Sangakkara on Lara

[TestMatch]

 

[Burgey]

Lara. Never seen a player take batting to the level he did when at his absolute best. Closest was Clarke but he wasn't in the same ball park for it either.

 

[Furball]

A batsman would have to be bloody special to displace Lara from the number 1 position. What a ****ing player he was.

 

[Burgey]

He was insane when he was on song. The fact he could come out next game or two and make **** all just made him so enigmatic. What a ****ing player he was.

 

[Zinzan]

Lara. Never seen a player take batting to the level he did when at his absolute best. Closest was Clarke but he wasn't in the same ball park for it either.

Just on Australian's at home, Ponting's batting circa 2003 is right up there with Clarke's 2012 for mine.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah I get what you're saying, but for that however many year period Ponting just looked imperious virtually the whole time. With guys like Lara and Clarke, they were always fallible and you thought you were a chance but once they got into God mode, you may as well have just out your feet up and enjoyed the show. I think that's what I enjoyed most about Lara, you just never knew what you'd get on any given day.

 

[burr]

Isn't it always Brian (unless you're Indian).

 

[OverratedSanity]

I didn't watch Viv live but he can't have been any more Box office than Lara. There's no one else I've seen who could combine elegance and brute power in his stroke play. It looked like he was smashing the ball as hard as he could but at the same time made it look effortless. So unique.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Isn't it always Brian (unless you're Indian).

3/10

 

[Gob]

Sachin

 

[adub]

Yeah I get what you're saying, but for that however many year period Ponting just looked imperious virtually the whole time. With guys like Lara and Clarke, they were always fallible and you thought you were a chance but once they got into God mode, you may as well have just out your feet up and enjoyed the show. I think that's what I enjoyed most about Lara, you just never knew what you'd get on any given day.

Yeah, you'd fancy your chances (especially if you had Pidge in the side), but damn when he was in the zone just forget about it and enjoy the show. Made the same point about Clarke, but as you say some fair way behind. But no one to me had a God Mode to rank with those two. Sachin and Punter and Viv etc were awesome, but would still respect good balls. Lara and Clarke (much less often) in the zone just didn't give a toss about your good balls - they'd go to the fence just as easy as your long hops.

 

[adub]

I didn't watch Viv live but he can't have been any more Box office than Lara. There's no one else I've seen who could combine elegance and brute power in his stroke play. It looked like he was smashing the ball as hard as he could but at the same time made it look effortless. So unique.

Viv didn't have Lara's elegance. He was just intimidation from ball one. Mucking around with deft touch and stuff wasn't The King's thing. He'd just brutalise you. Lara would delicately fillet you. Viv would just bludgeon you. He could play beautiful shots, but they were beautiful in their terror. Lara was more the artist.

I still rate Viv better, but that might just be being a romantic. Dude was more Box Office than anything alive.

 

[Zinzan]

I still rate Viv better, but that might just be being a romantic. Dude was more Box Office than anything alive.

The question of all-time best Windies batsman is near impossible for me. Deciding between Viv and Lara is tough enough, let alone considering Sobers (batting alone) and Headley as well.

 

[Red]

So many ways you could try and rank them and you could come up with an argument for each one being the best.

So happy I saw heaps of Lara, a bit of Viv and some Sobers on DVD. Might be sometimes forgotten how good a batsman Sobers was because he goes into all rounder convos.

Can honestly say that there hasn't been a batsman I've enjoyed watching more than Lara. Near perfect. Mark Waugh probably on par.

 

[honestbharani]

That amazing story by Gilchrist of how Lara messed around with the field and was basically hitting balls off the same line length and pace to diametrically opposite parts of the ground at will.. Ian Chappell mentioned how he was the best at finding the gaps too, but did say Kohli has overtaken Lara in that respect for him during the recent WT20. But damn, Lara can convert most non cricket fans into cricket fans when in the zone. Easily the best batsman I have seen in my life.



Fly Lara fly | The Cricket Monthly | ESPN Cricinfo


One of the better pieces from TCM on The Prince.

 

[DriveClub]

Heard before his 277 at SCG he got wasted at new years eve which was 2 days before that test

 

[Zinzan]

Can honestly say that there hasn't been a batsman I've enjoyed watching more than Lara. Near perfect. Mark Waugh probably on par.

Martin Crowe circa 1985-1992 before his knee completely gave way was on par with Lara in terms of watchability, but I'm sure that's my bias.

 

[Dan Jamson]

The brilliant thing about Lara is that he was constantly exposed to the new ball against bowlers with their tails up. The likes of Tendulkar and Ponting had world class openers ahead of them taking the new ball and putting runs on the board before they came in... Lara never had this.

Remarkable batsmen. Best player in the last 25 years.

 

[Zinzan]

The brilliant thing about Lara is that he was constantly exposed to the new ball against bowlers with their tails up. The likes of Tendulkar and Ponting had world class openers ahead of them taking the new ball and putting runs on the board before they came in... Lara never had this.

Remarkable batsmen. Best player in the last 25 years.

Not just best batsmen, but best player of the last 25 years? Ooo, big call.

 

[Dan Jamson]

Not just best batsmen, but best player of the last 25 years? Ooo, big call.

I sorta meant batsmen. Obviously Warne is a decent shout for best player.