Who is the best post war English opening batsman?

[Burgey]

Cook's the better player of spin by quite a distance, and that should count for a bit.

Why? If you don't see off the real stuff you don't get to feast on spinners.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Boycs kicks himself all around the car park everyday over the 30 Tests he missed and records he could have set. The Indian spinners were completely innocuous during the wet English summer of 1974 and his replacement David Lloyd was made to look like a Test batsman. The Pakistan attack had Sarfraz who was okay but little else. He would have made runs in 74/75 Ashes and probably still averaged over 40. The 76 West Indies attack wasn't prime time save for Roberts. Holding and Daniel were still young and Holder and Julien weren't express pace.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Cookiee by a mile. Don't know Gooch and Boycott but they must be from a while ago and probably wouldn't be able to score as heavily in their old age as Cook in his prime.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Cookiee by a mile. Don't know Gooch and Boycott but they must be from a while ago and probably wouldn't be able to score as heavily in their old age as Cook in his prime.

Gooch only scored heavily in his old age, up to his mid 30's his record was ordinary.

 

[a massive zebra]

Anybody here thinks Atherton would've averaged 45+ had he debuted around 2000 or so??

Many people try to find excuses to explain why Atherton didn't average more. Yes, he did have a dodgy back, but that was part of what made him the player he was. He finished up with a moderate record partly due to his bad back but also due to some technical flaws that consistently made him easy prey for certain top quality fast bowlers such as Curtley Ambrose and Glenn McGrath. Atherton's considerable technical weaknesses included:

1. He was a compulsive hooker who struggled to get on top of the ball in order to keep it down and under control.
2. He was often squared up in back foot defence which left him in a poor position to adjust to last minute deviations in the trajectory of the ball.
3. He often played front foot defensive shots with an open face, leading to countless edges to the slips when facing line and length bowlers who aimed to hit off stump.

 

[Howe_zat]

Many people try to find excuses to explain why Atherton didn't average more. Yes, he did have a dodgy back, but that was part of what made him the player he was. He finished up with a moderate record partly due to his bad back but also due to some technical flaws that consistently made him easy prey for certain top quality fast bowlers such as Curtley Ambrose and Glenn McGrath. Atherton's considerable technical weaknesses included:

1. He was a compulsive hooker who struggled to get on top of the ball in order to keep it down and under control.
2. He was often squared up in back foot defence which left him in a poor position to adjust to last minute deviations in the trajectory of the ball.
3. He often played front foot defensive shots with an open face, leading to countless edges to the slips when facing line and length bowlers who aimed to hit off stump.

Well the thinking generally goes that if Atherton had played in the 21st century he wouldn't have had to face Curtly Ambrose.

Probably still would have struggled against the good seam bowlers that have given Cook problems like Harris and Morkel, but he at least would have a much better chance of scoring runs against the Windies so he probably would have averaged a bit more.

~

For me Cook's prolific scoring makes a difference over Gooch but not Boycott, who despite his sabbatical was still the leading run scorer in Test cricket for a while.

 

[mr_mister]

Nobody faced a higher calibre of bowlers over a long period of time than Atherton

Ever

 

[grecian]

Many people try to find excuses to explain why Atherton didn't average more. Yes, he did have a dodgy back, but that was part of what made him the player he was. He finished up with a moderate record partly due to his bad back but also due to some technical flaws that consistently made him easy prey for certain top quality fast bowlers such as Curtley Ambrose and Glenn McGrath. Atherton's considerable technical weaknesses included:

1. He was a compulsive hooker who struggled to get on top of the ball in order to keep it down and under control.
2. He was often squared up in back foot defence which left him in a poor position to adjust to last minute deviations in the trajectory of the ball.
3. He often played front foot defensive shots with an open face, leading to countless edges to the slips when facing line and length bowlers who aimed to hit off stump.

Good post, he'd have averaged a bit more in the age of now, but let's not forget players in his own team, playing the same opposition averaged more, particularly Stewart as opener. The Atherton myth is and always was annoying.

 

[Pothas]

Trescothick was a very good player. Just felt that needed to be said.

Kind of feel Strauss has become slightly underrated which is weird considering we have still not managed to replace him.

 

[grecian]

Trescothick was a very good player. Just felt that needed to be said.

Kind of feel Strauss has become slightly underrated which is weird considering we have still not managed to replace him.

Well I'm the biggest fan of Tres on the forum, but he didn't have the longevity for reasons we all know. Did probably bat at a decent time, after a lot of great bowlers retired, and before VR had kicked in. So you then have to look at his record against the side that did have the quality bowlers, Australia, and it wasn't great.

Yeah, even though Cook and Strauss were a solid partnership, I guess we've never replaced Tres as an attacking opener either. Would have been interesting if Tres hadn't had his problems, would they have found a way for all 3, then what about Trott, Colly, Bell? certainly different problems then we have now.

In the end though not sure we can judge how good these guys are on just how poor the ones we have to replace are now, it's clearly a system not working.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Trott probably would never have played and Cook might have been number 3 for years.

 

[nick-o]

I've always thought Dennis Amiss is underrated as an England opener. I think he averaged well over 50 as an opener, and I always got he impression he was better at it than Boycott. He doesn't have a great record against Australia, which I suppose is why he isn't rated so high, but I'd have him as one of my two opening batsmen in a postwar side.

 

[grecian]

I've always thought Dennis Amiss is underrated as an England opener. I think he averaged well over 50 as an opener, and I always got he impression he was better at it than Boycott. He doesn't have a great record against Australia, which I suppose is why he isn't rated so high, but I'd have him as one of my two opening batsmen in a postwar side.

Amiss as a Test bat, a bit before my time really, though I probably saw him plenty of times for Warwickshire on the box, but he's not terribly memorable really. Not a great record against Australia is a bit of an understatement, and yes it almost certainly is the reason he's not rated that highly.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Amiss not in Boycott's league. Whatever anyone thinks of his selfish attitude he was Englands best bat for years and often among the top three in the world.

 

[grecian]

After I and the Argyle bloke dismissing Amiss, I decided to go on a statsguru hunt on him partly because sport has been a bit meh today, and to be fair to the bloke he averages 53 as an opener, which I'm guessing is better than anyone on the list.

Still wouldn't get in my side, but kinda interesting I think.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Amiss had a good career and a good record, no disputing that, but he's still not in Boycott's league in achievement, longevity or anything else.

 

[harsh.ag]

Stewart my favorite to watch. Distinctive, gutsy, forever suffering look on the face.

 

[Howe_zat]

A glance at Amiss' figures suggests he did excellently against the West Indies just before they were a great team - three tons in a series against Julien, Gibbs and Sobers - but hit a wall when the West Indies and Australian pace bowling kicked up a gear in the mid 70s.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

A glance at Amiss' figures suggests he did excellently against the West Indies just before they were a great team - three tons in a series against Julien, Gibbs and Sobers - but hit a wall when the West Indies and Australian pace bowling kicked up a gear in the mid 70s.

He played only one more Test against the West Indies and made a double century.

 

[Howe_zat]

Well I've read things wrong before.