The 10 players who will "define" cricket in the next decade

[Swervy]

It depends how you look upon "talent". I've always had a rather broader brush for the word than most. Boycott's ability to play the right shot time after time doesn't just happen with hard work, you need quite some natural ability.

It'd be very interesting indeed to see how the two of them would fare in the 1990s (a time neither played) when a weak bowling-attack was fairly rare. It'd also be interesting to see how Pietersen would have fared against some of the strong attacks Boycott faced. Pietersen has undoubtedly faced, and scored runs against, some excellent bowlers (be they Warne, Clark or Muralitharan) but he's also gorged himself on some nonsense (and some abysmal catching), to a far greater extent than Boycott ever had the chance to. If Boycott played right now, he might well average 60 or even more. Unless, of course, he were to be dropped for slow scoring again.

Boycott missed out on playing Australia in their fast bowling pomp in the 70s, the only really good attack he faced was the early 80s WI attack, and he did OK, nothing more.

Of all of Englands test players of th elast 50 years, no player has as much mythology around him as Boycott. You have to bear that in mind when looking at him as a batsman. As I say, a great opener, but not as high up the rankings IMO as you put him

I would be confident that KP would have gotten into any England line up of the 60s or 70s, Boycott might in fact, due to his style of play, not have gotten into the current England test team

 

[Swervy]

Richard is actually right about this one.

Boycott was indeed a superior test batsman to Peitersen.

care to elaborate?

 

[Spitfires_Fan]

Forgot to add Ryan Sidebottom to the list...

No?

 

[pskov]

Say what?

Yes, and?


On the KP vs Boycs debate, obviously one cannot class Pietersen in Boycotts class at present. I would say however that barring injury, Pietersen will come to be regarded as a better batsman than Boycott when it is all said and done. I think he has enough talent to sink a battleship and we habven't even seen the best of him yet in my opinion.

 

[BoyBrumby]

The list is looking forwards though... proabably only Clarke and maybe Malinga/Asif are really top players atm.

The guy who's ranked 3 in test & 1 in ODI batting isn't then?!

 

[grecian]

Boycs was the most over-rated player ever, Imo.

Utterly dire to watch, and the worse team man in the world ever.

 

[pskov]

And I looked up de Villiers' on cricinfo and was suprised that his average was only 35.14 in Tests, actually lower than his ODI average. He hasn't made a century for over 2 years (18 matches) and not reached fifty in his last 7 Tests either. Very odd since I think he is a good prospect but is the honeymoon period over? Has he been found out at international level? I genuinly don't know as I haven't really seen much of him since the England tour of SA a few years back and of him in the World Cup where he had a few excewllent innings.

 

[Richard]

Boycott missed out on playing Australia in their fast bowling pomp in the 70s, the only really good attack he faced was the early 80s WI attack, and he did OK, nothing more.

Given that he was nearly 40 at the time, that was no mean feat, was it? Imagine if he'd been given the captaincy in 1973 and not missed those prime years against the Lillees, Thommos, Robertses and Holdings in 1975 and 1976.

Of all of Englands test players of th elast 50 years, no player has as much mythology around him as Boycott. You have to bear that in mind when looking at him as a batsman. As I say, a great opener, but not as high up the rankings IMO as you put him

I would be confident that KP would have gotten into any England line up of the 60s or 70s, Boycott might in fact, due to his style of play, not have gotten into the current England test team

Who's been a better batsman for England since the Hutton-Washbrook-Edrich-Compton-May-Cowdrey-Barrington-Dexter-Graveney days then?

Intreguingly, another SAfrican who has so much in common with Pietersen might be the only man... if he'd been spotted 10 years earlier. Sadly, Basil D'Oliveira's career was much of a what-could-have-been.

There have been plenty of fine batsmen in that time... John Edrich, Amiss, Gooch (though again his sensational finish can overshadow the fact that he was no more than good for most of his career - and he's one of my favourite cricketers of all, given that said ending was the time when I was starting to watch the game), Gatting (in the middle phase of his career), Gower, Lamb, Atherton, Stewart, Thorpe... Vaughan even.

But surely none of those names are really in Boycott's league?

Alastair Cook, however... he just might be. And if he can get into the team... Boycott could. You don't go around averaging nearly 60 in domestic cricket and get shunned just because you don't score all that fast.

 

[Richard]

Yes, and?

And that's a perfectly decent record with the bat. It's only with the ball that he's come close to going off the boil, and it's hardly a catalogue of games.

 

[Richard]

Boycs was the most over-rated player ever, Imo.

Utterly dire to watch, and the worse team man in the world ever.

No-one has claimed he was good to watch, just that he was capable of scoring lots, and lots, and lots, of runs.

And the tales of his non-team-man-ness are almost as exaggerated as those of Hussain's.

 

[grecian]

No-one has claimed he was good to watch, just that he was capable of scoring lots, and lots, and lots, of runs.

And the tales of his non-team-man-ness are almost as exaggerated as those of Hussain's.

Watched him lots, never thought Nasser was a bad team man, always thought boycs was.

Btw, I actually agree Boycott is the best English batsmen since Cowdrey, excluding current protagonists. Yet that just proves what a moribund bunch of losers and under-achievers we've had since then. Yes, they all had their good spells, but none sustained it enough to have excellence pronounced upon them.

 

[Richard]

I actually think it shows that England is by-and-large a very difficult place to bat and has become enormously easier in the last 5 seasons. To suggest that Trescothick, Strauss and Collingwood are remotely in the class of Atherton, Hussain and Stewart is laughable IMO.

 

[grecian]

I actually think it shows that England is by-and-large a very difficult place to bat and has become enormously easier in the last 5 seasons.

Well, are there any stats to back this up, I always seem to remember the oppos scoring a lot of runs against us in that time, and us being a lot better by bowling the oppo out in this time.

That's because we're a better team now, then we were then, I'd of thought.

 

[Richard]

Stats aren't the be-all-and-end-all. You simply have to watch, and read, and listen - virtually everyone has said that the ball change from 2000 to 2001 changed everything - the new ones swung far, far less. And that a year later seam-friendly pitches became considerably rarer.

Anyway, though, if you want statistics, how's this: batsmen hit 118 more First-Class centuries in 2001 than the previous year and twice the number of double-centuries. And things got even more pronounced the following 2 years.

As for opposition scoring runs against us in the previous years - you might want to take a look at the times we actually had decent bowling-attacks on show in, say, the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Because on those occasions, they didn't. Only when he had Martin McCagues, Joseph Benjamins and Mark Illotts (and any number of others) on the field did oppos scoring runs against us become a problem. And you might want to note the number of runs scored against us in the last 5 years, too - which has also increased manifestly.

The good batsmen of the 1990s were better than those of the 2000s. It's not rocket-science.

 

[four_or_six]

The guy who's ranked 3 in test & 1 in ODI batting isn't then?!

Yep, sorry, I missed KP by accident.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Corey Anderson at Canterbury, that Harris bloke at Glamorgan and Adil Rashid look very good prospects to be in the next wave of top players. All playing first class cricket at young ages, and Harris and Rashid looking pretty decent to boot.

Shane Watson on the other hand, I think his bowling is pretty average. He doesn't do enough in terms of movement and whilst he's got decent speed behind him, that won't matter a jot to top class players if the ball ain't moving. He's nothing better than a 2nd or 3rd change bowler. With the bat, he offers a lot more, but to be honest I think there are at least six better Australian batsman out there and he only gets his place in the team because he's an excellent bat and can vaguely bowl. He's like a seam bowling Cameron White, only a more technically proficient batsman.

Frankly, if these guys are going to 'define' cricket in the next 10 years, I'd be worried about the entertainment on offer. Where are the Waqar Younises? Shaun Tait is a good prospect, but I worry that one injury could do a 'Shane Bond' to him. I just don't see enough fast bowling talent coming through at the moment! Who is upholding the cause of extreme pace and erring accuracy? There should be more than just Tait (Mahmood and Plunkett don't count in this bracket as they're not fast enough). Where are the 90mph+ bowlers bowling inswinging, toe-crushing yorkers? I think they're being physiotherapied or biomechanic'ed out of the game at the moment. Just a guess.

 

[four_or_six]

He's like a seam bowling Cameron White, only a more technically proficient batsman.

His bowling isn't that bad!

Frankly, if these guys are going to 'define' cricket in the next 10 years, I'd be worried about the entertainment on offer. Where are the Waqar Younises? Shaun Tait is a good prospect, but I worry that one injury could do a 'Shane Bond' to him. I just don't see enough fast bowling talent coming through at the moment! Who is upholding the cause of extreme pace and erring accuracy? There should be more than just Tait (Mahmood and Plunkett don't count in this bracket as they're not fast enough). Where are the 90mph+ bowlers bowling inswinging, toe-crushing yorkers? I think they're being physiotherapied or biomechanic'ed out of the game at the moment. Just a guess.

Um... Malinga?

 

[Perm]

I wouldn't have had Shane Watson on the list, he may be a good cricketer but he isn't going to be a big personality or a really big star like the rest of them.

 

[Athlai]

Daniel Vettori: He'll still be around for most of the next ten years. I think we will see him taking a larger role with the bat and probably doing well at it. He should definitely get a little bit of love in this list.

 

[The_Bunny]

Daniel Vettori: He'll still be around for most of the next ten years. I think we will see him taking a larger role with the bat and probably doing well at it. He should definitely get a little bit of love in this list.

But he is very unlikely to "define" cricket over a decade....