Greatest batting line up of all-time

[Swervy]

I dont know if this has been a topic before (it probably has, but what the hell).

I think somewhere else there has been talk of the current Aussie batting line up as being the greatest ever,and there is some strong statistical evidence to suggest that might be the case...however could the high averages etc be due to flat pitches,lack of quality bowling around the world etc.

So what do you think...SA in the late 60's, WI's in their prime,India at some points in history, pakistan in the mid 80's,England in the 50's,Australia whenever??????

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

I'd say the Australian side of a couple of years ago in the South African series in 2002/03 up until the last Ashes series was the strongest I have ever seen by a long distance. Above all, the top six was so remarkably consistent that you could lose a fair few of them and still be confident that someone would stand up and play a big innings. And then after all of that, there's Gilchrist batting at 7...

It's always difficult to compare accross eras of course, but I would suggest that batting lineup is at least the equal of any other in history. It lacked stars like the West Indies in the 80s had with Richards or The Invincibles had with Bradman, but in terms of consistent performance against the opposition they had available they are unmatched.

 

[C_C]

Australia side early 2000s.

While i consider Hayden and Langer to be overrated, Ponting, Steve Waugh,Martyn and Gillchrist are great/worldclass with Mark Waugh being pretty decent too.
Its the Gilly factor where i would rate them the best ever.

 

[Swervy]

How about this for a top 5 though:

CC Hunte
RB Kanhai
GS Sobers
ED Weekes
CL Walcott when WI played Pakistan in 57 and Sobers scored 365

England during the mid 50's:
L Hutton
WJ Edrich
PBH May
MC Cowdrey
DCS Compton
TE Bailey

 

[Langeveldt]

1. GA Kirsten
2. HH Gibbs
3. DJ Cullinan
4. JH Kallis
5. WJ Cronjé
6. JN Rhodes
7. MV Boucher
8. B McMillan
9. SM Pollock
10. P Symcox
11. A Rabbit

Certainly not advocating this as the best lineup of all time, but it shapes up pretty well.. Not sure if all nine played together at the same time.. Maybe if you replace Gibbs with Hudson they might have done

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Sure, there's some other great ones as well. The Invincibles for example put together some truly awesome batting line-ups, which even without Bradman are great.

For example:
SG Barnes
AR Morris
DG Bradman
AL Hassett
RN Harvey
KR Miller
SJE Loxton


Another great one is the West Indies of the mid-80s.
CG Greenidge
DL Haynes
RB Richardson
IVA Richards
CH Lloyd
HA Gomes
PJL Dujon


Still, I think the recent Australian side is the strongest by a small margin.

 

[Swervy]

1. GA Kirsten
2. HH Gibbs
3. DJ Cullinan
4. JH Kallis
5. WJ Cronjé
6. JN Rhodes
7. MV Boucher
8. B McMillan
9. SM Pollock
10. P Symcox
11. A Rabbit

Certainly not advocating this as the best lineup of all time, but it shapes up pretty well.. Not sure if all nine played together at the same time.. Maybe if you replace Gibbs with Hudson they might have done

great depth in a lot of ways...but I dont know whether a player who scored only 1 test ton in his last 71 innings is really good enough coming in at 5,and with Rhodes at 6, who was at best a useful middle order batsman..and with McMillan in there, I would be guessing you are talking mid to late 90s..at which point Gibbs and Kallis were nowhere near establishing themselves as very good batsmen

Great top 4 though if you only consider the players at their peaks

 

[Swervy]

I agree with CC, its Gilchrist which does it.

 

[Langeveldt]

great depth in a lot of ways...but I dont know whether a player who scored only 1 test ton in his last 71 innings is really good enough coming in at 5,and with Rhodes at 6, who was at best a useful middle order batsman..and with McMillan in there, I would be guessing you are talking mid to late 90s..at which point Gibbs and Kallis were nowhere near establishing themselves as very good batsmen

Great top 4 though if you only consider the players at their peaks

Agreed, just testing.. Then the post 2002 Aussie order gets my vote

 

[Swervy]

I am really surprised that every one so far has said the recent Aussie batting line up.....

Where is Richard to spice things up

 

[BoyBrumby]

Sure, there's some other great ones as well. The Invincibles for example put together some truly awesome batting line-ups, which even without Bradman are great.

For example:
SG Barnes
AR Morris
DG Bradman
AL Hassett
RN Harvey
KR Miller
SJE Loxton

Almost a "who's who" of Oz cricket there!

I think what also helped to make the '48 Aussies such an awesome batting line up was their depth. To the guys above you can also add Lindwall (two test tons, average of tad over 21) & Doug Ring (average of v nearly 22.5).

 

[Langeveldt]

I am really surprised that every one so far has said the recent Aussie batting line up.....

Where is Richard to spice things up

Agreeing has never been a problem..

 

[a massive zebra]

Not sure they all ever played together but these could have been phenomenal batting lineups.

JB Hobbs
H Sutcliffe
WR Hammond
EH Hendren
CP Mead
DR Jardine
LG Ames +
MW Tate
H Larwood
AP Freeman
CWL Parker

Or

AR Morris
SG Barnes
DG Bradman
AL Hassett
RN Harvey
WA Brown
KR Miller
RR Lindwall
D Tallon +
WA Johnston
ERH Toshack

Or

L Hutton
MC Cowdrey
PBH May
DCS Compton
KF Barrington
TW Graveney
TG Evans +
JH Wardle
JS Laker
FH Tyson
JB Statham

Or

BA Richards
EJ Barlow
A Bacher
RG Pollock
BL Irvine
WS Farrer
DT Lindsay +
MJ Proctor
TL Goddard
HR Lance
PM Pollock

Or

CG Greenidge
DL Haynes
RB Richardson
IVA Richards
CH Lloyd
HA Gomes
PJL Dujon +
MD Marshall
AME Roberts
MA Holding
J Garner

Or

JL Langer
ML Hayden
RT Ponting
ME Waugh
SR Waugh
DR Martyn
AC Gilchrist +
SK Warne
JN Gillespie
SCG MacGill
GD McGrath

 

[Swervy]

so which is best out of those Mr Zebra

 

[a massive zebra]

Difficult to say - England 1928/29 and Australia 2000 all have top class batsmen down to 7, although you might argue Australia 1948 hold the edge with the Bradman factor. Alternatively South Africa 1969/70 make a good case with only one tailender in the side. Statistically England 1950s and West Indies 1980s are not the best, but the standard of bowling was arguably very high in those times.

Take your pick.

 

[Pinkline Jones]

Cowdrey
Simpson
Sobers
Richards
Tendulkar
Redpath
O'Neill

 

[SJS]

The West Indies in the early to mid fifties were a phenomenal batting side.
Stollemeyer
Holt
Worrell
Weekes
Walcott
Atkinson

 

[LongHopCassidy]

What about the 1930's Australians?

Woodfull
Ponsford
Bradman
Kippax
McCabe
Jackson

 

[wpdavid]

How about this for a top 5 though:

England during the mid 50's:
L Hutton
WJ Edrich
PBH May
MC Cowdrey
DCS Compton
TE Bailey

On paper, and looking at overall careers, very good indeed. It would be interesting to look at what they actually did in the mid1950's though. Hutton, Edrich & Compton were very near the ends of their careers, and, although Len kept going pretty well, I wonder if that's true of the other two.
May and Cowdrey were right at the start of their careers, and, although they played some great knocks, I think they were pretty inconsistent at that stage. IIRC, anyway.

 

[vic_orthdox]

dg bradman
dg bradman
dg bradman
dg bradman
dg bradman

after he's been cloned (which is all that bradman museum thing is for - keep some dna around so that when cloning is acceptable) they'll ensure that australia returns back to the top of the rankings.