Does Michael Atherton get a bad rap?

[Howe_zat]

I think it's more like the last 5 than the last 10, but yeah.

Older current players do have records that are influenced by easy batting conditions earlier in their careers though - particularly Australians and New Zealanders who enjoyed/endured some of the flattest home conditions in their countries for a century. To put out some bait, I think Cummins is a much better player than Smith due to this.

Ah right yeah I forgot ‘the Voges years’. I don’t watch much night time cricket any more so I guess I’m influenced by cricket in England being fairly low scoring since about 2013.

 

[The_CricketUmpire]

That makes no sense at all. If bowling in his era was worse than now, how would Taylor average more?

Taylor feasted on a dreadful England side in the 89 Ashes and subsequently was a fairly run of the mill player. If he hadn't been captain (and he was a very good one) he would've been dropped far earlier.

No - i meant....bowling collectively was better back then in the 1990s to early to mid 2000s

 

[The_CricketUmpire]

I believe he misspoke...

Yeah i did. I meant to say bowling collectively was better in Taylor's era and Atherton's era.

 

[The_CricketUmpire]

That makes no sense at all. If bowling in his era was worse than now, how would Taylor average more?

Taylor feasted on a dreadful England side in the 89 Ashes and subsequently was a fairly run of the mill player. If he hadn't been captain (and he was a very good one) he would've been dropped far earlier.

Taylor was much better then a "run of the mill" opener.

 

[CricketFan90s]

Stewart though was definitely better than Atherton. When occupying a top-3 position, he averaged 44.3 which is higher than what the likes of Gary Kirsten, Mark Taylor and Michael Slater managed under that time frame (1990-2000); he was also foolishly burdened by the gloves in 19 of those 65 tests. Think Anwar was the only opener who played through that period that averaged more than Stewart when batting in the top three.

http://www.cricketweb.net/forum/conversations/2-best-cricket-opening-batsmen-from-1990-2009.5054/unread

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Taylor was much better then a "run of the mill" opener.

Well he was decent, but the 2 best openers in the 90s were clearly Gooch and Wright.

 

[CricketFan90s]

Well he was decent, but the 2 best openers in the 90s were clearly Gooch and Wright.

Who will be your opening pair from 1990-2009

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Who will be your opening pair from 1990-2009

Probably Graeme Smith and Matthew Hayden

 

[CricketFan90s]

Probably Graeme Smith and Matthew Hayden

i am confused just saw Gary Kirsten profile he was very consistent against every Team. He was also very good ODI Opener.

 

[CricketFan90s]

Gary Kirsten

In Australia

1993-2002

9

17

1

698

153

43.62

1785

39.10

2

3

2

81

1

Graeme Smith

In Australia

2005-2012

10

20

1

748

122

39.36

1306

57.27

2

3

2

92

0

 

[CricketFan90s]

Gary Kirsten

In India

1996-2000

5

9

0

471

133

52.33

989

47.62

2

2

0

55

0

Graeme Smith

In India

2004-2010

7

12

0

431

73

35.91

756

57.01

0

3

1

61

2

 

[CricketFan90s]

Gary Kirsten

In Pakistan

1997-2003

5

8

2

529

118

88.16

1247

42.42

2

4

0

63

1

Graeme Smith

In Pakistan

2003-2007

4

8

0

358

133

44.75

677

52.88

1

1

0

43

0

 

[CricketFan90s]

Gary Kirsten

In South Africa

1994-2004

52

88

8

3384

275

42.30

7639

44.29

8

16

6

436

4

Graeme Smith

In South Africa

2002-2014

61

103

7

3986

200

41.52

6228

64.00

10

19

6

543

9

 

[CricketFan90s]

Gary Kirsten

In New Zealand

1995-2004

7

12

2

587

137

58.70

1237

47.45

2

3

0

80

2

Graeme Smith

In New Zealand

2004-2012

6

12

2

572

125*

57.20

974

58.72

2

3

1

68

2

 

[CricketFan90s]

Gary Kirsten

In England

1994-2003

12

21

1

909

210

45.45

2160

42.08

3

4

1

124

2

Graeme Smith

In England

2003-2012

12

22

2

1355

277

67.75

2262

59.90

5

3

1

172

2

 

[CricketFan90s]

Gary Kirsten Flop

In Sri Lanka	2000-2000	3	6	0	131	55	21.83	469	27.93	0	1	1	12	0
In West Indies	2001-2001	5	10	0	250	150	25.00	706	35.41	1	0	3	24	1

Graeme Smith Hit

In Sri Lanka	2004-2004	2	4	0	179	74	44.75	404	44.30	0	2	0	12	2
In West Indies	2005-2010	7	13	1	876	148	73.00	1728	50.69	4	3	0	96	5

 

[CricketFan90s]

Kirsten was better player than Smith in Asia. Smith edges Kirsten in having better strike rate and Captaincy.

 

[Burgey]

I think it's more like the last 5 than the last 10, but yeah.

Older current players do have records that are influenced by easy batting conditions earlier in their careers though - particularly Australians and New Zealanders who enjoyed/endured some of the flattest home conditions in their countries for a century. To put out some bait, I think Cummins is a much better player than Smith due to this.

Cummins played one test before 2017 didn’t he?

 

[Coronis]

Cummins played one test before 2017 didn’t he?

But what a test.

 

[mr_mister]

Michael Atherton, in at number 4. Good effort I reckon considering the type of bowlers collectively he faced....much better that period

Most Test Runs - 1990s


Most runs

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
AJ Stewart (ENG)	1990-1999	93	169	12	6407	190	40.80	13199	48.54	12	34	7	842	8
ME Waugh (AUS)	1991-1999	99	164	11	6371	153*	41.64	12267	51.93	17	37	15	636	34
MA Taylor (AUS)	1990-1999	93	166	12	6306	334*	40.94	15374	41.01	15	35	5	602	7
MA Atherton (ENG)	1990-1999	91	168	6	6217	185*	38.37	16480	37.72	13	38	18	727	3
SR Waugh (AUS)	1990-1999	89	143	26	6213	200	53.10	13181	47.13	18	28	11	636	7
SR Tendulkar (INDIA)	1990-1999	69	109	12	5626	217	58.00	10344+	54.28*	22	21	7	732+	27
BC Lara (WI)	1990-1999	65	112	4	5573	375	51.60	8982	62.04	13	29	4	773	29
PA de Silva (SL)	1990-1999	62	104	9	4448	267	46.82	8530+	52.00*	14	18	6	547+	33
MJ Slater (AUS)	1993-1999	58	103	5	4425	219	45.15	8406	52.64	13	16	9	481	26
DC Boon (AUS)	1990-1996	62	108	13	4303	164*	45.29	10758	39.99	13	18	11	474	1
GA Gooch (ENG)	1990-1995	45	83	2	4176	333	51.55	8190	50.98	12	17	3	521	16
IA Healy (AUS)	1990-1999	102	159	21	3949	161*	28.61	7863	50.22	4	21	15	389	5
M Azharuddin (INDIA)	1990-1999	64	94	6	3880	192	44.09	6302+	61.20*	14	12	3	476+	14
G Kirsten (SA)	1993-1999	56	100	9	3792	275	41.67	9185	41.28	10	18	8	485	4
Inzamam-ul-Haq (PAK)	1992-1999	58	97	11	3717	200*	43.22	7225	51.44	8	23	8	466	15
WJ Cronje (SA)	1992-1999	64	106	9	3689	135	38.03	8227	44.84	6	23	8	405	33
GP Thorpe (ENG)	1993-1999	57	105	13	3599	138	39.11	7793	46.18	6	24	8	436	1
RA Smith (ENG)	1990-1996	54	96	13	3538	175	42.62	7927	44.63	7	24	6	463	11
CL Hooper (WI)	1990-1999	64	110	12	3514	178*	35.85	6700	52.44	8	15	10	390	44
Saeed Anwar (PAK)	1990-1999	44	75	2	3366	188*	46.10	5890	57.14	9	21	8	449	10
DJ Cullinan (SA)	1993-1999	53	87	8	3354	275*	42.45	6681	50.20	9	16	10	416	13
Saleem Malik (PAK)	1990-1999	47	77	9	3126	237	45.97	6167	50.68	8	15	6	395	3
A Ranatunga (SL)	1990-1999	60	97	8	3074	131	34.53	6094+	49.73*	2	22	9	360+	26
GA Hick (ENG)	1991-1999	54	94	6	3005	178	34.14	6009	50.00	5	17	6	409	22
SP Fleming (NZ)	1994-1999	48	84	6	2984	174*	38.25	7116	41.93	2	23	7	372	8
HP Tillakaratne (SL)	1990-1999	55	89	14	2966	126*	39.54	7452+	39.06*	6	16	7	350	0
N Hussain (ENG)	1990-1999	45	81	8	2918	207	39.97	7345	39.72	8	13	9	365	8
Ijaz Ahmed (PAK)	1990-1999	44	71	4	2815	211	42.01	6096	46.17	11	10	5	354	19
Aamer Sohail (PAK)	1992-1998	45	79	3	2777	205	36.53	4960	55.98	5	13	4	378	8
ST Jayasuriya (SL)	1991-1999	44	74	9	2751	340	42.32	4273	64.38	5	14	9	349	21
R Dravid (INDIA)	1996-1999	34	58	4	2698	190	49.96	6958	38.77	6	16	1	325	3
AR Border (AUS)	1990-1994	45	73	11	2686	200*	43.32	6732	39.89	4	17	6	276	6
RB Richardson (WI)	1990-1995	41	70	5	2629	182	40.44	5323	49.38	6	14	5	348	19
A Flower (ZIM)	1992-1999	39	70	12	2580	156	44.48	6337	40.71	6	16	4	263	7
NS Sidhu (INDIA)	1990-1999	38	56	0	2517	201	44.94	5723	43.98	7	12	6	289	33
GS Blewett (AUS)	1995-1999	43	74	4	2483	214	35.47	5884	42.19	4	15	5	271	4
SC Ganguly (INDIA)	1996-1999	32	54	5	2432	173	49.63	5102	47.66	7	12	4	314	23
RS Mahanama (SL)	1990-1998	46	79	1	2333	225	29.91	5433+	42.03*	4	10	7	280+	2
JC Adams (WI)	1992-1999	39	63	12	2326	208*	45.60	5625	41.35	5	11	4	263	4
JN Rhodes (SA)	1992-1999	48	73	8	2321	117	35.70	5013	46.29	3	15	4	237	21
MD Crowe (NZ)	1990-1995	32	55	4	2317	299	45.43	4851	47.76	7	7	2	275	21
AC Parore (NZ)	1990-1999	58	98	10	2249	100*	25.55	5795	38.80	1	13	4	250	4
S Chanderpaul (WI)	1994-1999	37	62	7	2234	137*	40.61	5482	40.75	2	18

What's interesting about this table is how the top 5 names are all roughly the same for runs per test output. There's really not too much to split them