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

[Spark]

Yeah, his hilariously bad series and ****ish behaviour is making people seriously underrate him in this thread again.

 

[OverratedSanity]

To say he's not at Smith's level is fine ( and perfectly accurate) but to say he shouldn't be in the discussion with the other 3 is crazy

 

[vcs]

Yeah and we all know how Smith and Root are absolute angels as well lol

(Williamson probably is an angel who helps old ladies cross the road in his free time)

 

[Gob]

Yeah and we all know how Smith and Root are absolute angels as well lol

(Williamson probably is an angel who helps old ladies cross the road in his free time)

To earn their trust, acquire their wealth and then shove them down a staircase

 

[Compton]

Not this **** again.

You probably also think Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq are as good/better than him.

This obsession with Kohli's average to discredit him is just infantile, and completely devoid of context whatsoever. I think Williamson's average also dropped under 50 not long back.

I'm not using his average to discredit him, I'm not discrediting him at all.

I'm just using statistics to back up my view that he's - at best - fourth best batsman in the world. That's hardly an insult

 

[ImpatientLime]

Yeah and we all know how Smith and Root are absolute angels as well lol

(Williamson probably is an angel who helps old ladies cross the road in his free time)

is root a ****? don't remember too much bad behaviour from him.

 

[Compton]

is root a ****? don't remember too much bad behaviour from him.

Headbutted Warner's hand pre-Ashes.

 

[Spark]

is root a ****? don't remember too much bad behaviour from him.

For some reason I remember a lot of instances being more of an irritant than anything else.

 

[vcs]

I'm not using his average to discredit him, I'm not discrediting him at all.

I'm just using statistics to back up my view that he's - at best - fourth best batsman in the world. That's hardly an insult

LOL be honest. You implied that he does not belong in the argument with the other three.

It's OK if you don't rate him because you think he's a ****.

 

[Compton]

LOL be honest. You implied that he does not belong in the argument with the other three.

It's OK if you don't rate him because you think he's a ****.

I do rate him, I think calling someone the fourth best in the world is pretty high praise.

 

[ImpatientLime]

For some reason I remember a lot of instances being more of an irritant than anything else.

Yeah this I agree with. That **** eating grin of his when a bowler sledges him.

Reckon he's pretty mouthy from the slips too.

 

[Howe_zat]

cheeky git tbh

 

[ImpatientLime]

In a bygone era Root would have been referred to as a scamp or a scallywag.

Would have made a fine extra in Oliver Twist.

 

[Gob]

Looks like Eddie Redmayne too

 

[91Jmay]

TBF i think Kohli is better than Root, but having some amazing series and some hideous series does raise valid questions. A bit feast or famine.

 

[Howe_zat]

It's quite impressive both as a prediction from Martin Crowe and just as a feature in general that the anointed ones are this well defined. I don't know how statistically significant it is, but from a fan's perspective it seems pretty consistent that they are the top batsmen. We can add in Quinton De Kock who's a few years younger.

this is true, the first page of this thread is just 'pfft, what about darren bravo' etc

sometimes these guys who go with their gut are right

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

The thing is he is only 27 and the period from 27 to 33 is usually considered as the best period for a batsman. I can think of several players who had pretty hot streaks at that period comfortably averaging 60 plus some even going over 70 like Ponting, Sangakkara etc but most of those guys were averaging in the 40s when the good period started so as the average getting close to 60 after years of prolific batting, age started to catch up to them.

Smith is already averaging 60 and if he is to have a crazy run like say Ponting, that average of his could go to an uncharted territory for a man with his weight of runs

That's true about ages but people do have different peaks. Viv Richards averaged 62 after his 44th test, when he had just turned 29, didn't play much for a year or two around then and his average declined every year after that, and he retired when he was 39. Michael Clarke's best period as a batsman was 2012/13 when he was about 31-32 and he was retired by 34. You can never quite tell, and not everyone peaks in their 30s like Ponting, Sangakkara, Kallis etc. That said I don't see any reason why Smith doesn't have at least like 5 more years of very good cricket ahead of him, even with a conservative estimate.

 

[Compton]

I don't disagree with your point, but Clarke isn't a great example.

His long-standing back problems getting worse played a massive part in his retirement/drop in form.

 

[Gob]

I don't disagree with your point, but Clarke isn't a great example.

His long-standing back problems getting worse played a massive part in his retirement/drop in form.

Yeah Mik Clarke was dead set to get 10k plus at one point.

 

[stephen]

I don't disagree with your point, but Clarke isn't a great example.

His long-standing back problems getting worse played a massive part in his retirement/drop in form.

Not to mention that he was personally deeply affected by the Phil Hughes tragedy after which I think he never really regained the hunger for cricket that he had before.