Fair enough. I just think everything from 1900s is fair game (or else I can't justify rating Hobbs and Trumper highly ), he was successful in both England and Australia, and he played for a fair few years. Factoring that, his huge stamina and the high rating from contemporaries is enough for me to rate him highly. But yeah, it's my perspective only.
Hobbs at least played post WWI and a decade and a half after Barnes retired, additionally he also played much more tests.
Those two....
Hutton is probably the most underrated of the top tier of ATG batsmen and he belongs with Tendulkar, Richards, Sobers, Hobbs etc. But Gavaskar despite being the best modern opener is sometimes overrated here. Never proved himself in bouncy conditions, and his record vs WI pacers(while good) is overhyped a lot.
100% fully agree with everything in this post.
Do Gavaskar really have any significant bad performances in bouncy conditions? He had one Great tour of Australia, one moderately good and one bad; and that bad one (which India miraculously drew) was the one in which the umpiring was very questionable, and he walked off infamously with Chetan Chauhan after being given a lbw, which was a thick edge when he was batting at 70.
Well I have him 4th, so not too far apart. Sobers didn't have challenging home pitches, but Davidson, Benaud, Lindwall, Miller, a touch of Lillee, Trueman, Laker, Statham, Lock, Snow, Willis, Underwood, Fazal, Gupte and the full quartet.
Yo kyear, Imma let you finish, but Curtly Ambrose was the greatest West Indian fast bowler of all time. Of All Time!
Hadlee did better in the WI than Marshall did in NZ though.
And that's how I know you don't get it. I watched Curty's entire career, I have books and pictures signed by the great man, I have Sir Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose ranked along with Steyn either 5th or 4th all time (it alternates). With him I felt like we always had a chance, bowling out England for 46, the performances vs Australia..... He's not Marshall, and it's not particularly close.
He was inept in Aus, particularly vs Lillee and piled on runs vs the weakened club level attacks there
Which weakened club level attack? The one with Jeff Thomson?? In his best series he faced Thomson and Wayne Clarke, a bowler infamous for chucking, who had a small but successful international career. He only played 3 matches against Dennis Lillee in the same series and the level of umpiring there was awful; so much so that on the third match being given lbw while batting on 70 of Dennis Lillee, despite a huge edge; he infamously walked off with Chetan Chauhan. Lillee claimed his wicket only one other time.....
In Kingston he has a 66 and two centuries in both Bourda and Port of Spain. To remember, he only played 9 Test matches there after 1971, 3 were in Port of Spain and 2 in Georgetown; and I am not counting his first tour; in which he has 50s in both innings on his debut in Port of Spain, a century and a fifty in Georgetown, a century in Bridgetown followed by a century and a double century in the same match in Port of Spain (Port of Spain really was his lucky ground....).
Gavasker averaged 28 in Australia in his 5 matches in 1971-72 series playing for ROW against Lillee.
Wasn't that just Gavaskar's third series after playing West Indies and England away? I think it was more he needed time to found his footing as a youngster against quality pace, as you can see his score progressions by looking at the scorecards, as he scored half centuries in the last two matches.