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Most overrated cricketer

Adorable Asshole

International Regular
Only 51 is a weird criticism lol. He hit a 900 run series against Ironmonger and Grimmett and still managed 2 double tons against O'Reilly despite not quite scaling the depths of '28 again

He might have absolutely killed it in Asian countries with that resume
51 is very good but not ATG worthy for the era he batted in.

He averaged 79 vs India so he probbly would have

I see grounds for Hammond being slightly overrated but think to say he wouldn't be a top 5 bat in this era is a bit out there.
Smith, Root, Kohli, Willimson, Labuschagne,
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
51 is very good but not ATG worthy for the era he batted in.

He averaged 79 vs India so he probbly would have



Smith, Root, Kohli, Willimson, Labuschagne,
Who averaged higher than 51 against Australia in the Grimmett/O'Reilly era? Surely not many and not by much

They're the 3rd and 4th best spinners ever in the eyes of many
 

BazBall21

International Vice-Captain
51 is very good but not ATG worthy for the era he batted in.

He averaged 79 vs India so he probbly would have



Smith, Root, Kohli, Willimson, Labuschagne,
I quite stupidly misinterpreted your statement as meaning he would not bat in the top five which would be very radical.

But I think it's too early to include Marnus. His Test debut was four years ago.
 

Adorable Asshole

International Regular
Who averaged higher than 51 against Australia in the Grimmett/O'Reilly era? Surely not many and not by much

They're the 3rd and 4th best spinners ever in the eyes of many
Sutcliffe averaged 53.14 agianst Aus between 1932-34 when both O'rilley and Grimmett played. He was past his prime then.

Paynter averaged 84 against Aus in the 30s
 
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Do you really think he could ave faced the modern express pace bowlers. His record agaisnt WI is pretty poor averaging only 35.5 an deven against Australia it's only 51.85.

Imo in modern era his average would be in late 40s. I can understand the argument for him being an ATG as an all-round cricketer but not as a batsman.
He wasn’t weak against pace as a whole.But Constantine did have his number. Hammond’s record against other quicks he met in his career is fine.
He did play some brilliant innings in minefield against West Indies.
 

BazBall21

International Vice-Captain
A bit surprising on paper that Learie had his fair share of success in that battle.

I always liked reading about how Constantine and Hammond were enemies at first due to their on-field rivalry but became friends because Hammond was able to sympathize with Constantine's uphill fight against the prejudice attitudes and systems of the time.
 

Slifer

International Captain
Patriotism aside, it has to be Viv. With his record as consistent as it was, it probably doesn't warrant the constant top 5 batting rating he usually gets wherever his name comes up. Anyway, I think he's in the top 5 greatest test batsmen....hahahahaha.
 

The Sean

Cricketer Of The Year
Patriotism aside, it has to be Viv. With his record as consistent as it was, it probably doesn't warrant the constant top 5 batting rating he usually gets wherever his name comes up. Anyway, I think he's in the top 5 greatest test batsmen....hahahahaha.
Similar perspective for me in that I have to trade in an Aussie Man Card to say this, but DK Lillee probably fits that bill as well. Lillee was a great fast bowler, no question - the best of his generation, led the pack into the modern TV age with his swaggering charisma, and bowled big spells to take big wickets. But there for a long time seemed to be an almost accepted fact that he was the greatest fast bowler of all time, or at the very least alongside Marshall as one of the top two - and I just don't think he justifies that. Not just being alongside Marshall, but I really don't see any justification to rate him ahead of Hadlee, Imran, Ambrose, McGrath or Steyn either.

Definitely one of the top 8-10 quicks of all time for me, but not one of the top one or two.
 

Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
I rate Lillee behind only Marshall, but there’s a few I have no problem with if placed ahead of him. Usually people arguing against Lillee make stuff up anyway. :santa:
 

BazBall21

International Vice-Captain
Similar perspective for me in that I have to trade in an Aussie Man Card to say this, but DK Lillee probably fits that bill as well. Lillee was a great fast bowler, no question - the best of his generation, led the pack into the modern TV age with his swaggering charisma, and bowled big spells to take big wickets. But there for a long time seemed to be an almost accepted fact that he was the greatest fast bowler of all time, or at the very least alongside Marshall as one of the top two - and I just don't think he justifies that. Not just being alongside Marshall, but I really don't see any justification to rate him ahead of Hadlee, Imran, Ambrose, McGrath or Steyn either.

Definitely one of the top 8-10 quicks of all time for me, but not one of the top one or two.
Lillee and Viv are two of the most obvious examples of players being elevated above their immediate stats by people within the game. Kapil Dev is up there for that.
 

Everton Seymour

U19 Debutant
George Headley , only played 22 Tests ..16 were against England who often fielded second/third string attacks against West Indies ..No doubt Headley was talented but he was more Black Voges than Black Bradman .
 

_00_deathscar

International Regular
And I'll say Mitchell Starc in tests. If you never looked at stats and were complete fairweather fan you'd think he was our best bowler. Household name, features in several ads each summer, married to the second most famous female cricketer in Australia, never looks like being dropped. Looks a million bucks when yorking tailenders. But ultimately so ineffective against top order batsmen from good teams
I actually agree with this. They should wheel him out just for day-night tests. His average in just regular tests taking out day-night is like 35 or 40 or something...
 

Everton Seymour

U19 Debutant
Another cricketer who I think is very overrated is Zak Crawley .
How on Earth did this guy manage 28 Test matches ?
28 Tests with a batting average of 27 , even that average is bloated by one giant score of 267 ..

McCullum keeps saying he's a match winner , both his two test hundreds came in a draw , and only 2 of his 6 test 50's resulted in England winning.

Even his FC career is poor , 87 FC matches and he averages 30 so it's not like he's a Graeme Hick or Mark Ramprakash case where he is dominating County Cricket.

I don't know how Crawley has conned the selectors but getting 28 tests with this record takes some doing!.
 

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