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Gavaskar v Boycott
- Thread starter Pratters
- Start date
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
It might work better if we asked the question -
Which of these two would you rate after Shahid Afridi as the worlds best opener of the last 40 years ?
- Gavaskar
- Boycott
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
I thought Australians did not have a 'problem' voting on this poll ?No option of Hayden?
Sanz
Hall of Fame Member
It can argued that a no. of those matches were drawn because of Gavaskar's batting. If not for his batting India would have lost many more test matches and won a lot less test matches.
Gavaskar's Avg. in Australia = 51, in WI = 70, In England = 41, in NZ = 44.
Goughy
Hall of Fame Member
As I pointed out. If he was the only played doing so then there would be merit to that point. However, all the top Indian batsman averaged far more in draws. Its not like Gavaskar was batting big to save draws when everyone else was failing.
The whole batting line-up was benefiting from easy tracks.
Sanz
Hall of Fame Member
It's not Gavaskar's fault that he didn't face some of the best attacks in some of the series he played against WI.
In 1971 he was a debutant, it was still an huge achievement to avg. @155/inning regardless of who was bowling, If not for Gavaskar's(and to some extent Sardesai's) batting India would have lost the 4th and 5th test in that series.
In 1976 he had good success against Holding/Roberts
In1978-89 he had again good success against Clark and Marshall
Again in 83-84 he hit 2 100s and a 90 against Marshall, Holding, Roberts and Davis including his highest score of 236*
So it is kind of preposterous to suggest that Gavaskar didn't have success against the WI pace battery. Yes he did fail against them at times but who didn't ?
Sanz
Hall of Fame Member
I have said in the past that such superficial analysis of stats prove nothing. The only way you can analyze this by doing inning by innings analysis of Drawn Tests, here is the analysis for first two series :-
First Series in 1970-71 :-
Test 3, 1st inning - Gavaskar Scored 116, involved in partnership of 228 with 3 different batsmen, after he got out, India scored another 148 rubns, so obviously Gavaskar's score was crucial in saving the test.
Test 4, Team 2nd Inning - India needed to bat 103 overs to draw or score 335 runs to win, Gavaskar scored 117 out of a team total of 221/5, next highest score was extras 28, so another crucial innings there
Test 5, Team 1st inning scored 124 out of team total of 360, to which WI replied with 526, 2nd innings India scored 427 out of which Gavaskar's contribution was 220, needless to say his scores helped India set a target of 262 for WI.
Second Series 1971 in England:-
1st Test - India need 183 to win in the second innings to win the test, Sunny made the highest score of 53 after playing out close to 35 overs(out of 50) in the innings , so played another crucial knock in saving the test.
2nd test - Again was the highest scorer (57) in team's first inning's total of 212, again an important inning and hardly something that was scored on an easy track
Dissector
International Debutant
SJS,
Thanks for that great analysis of Gavaskar's away record. I knew the broad outlines but not some of the details; e.g. how Gavaskar's decent average on his first NZ tour was largely because of the one test when Hadlee wasn't playing.Some great technical comments as well.
Thanks for that great analysis of Gavaskar's away record. I knew the broad outlines but not some of the details; e.g. how Gavaskar's decent average on his first NZ tour was largely because of the one test when Hadlee wasn't playing.Some great technical comments as well.
Sanz
Hall of Fame Member
Jaheer Khan, Jahid fajal, Jahir Abbas, Faisal Ikbal. Fraj, Faraj..get it ?
U and ur colonial thinking
here u go "Sir Geoffrey Boycott"
Lillian Thomson
Hall of Fame Member
It's true Boycs was dropped for slow scoring after making his Test Double Century even though England won the match. If any of the current batsman were capable of batting for that long they'd be given a ten year contract.
Lillian Thomson
Hall of Fame Member
Unfortunately for Boycott his self imposed three year exile - which was 30 Tests if he'd played in all of them - probably cost him one or two places in history.
BoyBrumby
Englishman
He was the highest ever test run-maker when he finished. I'm pretty sure it was his record Sunny took. In fact it was probably Boycott's desire to overhaul Sobers's record that lead him into playing on past his peak. For instance, if he'd knocked it on the head after the end of our summer in 1978 (when he'd have been 37, nearly 38), he'd have finished with over 5500 runs @ just over 51.
Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
Yet arguably the fact that he did go on (I may have said this to you before as I recall...) enhanced his standing still further, as at 40 years of age he stood up and did not flinch in the face of the best West Indian attacks of all in 1980 and 1981. And was still regarded beyond all question (despite Graham Gooch's rising star and of times counterattacking brilliance against said attacks) as the most prized wicket what's more.
BoyBrumby
Englishman
Oh, yeah. I'd never have a go at any player who wants to go on when he's perhaps past his personal peak, but still has something to offer his country. Boycott was still our best defensive batsman when he finished in tests and probably remained so well into his mid-40s. A quick trip to cricinfo reveals he scored 2439 runs after his 38th birthday @ 41.33 (with 6 tons & 10 50s), which is more than creditable, just maybe not quite worthy of his own ability.
Lillian Thomson
Hall of Fame Member
Boycott never really retired from Test Cricket, he ruled himself out by going on a rebel tour to South Africa and at his age the three year ban was bound to finish his Test career.
Whether he would have been chosen for the summer of 1982 series against India and Pakistan we'll never know, but considering the fact that England openers that season were the inadequate Geoff Cook, the out of place Chris Tavare and Derek Randall plus one appearance by Graeme Fowler means Boycs might have continued.
Whether he would have been chosen for the summer of 1982 series against India and Pakistan we'll never know, but considering the fact that England openers that season were the inadequate Geoff Cook, the out of place Chris Tavare and Derek Randall plus one appearance by Graeme Fowler means Boycs might have continued.
Goughy
Hall of Fame Member
I find it likely that he would have been chosen in 82 and beyond. In fact the fact that there were calls for him to be selected in 85 after the suspension was over shows that he would have been a part of the team leading up to the period.
In fairness his age and Robinson's fine form against the touring 85 Australian made a comeback not viable. However, he would have performed better than Robinson in the WI on the 85/86 tour.
Amazing that he would have been a viable Test option at over 45 and that he potentially missed over 60 Test matches due to imposed and self-imposed exciles.