Mark Waugh vs Aravinda de Silva

[Raz0r6ack]

If he had faced the West Indies more between 97-99 then yes he might have had a better record.

Anywhere else it's questionable. Through 94- early 97 Aravinda played 19 Tests and averaged 20. If he had faced the Windies during that period his record could've been worse.

 

[Migara]

If he had faced the West Indies more between 97-99 then yes he might have had a better record.

Anywhere else it's questionable. Through 94- early 97 Aravinda played 19 Tests and averaged 20. If he had faced the Windies during that period his record could've been worse.

Aravinda played up to 2003. The 2001 WI attack would have been a breakfast served to him with big fast bowlers bowling with brawn, not brains.

And 89 - 93 Aravinda played 13 tests (only!) and averaged 53.2 as well, and that was the time he was at his destructive best against fast bowling. Would have loved to play a West Indian quartet with no spinners, whom he struggled against in his early career.

That 4 year peak of his co - incided with the worst time in SL history with civil war.

 

[stephen]

Waugh played 27 innings more than Viv. Just looking at the number of tests doesn't give a fair idea about the gulf between them.

Viv Richards innings per hundred - 7.58
Mark Waugh innings per hundred - 10.45

Viv Richards innings per fifty- 2.64
Mark Waugh innings per fifty- 3.12

The gulf in consistency between them is pretty big. So it was not just down to Waugh's inability to go big.

There's a reason I said he was a discount Viv. Very similar number of hundreds/50s to Viv over a similar number of tests. But he was worse than Viv, by a decent margin.

My point was to show the difference between Waugh and De Silva was not just their averages, but their consistency and conversion rate. If you value getting past 50 you probably would choose Waugh. If you value conversion/ going large you'd probably take de Silva.

 

[stephen]

Aravinda played up to 2003. The 2001 WI attack would have been a breakfast served to him with big fast bowlers bowling with brawn, not brains.

And 89 - 93 Aravinda played 13 tests (only!) and averaged 53.2 as well, and that was the time he was at his destructive best against fast bowling. Would have loved to play a West Indian quartet with no spinners, whom he struggled against in his early career.

That 4 year peak of his co - incided with the worst time in SL history with civil war.

It depends on whether he played them home or away. There's a pretty big disparity in those records. Though I'm sure most batsmen would have loved to have played more against the post- Walsh WIndies sides. I'm pretty sure the discussions were about playing the WIndies while Ambrose was still the spearhead.

 

[Arachnodouche]

Aravinda had a busy vibe at the crease, gardening the wicket between deliveries and looking quite industrious in his strokeplay. Not my definition of elegance but he certainly looked classy and solid. Waugh Jr's playing style however was as much an extension of his personality as anyone I've ever seen. Gower's in the same bracket, Viv too but a different personality type altogether. The way he batted, the way he moved on the field, even the "ah **** it" air he now exudes in commentary (a bit of an ignorant dick there but still): the cricketing artist of my time and the batsman I wanted to look like more than anyone else.

 

[Migara]

It depends on whether he played them home or away. There's a pretty big disparity in those records. Though I'm sure most batsmen would have loved to have played more against the post- Walsh WIndies sides. I'm pretty sure the discussions were about playing the WIndies while Ambrose was still the spearhead.

He hit 167 at Brisbane and 267 at Aukland. Almost all those tours, other than for an Indian tour was away. And West indies wickets are not same as in SENA countries, so extrapolation using above stats is erroneous.

As you have requested, during the said time, Aravinda averages home 47.7,, away 61.2.

 

[Migara]

Aravinda had a busy vibe at the crease, gardening the wicket between deliveries and looking quite industrious in his strokeplay. Not my definition of elegance but he certainly looked classy and solid. Waugh Jr's playing style however was as much an extension of his personality as anyone I've ever seen. Gower's in the same bracket, Viv too but a different personality type altogether. The way he batted, the way he moved on the field, even the "ah **** it" air he now exudes in commentary (a bit of an ignorant dick there but still): the cricketing artist of my time and the batsman I wanted to look like more than anyone else.

Viv intimidated bowlers not to drop short. No other batsmen put **** scare into fastest of bowlers' minds than him. The next comes Aravinda. No wonder as he looked up to Viv as his role model.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah look that's just not so, frankly. Played it well but he wouldn't be on the second line of betting behind Viv at all tbh.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Viv intimidated bowlers not to drop short. No other batsmen put **** scare into fastest of bowlers' minds than him. The next comes Aravinda. No wonder as he looked up to Viv as his role model.

No can't agree. Give me Ponting's or M Crowe's pull shot or Robin Smith's square cut ahead of Aravinda any day (and I rated De Silva).

 

[stephen]

He hit 167 at Brisbane and 267 at Aukland. Almost all those tours, other than for an Indian tour was away. And West indies wickets are not same as in SENA countries, so extrapolation using above stats is erroneous.

As you have requested, during the said time, Aravinda averages home 47.7,, away 61.2.

So he had a purple patch. He also had extended periods of rubbish overseas or he would have a much better overall overseas average than he actually does.

Edit: from January 1994 onwards he averaged under 32 overseas.

 

[sunilz]

Is Desilva Srilanka's 2nd best Test batsman after Sangakkara?

 

[TheJediBrah]

You guys need to keep in mind you're talking to Migara about a Sri Lankan player. However I've been very interested to hear his, and others', perspectives. Wherever you land on the ratings it seems like Aravinda was one of those guys that looked a lot better than stats suggest.

 

[honestbharani]

My gut feel is that he would have produced better results if he played for a better team but there was a reason he was called Mad Max. He threw it away very often and you gotta hold that against a batsman as much as any technical deficiency.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Agree. If the perception of a player is that they were really great against the best bowlers it's tempting to overrate them based purely on that, even if they weren't actually that great overall.

Extreme example would be Ashraful. Played some incredible knocks against good opposition but on balance he was a pretty crap international cricketer.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Is Desilva Srilanka's 2nd best Test batsman after Sangakkara?

Perhaps, but Mahela 2nd imo

Sanga
Mahela
Aravinda

Tough choice ranking between Mathews, Samaweera, Hashan T, Jayasuriya, T Dilshan, Atapattu, and Gurusingha

 

[Migara]

So he had a purple patch. He also had extended periods of rubbish overseas or he would have a much better overall overseas average than he actually does.

Edit: from January 1994 onwards he averaged under 32 overseas.

(That was the time he changed his back lift and the game overall to play spinners better, as the SL wickets were getting slower and slower. He had to unlearn few things from his past.)

The most important thing is he lost a fair amount of matches due to no issue of his, where he could have piled on runs. Secondly, SL due to it's minnow status did not get enough matches when he was in hot form. Because the number of matches were so low, he stayed when even out of form, because we had no other options to try out even in A tours.

Aravinda's whole game was designed, and changed to be the matchwinner SL needed at each era.

 

[Gob]

No can't agree. Give me Ponting's or M Crowe's pull shot or Robin Smith's square cut ahead of Aravinda any day (and I rated De Silva).

He was a hooker (lol) more than a puller (lol)
One of the last few genuine hookers actually

 

[Gob]

Marvelous Marvan Athapattu was 2nd best Sri Lankan batsman

 

[The Sean]

Marvelous Marvan Athapattu was 2nd best Sri Lankan batsman

One of the great personifications of going big or going home - six Test double centuries (as many as Tendulkar and Ponting, more than Dravid) from only 90 matches. And yet averaged just 39.

 

[Gob]

One of the great personifications of going big or going home - six Test double centuries (as many as Tendulkar and Ponting, more than Dravid) from only 90 matches. And yet averaged just 39.

He made an amazing century in 04 against peak Aust attack at Cairns i think