Who's the greatest opening batsman of alltime?

[kyear2]

Thanks Robelinda, awsome footage as usual.

 

[L Trumper]

Hutton deserves a lot more respect, IMO.

AWTA . Best batsman post war

 

[kyear2]

AWTA . Best batsman post war

Best opener at least.
When you factor in his record, the War, his injury and opposition faced, its a no contest really.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

Best opener at least.
When you factor in his record, the War, his injury and opposition faced, its a no contest really.

The War factor must be considered when one contemplates judging players like Hutton and Lindwall. They became great players nonetheless, but had they got a proper chance, it's mind boggling to think what they could have achieved.

Hutton has a fair case for being the best opener after the War, if not the best ever.

 

[kyear2]

The War factor must be considered when one contemplates judging players like Hutton and Lindwall. They became great players nonetheless, but had they got a proper chance, it's mind boggling to think what they could have achieved.

Hutton has a fair case for being the best opener after the War, if not the best ever.

Fully agree, before the war he was one of two batsmen who some believe were on the verge of replacing Bradman as the worlds best batsman. It is sad that we will never know what peaks they would have reached. Also the war injury sure didnt help either. Best opener ever IMHO.

 

[hang on]

Best opener at least.
When you factor in his record, the War, his injury and opposition faced, its a no contest really.

not at all. it is a very close contest with gavaskar. and the opposition faced was no better than that faced by gavaskar.

one cannot factor in imponderables; then one could come up with others such as "if gavaskar had played for a stronger team, played his own bowlers, wasn't the only good batsman in the team, only played one good team instead of a few....."

 

[ankitj]

not at all. it is a very close contest with gavaskar. and the opposition faced was no better than that faced by gavaskar.

one cannot factor in imponderables; then one could come up with others such as "if gavaskar had played for a stronger team, played his own bowlers, wasn't the only good batsman in the team, only played one good team instead of a few....."

Or he had a rocky affair with his wife etc

I prefer to stick with cricketing parameters (opposition strength, match situation, playing conditions etc), all else is unquantifiable and we never have an exhaustive list of circumstances affecting someone at an individual level (hence no extra points for performing in Ashes, or performing under pressure from a billion fans or playing after breakup with a girlfriend)

Gavaskar and Hutton too close to split for me, will take either. I am intrigued however by how highly Gavaskar is rated by peers and experts. Got ranked at #10 in ESPN's legends of cricket, compared to Hutton who was at #20. It was much more even in the Wisden's 5 cricketers of the century votes where Gavaskar got 12 votes, and Hutton 11.

 

[Ikki]

I think Hutton is generally underrated.

Still, when I pick my all-time XIs I tend to opt for Hobbs and Sutcliffe; as both are in the argument for the greatest opener ever and actually were partners to boot.

 

[hang on]

is hutton really underrated?!

being in the conversation for one of the top 4 greatest opening batsmen of all time; more often, in the conversation for the top 3, and often for the top 2. being 3rd in this poll. being chosen by the cricinfo panel as opener to partner hobbs in the all time world team. this kind of underrating i'd be rather chuffed to have to deal with!

 

[Maurice]

Stewie Dempster

 

[archie mac]

Stewie Dempster

Yes a fine player although perhaps he did not play enough Test cricket to truly show whether he belongs with the all time best

 

[sreeku7]

Sorry never seen Hobbs bat so can't really judge him, so with whatever options are left i would its a toss up between Gavaskar and Hayden, i would probably go for Gavaskar because he made so many runs against that mighty West Indian bowling line-up (mind you that too without a helmet), i have still voted for Haydos since i never liked Gavaskar much as a person.
I would have liked to see Michael Slater's name in there too, i won't say he was the best opener ever but he certainly was a player who i really enjoyed watching.

that is significant for all those who played Test Cricket before 1978.Many seem to be forgetting this while rating batsmen

 

[centurymaker]

true. should be taken into account somehow...