Poll 3: No 3 for the Best ODI XI from the Tendulkar Era

[bagapath]

Choose the best from the following 10 batsmen who have played at least 50 innings at no.3 in the Tendulkar Era

• 
  JH Kallis (Afr/ICC/SA) 1997-2012 200 196 30 7759 139 46.74 10509 73.83 13 57 10
  BC Lara (WI) 1992-2007 109 106 9 4447 169 45.84 5172 85.98 12 26 6
  GA Hick (Eng) 1991-2001 58 58 9 2182 126* 44.53 2899 75.26 5 16 6
  RT Ponting (Aus/ICC) 1995-2012 335 330 32 12662 164 42.48 15683 80.73 29 74 16
  DM Jones (Aus) 1990-1994 74 73 8 2748 145 42.27 3938 69.78 4 21 4
  WJ Cronje (SA) 1993-1999 52 52 5 1912 112 40.68 2705 70.68 2 13 2
  KC Sangakkara (Asia/ICC/SL) 2001-2012 169 166 12 6073 128 39.43 7945 76.43 6 45 6
  Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak) 1991-2003 61 61 9 2033 137* 39.09 2966 68.54 2 15 4
  R Dravid (India) 1996-2011 112 109 6 4000 153 38.83 5747 69.60 7 27 4
  MS Atapattu (SL) 1996-2007 122 120 12 4142 132* 38.35 6244 66.33 4 33 6

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Definitely Lara

 

[sledger]

Hansie

 

[smash84]

this is a tough one

 

[ankitj]

Dean Jones assuming this was his natural position. Even otherwise deserves an honorary vote.

 

[Burgey]

Ponting

 

[hendrix]

this is tough because I want Watson there as allrounder.

 

[Satyanash89]

Wanted to vote Ponting but accidentally voted Lara. **** it.

 

[Eclipse]

Ponting. Don't see how it can be anyone else frankly. Only SRT has more ODI hundreds and Ponting has made almost all of them at number three.

 

[Flem274*]

Spunker

 

[morgieb]

Wanted to go Ponting, in the end though couldn't really ignore Lara's record.

 

[weldone]

I vote for Lara here - in protest of him being excluded from the opener's poll.

 

[Jono]

Ponting

 

[hendrix]

without my (admittedly somewhat unconventional) lineup options, Ponting is definitely the best number 3.

still can't believe Gilchrist will be opening an ATG team. wtf.

 

[morgieb]

without my (admittedly somewhat unconventional) lineup options, Ponting is definitely the best number 3.

still can't believe Gilchrist will be opening an ATG team. wtf.

Given he'll most likely be keeping, is it really that ridiculous?

 

[hendrix]

Given he'll most likely be keeping, is it really that ridiculous?

nah it's not ridiculous, I just think that in an ATG team, you have an ATG opening pair. Gilchrist is an ATG wicketkeeper/batsman, but there are better openers out there

 

[stephen]

nah it's not ridiculous, I just think that in an ATG team, you have an ATG opening pair. Gilchrist is an ATG wicketkeeper/batsman, but there are better openers out there

In the history of the game there is what, two or three other choices which might be better than Gilchrist. But Gilchrist (forgetting his keeping) gives advantages over those batsmen (namely his strike rate). It is not difficult to see why Gilly has been selected as opener, especially when you throw in his keeping.

Gilchrist offers team balance (in that he provides the aggressive opener position) and is one of the best keepers ever as well, which means you don't HAVE to pick Dhoni if you don't want to (admittedly Dhoni should be there as a pure batsman, but if someone better than Dhoni comes along in the future picking Gilchrist gives you the option to pick the better bloke).