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Andrew Symonds as a Test cricketer?
- Thread starter Craig
- Start date
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Symonds and Gayle: worst opening partnership ever. I'd stop watching cricket if that happened.
Seriously though, he probably would make the WI teamm but he wouldn't open. I doubt they'd play two batting allrounders with four number 11s though, so I reckon he'd bat futher down the order at 6 or 7 and Lawson would be left out.
Even if they decided to drop Ganga for him, I think Sarwan or Bravo would open.
Ganga
Gayle
Sarwan
Samuels
Chanderpaul
Bravo
Symonds
Ramdin/Baugh/Brown/whoever
Taylor
Powell
Edwards
Seriously though, he probably would make the WI teamm but he wouldn't open. I doubt they'd play two batting allrounders with four number 11s though, so I reckon he'd bat futher down the order at 6 or 7 and Lawson would be left out.
Even if they decided to drop Ganga for him, I think Sarwan or Bravo would open.
Ganga
Gayle
Sarwan
Samuels
Chanderpaul
Bravo
Symonds
Ramdin/Baugh/Brown/whoever
Taylor
Powell
Edwards
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Sarwan, Samuels and Bravo would all make better fists of opening IMO.
four_or_six
Cricketer Of The Year
Oh, no way! I really miss Langer.
Mister Wright
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Love Symonds. I know he's of test standard, I've seen him play some particularly good innings for QLD in Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup games and most of his better innings came at times when QLD were in trouble. He also has big scores against touring sides.
His batting today reminded me a lot of Steve Waugh the way he batted with the tail. I thought he looked the most comfortable of our batsman at the beginning of his innings in both first innings of the 2 tests so far. If he can keep his test average at 40 and pick up the odd wicket, bowl tightly and save plenty of runs in the field I think he's doing his job.
His batting today reminded me a lot of Steve Waugh the way he batted with the tail. I thought he looked the most comfortable of our batsman at the beginning of his innings in both first innings of the 2 tests so far. If he can keep his test average at 40 and pick up the odd wicket, bowl tightly and save plenty of runs in the field I think he's doing his job.
Craig
World Traveller
If it were a T20 game or an ODI at a stretch.
Much better line-up. Actually I think Taylor has some potential with the bat as annoying number nine or ten like Stuart Clark or Mitchell Johnson or Kyle Mills if he found himself there.
Captain Cricket
State Vice-Captain
IMO Symonds is the best possible player we can have to bat at number 5. Players possibly contesting for this position would be Shane Watson or Ashley Noffke, who are nowhere near as good as Symonds is. Every team needs a quick scorer and someone to save them in times of trouble, and Symonds has stepped up and done the job for his country. His development as a patient and intelligent cricketer over the years has been extraordinary and I hope to see him up there in the batsman top rankings for years to come.
social
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Some of the comments on here are just ridiculous
As Goughy mentioned, it has been open to debate whether Symonds is good enough to play for the Australian team but to suggest that he wouldnt walk into virtually every other team is nonsense
New Zealand - did anyone actually see them play in SA? Comparable to an average state side at best
WI - aside from one innings in SA, which was chiefly down to two players, they're worse than NZ
SL - only have 3 decent bats
India - Yuvi bats no.6 so that's a no brainer at present
Pak - see SL
SA - Prince, Amla and De Villiers are all lesser players
Eng - Bopara and Shah dont cut it whilst Freddie has a much inferior test record as a bat and has been in abysmal form anyway
As Goughy mentioned, it has been open to debate whether Symonds is good enough to play for the Australian team but to suggest that he wouldnt walk into virtually every other team is nonsense
New Zealand - did anyone actually see them play in SA? Comparable to an average state side at best
WI - aside from one innings in SA, which was chiefly down to two players, they're worse than NZ
SL - only have 3 decent bats
India - Yuvi bats no.6 so that's a no brainer at present
Pak - see SL
SA - Prince, Amla and De Villiers are all lesser players
Eng - Bopara and Shah dont cut it whilst Freddie has a much inferior test record as a bat and has been in abysmal form anyway
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Won't even start with this, as I just flat out disagree with a lot of the statements given with no basis.
social
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Ok, someone mentioned Styris earlier as being superior to Symonds
Guess what? Just been dropped
In other words, not good enough to play for freakin' NZ and yet still superior to Symonds?
Dont make me laugh
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
I'm aware Styris has been dropped - that's because they had to squeeze three superior batsmen to Symonds into the middle order along with a superior allrounder. New Zealand's batting in South Africa actually doesn't represent their best XI at all - I agree that Symonds is better than Ross Taylor, but not Fulton, Sinclair, Fleming or Oram.
pasag
RTDAS
Yeah but it's debatable whether he should be there. I do agree with some/most of the other teams in your post but if the Indian team was Jaffer, Karthik, Laxman, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Dhoni like it should be imo, then there's no way Symonds should be there.
social
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Dismiss Fleming from the argument - bats no.3
Fulton averages a whopping 26 in 7 tests and is completely unproven. I dont mind the look of him but to suggest that he would be picked in front of Symonds is crap
Sinclair has one of the worst techniques I've seen for a top order player (ZERO foot movement) and , as such, he's either a feast or a famine. His career stats are also worse than Symonds
Oram's career stats are also worse than Symonds and the guy should really bat at 7 anyway
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Despite what you seem to think, Symonds is not proven in test cricket either. One innings where he should have been out five times along with some quickfire declaration not-outs against tired bowlers proves nothing. Have you actually seen the guy bat at test level, or have you just decided that now he averages 40 and happens to be Australian, you'll defend him to the hilt?
Talking about bad techniques... Sinclair has more technique is his socks than Symonds has ever shown. I'll end this now because our opinions are so polarised that this will never get anyway. Reply if you wish but I shan't retort.
social
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Pretty simple - NZ are at one of the lowest ebbs
To suggest that a guy who performs better than virtually anyone in their lineup wouldnt make the grade is complete hogwash
tooextracool
International Coach
based on what exactly does Owais Shah not cut it? The man has batted in all of 4 test innings, and in 2 of them he played a hand in a match winning and series saving knock.
And if you honestly believe that Ashwell prince averaging 40+ and an establish bat in the SA side is worse than Symonds, then really you must not be watching clearly. I agree that Symonds has copped some unfair criticism, and while he did play better(And his technique held up better) than I had expected in his 167* I am still not certain about whether he is good enough to cut it in the test side. But to claim that he is already better than establish batsmen despite the fact that his record is inflated by 2 innings both of which required ridiculously favorable umpiring decisions is just pushing it.
social
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Put in it's most simple context, Symonds is averaging nearly 140 in his last 6 tests at a strike rate of 90, he is undoubtedly one of the greatest outfielders ever, and every now and again he chips in with a useful wicket.
It does not matter whether you or I (and I dont) rate him as the best no. 6 in his own country let alone the world, the fact is that the form is on the board.
The fact that some are saying that they'd pick x ahead of him despite all evidence to the contrary (whether lack of form or opportunity) is garbage and an indication of bias against the guy more than anything