Alastair Cook vs Graham Gooch?

[BackFootPunch]

I think there's not much between the two. Gooch batted during a tougher run-making time.

cricrate | Graham Gooch vs Alastair Cook

That 34* of Cook's that's ranked his 9th best innings must have been fairly spectacular.

 

[GIMH]

That 34* of Cook's that's ranked his 9th best innings must have been fairly spectacular.

Haha tbf murali was spinning ****s out at the other end as i recall

 

[Cabinet96]

Hard to imagine it was better than his Mumbai ton though.

 

[GIMH]

Hard to imagine it was better than his Mumbai ton though.

No, certainly. And this is the problem with statistical models. But it was a useful little knock albeit in a small chase. However having seen us fall victim to spin in a similar chase in the UAE I am probably more appreciative now of the innings than I was at the time

 

[Pothas]

That really was the worst.

 

[GIMH]

That really was the worst.

I actually should have worded my post better as I can't claim to have 'seen' it. I went on a driving lesson just as the innings started and came home to Steve Harmison crying in the studio

 

[Cabinet96]

That was right up there for me. I wanted to win that test so bad.

 

[viriya]

Not in this lifetime was Cook's 294 his best innings

For a near-300 innings, it's actually rated pretty low - it doesn't even reach the top 100 which is rare for a ~300. If anything, this shows that Cook hasn't really had clearly great innings in his career.

That 34* of Cook's that's ranked his 9th best innings must have been fairly spectacular.

Haha tbf murali was spinning ****s out at the other end as i recall

Yea - it's rated so high because of match situation. If you watched that match you would realize that Murali had Eng in all sorts even though the chase was only 81. The next match he got 8/70 and tied the series as I recall.

 

[Dan]

No idea how that Mumbai ton isn't in the top 10 tbh.

 

[Red]

Gooch was pretty epic vs WI quicks. Would he be the best performed batsman against the WIs in the 80s?

If Alderman hadn't ****ed him over so often he'd be remembered more by Australians and probably in general. Great great player IMO. Also handled Warne probably as well as anyone did.

 

[Jono]

For a near-300 innings, it's actually rated pretty low - it doesn't even reach the top 100 which is rare for a ~300. If anything, this shows that Cook hasn't really had clearly great innings in his career

Mumbai ffs

 

[OverratedSanity]

For a near-300 innings, it's actually rated pretty low - it doesn't even reach the top 100 which is rare for a ~300. If anything, this shows that Cook hasn't really had clearly great innings in his career.

Yeah but your top 100 doesn't even have VVS's 281 in it ffs.

 

[Red]

Ffs

 

[GIMH]

For a near-300 innings, it's actually rated pretty low - it doesn't even reach the top 100 which is rare for a ~300. If anything, this shows that Cook hasn't really had clearly great innings in his career.




Yea - it's rated so high because of match situation. If you watched that match you would realize that Murali had Eng in all sorts even though the chase was only 81. The next match he got 8/70 and tied the series as I recall.

I did watch the match

Anyway. Is there not a problem with match situation being such a factor given that Cook is an opener, and in his purple patches has prevented matches from getting close before we were a few wickets down?

 

[viriya]

No idea how that Mumbai ton isn't in the top 10 tbh.

Mumbai ffs

Guessing you are talking about this match:
cricrate | Test #2062

The reason his 122 isn't rated that high is mainly because it's clearly eclipsed by Pietersen's 186 which only just misses the top 100.

 

[wpdavid]

It's easily forgotten how moderate Gooch was for much of his test career. No argument that from 1990 to 1993 he was up there with the ATGs, but prior to that he'd averaged mid30's over best part of 15 years, albeit with a couple of gaps. By the end of 1989, there was a view that he'd actually under-achieved as a test batsman. And without the loss of other openers due to Gatting's 'rebel' tour of SA, that may well have been the end of his test career and we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

 

[viriya]

I did watch the match

Anyway. Is there not a problem with match situation being such a factor given that Cook is an opener, and in his purple patches has prevented matches from getting close before we were a few wickets down?

4th run chases are complicated to rate, and in general, only significant knocks are given extra credit. You could argue that yes - just like how Lara's 153* seems so much greater because everyone around him failed. What if he had someone hang around? We might not even be talking about it.

 

[viriya]

Yeah but your top 100 doesn't even have VVS's 281 in it ffs.

It just misses the cut, even with a big bonus for being a unique follow-on to victory ton. The biggest reason is that he had great support from Dravid, and even though the Aussie bowling looks amazing, it was in 2001 when only McGrath was near his peak.

His 167 comes in at #53 instead.

 

[Adders]

Ffs.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

For a near-300 innings, it's actually rated pretty low - it doesn't even reach the top 100 which is rare for a ~300. If anything, this shows that Cook hasn't really had clearly great innings in his career.

Can add Lord's last week to the Mumbai one too. That was a brilliant innings given the attack and conditions.