Best batsman against mediocre bowling

[stephen]

Failed in his litmus test, fared miserably against India in India. That record is a huge hole in his career. There really shouldn't be two opinions about it.

But the Indian bowlers weren't great. Certainly not their pace attack. For the purposes of this thread, Ponting's failures in India don't mean much.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Herschelle Gibbs.

 

[trundler]

If we start doing ODIs then Amla, Rohit and basically the entire English batting order.

 

[Kirkut]

Ahmed Shehzad

Steve Waugh

Don't think so. Shehzad is struggling due to personal issues and Steve Waugh is a great player of fast bowling who otherwise is a naturally defensive batsman.

 

[Kirkut]

If we bring ODIs into the picture, absolutely no one I've ever seen plunders mediocre bowling with the consistency of Kohli. His numbers against WI over the last few years are Bradman-esque.

Windies has a decent attack in all formats actually. Rohit Sharma vs Sri Lanka in LOIs is mesmerizing to the point that even commentators start cracking Rohit Sharma jokes.

 

[Kirkut]

If we start doing ODIs then Amla, Rohit and basically the entire English batting order.

I always saw defense, a gritty temperament like Atherton as the cornerstone of English batting. But yes over the last 4 years I am surprised to see a large number of big hitters coming out from England.

 

[Bolo.]

But from the actual options listed, I would almost give it to ABdV by default simply because he batted 5 for most of his career and the others batted top 3 (Rohit's success in Tests having really been most pronounced of late as an opener). Simply by virtue of facing the new ball a lot gives the openers in this list a lot of leniency IMO.

Nowhere near ruthless enough for this thread for my money. Stunk it up in low pressure situations for a big chunk of his career, which are mostly mediocre bowling.

Failed in only two countries- Zim and Bang.

He is possibly the single last bat I would nominate for this thread, although the batting at 5 is a valid criticism.

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah Lara and ABdV are laughable choices for this poll AFAIC. Ponting and Kallis far better choices alongside blokes like Mahela.

 

[Kirkut]

It is not tests specific here, the poll is for batters who thrash ordinary bowling like no tomorrow irrespective of the format.

AB came to my mind because I laughed a lot watching his fastest 100 against West Indies, some those shots were so ridiculous and the bowler's facial expression of helplessness added to the comedy.

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah but you are going by one example really. I have often seen AB sometimes juz give it away lazily and same with Lara. Think they were both examples of guys who batted better the more turned on they were, and that usually happened with the higher quality opposition.

And really, when it comes to thrashing lower quality bowling, Hayden has to be up there. And then you have guys like Neil Mckenzie who made a career out of thrashing Bangladesh it seemed.

Out of the current players, Rohit Sharma and Warner definitely up there.

 

[vcs]

No I think AB is a good shout because he could absolutely brutalize bowling that was ever so slightly off - not to mention he'd actively throw them off with his unorthodox shots. And once he'd get in their head, it was carnage.

 

[honestbharani]

Assuming he is in that mood, which he often was not, which is my point.

 

[nightprowler10]

The problem is that Sehwag, Lara, and Warner are all capable of taking on high quality attacks as well.

I would go for Mohammad Yousuf. The ultimate soft attack bully.

Yeah Yousuf is a pretty good shout. As much as I loved every moment of his purple patch, it really only started against a very demoralized-by-Inzi English attack.

 

[mr_mister]

Also that Sehwag 256 in Lahore when India toured in 2006, that was also comical thrashing. But even as an Indian fan I felt bad for Akhtar and Sami who were bowling at 90 mph and above. Always thought why Pakistan never prepared greentops at home when they had bowlers with excellent speed?

Maybe because they have such crappy fielders it's best to just pitch it up and aim for the stumps. Green tops are more useful for trying to get edges to slips right?

 

[vcs]

I don't think Pakistan curators can just create greentops on a whim. If you try that, get inserted and then bowled out in a couple of sessions only for it to flatten out later on, you're ****ed. It nearly happened to them in that Karachi Test where Pathan took the first over hattrick.

 

[Kirkut]

No I think AB is a good shout because he could absolutely brutalize bowling that was ever so slightly off - not to mention he'd actively throw them off with his unorthodox shots. And once he'd get in their head, it was carnage.

His batting is like play doh, improvise in the last second and play an extraterrestrial shot for 6.

 

[the big bambino]

I don't think Pakistan curators can just create greentops on a whim. If you try that, get inserted and then bowled out in a couple of sessions only for it to flatten out later on, you're ****ed. It nearly happened to them in that Karachi Test where Pathan took the first over hattrick.

Besides if you have guys bowling at the speeds Shaoib and Sami could get then curating green tops just brings the other team's pace men into play. Prepare the sort of pitches the aforementioned duo can only blast some life from.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Besides if you have guys bowling at the speeds Shaoib and Sami could get then curating green tops just brings the other team's pace men into play. Prepare the sort of pitches the aforementioned duo can only blast some life from.

Yeah he'll really blast some life from the pitch on his way to averaging 50 in Test cricket

 

[the big bambino]

Yeah he'll really blast some life from the pitch on his way to averaging 50 in Test cricket

Yeah ok. He still had the speed and duo of him and Shaoib still presents challenges. Besides it was a post about the nature of pitches not selector's choices.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Yeah ok. He still had the speed and duo of him and Shaoib still presents challenges. Besides it was a post about the nature of pitches not selector's choices.

I wasn't saying you're wrong, you're absolutely right. Just wanted to talk some ****