The best at their best

[bagapath]

Steve waugh's 200 in the West Indies in 1995 was the most important knock he played in his career. It resulted in the first series defeat for West Indies at home after two generations. I dont care if his 199 was technically superior or chanceless. We are talking about definitive knocks here.

For Viv Richards it has to be the 232 in the 1976 series in Egnland.

Holding's performance in the same series at the Oval must be his special moment.

For Marshall it has to be the game in Enland in 1984 when he bowled (and batted) with one broken hand and bowled out the opposition.

Greenidge's 214 not out on the last day to complete a near impossible 4th innings chase was his best.

Gavaskar's best two should be the 221 at the Oval and the 96 in B'lore against Pak. One resulted in a close draw and the other one in a close defeat.

Sachin Tendulkar's legend building knock remains to be his 114 in Perth in the 91-92 series although his 155 not out in Chennai 6 years later against same opposition might get equal votes.

Ponting's technical best might be his 156 (like Lara's 277) in Manchester but his definitive knock has to be his double against India two years before that (like Lara's 153 not out) . It established him as the best batsman of the decade (just like Lara's match winning effort made him a top 10 batsman of all time).

 

[bagapath]

Matthew Hayden's 380 against Zimbabwe is one for the ages imo.

Hayden's best was his hundred against Pakistan in Sharjah. Horrible conditions for batsmen, terrific bowling lineup. he countered that with a brilliant attacking innings and ended up scoring more than the pak totals combined from both innings, IIRC.

 

[andyc]

Hayden's best was his hundred against Pakistan in Sharjah. Horrible conditions for batsmen, terrific bowling lineup. he countered that with a brilliant attacking innings and ended up scoring more than the pak totals combined from both innings, IIRC.

Yeah, definitely AWTA.

 

[zaremba]

Matthew Hayden's 380 against Zimbabwe is one for the ages imo.

Spot on. Its majesty will never fade.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

For Viv Richards it has to be the 232 in the 1976 series in Egnland.

Having seen that innings and his 145 at Lords in 1980 I can say without fear of indigestion that the 145 was a far better innings even if it didn't glean as many runs.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Matthew Hayden's 380 against Zimbabwe is one for the ages imo.

The only remotely noteworthy thing about that was the fact that triples are so rare in Australia - that was only the second after Bob Cowper's in the 60's.

 

[Richard]

Hayden's best was his hundred against Pakistan in Sharjah. Horrible conditions for batsmen, terrific bowling lineup. he countered that with a brilliant attacking innings and ended up scoring more than the pak totals combined from both innings, IIRC.

Terrific being a Shoaib who could (not surprisingly) not cope with the heat (which BTW was far, far worse for seam bowlers than batsmen) and barely bowled and a Waqar who'd been past retire-by date for a couple of years?

TBF I'd put Hayden's best as his century at The Oval in 2005 - that truly was some excellent bowling, and the only time in his Test career I've ever seen him hint at an ability to combat top-class bowling at Test level.

 

[Richard]

Steve waugh's 200 in the West Indies in 1995 was the most important knock he played in his career. It resulted in the first series defeat for West Indies at home after two generations. I dont care if his 199 was technically superior or chanceless. We are talking about definitive knocks here.

I do. I'm talking about the best he's ever batted, and his 199 in 1999 was a far better knock than his 200 in 1995, even if the outcome wasn't anywhere near so tumultuous.

For Marshall it has to be the game in Enland in 1984 when he bowled (and batted) with one broken hand and bowled out the opposition.

Pretty certain that was 1988. And that England team was a rabble, so I'd probably put Marshall's best as something that occurred 1983-1985, though it would be possible to argue a case for his 11-for against India in 1989. There is, UIMM, no footage available from that game so I'm not sure whether it was magnificent bowling or typical Indian away-from-home batting blues, but it was his best Test figures if not his best performance, and it also marked the high-tide of his excellence, as from there onwards he was merely a good Test bowler rather than the greatest-ever-seen which he had conceivably been 1983-1989.

 

[kingkallis]

Shaun Pollock's 7/87 against Australia in Adelaide back in 1998/99

Fanie de Villiers's 10 wicket haul against Australia in a very hot Sydney game back in 1994

Mohammad Azharuddin's 121 @ Lord's against England in 1990

Darryl Cullinan's 122* to save the game against India in 1996/97

Jacques Kallis's 155 and 100* against Pakistan in 2007

Andrew Flower's twin hundreds against South Africa

Ricky Ponting's 197 against Pakistan, it came after 3 failures and at what a crucial time!

Micheal Atherton's 185 against South Africa

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Pretty certain that was 1988.

Headingley 1984. He broke his thumb in two places and bowled in the second innings with a plaster cast on his left hand and took 7 wickets including a caught and bowled.

 

[Matt79]

Actually, if I was to nominate just one innings of Ponting that defined what a champ the guy is, I'd have to go for his knock in the WC final in SA. Sublime. I know we're generally talking tests, but that was the best at his best.

 

[masterblaster]

Sachin Tendulkar's 100 against England in Chennai last year chasing over 300 runs to win was truly epic.

 

[oitoitoi]

Ponting's technical best might be his 156 (like Lara's 277) in Manchester but his definitive knock has to be his double against India two years before that (like Lara's 153 not out) . It established him as the best batsman of the decade (just like Lara's match winning effort made him a top 10 batsman of all time).

The Indian bowling attack was pretty dire mind, Kumble aside. I reckon some of his innings against the Saffers are pretty underrated.

 

[oitoitoi]

Sehwag at Chennai, the sheer ridiculousness of the innings.

Kumble at Sydney for the stamina and effort (and results).

Laxman at Kolkata

Dean Jones at Chennai was a top effort

Malcolm Marshall 7fer at Headingley with his hand in a cast?

Holding at the Oval in 76.

Chandrashekar at the Oval?

 

[zaremba]

The only remotely noteworthy thing about that was the fact that triples are so rare in Australia - that was only the second after Bob Cowper's in the 60's.

I don't think Spinsky was being entirely serious tbf.

 

[zaremba]

Glenn McGrath - Lord's '05 maybe? A pretty awesome spell of fast bowling that. Probably the best I've ever seen live. It just induced complete hopelessness because he looked as though he was never going to concede a run, but the wickets were going to keep on coming. The conditions were quite helpful but he used them expertly, the Lord's slope in particular.

 

[subshakerz]

Glenn McGrath - Lord's '05 maybe? A pretty awesome spell of fast bowling that. Probably the best I've ever seen live. It just induced complete hopelessness because he looked as though he was never going to concede a run, but the wickets were going to keep on coming. The conditions were quite helpful but he used them expertly, the Lord's slope in particular.

I agree, even if it wasn't his best figures, it was the first time I actually found McGrath intimidating to watch.

 

[subshakerz]

Sehwag at Chennai, the sheer ridiculousness of the innings.

Great innings though that was, even Sehwag admits his best was his unbeaten double against Sri Lanka last year. Dominated both Mendis and Murali and scored nearly two-thirds of the runs.

 

[subshakerz]

Kumble at Sydney for the stamina and effort (and results).

Kumble 10-wicket haul against Pakistan in 99 is just so unique a feat, even if it was at home, that it has to go as his top.

 

[zaremba]

Almost unique.