ataraxia
International Coach
It does again, though maybe now it's 42/43 instead.
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CW Decides The XI of the Decade
- Thread starter Coronis
- Start date
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
KW Kohli Smith
Fab 4 FTW
Fab 4 FTW
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
btw, an excellent article and extremely relevant to this exercise IMO:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/...ling-ten-seriously-underrated-test-cricketers
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/...ling-ten-seriously-underrated-test-cricketers
Michaelf7777777
International Debutant
Williamson, Smith and Kohli
ankitj
Hall of Fame Member
I switch from Sanga to AB too.
trundler
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I'll take one of these
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
de Villiers
Kohli
Smith
I tried really hard to vote for Sanga but the 2015 retirement really gets me. Smith had his recall in 2013 and averages 67 since then. Even (justifiably IMO) taking a few points off for the disgusting home roads he's played on I think he's still done at the very worst just as well over a longer period, and the last away Ashes was pretty special in general. Kohli's been a lot less good average-wise but his home pitches has varied a lot more from the sort of roads Smith has got to some real bunsens, and perhaps crucially he was an established member for a bit longer too (the last "recall" he got was in December 2011.) De Villiers was quite arguably the batsman of the decade of the mine given he played for just as much of it as the other two in (on average) tougher conditions, and if I have to split him and Sanga I'll go with de Villiers for this decade given he didn't retire halfway through it. I actually remember being confused when the "fab four" seemed to warp people's minds a bit into thinking automatically they were the best batsmen in the world and not grouped that way partly because of their age when Sanga and de Villiers were still playing tbh. I reckon at they very least Smith and Kohli are going to be better but I definitely wasn't taking them ahead of de Villiers in Sanga in 2014 when that thing really started kicking off.
Kohli
Smith
I tried really hard to vote for Sanga but the 2015 retirement really gets me. Smith had his recall in 2013 and averages 67 since then. Even (justifiably IMO) taking a few points off for the disgusting home roads he's played on I think he's still done at the very worst just as well over a longer period, and the last away Ashes was pretty special in general. Kohli's been a lot less good average-wise but his home pitches has varied a lot more from the sort of roads Smith has got to some real bunsens, and perhaps crucially he was an established member for a bit longer too (the last "recall" he got was in December 2011.) De Villiers was quite arguably the batsman of the decade of the mine given he played for just as much of it as the other two in (on average) tougher conditions, and if I have to split him and Sanga I'll go with de Villiers for this decade given he didn't retire halfway through it. I actually remember being confused when the "fab four" seemed to warp people's minds a bit into thinking automatically they were the best batsmen in the world and not grouped that way partly because of their age when Sanga and de Villiers were still playing tbh. I reckon at they very least Smith and Kohli are going to be better but I definitely wasn't taking them ahead of de Villiers in Sanga in 2014 when that thing really started kicking off.
OverratedSanity
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but he did
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
No he didn't. Even if his first weird break was about six months after Sanga actually retired, and he came back after that.
The fact that de Villiers shouldn't get credif for 2016 is why I wouldn't vote for him as batsman of the decade, but given Sanga was already retired at that point and he came back and batted awesomely in 2017 and early 2018, in a tiebreaker with Sanga he wins. Sanga was the better bat, but this decade? Nah.
OverratedSanity
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I dont get the thought process behind holding sanga's 2015 retirement against him when de villiers basically did the same in 2015, barely played the next two years because he couldnt be arsed to when SA actually needed him, came back for 2 series and then ****ed off again when he was again vital to SA's success.
Reckon you people are looking at cricinfo and thinking de villiers played from 2010-2018, while sanga only played from 2010-2015. The reality is that ab also only really played from 2010-2015 but then came back for a farewell tour.
Reckon you people are looking at cricinfo and thinking de villiers played from 2010-2018, while sanga only played from 2010-2015. The reality is that ab also only really played from 2010-2015 but then came back for a farewell tour.
OverratedSanity
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de villiers played a total of 4 test matches in 2016 and 2017.
silentstriker
The Wheel is Forever
Yeah it makes no sense. It was four Tests....
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Yeah just checked, I knew he'd bailed on 2016 so I wasn't giving him any credit for that year, but in my head he'd come back at the end of the 2016-17 summer (ie. Jan 2017) but he didn't come back until the following season (Dec 2017), so essentially you're right. If it was "just four Tests" but he was available for a long period and South Africa just didn't play many I'd not care too much about the exact number of Tests, but that's not really what happened. If I used the longevity formula I've used in other threads but applied it just to this decade he'd have more than Sanga but not by much, which does make it more interesting. Probably not quite enough to make me change my vote, but I'm listening.