Graeme Smith vs Martin Crowe vs Rohan Kanhai

[Johan]

he averages 41 at home. The overall average is higher than of Crowe so he must be doing something really well to compensate for that home record. The only country where he was a failure was India and an average of 35 is not too shabby for an opener. played 2 tests in SL with two 50s, averaging 45. In pakistain he played 4 tests and averages a respectable 45 with a hundred. 40 in Australia is not terrible. I'd take that record given that he was the MOS in that 2009 tour.

Crowe was a total failure in india, sa, srilanka, and west indies.

You realise Crowe only toured India and South Africa when his knees were completely shot and finished right? and Smith averages 37-38 at home without Bangladesh/Zimbabwe which is the definition of mid.

saying Crowe is a failiure in Windies averaging 30 with an insane ton at 24 against an ATG attack while trying to say 35 in India in 2000s isn't a failiure also is flimsy. I'll give you Crowe not scoring in Sri Lanka.

 

[BazBall21]

Even in SL, Crowe has a couple of good performances. He was a very good player of spin.

 

[capt_Luffy]

You realise Crowe only toured India and South Africa when his knees were completely shot and finished right? and Smith averages 37-38 at home without Bangladesh/Zimbabwe which is the definition of mid.

saying Crowe is a failiure in Windies averaging 30 with an insane ton at 24 against an ATG attack while trying to say 35 in India in 2000s isn't a failiure also is flimsy. I'll give you Crowe not scoring in Sri Lanka.

Smith averages 34 at home on removing WI/BANG/Zim. His away record is Great, but except England, not really top of the echelon stuff either. Crowe was World's best for arguably a good 10 years.

 

[BazBall21]

Across the 10 years arguably, not the best in the world throughout the 10 years.

 

[capt_Luffy]

Yeah Gooch definitely in the early 90s, and Border has a really strong case for the late 80s as well. Miandad also.

 

[Johan]

Yeah Gooch definitely in the early 90s, and Border has a really strong case for the late 80s as well. Miandad also.

Gooch was amazing wasn't he

 

[akilana]

You realise Crowe only toured India and South Africa when his knees were completely shot and finished right? and Smith averages 37-38 at home without Bangladesh/Zimbabwe which is the definition of mid.

saying Crowe is a failiure in Windies averaging 30 with an insane ton at 24 against an ATG attack while trying to say 35 in India in 2000s isn't a failiure also is flimsy. I'll give you Crowe not scoring in Sri Lanka.

excuses for crowe's failures. If he was playing, he was expected to score runs.

Smith averages below 40 against India only. Crowe has few more holes in his record. His overall away average is only 42 compared to Smith's 53.

An average of 40 in SA for an opener is respectable. What's mid is crowe averaging, 16, 22, 29 and 30 in 4 countries. That's almost half of the countries he toured.

 

[PlayerComparisons]

Crowe had a higher ceiling while Smith had better output

 

[Johan]

excuses for crowe's failures. If he was playing, he was expected to score runs.

Smith averages below 40 against India only. Crowe has few more holes in his record. His overall away average is only 42 compared to Smith's 53.

An average of 40 in SA for an opener is respectable. What's mid is crowe averaging, 16, 22, 29 and 30 in 4 countries. That's almost half of the countries he toured.

How is he expected to make runs with an injury? it's not an excuse, that's like saying if we cut off someone's hand and their performance dips then that is reflective of their quality at 100%, ofcourse not quite as extreme but the same sentiment, his knees were done and he was forced into retirement by them.

Wisden
Despite an established career that extended for close to a decade and a half, Crowe’s international stint came to an unfortunate end due to a lingering right knee issue, with the joint hampered by considerable wear and tear. Then aged 33, Crowe played his last Test and ODI in November 1995.

After time spent commentating and writing about the game as well as a brief involvement in mentoring and team management (he was the chief cricket officer for IPL team RCB in 2008), Crowe decided to make a surprise comeback as a player in 2011, deciding, at 49, that he wanted to challenge himself.

Smith's overall average against Australia is also 32, and Nah, 37 is not good in any country in the 2000s, especially your home conditions where you play 50% of your games.

Here are numbers against top opposition at home.

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

He was better than Smith in Australia and his work against prime Wasim and Waqar is above what can be shown for Smith away from home, and his home record is just plainly superior.

If you remove the context that his knees were done for two of them, one is a minnow country and one was ****ing West Indies, that sure sounds mid, but too bad we don't ignore context here.

 

[BazBall21]

Crowe v WI in 1987 and Pakistan in 1990 overpowers Smith against quality bowling (AVG of 32 against Australia&AVG of 30 against England's Ashes 05 attack). He was also arguably the best batsman in the world over a sustained period. Smith was consistently very good, but never had that kind of status.

I also had a look at Crowe's record when he was forced to the crease very early. It's very good. I suspect he'd be fine batting top 3 with his technique, eye and judgement.

 

[akilana]

Excuses and contexts lol

 

[sayon basak]

he averages 41 at home. The overall average is higher than of Crowe so he must be doing something really well to compensate for that home record.

Maybe he bashed WI and BAN to compensate for that record?

And don't think managing to average 3 points higher in a flatter era is a point for Graeme Smith. And Crowe played 3 matches only against India and SA each.

 

[Rob Wesley]

Very close.

It should not be easy win for anyone. Remember Graeme Smith was an opener and as opener you don’t get easy not outs. So, while comparing with a #4, you can’t simply compare plain averages although Smith is higher in that too.

I rate both Crowe and Smith as among the best test batters to end their careers with an average below 50. Can’t make a point about Kanhai though, still reading about him.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I rate Smith a lot lower now than I did a few years ago tbh. Great player but think he's getting overrated a lot on cw recently. Prefer guys like Amla from his own team in that era. Crowd a tier above him imo, was arguably the best batsman in the world for a significant stretch of his career and Smith was never at that level.

 

[akilana]

Maybe he bashed WI and BAN to compensate for that record?

And don't think managing to average 3 points higher in a flatter era is a point for Graeme Smith. And Crowe played 3 matches only against India and SA each.

bangaladesh is away is a challenge. crowe failed in india and srilank so badly. If he bashed them, his average will rise too.

 

[akilana]

crowe could have been best batsman for a period of time like Ntini was the best bowler for a period of time or anderon was in the running for the best bowler, but overall he was below Smith.

 

[akilana]

Maybe he bashed WI and BAN to compensate for that record?

And don't think managing to average 3 points higher in a flatter era is a point for Graeme Smith. And Crowe played 3 matches only against India and SA each.

flat era.. lol Smith is an opening batsman in SA for half of the time.

 

[capt_Luffy]

Ah yes, the challenging 2000s Bangladeshi attack of Tapash Baisya and Abdur Razzak..... @sayon basak is having an orgasm reading that and Akilana might just turn into his favourite poster.

 

[akilana]

Ah yes, the challenging 2000s Bangladeshi attack of Tapash Baisya and Abdur Razzak..... @sayon basak is having an orgasm reading that and Akilana might just turn into his favourite poster.

no.. the challenging srilankan and zimbabwe attacks.

 

[akilana]

I'm sad to find out crowe only has 2 test hundreds in wins. Now I think the gap is wider than I thought.