Is Murali the worst Number 11 in History ?

[JASON]

The guy has played over 100 Tests but his batting is apalling...the guy has made no effort to improve it...In fact when the Team is in perilous positions and he comes to the wicket, he has never (from the years I have observed him) made an effort to stay in or try and help the batsman at the other end add valuable runs to the Team's total...It's like when he walks in, the opposition are dead certain , the innings will fold sooner or later ...either because Murali will give his wicket away easily or the batsman at the other end starts slogging and making a mistake (because they know Murali won't hand around for long).

Here are his batting stats ....

Mat I NO Runs HS1 HS2 HS3 Ave 100 50 0

overall 118 149 51 1144 67 43 39 11.67 0 1 30

Discuss...

 

[The Baconator]

Chris Martin?

Seriously though, Murali is pretty crap, but there's bound to have been many more much worse over the years. Also, to be the fair to the guy, he averages double figures and has a half-century to his name.

 

[JASON]

Chris Martin?

Seriously though, Murali is pretty crap, but there's bound to have been many more much worse over the years. Also, to be the fair to the guy, he averages double figures and has a half-century to his name.

For a guy who has played over 100 Tests its absolutely poor ....because most Cricketers improve their batting along the way and by the time they reach 100 Tests you can be certain no one will be that poor as Murali...Because they would've improved along the way...IMO..

 

[The Baconator]

Dunno how accurate this'll be, be I do recall a commentator saying once he doesn't bother to do nets anymore because the risk of him injuring his hand or something, when they depend so much on his bowling.

 

[Perm]

For a guy who has played over 100 Tests its absolutely poor ....because most Cricketers improve their batting along the way and by the time they reach 100 Tests you can be certain no one will be that poor as Murali...Because they would've improved along the way...IMO..

Have you seen Chris Martin bat?!

Hopefully he never makes it to 100 Tests, but I can guarrantee his batting will not have improved. The guy just has no idea.

 

[JASON]

Have you seen Chris Martin bat?!

Hopefully he never makes it to 100 Tests, but I can guarrantee his batting will not have improved. The guy just has no idea.

Agree Chris Martin is bad...Another one who was really bad was Alan Mullally who used to play for England... But anyone from current Test players...?

 

[JASON]

At the moment the competition for the worst current Test playing Number XI would be a toss up between Chris Martin and Murali and I would vote Murali because his batting is comical at worst and for a chap with 100 tests under his belt, extremely poor...

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

I'd say Martin is less talented than Murali because Murali can actually score runs, but Muralitharan is less determined to make runs. Martin doesn't seem to get out slogging - he just gets out through lack of ability.

 

[Matt79]

Bruce Reid anyone. The guy literally didn't know how to hold a bat.

 

[33/3from3.3]

Got to be Chris Martin...I would rate my own chances of scoring Test Match runs as better than his own.

 

[Ikki]

I'd say Martin is less talented than Murali because Murali can actually score runs, but Muralitharan is less determined to make runs. Martin doesn't seem to get out slogging - he just gets out through lack of ability.

That's pretty much the main difference. If I were Sri Lankan I'd be disheartened by the scenes of Murali just going in, slogging comically and getting out when he can actually help his team with a bit more effort/seriousness.

 

[Days of Grace]

It's very rich that one should criticise Murali for playing over 100 tests and not improving his batting.

Glenn McGrath, anyone?

 

[Matt79]

I was going to say it was a bit rich criticising him for his batting when his bowling has been the single biggest contributing factor to SL winning tests more regularly than Bangladesh...

 

[Perm]

It's very rich that one should criticise Murali for playing over 100 tests and not improving his batting.

Glenn McGrath, anyone?

What about him? He worked really hard on his batting and ended up scoring a Test 50 and being involved in a century partnership with Michael Hussey. You can hardly criticise him for not putting in the effort.

 

[Pup_23]

No way that Murali is worse than Martin.

Murali has a top score of 67, Martin 7

Murali has 30 ducks in 149, Martin has 20 in 48 (Only been out 26 times)

Murali averages 11.67, Martin a whopping 2.

Martin will go down as one of the worst batsmen of all time if he keeps this trend up.

Courtney Walsh was laughable as was Pigeon in the early days.

 

[archie mac]

When I was a boy, Jim Higgs was one of the worst, and I still can't remember seeing a worst No.11 until a young McGrath came along

I think the one thing that suggests a true No.11 is more wickets then runs, an Indian spinner comes to mind

 

[Laurrz]

yep i feel Murali shouldn't walk away from the stumps everytime! should be able to cop a few for the team and stay in there...
eg. Aussie tailenders generally dont sway away (as u saw with Clark Johnson etc.) and get some crucial runs

 

[Dissector]

The stuff of legend really. 167 runs and 242 wickets. Makes Walsh and McGrath look like all-rounders.

Of course Martin is gaining fast and setting new standards every test. 52 runs and 112 wickets at an average 2. He is gaining fast on the highest duck list though he has played just 35 tests.

Incidentally that list is one of the most amusing record pages in cricket because of the way it brings some of the best and worst batsmen together.

 

[archie mac]

The stuff of legend really. 167 runs and 242 wickets. Makes Walsh and McGrath look like all-rounders.

Of course Martin is gaining fast and setting new standards every test. 52 runs and 112 wickets at an average 2. He is gaining fast on the highest duck list though he has played just 35 tests.

Incidentally that list is one of the most amusing record pages in cricket because of the way it brings some of the best and worst batsmen together.

Kerry O'Keefe loved to bowl at him

 

[Matt79]

I still think I'm on a good thing with Reid. If you look at his sustained excellence in both Tests and ODIs. As well as in both forms of international cricket, he also had more List A wickets than runs.