Who's the greatest left handed batsman of alltime?

[Richard]

Nah. 'Tis a MOO.

 

[archie mac]

Nah. 'Tis a MOO.

My
Own
Opinion?

 

[BhupinderSingh]

When Lara first became a regular, other names in the team included Desmond Haynes, Richie Richardson and Gus Logie. Throughout his career he has also played with Sherwin Campbell, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Jimmy Adams and Carl Hooper.

He has hardly been the only outstanding batsman during his time.

But I don't think anyone of the players that u mentioned are as goo as Rohan Kanhai,Clive Lloyd & few others.

 

[Perm]

You shouldn't do that though, Harvey has more of an aura than Border.

DWTA. He is known as more of a shot player and probably more exciting to watch, which might give him a certain aura but I don't think it's anything more than what Border possesses for his amazing mental concentration.

 

[Perm]

My
Own
Opinion?

Matter of opinion I think.

 

[Richard]

Perm hits the nail.

 

[Richard]

But I don't think anyone of the players that u mentioned are as goo as Rohan Kanhai,Clive Lloyd & few others.

No, certainly not. But Lara wasn't a lone-fighter all his career, that was the point.

 

[Matt79]

But I don't think anyone of the players that u mentioned are as goo as Rohan Kanhai,Clive Lloyd & few others.

Richie Richardson was in the same class as Lloyd and Kanhai for mine...

 

[Engle]

No, certainly not. But Lara wasn't a lone-fighter all his career, that was the point.

Lara has many ' lost cause' recs to his name. Most number of double centuries in a losing cause, most number of runs/match for a losing cause....

Somehow, I sense he was like a caged animal, unable to fully explode and express himself for fear of the consequences. He had to be stroke-player and trench fighter and anything in between. It's a tragedy that the world never really got to see him at his finest, which would have been the case with some semblance of suitable skilled support at the other end.

 

[Chubby Rain]

Lara has many ' lost cause' recs to his name. Most number of double centuries in a losing cause, most number of runs/match for a losing cause....

Somehow, I sense he was like a caged animal, unable to fully explode and express himself for fear of the consequences. He had to be stroke-player and trench fighter and anything in between. It's a tragedy that the world never really got to see him at his finest, which would have been the case with some semblance of suitable skilled support at the other end.

Oddly, I think of Lara as exactly the opposite. I think he took a lot of liberties for a man in his position. He sometimes came across as too flashy in situations he should have dug in and anchored the innings.

Now Tendulkar on the other hand. That description seems tailor made for him.

 

[Engle]

Huh ?

If Lara had Dravid at the other end, I shudder to contemplate what might have been

 

[iamdavid]

Lara has many ' lost cause' recs to his name. Most number of double centuries in a losing cause, most number of runs/match for a losing cause....

Somehow, I sense he was like a caged animal, unable to fully explode and express himself for fear of the consequences. He had to be stroke-player and trench fighter and anything in between. It's a tragedy that the world never really got to see him at his finest, which would have been the case with some semblance of suitable skilled support at the other end.

For large periods of his career the batting alongside Lara wasnt all that bad, I certainly point the finger for West Indies decline since 2000 more at the lack of quality bowling.
During the 90's Lara was accompanied early on by the likes of Richardson and Haynes and later by Jimmy Adams (in his better days), Carl Hooper and Chanderpaul, all noteworthy performers. And this decade he had Chris Gayle, Chanderpaul and Sarwan. Plus a supporting cast of reasonable if not quite test standard players such as Wavell Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, etc

 

[Ikki]

DWTA. He is known as more of a shot player and probably more exciting to watch, which might give him a certain aura but I don't think it's anything more than what Border possesses for his amazing mental concentration.

What does DWTA mean?

Anyway, I was referring to your own reservations when it came to other players/people's opinions in regards to Lillee, and your lack-there-of for Harvey.

 

[Richard]

What does DWTA mean?

Disagree with the above.

 

[Richard]

Lara has many ' lost cause' recs to his name. Most number of double centuries in a losing cause, most number of runs/match for a losing cause....

Yes. But nonetheless, you look at the batting-line-ups he played with, and they certainly weren't usually bad.

Compare him to Andy Flower, for instance. To be surrounded by Grant Flowers, Alastair Campbells and Guy Whittalls as your best team-mates is a proper definition of lone-fighter.

 

[Chubby Rain]

Huh ?

If Lara had Dravid at the other end, I shudder to contemplate what might have been

Tendulkar played his best cricket when Dravid was far from established in the team. Indian fans in the 90s didn't turn off their television sets for nothing when Tendulkar got out.

 

[SJS]

Just by the way, Geoff Armstrong in his 100 greatest cricketers (he has made the worlds number one, number two ... right upto number nine sides and named a 100th man) has Border in the fourth X! and Harvey in the 7th.

His players are all ranked 1 to 100. If one lists all the left handed batsmen they read - in order of ranking

- Graeme Pollock (11)
- Brian Lara (21)
- Alan Border (37)
- Neil Harvey (67)
- Mathew Hayden (77)
- Clem Hill (79)
- Clive Lloyd (90)

I have not included Sobers (3) and Woolley (45) since they are considered as all rounders.

Wisden's quest for the five greatest cricketers of the 20th century , voted on by 100 prominent cricket writers and cricketers, had 49 cricketers getting at least 1 vote. Here are the left handed batsmen in that list with their rank and number of votes in parenthesis.

Sobers - 2nd - 90 votes
Pollock - Jt 23rd - 4 votes
Woolley - Jt 29th - 2 votes
Border - Jt 33rd - 1 vote.

One could assume here too that Sobers and Woolley got some votes for their all round capabilities since they were lookingfor greatest cricketers and not greatest batsmen. Itcould also be argued that Border's contribution as Australian captain in a very difficult time could also account for his vote.

No Harvey on this list but then it doesnt have Lara too.

 

[archie mac]

Just by the way, Geoff Armstrong in his 100 greatest cricketers (he has made the worlds number one, number two ... right upto number nine sides and named a 100th man) has Border in the fourth X! and Harvey in the 7th.

His players are all ranked 1 to 100. If one lists all the left handed batsmen they read - in order of ranking

- Graeme Pollock (11)
- Brian Lara (21)
- Alan Border (37)
- Neil Harvey (67)
- Mathew Hayden (77)
- Clem Hill (79)
- Clive Lloyd (90)

I have not included Sobers (3) and Woolley (45) since they are considered as all rounders.

Wisden's quest for the five greatest cricketers of the 20th century , voted on by 100 prominent cricket writers and cricketers, had 49 cricketers getting at least 1 vote. Here are the left handed batsmen in that list with their rank and number of votes in parenthesis.

Sobers - 2nd - 90 votes
Pollock - Jt 23rd - 4 votes
Woolley - Jt 29th - 2 votes
Border - Jt 33rd - 1 vote.

One could assume here too that Sobers and Woolley got some votes for their all round capabilities since they were lookingfor greatest cricketers and not greatest batsmen. Itcould also be argued that Border's contribution as Australian captain in a very difficult time could also account for his vote.

No Harvey on this list but then it doesnt have Lara too.

Armstrong annoys me tbh, he takes every opportuity to denegrate Grimmett and others he does not rate, for what ever reason, and then often writes it as fact rather than his own opinion. How Border is that far in front of Harvey and Hill is just a joke imho

 

[The Sean]

Armstrong annoys me tbh, he takes every opportuity to denegrate Grimmett and others he does not rate, for what ever reason, and then often writes it as fact rather than his own opinion. How Border is that far in front of Harvey and Hill is just a joke imho

Indeed, he's really not a fan of Grimmett or Ponsford at all, and he even considers Miller somewhat over rated. He is also very contradictory - he uses criteria to denigrate players he's not a fan of while conveniently ignoring those same criteria for others when it suits him.

Not saying that we're not all guilty of that at some point, but most of us don't get paid to write and publish high profile cricket books.

 

[SJS]

Armstrong annoys me tbh, he takes every opportuity to denegrate Grimmett and others he does not rate, for what ever reason, and then often writes it as fact rather than his own opinion. How Border is that far in front of Harvey and Hill is just a joke imho

No Grimmett and no Verity.

No Oldfield, Tallon or Bob Taylor but he finds a spot for Andy Flower and Kirmani in the 3rd XI above every keeper bar Gilchrist and Blackham.

No Ponsford, Mankad or Merchant while he was so short of openers that he opens with Walcott in one team and McCabe in another. McCabe never opened in his life and Walcott opened thrice averaging 8.67 !!

Yes Mr Armstrong has some very interesting choices.