Ponting vs Kallis

[hang on]

Am sure this has been done - to death - before, but so what...

Just 4 more days till the two greats face off for the last time.

For those in the mood for some flagellation haha, some overblown, flowery prose from Roebuck.

Colossus and cavalier will fight to the end

Mods, could we have a poll, please.

The question pertains solely to their test batting since it is a no contest in terms of overall cricketing ability!

 

[robelinda]

Difficult, maybe harsh to compare since both have different roles, and Kallis was not much good at #3. Ponting was the master of attacking the bowling and trying to setup a big 1st innings score, and of course close to masterful in the 4th innings, many 4th innings winnings tons. Kallis was known for a large portion of his career to be too slow with the bat and unwilling to take any risks, but has changed his game slowly since about 2002 (by my reckoning). Hi sbatting in the 90's up to 2002 was very slow and he copped the selfish tag a lot, thankfully isn't the same anymore, and has added a slight risk element to his batting, which has been evident in many tons in the past say 6 years.

 

[ankitj]

Off Topic - Sydney Morning Herald also referred to Tendulkar as "Master Blaster"

 

[robelinda]

Sydney fail. reporter must have been born after 1991.

 

[weldone]

Good read that from Roebuck..

 

[G.I.Joe]

It's Ponting.

 

[Top_Cat]

Ponting by a decent margin as a pure bat.

 

[Ikki]

AWTA.

To sum it up; one made a mountain of runs for his team, the other for himself. Whilst that sounds incorrect because if you make runs for yourself your team benefits too; but it goes to show the approach of both batsman. With Kallis, you felt he was unwilling to take that extra risk or try to impose himself on the bowlers. He wanted to make runs, even if it was at a snail's pace. Conversely, Ponting was all too willing. He played in a way that made it easier for the others to bat with him and came at the crease, every time, willing to be our Atlas.

 

[Ikki]

Off Topic - Sydney Morning Herald also referred to Tendulkar as "Master Blaster"

Not sure why people keep pushing that name for him. There is nothing about him that screams "blaster". It'd be like calling Gavaskar, "Speed Demon".

 

[hang on]

while his style has changed, he was a pretty aggressive batsman for most of the 90s. and perhaps his odi exploits have something to do with it. no slouch there.

 

[robelinda]

Kallis always batted too slow to rack up the really big scores too, one double ton in 16 years when he had many opportunities to make more of them, but wouldn't up the pace to get there. He has only recently somewhat shaken the tag of a selfish batsmen, in the past when he has tried to impose himself it hasn't worked for him. Even guys like Boycott still managed to make big tons, even though he got dropped after that huge 250+ score!

 

[Burgey]

Why is a thread about Kallis and Ponting turning into a discussion about selective deafness?

 

[uvelocity]

because somebody has a no wheeled barrow to shove

 

[BoyBrumby]

It's funny, I'd take Ponting as a batsman for the majority of their careers (certainly not now tho) but equally I'd have inked Kallis's name onto the team sheet before Punter without hesistation.

Actually a decent article from Roebuck too; nails both players' essence and keeps his florid tendencies in check for the most part. Does rather blot his copybook with a flabby piece of psychological specualtion about Kallis tho:

Kallis grew up in a simpler, isolated world and expected to play his cricket by those lights. Instead he was pushed by political decree into a time of complication and change. Although he kept his thoughts to himself, the compromises meant that South Africa did not share his single-minded striving for excellence.

By definition, if he's really kept his thoughts to himself they remain unknowable. A less charitable interpretation might be that Kallis has been allowed to put his own interests before those of the team and he never consider another MO for a second.

 

[hang on]

quite, boybrumby, about the faux psychology. also do not quite think that cavalier and pragmatic - two adjectives used to describe ponting in the article - are natural bedfellows.

 

[marc71178]

I'd go with Ponting personally, but can't judge it fully till both retire though as whilst Ponting has had his end of career dip, Kallis is yet to.

 

[robelinda]

It was interesting back in the 90's how they compared, Ponting was a better player much earlier, handled Donald, Ambrose, Wasim etc all really well, whereas Kallis struggled against the WI and Pakistan for awhile, but like Ponting and Hayden he really cashed in when so many great bowlers retired, but still had issues with McGrath,warn and Murali (in fact just about every SL bowler!).

 

[BlazeDragon]

Mods, could we have a poll, please.

You do know you can add one yourself by going into thread tools right?

 

[smash84]

Uptil 2007 I would have said Ponting easily. Now I am not so sure.

Since the McWarne retirements Ponting has been half a shadow of his former self. Kallis on the other hand has been going from strength to strength.

Ponting's 'slump' has now been 4 years......With Kallis you don't see such a period I would think.

 

[akilana]

Kallis by a good margin. Plays both spin and pace well. Carried his team on his shoulder for many many years. It's a pity that he didn't have good batsmen around him for much of his career so he took the anchor role for his team. I wish he was a little selfish and given up his bowling and concentrated on his batting alone, I bet he would have been even better batsman. Ponting was a good batsman but he wasn't that great against spin and being a part of a champion team gives little bit freedom to take more risks. He's behind Draivd.