Who is The Greatest West Indies Batsman of All Time

[harsh.ag]

Love the even distribution. There's no other side that will have such an even contest been these many contenders for the title of the best batsman.

Yup, this is a great poll result Maybe South Africa might have a similar 3-way fight between Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards, and Jacques Kallis if we have a poll.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Haha, Lancashire League ain't FC cricket.

 

[Prince EWS]

Yup, this is a great poll result Maybe South Africa might have a similar 3-way fight between Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards, and Jacques Kallis if we have a poll.

England might be close as well; Hobbs, Hammond and Grace all have their admirers, and I'm sure we'd get the odd deluded Pietersen vote too. Certainly nothing like this though, admittedly.

 

[harsh.ag]

Haha, Lancashire League ain't FC cricket.

Ya I know, But if we can rate Sydney Barnes on them, so we can George Headley.

 

[harsh.ag]

England might be close as well; Hobbs, Hammond and Grace all have their admirers, and I'm sure we'd get the odd deluded Pietersen vote too. Certainly nothing like this though, admittedly.

I always figured that Hobbs was undisputed in English history. Many may disagree, but I am pretty sure he would be ahead by a margin in a poll.

 

[kyear2]

I will have to fully check but intially I don't believe that regional cricket was afforded first class status and most of the matches were between Barbados, Trinidad and Guyana, mainly because of geographic considerations. He would have played most of his first class matches againts the two Lord Tennyson's teams and tour matches on the W.I tours to the U.K and Australia.
Nice article on the great man.
Wisden - George Headley

 

[smash84]

Love the even distribution. There's no other side that will have such an even contest been these many contenders for the title of the best batsman.

yep, very evenly distributed. A testament to the skills of WI players over the years. There is no undisputed king despite all of them being once in a generation players

 

[Liquidity.Trap]

I think that Viv was clearly better than Lara, and since those are the only two I have seen bat, my vote goes to Viv.

 

[Dan]

I think that Viv was clearly better than Lara, and since those are the only two I have seen bat, my vote goes to Viv.

A Keynesian, I assume?
Welcome to CW mate.

 

[Liquidity.Trap]

A Keynesian, I assume?
Welcome to CW mate.

Thank you for the warm welcome mate. Yup, I am a lifelong Keynesian

 

[Saint Kopite]

Woah! This is very close.

I voted for Sir Viv. I haven't watched him bat live but from the old videos and highlights I've seen he was magnificent.

 

[Days of Grace]

On my ratings, I have currently got:
3. Sobers
4. Headley
5. Richards
6. Lara

It really depends on whether you think Headley played enough matches for us to make a complete evaluation of him. I have factored in his lack of matches, which is why he is 4th behind Bradman, Hobbs, and Sobers, and not a clear 2nd.

 

[honestbharani]

Haven't seen a better batsman than Lara but voted for Sir Garry based on everything I have read over the years..

 

[kyear2]

I agree with the first part, at his best I don't think B.C. Lara had an equal, but apparently the same was said about Sobers and Sobers was more consistent. But the fact that Lara tamed the two greatest spinners of all time and produced 4 or 5 amazing innings againts one of the greatest attacks ever is just hard to ignore.
All four are just top class, gold tier.

 

[NasserFan207]

I rate Lara above Viv, and have never seen the others bat (seen clips of Sobers, but thats not enough for me to judge someone).

 

[honestbharani]

Headley's difficulty is that more than half his Test runs were scored against England attacks shorn of their top bowlers so I ruled him out.

I voted for Sobers because I was fortunate enough to see him bat and he was quite outstanding - he lived life to the full, and generally burned the candle at both ends and played more cricket than he should have - had he had the mindset of Bradman, and played the same amount of cricket and bowled as often as The Don, then I think he'd have had the same batting average as the great man.

That is a pretty amazing tribute to the man, fred.. And gotta say it makes me rate him even more now, considering how good his bowling was as a medium pacer from all that I ve read as well.

 

[honestbharani]

I agree with the first part, at his best I don't think B.C. Lara had an equal, but apparently the same was said about Sobers and Sobers was more consistent. But the fact that Lara tamed the two greatest spinners of all time and produced 4 or 5 amazing innings againts one of the greatest attacks ever is just hard to ignore.
All four are just top class, gold tier.

There was a spell during the "Super Test" when Lara and Dravid were batting in the second innings for the World XI against Warne and if there was another left hander who could have batted the way Lara did with Warne in that form on that track, I have missed out on something great.. IMO, those were conditions when no leftie would have been able to stay in for 30 mins against Warne, forget about scoring runs and Lara was doing both and looking at ease doing all that. Awesome doesn't even begin to describe how good he was at certain times...

 

[doesitmatter]

I went for Lara..combination of brutish batting and poetry.. even-though he gave the impression a "body serve" would knock his periscope off..

 

[Adorable Asshole]

Viv = Lara > Sobers > Headley for me. Hard to chose between Viv and Lara

 

[Chrish]

Viv..