48) Gilchrist
49) Chanderpaul
50) Gooch

Damn, Greenidge so good he made the top 50 twice.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Do you like legit don't rate Wally in your Top 50??

Ooh nice knew I'd forgotten someone.

1) Bradman
2) Sobers
3) Sachin
4) Hobbs
5) Hutton
6) Viv
7) Smith
8) Lara
9) Gavaskar
10) Headley
11) Sutcliffe
12) Border
13) Ponting
14) Sangakkara
15) Kallis
16) Dravid
17) Pollock
18) Chappell
19) Root
20) Waugh
21) Hammond
22) Nourse
23) Miandad
24) Walcott
25) Barrington
26) Weekes
27) Younis
28) Compton
29) May
30) Worrell
31) de Villiers
32) Williamson
33) Harvey
34) Crowe
35) Lloyd
36) Kohli
37) Amla
38) Greenidge
39) Boycott
40) Flower
41) Kanhai
42) Inzamam
43) G Smith
44) Sehwag
45) Hayden
46) Mitchell
47) Cook
48) Gilchrist
49) Chanderpaul
50) Gooch

 

[subshakerz]

Ooh nice knew I'd forgotten someone.

1) Bradman
2) Sobers
3) Sachin
4) Hobbs
5) Hutton
6) Viv
7) Smith
8) Lara
9) Gavaskar
10) Headley
11) Sutcliffe
12) Border
13) Ponting
14) Sangakkara
15) Kallis
16) Dravid
17) Pollock
18) Chappell
19) Root
20) Waugh
21) Hammond
22) Nourse
23) Miandad
24) Walcott
25) Barrington
26) Weekes
27) Younis
28) Compton
29) May
30) Worrell
31) de Villiers
32) Williamson
33) Harvey
34) Crowe
35) Lloyd
36) Kohli
37) Amla
38) Greenidge
39) Boycott
40) Flower
41) Kanhai
42) Inzamam
43) G Smith
44) Sehwag
45) Hayden
46) Mitchell
47) Cook
48) Gilchrist
49) Chanderpaul
50) Gooch

Hammond that low?

 

[DrWolverine]

I expected him to be top 15 at least

 

[Johan]

He's always had Hammond lower than mean.

 

[sayon basak]

I expected him to be top 15 at least

Post your top 50 as well.

 

[sumantra]

Because Gilchrist is not as good with the bat as the others you mentioned.

Ok. In my opinion he is though. Take for example, Mahela...nothing against him, loved watching him bat - that elbow, backlift, those drives, a treat to watch. But the problem is he wasn't a good traveller. Scored havoc at home and again there is nothing wrong in that. You score as many runs as you can whenever and wherever you get the chance. But you also gotta score when you are out of your comfort zone. May well be not as much as you do at home but there can not be such a huge gap as it was in case of Mahela. Few years ago I did a little bit of research on performance in SENA countries of all Sub Continent batsmen with 5000 test runs on more. Turned out that Mahela is only batsman who has a below 40 average in those 4 countries - 31 Aus, 35 Eng, 27 S.A and 27 NZ. This ain't deserving a top 50 slot. Average of 60 at home and late 39 away, goes even worse, something like 33 if calculated outside Sub Continent.

Now look at Flower. Sample size is too low. Never played in Australia, only 1 test in SA, 2 in Eng...nothing can be drawn from there. Unbelievable in India. And very highly rated here, rightly so. In first 3 test matches in India he scored 717 runs at an average of 239!!! But those were flat pitches. Only 1 produced result, Kambli, Dravid, Sachin they all scored double centuries...in one of the tests Zimbabwe scored more than 500 runs in the second innings following on and were not even all out, 5th day finished. Dravid scored 200*, 70* and 162 in 3 innings he played in that series, averaging 432!!! I am not taking anything away, no matter how flat the wicket is, you still gotta score runs, and Andy scored plenty. Nothing wrong. I am just saying that those pitches were not very challenging. Failed in his last trip in India in 2002. Kumble and Bhajji both were in action. Zimbabwe also lost 2-0. Those 3 tests in India actually has a huge impact in his career, particularly because the sample size is so low. Don't see much elsewhere. Failed in S.A and Eng, failed in S.L. Decent in W.I, decent in N.Z, below average in Pakistan...but really, was he better than Gilchrist? Not in my book...

When I dig into Gilly I see a much better performance all around. An average of 40 in England, 45 in S.L, 65 in SA, 70 in WI, 80 in NZ! (never played in Pakistan). The only failure was that in India. I am not even sure if you can call that a failure, particularly with 2 centuries, specially that Mumbai one...one of the greatest innings on a turning track i have ever seen. 2nd one in Bangalore not bad either - against a very potent bowling line up of Zaheer, Irfan Pathan of 2004, Kumble and Harbhajan...

Only numbers here, I am not even going into the impact.

So Gilchrist better than Flower? In my book, yes. Better than Mahela? Hands down. In fact better than few others in that list as well...

 

[DrWolverine]

Post your top 50 as well.

50 is too much work

If you want can post top 15 right now

 

[sayon basak]

50 is too much work

If you want can post top 15 right now

Post the top 15 now. Then post the top 50 tomorrow.

 

[DrWolverine]

Post the top 15 now. Then post the top 50 tomorrow.

Since Don’s debut :
1. Bradman
2. Sachin
3. Richards
4. Smith
5. Sobers
6. Hutton
7. Lara
8. Gavaskar
9. Barrington
10. Root
11. Hammond
12. Ponting
13. Chappell
14. Kallis
15. Border

*order keeps changing. For now this is my top 15

 

[sayon basak]

My top 50:

1. Don Bradman
2.5. Sachin Tendulkar
2.5. Jack Hobbs
4. Brian Lara
5. Garfield Sobers
6. Len Hutton
7. Viv Richards
8. Steve Smith
9. Sunil Gavaskar
10. Wally Hammond
11. George Headley
12. Herbert Sutcliffe
13. Graeme Pollock
14. Greg Chappell
15. Jacques Kallis
16. Ricky Ponting
17. Allan Border
18. Kumar Sangakkara
19. Steve Waugh
20. Rahul Dravid
21. Ken Barrington
22. Joe Root
23. Victor Trumper
24. KS Ranjitsinhji
25. Everton Weekes
26. Denis Compton
27. Clyde Walcott
28. Barry Richards
29. Dudley Nourse
30. Neil Harvey
31. Peter May
32. Javed Miandad
33. AB De Villiers
34. Younis Khan
35. Frank Worrell
36. Clem Hill
37. Virat Kohli
38. Geoffrey Boycott
39. Martin Crowe
40. Rohan Kanhai
41. Andy Flower
42. Gordon Greenidge
43. Graham Gooch
44. Colin Cowdrey
45. Clive Lloyd
46. Kane Williamson
47. Hashim Amla
48. Bruce Mitchell
49. Charlie Macartney
50. Stan McCabe

Honourable mentions:
Matthew Hayden
Virender Sehwag
Alastair Cook
Inzamam Ul Haq
Shivnarine Chanderpaul

 

[DrWolverine]

My top 50:

1. Don Bradman
2. Jack Hobbs
3. Sachin Tendulkar
4. Viv Richards
5. Garfield Sobers
7. Len Hutton
8. Steve Smith
9. Sunil Gavaskar
10. Wally Hammond
11. George Headley
12. Herbert Sutcliffe
13. Graeme Pollock
14. Greg Chappell
15. Jacques Kallis
16. Ricky Ponting
17. Allan Border
18. Kumar Sangakkara
19. Steve Waugh
20. Rahul Dravid
21. Ken Barrington
22. Joe Root
23. Victor Trumper
24. KS Ranjitsinhji
25. Everton Weekes
26. Denis Compton
27. Clyde Walcott
28. Barry Richards
29. Dudley Nourse
30. Neil Harvey
31. Peter May
32. Javed Miandad
33. AB De Villiers
34. Younis Khan
35. Frank Worrell
36. Kane Williamson
37. Virat Kohli
38. Geoffrey Boycott
39. Martin Crowe
40. Clive Lloyd
41. Andy Flower
42. Gordon Greenidge
43. Graham Gooch
44. Colin Cowdrey
45. Rohan Kanhai
46. Clem Hill
47. Hashim Amla
48. Bruce Mitchell
49. Charlie Macartney
50. Stan McCabe

Honourable mentions:
Matthew Hayden
Virender Sehwag
Alastair Cook
Inzamam Ul Haq
Shivnarine Chanderpaul

I am surprised that the legendary Brian Charles Lara did not get even a honourable mention in your list.