Brilliant, elegant & excellent batsmen

[Linda]

Martyn, Attapatu and Laxman. Plus Ive always really loved the descriptions/stories about Victor Trumper, dunno why, but he sounds pretty amazing to watch.

 

[hindsy]

For hitting ability, Gilchrist is easily the best I've ever seen, and possibly one of the best of all time, and Kluesener also rates a mention.

Personally I think Afridi wipes the floor with both of them in terms of natural hitting ability... In terms of the most brilliant, elegant & excellent batsmen ive seen... hmm... Lara, Tendulkar, Dravid, Langer, Vaughan, Richie Richardson all come to mind....

 

[Hazza]

Mohammad Azharuddin is one that instantly springs to mind. I remember his century at Lords (same match as Gooch's 333), and just how ordinary he made the English bowlers look. The three back-foot drives that he played in sucession really showed the class of the man, and why he is immortal.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Personally I think Afridi wipes the floor with both of them in terms of natural hitting ability... In terms of the most brilliant, elegant & excellent batsmen ive seen... hmm... Lara, Tendulkar, Dravid, Langer, Vaughan, Richie Richardson all come to mind....

There's a difference for me between being able to slog sixes and being a good hitter. Though of course, Afridi is both, Gilchrist is the cleanest and most controlled striker of the ball I've ever seen. When he's at his very best, he can hit an 80 ball century in a test match with most of the field on the fence without giving a chance, and make it look easy. There's certianly plenty of batsmen who have been bigger and stronger hitters than Gilchrist, but none of them have been as successful in the way they did it.

 

[howardj]

Vaughan - how high is the bloke's elbow when he plays the cover drive! It almost gets snow on it.

Gower - always love watching elegant left-handers - they always look so smooth through the off-side, with the ball angling across them.

Laxman - he's just on another planet when he's in form.

 

[Barney Rubble]

There's a difference for me between being able to slog sixes and being a good hitter. Though of course, Afridi is both, Gilchrist is the cleanest and most controlled striker of the ball I've ever seen. When he's at his very best, he can hit an 80 ball century in a test match with most of the field on the fence without giving a chance, and make it look easy. There's certianly plenty of batsmen who have been bigger and stronger hitters than Gilchrist, but none of them have been as successful in the way they did it.

Exactly - if you told Gilchrist he wasn't allowed to hit sixes, he'd still be capable of scoring 70-80 ball centuries; with Afridi, you'd have to doubt his ability to find the gaps.

 

[howardj]

Exactly - if you told Gilchrist he wasn't allowed to hit sixes, he'd still be capable of scoring 70-80 ball centuries; .

Has there ever been a more relaxed bloke at the crease? He plays like it's backyard cricket on Christmas Day. No fear. No hesitation. I think much of that stems from the fact that batting is the second string to his bow, and that his place in the side is not dependent on it (at least not wholly anyway).

 

[Barney Rubble]

Has there ever been a more relaxed bloke at the crease? He plays like it's backyard cricket on Christmas Day. No fear. No hesitation. I think much of that stems from the fact that batting is the second string to his bow, and that his place in the side is not dependent on it (at least not wholly anyway).

I'd agree with that - he bats like a bowling all-rounder who knows he can play his shots because runs are a bonus.

One could almost say he bats like Flintoff.

 

[open365]

Personally I think Afridi wipes the floor with both of them in terms of natural hitting ability... In terms of the most brilliant, elegant & excellent batsmen ive seen... hmm... Lara, Tendulkar, Dravid, Langer, Vaughan, Richie Richardson all come to mind....

Afridi?

whats so good about Afridi?

i don't reckon his acctualy hitting is that good,defintely not as clean or safe as Kemp or Gilchrist.

my nominations are a bit strange.

Graeme Smith
I love watching this guy bat,it amazes me how he can dominate attacks and play like a seasoned professional when he's 23.He has as much mental strength as anyone i've seen.

Vaughan
we rarely see him bat well now he's captain,but he is the most elegant modern player.The way he carresses the ball through the offside and exagerates his backlift and follow through make him great to watch

Damien Martyn
how this guy got dropped from the AUS team i'll never know.
On par with Vaughan for sheer guile and calmness.Even in the ashes this year when he hardly scored a run he looked better than most people will look in their whole lives.His timing on the off side of both front and back foot is incredible.

 

[Mecnun]

One little known guy called Majid Khan who epitomised the three things mentioned

Sachin T ofcourse..I mean goes without saying, where to start and where to finish on such a natural hitter of the ball?

Brian Lara- one of only a handful of batters capable of playing with such wanton abandon and style, was probably born with a bat in his hand..

Saeed Anwar- flashy and stylish on both sides of the wicket..but I especially admired his leg glances. Once saw him tap a ball off his legs which went for a six and kept going and going and going..I could swear he only jabbed at it..

David Gower - Extremely stylish left hander who hit the ball effortlessely, he only needed to tap the ball and it would race away to the boundry

Gilchrist -power and destruction contained and controlled.

 

[Beleg]

I liked watching Azharudin play. Murray Goodwin also looked good when he was scoring run and the same goes for Mark Waugh and Saeed Anwar.

 

[Slow Love™]

Brian Lara - fulfils every expectation of the flawed genius. Mixes the conventional with the unconventional seamlessly, and is through his strokes extremely fast without looking like he's stabbing at the ball.

Greg Chappell - made everything look easy. Silky, and powerful, and put away some of the best bowling there's ever been like it was nothing. Such powerful wrists, he must have spent even more time "strumming his piece" in his teens than I did.

Carl Hooper - yeah, so he didn't live up to his potential and often threw his wicket away. But on song, he was glorious. I really had a lot of time for this guy, and it was quite depressing that internal politics caused the end of his international career (for the second, and seemingly final time), when he really seemed to be enjoying his cricket and was showing more consistency.

 

[howardj]

Carl Hooper - yeah, so he didn't live up to his potential and often threw his wicket away. But on song, he was glorious. I really had a lot of time for this guy, and it was quite depressing that internal politics caused the end of his international career (for the second, and seemingly final time), when he really seemed to be enjoying his cricket and was showing more consistency.

Any International batsman who doesnt wear a thigh pad, is a man to be respected.

Anyway, he was the king of soft dismissals. He'd treat you to 25 of the most aesthetically pleasing runs youd ever see, and then tease you by spooning a medium pacer straight to cover.

What an enigma!

 

[jack_sparrow]

Inzamam - always amazes me how late he plays the ball

Thats something I can never do, and I've been trying for years andyears to achieve. Complete power over a shot played late as hell. Amazing, truly amazing.