The greatest batsman from each Test team

[Richard]

No, I'm sorry - good a batsman as Robin Smith sometimes was at smashing the seamers, there is not one iyota of a chance he was even close to being in the same class as Boycott.

 

[bagapath]

i am coming in late here. dont know hat has happened so far. but if the idea is to choose the best batsmen of each team.. here is my top 3 for each team in the last 25 years. i am starting from the english summer of 1983 and restricting my selection to performances from the said date to present day.

australia: ricky ponting/ adam gilchrist/ allan border
england: david gower/ kevin petersen/ graham gooch
india: sachin tendulkar/ rahul dravid/ mohammad azharuddin
west indies: brian lara/ viv richards/ gordon greenidge
new zealand: martin crowe/ stephen flwming/ john wright
sri lanka: aravinda de silva/ mahela jayawardane/ sanath jayasuriya
pakistan: javed miandad/ inzamam ul haq/ saeed anwar
south africa: jacques kallis/ gary kirsten/ herschelle gibbs
zimbabwe: andy flower

 

[bagapath]

if it is an all-time list here is my take - one from each team

jack hobbs
don bradman
sunil gavaskar
javed miandad
graham pollock
garfield sobers
aravinda de silva
martin crowe
andy flower

 

[James_W]

Currently;

Aus - Ponting
BD - Nafees
Eng - Vaughan
Ind - Tendulkar
NZ- McCullum
Pak - Yousuf
SA - Kallis
SL - Sangakkarra
WI - Chanderpaul

McCullum was a hard choice, was tempted to put Vettori.

 

[Richard]

i am coming in late here. dont know hat has happened so far. but if the idea is to choose the best batsmen of each team.. here is my top 3 for each team in the last 25 years. i am starting from the english summer of 1983 and restricting my selection to performances from the said date to present day.

australia: ricky ponting/ adam gilchrist/ allan border
england: david gower/ kevin petersen/ graham gooch
india: sachin tendulkar/ rahul dravid/ mohammad azharuddin
west indies: brian lara/ viv richards/ gordon greenidge
new zealand: martin crowe/ stephen flwming/ john wright
sri lanka: aravinda de silva/ mahela jayawardane/ sanath jayasuriya
pakistan: javed miandad/ inzamam ul haq/ saeed anwar
south africa: jacques kallis/ gary kirsten/ herschelle gibbs
zimbabwe: andy flower

Wouldn't disagree with much of that at all - one thing I'd have is Stephen Waugh ahead of Gilchrist (and in order Border\Waugh > Ponting - never been totally sure who was better out of Border and Waugh) and Cullinan way above Gibbs and maybe above Kirsten, though that's doubtful.

 

[PhoenixFire]

S Waugh >>> Border IMO.

 

[Richard]

An all-time three from each would be interesting too... though I'd have to include a current player here and there, provided they're late on in their careers.

England (1900 onwards): Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Hammond
Australia: Bradman, Chappellg, Morris
South Africa: Pollock (G), Richards (B), Kallis
West Indies: Headley, Sobers, Lara
India: Merchant, Gavaskar, Tendulkar (in chronological order only)
New Zealand: Sutcliffe, Turner, Crowe (again, chronological only)
Pakistan: Hanif Mohammed, Javed Miandad, Inzamam-ul-Haq (that's order of merit though it also works chronologically)
Sri Lanka: de Silva (A), Ranatunga (A), Gurasinha
Zimbabwe: Houghton, Flower (A), Goodwin

 

[Richard]

S Waugh >>> Border IMO.

Quite possibly. Certainly, Waugh when he was good was better than Border ever was (Waugh averaged 60 for 90 Tests between 1992/93 and 2001 with rarely a weak attack, a phenomenal effort) but Border's durability outlasted pretty much anyone, and he was still performing credibly in his 156th Test.

Waugh was picked too early, of course, and went on a little longer than he might have done (nothing wrong with that of course and his performance picked-up again later on). And under my normal rules I'd have to say Waugh was more impressive than Border during the time he should've been playing. But Border's durability truly is flabbergasting.

 

[pasag]

Australia: Bradman, Chappellg, Morris

Morris above Harvey?

 

[Richard]

Yep. Have mentioned Harvey before - far from a flat-track bully, but certainly someone who did exceptionally when the going was easy and no more than reasonably when it was tough. Morris seems to have really got stuck in when it was tough, even if he didn't quite cash-in as Harvey did against the lesser attacks.

Was tempted by the cases of Border and Waugh too ITBT.

 

[pasag]

Far from what I've heard about Harvey, can't be bothered trying to find it, but I've read in quite a few places about him playing some really special knocks in very difficult conditions overseas.

 

[Richard]

Undoubtedly - I never said he was useless, I never called him a Hayden. But I do think Morris was the better of the two in seam\spin-friendly conditions