Placing our bets on "Test Cricket's Young Fab Four"

[Coronis]

So are we supposed to ignore Kohli's hunger for runs and success? I don't think there is a more driven cricketer in world cricketer atm.

Smith seems pretty driven atm tbh.

 

[TheJediBrah]

His strokes have a touch class the others don't have, added with his hunger with runs and success, you have an unstoppable batsmen in the making.

Watching him in limited overs cricket especially is just incredible. You can have his side 4-10 from 5 overs in a T20 chasing 250 and still feel nervous that he's out there and can win the game with 3 overs to spare.

ever since that ODI against SL in Hobart, where he made 130 odd off about 80 balls and India chased 300+ in 39 overs (or something like that), I've known this guy is the one to watch

Smith may end up with a better Test career but cricket's not all about stats and numbers, even about winning. It's a sport who's fans are loyal because of the pleasure they get from watching. I'd pay to watch Kohli make 35 in a Test more than to watch Smith make 150 worth of front-on leg-glances to backward square

 

[indiaholic]

Smith is Lara levels of talented.. What are you all on about? His hand eye coordination and ability to gauge length are absolutely insane. You can't bat like a flailing tube doll and be so outrageously good without being jam packed with talent. Aesthetics are not equal to talent.

 

[Adders]

Difference is Kohli is more than capable of matching/bettering Smith, that added with his superior batting style will result in him having a better Test career than Smith for mine.

Yeah but you said this...........

no amount of runs Smith scores will convince me otherwise.

Which was the really silly part that I called you out on. It's like you've already made up your mind on these blokes and no matter what they do or achieve in the future your position will remain the same.

 

[Zinzan]

Averages 57 away

why do I keep responding

I'm not sure given you only have to wait a month or so for Smith to put his doubters away (or those like me who shockingly in your eyes only rate him a piddly 1st equal atm ) when he canes it against Ashwin and co in India.

 

[Coronis]

His strokes have a touch class the others don't have, added with his hunger with runs and success, you have an unstoppable batsmen in the making. No doubt Smith is a run scoring machine that has proven himself practically everywhere around the world, I just think Kohli is capable of matching/bettering it with better innings.

I don't think anyone is saying he's not capable of doing it. As you said in your post, an unstoppable batsman in the making. You can't say he's better right now, based on what might happen in the future.

 

[Daemon]

Omg I only read page 1 but nearly all the calls there are terrible, including mine

 

[Blocky]

Averages 57 away

why do I keep responding

You keep bringing this up like it means something, when he's played so little innings away from home. He's batted 5 innings in South Africa, failed 3 times with one not out boosting his record there. Outside Australia, England is the second highest number of innings at 23 innings, and he averages 41.

His overseas record is severely inflated by performances in the West Indies and three innings in New Zealand. You keep talking up his performance overseas but the reality is, the only place he has a statistically significant sample size, his average is 20 points lower.

Again, let's see after India where he struggles, just like Sri Lanka where he returned back to the 40 odd. If he averages better than 40 in India (Without a not out somewhere in there, as he's heavily reliant on them to keep his average up), I'll be severely surprised

 

[Victor Ian]

Smith's natural gift was being born in Australia during a period where the cricket board decided to create the flattest pitches that have potentially ever been seen.

How do you call those pitches flat when they get the least draws anywhere? Being good in your home conditions is not necessarily FLAT. New Zealand pitches are not not flat - New Zealand are just ****.

 

[CM Punk]

Yeah but you said this...........



Which was the really silly part that I called you out on. It's like you've already made up your mind on these blokes and no matter what they do or achieve in the future your position will remain the same.

That was my point of Kohli being more talented than Smith. Of course if Smith heavily outscores Kohli by the end of their careers, you would have to admit Smith was a better Test batsmen, NOT a more talented batsmen.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I don't think anyone is saying he's not capable of doing it. As you said in your post, an unstoppable batsman in the making. You can't say he's better right now, based on what might happen in the future.

this is debatable. Entirely depends on your definition of "better right now".

 

[Blocky]

Smith is Lara levels of talented.. What are you all on about? His hand eye coordination and ability to gauge length are absolutely insane. You can't bat like a flailing tube doll and be so outrageously good without being jam packed with talent. Aesthetics are not equal to talent.

Should Smith ever perform against a spinner the callibre of Murali or Warne and treat them like Lara did, or against McGrath, Gillespie, Donald, etcetera - I'll give you something

So far, he's failed in his tests against Herath in spinning conditions, against South Africa at home and undoubtedly against India away. Even made better is the fact that Adam Voges who we all know is ****, has the same record as Smith due to their joint bullying of India and the Windies at home.

 

[vcs]

Yeah Smith has incredible hand-eye coordination no doubt. Takes serious talent to bat the way he does. The only question is, how well will his technique hold up when his feet slow down a bit and his eye gets a little worse? Probably not as well as the other three. But that doesn't matter while judging him right now.

 

[Blocky]

How do you call those pitches flat when they get the least draws anywhere? Being good in your home conditions is not necessarily FLAT. New Zealand pitches are not not flat - New Zealand are just ****.

Did you watch the matches? The ball didn't swing at all for either side. NZ pitches haven't exactly been the green seamers they were in the 2008-2012 era, we've been producing steadily better batting wickets year on year. It's why NZ suddenly has a bunch of guys able to average 40+ for the first time since Crowe.

 

[TheJediBrah]

How do you call those pitches flat when they get the least draws anywhere? Being good in your home conditions is not necessarily FLAT. New Zealand pitches are not not flat - New Zealand are just ****.

You misunderstand, Australian pitches are only flat when Australia are batting.

When the opposition go in the pitches transform into good competitive pitches.

 

[Victor Ian]

You keep bringing this up like it means something, when he's played so little innings away from home. He's batted 5 innings in South Africa, failed 3 times with one not out boosting his record there. Outside Australia, England is the second highest number of innings at 23 innings, and he averages 41.

His overseas record is severely inflated by performances in the West Indies and three innings in New Zealand. You keep talking up his performance overseas but the reality is, the only place he has a statistically significant sample size, his average is 20 points lower.

Again, let's see after India where he struggles, just like Sri Lanka where he returned back to the 40 odd. If he averages better than 40 in India (Without a not out somewhere in there, as he's heavily reliant on them to keep his average up), I'll be severely surprised

You are becoming a really annoying piece of annoyance. Smith has played 41 innings at home - and 41 away.

 

[Coronis]

this is debatable. Entirely depends on your definition of "better right now".

If you're rating someone as of the current time, you can only base that rating on what they've already achieved in their careers. Or am I missing something?

 

[Spark]

I swear Blocky is just gaslighting us all at this point, calling tours we all watched live actually bad when everyone agreed at the time they were good.

 

[CM Punk]

Smith is Lara levels of talented.. What are you all on about? His hand eye coordination and ability to gauge length are absolutely insane. You can't bat like a flailing tube doll and be so outrageously good without being jam packed with talent. Aesthetics are not equal to talent.

No one is saying Smith isn't talented, he wouldn't be scoring runs in the truckloads if he wasn't talented..

 

[Blocky]

You misunderstand, Australian pitches are only flat when Australia are batting.

When the opposition go in the pitches transform into good competitive pitches.

Azhar Ali just scored two hundred against you, Ross Taylor hit 290, Faf Du Plessis in the worst form of his life spanked 100, De Kock treated it like open season. Most sides coming to Australia have had stand out batting performances, but not been able to last into the fifth day for whatever reason, except South Africa who dominated you.