Mahela Jayawardene

[Black_Warrior]

ftr, Inzi didnt do well in Oz and SA either.

Inzy had his problems in Australia and South Africa against the likes of McGrath, Gillespie and Donald, which is why he is not on the level of Tendulkar, Lara and Ponting.

However the point PEWS made is a good one especially in the case of Inzy. Inzy does not have a century against South Africa however in the 2006 tour, he scored a very gritty 96 not out in a match where teams were getting bowled out for 125. He just ran out partners in that pitch or else today he would have at least a centruy against South Africa.

Having said that, his record against South Africa and Australia is still not acceptable for someone who was at one point said to be one of the best players of fast bowling.

 

[Sylvester]

Shows how much his average is padded by his home stats as there are only 3 countries where he averages over 50 in, the other two being India and Zimbabwe yet he still averages over 50 in Test cricket.

He's gone MIA this year when SL needed him most following Murali's retirement.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Yepp, too often he hasnt performed when Sri Lanka needed him to perform the most, especially on overseas tours and that is why its important to analyse his record more closely. He is the leading Sri Lankan run scorer, averages 50 hence it is more important for him to perform when Sri Lanka need him on difficult overseas tours than someone like Samaraweera.

 

[Migara]

Mahela is definitely better than Aravinda, who was actually pretty awful pretty much everywhere except the SC. Inzi is a good distance ahead of both of them for me.

All 3 of them simply wonderful to watch

Big call. Aravinda averaged quite high in AUS until he ran in to Warne. He averages 38 in AUS and ENG, 46 in NZ, and 30 in SAF. But averages 40 in WI (most against Walsh and Ambrose), and 39 in Pakistan (mostly against Wasim, Waqar, imran and Akthar). Basically his **** stats were in IND, SAF and ZIM. If he'd played in his youth in SAF would have done quite well, because he is one of the best players of pace from Asia.

The second reason is Aravinda never was a coached player as Mahela. Would have easily averaged 50 if he was coached as other batsmen from his era.

 

[Black_Warrior]

The point made by PEWS is also true for Aravinda. He only played 3 test matches in South Africa...sample size is too little.

I would always rate him higher than Jayawardene and possibly Sangakkara because I have seen him fight his way against bowling attacks far superior to either of them have faced. And he saved Sri Lanka's *** more often than both Sangakkara and Jayawardene combined. He, along with Gurusinha and Ranatunga brought Sri Lanka on the cricketing world map.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

10,000 runs not bad for someone who is over rated etc....

 

[Black_Warrior]

10,000 runs not bad for someone who is over rated etc....

That takes me to another topic, which will be by next topic on the forum in the next few days - the lack of uniformity in pitches across nations

 

[Howe_zat]

That takes me to another topic, which will be by next topic on the forum in the next few days - the lack of uniformity in pitches across nations

Why on earth would you want uniformity? Christ.

 

[smash84]

Aravinda > Mahela, easily IMO

 

[Beleg]

Inzy had his problems in Australia and South Africa against the likes of McGrath, Gillespie and Donald, which is why he is not on the level of Tendulkar, Lara and Ponting.

However the point PEWS made is a good one especially in the case of Inzy. Inzy does not have a century against South Africa however in the 2006 tour, he scored a very gritty 96 not out in a match where teams were getting bowled out for 125. He just ran out partners in that pitch or else today he would have at least a centruy against South Africa.

Having said that, his record against South Africa and Australia is still not acceptable for someone who was at one point said to be one of the best players of fast bowling.

erm, inzamam was never troubled by donald. he performed very well against south africa in the 1990s and was unlucky not to be able to convert two 90s to hundreds. in the 2000s it were the likes of ntini and pollock that troubled inzamam more than others - and i cannot think of any reason apart from a lack of concentration to explain his failure against ntini. he also gifted his wicket away on a number of occasions - he was stumped thrice.

inzamam was a wee bit suspect against left arm seamers bringing the ball back in (his shuffle, specially later on in his career, became very pronounced) and that's about the only technical susceptibility you can levy at him. since he played the ball so late he generally had no trouble leaving stuff outside off. i remember mcgrath getting him a couple of times with balls that climbed on to him but those were the type of deliveries worse players than him wouldn't have been able to lay a bat on.

 

[kyear2]

Easily the most over-rated batsman of our generation, he personifies Flat Track Bully and has shown a remarkable inemptness againts anything that swings, seams or bounces. What has surprised me is how Sanga has struggled in this tour.

 

[Zinzan]

10000 Test Runs
Average of 51
29 centuries

Achievements of a great batsman


Avg 34 against Australia

Avg 34 in England

Avg 32 against Pakistan

Avg 29 in South Africa

Avg 27 in New Zealand


Still a great batsman?


Would love to hear some perspectives on this.

Wow, I didn't realize he was such a HTB. What does he average in SL?

 

[Athlai]

Jayawardene has played 70 of his 127 matches at home. And 93 of them in Asia.

I don't buy in to the stats picking of him in a lot of places as he really hasn't had the chance to play all that match outside of his home pitches. His record in NZ is an anomaly IMO. His average of 51 may flatter him slightly, but he is still a great batsman.

Edit: And Zinzan he averages 62.92 at home with 6292 runs.

 

[Migara]

Easily the most over-rated batsman of our generation, he personifies Flat Track Bully and has shown a remarkable inemptness againts anything that swings, seams or bounces. What has surprised me is how Sanga has struggled in this tour.

He's one of the best players of hook and pull. But Mahela is not a flat track bully. (If he is so, so is Sehwag, both of them are imperious on dust bowls).

 

[Zinzan]

Edit: And Zinzan he averages 62.92 at home with 6292 runs.

Exactly 100 dismissals eh

 

[kyear2]

He's one of the best players of hook and pull. But Mahela is not a flat track bully. (If he is so, so is Sehwag, both of them are imperious on dust bowls).

Oh, but Sehwag IS a FTB as well, of that there is no doubt.

 

[Himannv]

If he scores a scintillating hundred in the next test, everyone would shut up imo.

 

[weldone]

if he scores a scintillating hundred in the next test, everyone would shut up imo.

+1

 

[Furball]

Of course he's a great player; bad players don't score 10,000 Test runs and average more than 50 doing it.

 

[Migara]

Oh, but Sehwag IS a FTB as well, of that there is no doubt.

Critically disagree. Sehwag is not a FTB (as well as Mahela) because they pile runs on dust bowls where others fail to lay a bat on ball.