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Alastair Cook vs Graham Gooch?

Alistar Cook vs Graham Gooch?


  • Total voters
    18
  • Poll closed .

BackFootPunch

International 12th Man
It just misses the cut, even with a big bonus for being a unique follow-on to victory ton. The biggest reason is that he had great support from Dravid, and even though the Aussie bowling looks amazing, it was in 2001 when only McGrath was near his peak.

His 167 comes in at #53 instead.
Why is having someone else playing a good/great knock alongside not seen as a positive thing? I mean I understand why you'd highly rate someone who genuinely plays a lone hand and does it all on their own. But building a partnership with someone else is just as impressive.

You said we may not be talking about that Lara knock if someone else had batted along with him but we definitely wouldn't be talking about Laxman if Dravid hadn't been there also. There's skill involved in building a partnership and dragging your team back from the brink together. Equally, whoever the other guy is, he's not the one scoring your runs. Doesn't matter who you've got down the other end, you've still got to score them all. So I don't get why Laxman's 281 is devalued, at all, by Dravid's presence. It was an immense innings.
 

viriya

International Captain
Why is having someone else playing a good/great knock alongside not seen as a positive thing? I mean I understand why you'd highly rate someone who genuinely plays a lone hand and does it all on their own. But building a partnership with someone else is just as impressive.

You said we may not be talking about that Lara knock if someone else had batted along with him but we definitely wouldn't be talking about Laxman if Dravid hadn't been there also. There's skill involved in building a partnership and dragging your team back from the brink together. Equally, whoever the other guy is, he's not the one scoring your runs. Doesn't matter who you've got down the other end, you've still got to score them all. So I don't get why Laxman's 281 is devalued, at all, by Dravid's presence. It was an immense innings.
His 281 isn't devalued in terms of the sheer runs he scored, it's devalued in terms of the % of the team's runs and the fact that he had major support. Laxman and Dravid did it together like you said, and that's why Laxman doesn't get extra credit for the "lack of support" factor.

If you agree that Lara's 153* is one of the greatest innings you also have to agree that it's partly because he didn't have a lot of support. The same argument works negatively for Laxman.
 

BackFootPunch

International 12th Man
His 281 isn't devalued in terms of the sheer runs he scored, it's devalued in terms of the % of the team's runs and the fact that he had major support. Laxman and Dravid did it together like you said, and that's why Laxman doesn't get extra credit for the "lack of support" factor.

If you agree that Lara's 153* is one of the greatest innings you also have to agree that it's partly because he didn't have a lot of support. The same argument works negatively for Laxman.
But where's the bonus for Laxman building a partnership that allowed them to make a comeback/win the game? If Dravid hadn't scored runs Laxman might have got 100* in a big loss. Surely it's more important that India were actually able to win the game than it is that Laxman had one other guy batting there with him?
 

viriya

International Captain
But where's the bonus for Laxman building a partnership that allowed them to make a comeback/win the game? If Dravid hadn't scored runs Laxman might have got 100* in a big loss. Surely it's more important that India were actually able to win the game than it is that Laxman had one other guy batting there with him?
You forget that they didn't win them the game. Harbhajan did - Laxman + Dravid gave them a chance. This is all hindsight.

Also, yes if Dravid wasn't around Laxman might've gotten 100* in a loss, but then how is that a positive for Laxman? It's more a plus for Dravid for playing an underrated hand (no one really talks about his 180-odd).
 

OverratedSanity

Request Your Custom Title Now!
It just misses the cut, even with a big bonus for being a unique follow-on to victory ton. The biggest reason is that he had great support from Dravid, and even though the Aussie bowling looks amazing, it was in 2001 when only McGrath was near his peak.

His 167 comes in at #53 instead.
Dwta.
 

BackFootPunch

International 12th Man
You forget that they didn't win them the game. Harbhajan did - Laxman + Dravid gave them a chance. This is all hindsight.

Also, yes if Dravid wasn't around Laxman might've gotten 100* in a loss, but then how is that a positive for Laxman? It's more a plus for Dravid for playing an underrated hand (no one really talks about his 180-odd).
Right, so that's why Botham's 149* isn't in your Top 100 batting performances either then? That seems like a bias in your statistical model, you don't seem to rate innings that stave off defeat and allow the bowlers to do their job (and yes often the bowlers do an amazing job, like Harbhajan or Willis in the Kolkata & Headingley matches, respectively). Were it not for those runs being scored the bowlers wouldn't have had any runs to play with at all, so it's disingenuous to suggest that the batsmen didn't win them the game. The batsmen, in fact, had to stop them from losing the game first, before the team could even consider getting a win.

It's a positive for Laxman because working in a partnership is a major aspect of batting. It's hard to quantify but there's definitely something to it.
 

G.I.Joe

International Coach
Let me get this straight.

Laxman's innings gets devalued because Dravid scored a 180 from the other end.

However if five other batsmen had scored 36 each from the other end instead of a Dravid masterpiece, Laxman's innings would have hit the stratosphere, despite there being no change in the inherent quality of his innings - simply because the statistical model now sees a "lack of support".

Do you see the problem here, viriya?
 

OverratedSanity

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Right, so that's why Botham's 149* isn't in your Top 100 batting performances either then? That seems like a bias in your statistical model, you don't seem to rate innings that stave off defeat and allow the bowlers to do their job (and yes often the bowlers do an amazing job, like Harbhajan or Willis in the Kolkata & Headingley matches, respectively). Were it not for those runs being scored the bowlers wouldn't have had any runs to play with at all, so it's disingenuous to suggest that the batsmen didn't win them the game. The batsmen, in fact, had to stop them from losing the game first, before the team could even consider getting a win.

.
Very much Awta.
 

viriya

International Captain
Right, so that's why Botham's 149* isn't in your Top 100 batting performances either then? That seems like a bias in your statistical model, you don't seem to rate innings that stave off defeat and allow the bowlers to do their job (and yes often the bowlers do an amazing job, like Harbhajan or Willis in the Kolkata & Headingley matches, respectively). Were it not for those runs being scored the bowlers wouldn't have had any runs to play with at all, so it's disingenuous to suggest that the batsmen didn't win them the game. The batsmen, in fact, had to stop them from losing the game first, before the team could even consider getting a win.

It's a positive for Laxman because working in a partnership is a major aspect of batting. It's hard to quantify but there's definitely something to it.
I only brought up the fact that Harbhajan actually won the game to point out that it wasn't like a 4th innings run chase where the batsmen literally won them the game. Laxman already gets credit for making a significant contribution in a win - there is no "he didn't win it" factor. Botham's 149* also just misses the top 100.
 

viriya

International Captain
Let me get this straight.

Laxman's innings gets devalued because Dravid scored a 180 from the other end.

However if five other batsmen had scored 36 each from the other end instead of a Dravid masterpiece, Laxman's innings would have hit the stratosphere, despite there being no change in the inherent quality of his innings - simply because the statistical model now sees a "lack of support".

Do you see the problem here, viriya?
I'm gonna answer this in a more relevant thread so as to not derail this thread any further:
http://www.cricketweb.net/forum/cricket-chat/62989-cricrate-new-cricket-ratings-website-22.html
 

Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
Why are people taking virya's stupid rankings seriously?
I questioned the validity of it on 27th April last year and was given 5 points for it for harassing other members, so I guess viriya is someone else in disguise.

Anyway besides that, everyone is missing the obvious fact that Cook is morphing into Freddie Mercury.
 

ImpatientLime

International Regular
gooch possibly the better peak but can't ignore the fact that he was middling at best for so much of his career.

cook overall is clear.
 

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