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Best left handed batsman of all time

Best left handed batsman


  • Total voters
    100

Blakus

State Vice-Captain
Can't help but feel that Bill Johnston is being underrated here. The man averaged over 100 in a ashes tour for Christ's sake.
 

aussie

Hall of Fame Member
jayasuriya
morris
sobers
border *
leyland
woolley
gilchrist +
akram
davidson
wardle
peel

replaced hayden, harvey and lara coz they bowled with their right hand!!!
You sure Morris bowled with his right hand??:happy:. I know for certain Trevor Goddard from South Africa did though..

Plus i think Wardle batted right handed, damn this is too hard limiting to just pure left handers :laugh:. You could replace him with either Vaas, Vettori or Bill Johnston.
 

bagapath

International Captain
You sure Morris bowled with his right hand??:happy:. I know for certain Trevor Goddard from South Africa did though..

Plus i think Wardle batted right handed, damn this is too hard limiting to just pure left handers :laugh:. You could replace him with either Vaas, Vettori or Bill Johnston.
morris was a "pure" left hander, and so was wardle.

Arthur Morris | Australia Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | Cricinfo.com

Johnny Wardle | England Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | Cricinfo.com
 

Migara

International Coach
Odd that Sangakkara and Flower have no mention. So are Border, Lloyd and possibly Kanhai
 
Odd that Sangakkara and Flower have no mention. So are Border, Lloyd and possibly Kanhai
You are right. I should have put Border and Sangakkara at the very least. I just figured that no one would go for Sangakkara over Lara. But he will definitely be an all time great by the time he retires. Amazing batsman, easily Sri Lanka's best.
 

bagapath

International Captain
You are right. I should have put Border and Sangakkara at the very least. I just figured that no one would go for Sangakkara over Lara. But he will definitely be an all time great by the time he retires. Amazing batsman, easily Sri Lanka's best.
i always choose de silva first. may be that is just me.
 

Hit_Wicket

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
i always choose de silva first. may be that is just me
I tend to favour de Silva as well; hold him in very high esteem though I've never watched him bat live (on television).

Though IMO Sanga might eclipse him once his career finishes.

As for the poll, it's none other than Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers for me - a consummate cricketer and arguably the greatest ever (at least in an all-round sense).
 

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Yes, by a fair margin, followed (in no particular order) by Pollock and Lara. Those three are the ONLY left handed batsmen who have ever been seriously considered for an all-time world XI.
How can you put Pollock in an all time XI (not saying you have BTW) when he played about 20 tests and had his career curtailed?

He was a great player, don't get me wrong, but for him to be considered for an AT XI strikes me as odd. Going off that sample size, it's fortunate that Jimmy Adams' career didn't end after 20-odd tests. IIRC he was averaging 70-odd.

Should say it'd be Sobers for mine, quite handily. But the lack of Border love on here is ****ting me no end :ranting:
 
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SJS

Hall of Fame Member
jayasuriya
morris
sobers
border *
leyland
woolley
gilchrist +
akram
davidson
wardle
peel

replaced hayden, harvey and lara coz they bowled with their right hand!!!
I like the look of this twelve.

  1. Bert Sutcliffe
  2. Arthur Morris
  3. Garry Sobers
  4. Brian Lara
  5. Frank Woolley
  6. Alan Border
  7. Martin Donnelly
  8. Adam Gilchrist
  9. Alan Davidson
  10. Wasim Akram
  11. Bobby Peel
  12. Bill Johnston

Against all popular opinion, I would probably drop Border from the final eleven :)
 

bagapath

International Captain
Against all popular opinion, I would probably drop Border from the final eleven :)
interesting. sutcliffe over jayasuriya is fine. lara over leyland is also perfectly alright. but why donnelly over border?
 
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SJS

Hall of Fame Member
interesting. sutcliffe over jayasuriya is fine. but why donnelly over border?
Donnelly played only seven tests but from all contemporary accounts he was one of the great batsmen of his time.

I am a bit biased in the case of Border I must admit. He has a fabulous record and he has it in-spite of not being a really great batsman. Border's great grit and determination are a great component of his batting. I tend to discount that a bit when choosing all time sides. I am not justifying what I do just explaining my personal methods. Its the same with being reluctant to chose bowlers with very unorthodox actions.

As I said, its a bias and a bias can never be justified :)
 

bagapath

International Captain
Donnelly played only seven tests but from all contemporary accounts he was one of the great batsmen of his time.

I am a bit biased in the case of Border I must admit. He has a fabulous record and he has it in-spite of not being a really great batsman. Border's great grit and determination are a great component of his batting. I tend to discount that a bit when choosing all time sides. I am not justifying what I do just explaining my personal methods. Its the same with being reluctant to chose bowlers with very unorthodox actions.

As I said, its a bias and a bias can never be justified :)
fair enough sjs. i have sent you an email. check it out
 

steve132

U19 Debutant
How can you put Pollock in an all time XI (not saying you have BTW) when he played about 20 tests and had his career curtailed?

He was a great player, don't get me wrong, but for him to be considered for an AT XI strikes me as odd. Going off that sample size, it's fortunate that Jimmy Adams' career didn't end after 20-odd tests. IIRC he was averaging 70-odd.

Should say it'd be Sobers for mine, quite handily. But the lack of Border love on here is ****ting me no end :ranting:
It's always difficult to rate players who for one reason or another played very little Test cricket. This applies not only to to the South Africans of Pollock's generation but also to other players like George Headley. I think, however, that if we were to ask cricketers, journalists and ordinary fans to list the greatest batsmen of all time Pollock would be named far more often than any left hander other than Sobers or Lara.

How highly you rate a player depends in part on how much you know about him. For example, I saw Pollock's contemporary Barry Richards, and I'm convinced that he was clearly a greater batsman than Gavaskar, since he was at least as sound technically and a much more brilliant strokeplayer as well. Richards did not have the chance to demonstrate this in Test cricket, and as such is rarely mentioned when openers for various all-time teams are chosen.
 

Beleg

International Regular
I think, however, that if we were to ask cricketers, journalists and ordinary fans to list the greatest batsmen of all time Pollock would be named far more often than any left hander other than Sobers or Lara.
that's not a function of pollock's inherent quality itself but his reputation driven by the biased accounts of his admirers.
 

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