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Top 50 Greatest test batters
- Thread starter MasterBlaster24
- Start date
Agonizingly Awkward
School Boy/Girl Cricketer
Oh don't lie you have each and every post
subshakerz
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
He overrated openers generally
capt_Luffy
International Coach
Well, I would had agreed..... Had he not ranked Grace 16th. I still don't get how he came to that, I might buy the book for that placement alone.
Coronis
Hall of Fame Member
Actually I haven’t. It makes it a little annoying when I see this forum still has new posts but I’ve read all the other threads lol.
In a declining market, cricket books still sell better in the UK than anywhere else. The list reflects this. Seven of the Top 17 batsmen are English, only two Australian, with three each for West Indies and India.
OverratedSanity
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I don't really agree tbh. Gavaskar's placement here isn't even that different from the general consensus. Kimber has ranked him 7th and behind Hobbs/Hutton as the third greatest opener. That's roughly where he's generally placed imo, even in cricketweb's batsmen poll he was 9th which isn't far off.
The real howler in the Sobers and Gavaskar rankings isn't Gavaskar being 7th, it's Sobers being below him at 9th. It flat out doesn't make any sense and is the lowest I've ever seen Sobers being ranked in any such poll. Frankly Sobers being out of the top 5 is virtually impossible to justify. The guy averaged 75 over a full decade.
If you want to have a whine about India bias, the real thing to point out would be Kohli all the way up at 25. Way more ridiculous than Sunny's ranking imo.
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subshakerz
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Yeah that's true. In no universe do I think one place separates Sobers and Kallis.
Johan
International Coach
I guess you're right, Kohli at 25 is idiotic even if I'm one of the last people who still have him high (think he's better than Javed) and I really can't fathom Sobers not being top 5/6.
DrWolverine
International Regular
Gavaskar being in lower part of top 10 is reasonable.
DrWolverine
International Regular
True.
Anyway one spins it, he can’t be lower than 6th
Anyway one spins it, he can’t be lower than 6th
kyear2
Hall of Fame Member
It's a bit too high and goes against all cricket consensus, he was never rated that highly.
But in fairness he was an excellent player and it's just by a few spots.
But I stopped taking the list seriously when I listened to his arguments for Javed over Grace and much more critically, Hayden over Pollock.
For those of us who watched Kallis, the ranking at 10 is not justifiable. Cricket is more than stats, it's about impact on games, critical innings and turning the ride mid match. I have him about 5 places lower and that's still higher than most. The Chanderpaul rating is equally dumbfounding, and there's so much more.
DrWolverine
International Regular
Grace vs Miandad is a ridiculous comparison.
Either Grace is a Top 5 or he shouldn’t be in the list.
Either Grace is a Top 5 or he shouldn’t be in the list.
sayon basak
Cricketer Of The Year
Yeah, him being that low is just disrespectful to the sport, better to just leave him off.
kyear2
Hall of Fame Member
4 is just too high, but as @peterhrt has noted, he knows his target markets.
Hutton has gone from being criminally underrated to stunningly over rated. I think he's the best opener ever, but 4th? He faced Lindwall and Miller and Ramadhin, that's basically it.
And though we will eternally disagree on this, his inability to flip the switch, is a negative, not a big one, but definitely one.
Johan
International Coach
He can only face what is presented, he faced one of the greatest attacks ever made from 1946 Ashes to 1953 Ashes and averaged nearly 60, always coming up on tough wickets against them. put a bunch of ATG Batsmen in the same context and I don't think they break to 40.
also, him above the names below him isn't ridiculous at all.
He could flip the switch when he needed to, he wasn't a slogger.
DrWolverine
International Regular
Graeme Pollock is a very weird case in test cricket
1. He played only 23 Tests.
2. 14 of those were at home.
3. 9 away matches - 5 in Aus, 3 in Eng & 1 in NZ.
4. Faced Aus 14 times, Eng 8 times and NZ once
5. Never faced any quality bowlers.
6. Never faced Trueman.
7. The best bowler he faced was Graham McKenzie
8. Retired at 26 years old
I honestly don’t know how to judge his test career.
1. He played only 23 Tests.
2. 14 of those were at home.
3. 9 away matches - 5 in Aus, 3 in Eng & 1 in NZ.
4. Faced Aus 14 times, Eng 8 times and NZ once
5. Never faced any quality bowlers.
6. Never faced Trueman.
7. The best bowler he faced was Graham McKenzie
8. Retired at 26 years old
I honestly don’t know how to judge his test career.