Greatest opener of the last 20 years?

[Jono]

Ftr, I don't rate Barry Richards. Atleast not as a test batsman. Cook is borderline for me... He debuted in 2007 didn't he? Probably has done enough to be in the conversation, especially if people are mentioning Richardson

The year doesn't matter as much as the amount of tests right? Cook has played plenty.

And cook played the 06 ashes ftr

 

[ankitj]

It's pretty close between 3 of them. Went for Sehwag for no reason.

 

[paulted]

It must be taken into context that scoring runs on flat pitches against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and the largely toothless Sri Lankan seam attack inflates a test record enormously. If we go back beyond the last twenty years, check out the records of Gooch and Gavaskar against the West Indians in their prime. As to the last twenty years see who has scored heavily against attacks containing McGrath, Gillespie, and Warne: Donald and Pollock: Wasim and Waqar: Ambrose and Walsh. For the 2005 series when England had a great seam attack (Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff, and Jones) a very good Australian team never got past 400.

 

[OverratedSanity]

The year doesn't matter as much as the amount of tests right? Cook has played plenty.

And cook played the 06 ashes ftr

Years definitely matter more than simply number of tests in certain cases because even though Steyn debuted in 2004(in and out for 3 years I know) but hes still played far lesser tests than Cook. There's just a big disparity in the number of tests which certain countries like England play compared to others. Maintaining form for 7 years is a bigger achievent than being brilliant for 2-3 years where you just happened to play a lot of tests imo.

Regardless Cook has played for 7-8 years now so he's pretty seasoned and deserves inclusion in the debate

 

[andruid]

I voted other. I really want to Re-open Nominations. Where Is Mike Vaughan for instance?

 

[Debris]

Should've put Taylor in the poll,pretty big oversight. Probably forgot him because he's from a slightly earlier timeline than the others. Also, Cook has a long career still ahead of him... Doesn't feel right to include him yet

HIs form years were too early to be considered. Gary Kirsten, maybe?

 

[The Battlers Prince]

It must be taken into context that scoring runs on flat pitches against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and the largely toothless Sri Lankan seam attack inflates a test record enormously. If we go back beyond the last twenty years, check out the records of Gooch and Gavaskar against the West Indians in their prime. As to the last twenty years see who has scored heavily against attacks containing McGrath, Gillespie, and Warne: Donald and Pollock: Wasim and Waqar: Ambrose and Walsh. For the 2005 series when England had a great seam attack (Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff, and Jones) a very good Australian team never got past 400.

So,e dodgy umpiring calls at times in 2005. But that '05 Ashes lineup for Eng was a bloody sight better than they'd had for a long time before that.

 

[GuyFromLancs]

I think repeatedly getting smashed in the noodle by short pitch bowling is something of a weakness.

Repeatedly? I recall Bishop and Ntini. Who else, fruitfly?

And, he has less obvious weaknesses than the others.

Sehwag, awesome on flatter wickets. Perhaps the best ever on dead wickets. By his own admission, can't play seam.

Hayden, destructive at his best. Borderline hopeless at his worst.

Smith and Langer are probably most similar. Neither catch the eye too much, Smith sometimes destroys it. Langer probably had more shots.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Sehwag, awesome on flatter wickets. Perhaps the best ever on dead wickets. By his own admission, can't play seam.

*couldn't play seam.

He mentioned that he worked on his game after 2002. One might argue that he still wasn't good enough after then, but it can't be stated that he admitted to not being able to play seam throughout his entire career.

 

[GuyFromLancs]

*couldn't play seam.

He mentioned that he worked on his game after 2002. One might argue that he still wasn't good enough after then, but it can't be stated that he admitted to not being able to play seam throughout his entire career.

I'm a fan of Sehwag - the Sehwag who bashed centuries, double centuries and triple centuries on the sub-continent.

But let's not pretend he was a bona fide test opener. He was a home specialist who only played at the top of the order because he couldn't get into the middle.

For this reason, listing him as the best opener in 20 years is facile.

 

[GuyFromLancs]

Anyway, Mark Taylor is an obvious omission. Michael Slater too, as mentioned.

Dravid would have been the best had he played there predominately, instead of as a 3.

I wish he had.

 

[Beleg]

saeed anwar is right up there. Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

used to go for the extravagant off-side drive a wee bit too often for my liking but that doesnt gainsay his ability and consistency

 

[Shri]

Rubbish against movement. Arguable as bad as Sehwag.

 

[Shri]

I'm a fan of Sehwag - the Sehwag who bashed centuries, double centuries and triple centuries on the sub-continent.

But let's not pretend he was a bona fide test opener. He was a home specialist who only played at the top of the order because he couldn't get into the middle.

For this reason, listing him as the best opener in 20 years is facile.

Home/Australia/New Zealand after it began producing roads(he kept throwing his wicket away looking to be too aggressive in the 2009 tour, check out his strike rate in those 3 tests). But hey lets keep going by conjecture.

 

[GuyFromLancs]

Home/Australia/New Zealand after it began producing roads(he kept throwing his wicket away looking to be too aggressive in the 2009 tour, check out his strike rate in those 3 tests). But hey lets keep going by conjecture.

Away

Average 25 against SA

20 against NZ.

27 against England

 

[GuyFromLancs]

I haven't checked, but I expect he averages less than 40 outside the sub-continent

 

[G.I.Joe]

I'm a fan of Sehwag - the Sehwag who bashed centuries, double centuries and triple centuries on the sub-continent.

But let's not pretend he was a bona fide test opener. He was a home specialist who only played at the top of the order because he couldn't get into the middle.

For this reason, listing him as the best opener in 20 years is facile.

Discounting him as opener on the basis that he couldn't play seam is a valid opinion whether one agrees with it or not.

Discounting him as opener on the basis that he didn't want to open is not because he ended up doing so for a 100 Tests anyway.

 

[Shri]

I haven't checked, but I expect he averages less than 40 outside the sub-continent

The no.3 in your sig was ****ing crappy in India but hey I am not going to call you a hypocrite or anything because that would be wrong.

 

[GuyFromLancs]

The no.3 in your sig was ****ing crappy in India but hey I am not going to call you a hypocrite or anything because that would be wrong.

Not so much wrong, just a bit ... juvenile I guess. .

But yeah, you're right, Ponting struggled in India. Had a wretched, scarcely believable series. But this is more of an anomaly than a flat out betrayal of weakness.

Sure, Ponting sometimes did struggle against spin. But he also improved drastically against it, and in full flow his playing of spin was just like his playing of everything else. Fantastic.

And more to the point, Ponting in his prime was consistently superlative. Good enough to seriously be compared to Lara and Tendulkar. Sehwag was a phenomena in his (physical and metaphorically) local setting. Smashing attacks on dead wickets was his specialist skill, and he did it better than anyone I've seen. Perhaps if he'd played at 4 or 5 he'd have been even better, but then we wouldn't be talking about him as an opener would we?

Point is, you bring Sehwag to England and put him on a bit of a hairy wicket, his stock plummets. As a supporter, I don't fear him like I would Ponting, or yes, even Justin bloody Langer.

To conclude, Ponting's weakness was against a specific team, in a specific setting, against a specific bowler. Sehwag's weakness significantly anywhere outside his remit of, shall we say, pitches unhelpful to the bowlers.

 

[GuyFromLancs]

Discounting him as opener on the basis that he couldn't play seam is a valid opinion whether one agrees with it or not.

Discounting him as opener on the basis that he didn't want to open is not because he ended up doing so for a 100 Tests anyway.

Well you may have a point here.

But I'd argue that the role of opener itself is diminished on the sub-continent. I've seen the ball refuse to do anything from the first delivery onwards.