DoG's Top 100 Test Batsmen Countdown Thread

[Burgey]

What a logic!
Kambli was a victim of politics. He would have been a greater Test batsman than Sachin if he was given a chance.


Greatness isn’t about potential. It is about what one has accomplished.

Have a valium mate. You're wound up like a thousand day clock here.

 

[Burgey]

I would rate Gavaskar in a different level to every other opener I have seen but agree Smith Vs Hayden is very debateable. I would personally go for Smith but it indeed is a debateable topic.

I wouldn't. Greenidge and Boycott both very much belong in the argument about being on the same level as him. I'm not going to get into a series by series pulling apart of their respective records because everyone will draw their own conclusions, but Gordie and Boycott were both brilliant as well.

 

[stephen]

But Burgey, they both only average in the 40s. Are you suggesting that maybe sometimes raw averages aren't the best way to analyse batsmen? No! It can't be so! Are you implying that cricket is a sport and not a series of stats to dissect? It can't be!

 

[Flem274*]

moyo being this high is surprising. a regular samaraweera in a lot of ways. will never forget his deer in the headlights impression against iain o'brien bowling with a broken finger.

 

[mr_mister]

I'm very unsurprised by his high rank due that insane peak. I actually think he's underrated on CW even if he was Samarweera tier outside of 2006

9 test tons in a year is insane and i doubt itl ever be beaten. Even if it came against soft bowling attacks it's still an immense achievement requiring amazing concentration and stamina

 

[_00_deathscar]

But Burgey, they both only average in the 40s. Are you suggesting that maybe sometimes raw averages aren't the best way to analyse batsmen? No! It can't be so! Are you implying that cricket is a sport and not a series of stats to dissect? It can't be!

Confirmed Kohli > Smith
As this exercise will show

 

[mr_mister]

Confirmed Kohli > Smith
As this exercise will show

Keep dreaming

 

[Days of Grace]

Where do you think Border will end up?

 

[stephen]

11th

 

[OverratedSanity]

MoYo played some superb knocks against great bowling outside of that peak too. The MCG ton was glorious.

 

[honestbharani]

I wouldn't. Greenidge and Boycott both very much belong in the argument about being on the same level as him. I'm not going to get into a series by series pulling apart of their respective records because everyone will draw their own conclusions, but Gordie and Boycott were both brilliant as well.

Well, I feel Gavaskar was better. But yes, GG was awesome, I am sure. I am never sure of Boycott because unlike the other older players we talk about, he was definitely someone about him almost all writers and commentators were biased about, either positively or negatively.

 

[Spark]

Well, I feel Gavaskar was better. But yes, GG was awesome, I am sure. I am never sure of Boycott because unlike the other older players we talk about, he was definitely someone about him almost all writers and commentators were biased about, either positively or negatively.

That's mostly down to his, shall we say, polarising personality IMO. A bit like me with Hayden, but turned up to 100.

 

[Days of Grace]

No.31

Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka) 792

Quality Points: 701
Career Points: 91

Career/Runs: 1997-2014, 11814 (rank 7)

Overall average/Runs per innings/Strike-rate: 46.24 (49.84) 43.49 (46.88) 47.21 (51.46) (rank 54)
50 Innings Peak Average/Runs per innings/Strike-rate (2006-2009): 63.27 59.48 48.30 (rank 28)
Non-Home Average/Runs per innings/Strike-rate: 36.68 34.89 45.41 (rank 175)
Quality Opposition Average/Runs per innings/Strike-rate: 45.65 43.31 47.11 (rank 54)

Along with Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene was the mainstay of Sri Lanka's batting order throughout the first decade of the 21st century, playing for 17 years and scoring over 11000 runs, thus racking up a heap of career points. But while he was a colossus at home, he struggled overseas, being ranked a lowly 175th in this measure. He was also somewhat inconsistent, with a peak of 63.27 (73.43) and a trough of 30.17 (29.98) towards the end of his career. It's hard to imagine another batsman in the top 50 averaging that low over 50 innings at any point.

 

[Starfighter]

Dat none home.

 

[Days of Grace]

Update

31 DPMD Jayawardene 792
32 Mohammad Yousuf 790
33 ML Hayden 788
34 JE Root 779
35 Javed Miandad 778
36 KS Williamson 777
37 CH Lloyd 775
38 MJ Clarke 773
39 A Flower 772
40 RB Kanhai 770
41 HM Amla 765
42 DA Warner 764
43 G Boycott 764
44 GC Smith 758
45 DCS Compton 756
46 RN Harvey 755
47 AN Cook 753
48 MEK Hussey 753
49 GA Gooch 749
50 C Hill 747
51 RB Simpson 746
52 KP Pietersen 745
53 KD Walters 741
54 AC Gilchrist 741
55 ER Dexter 736
56 PBH May 730
57 SJ McCabe 730
58 FMM Worrell 728
59 MC Cowdrey 727
60 SM Nurse 725
61 GA Faulkner 724
62 CG Greenidge 722
63 CA Pujara 722
64 WM Lawry 722
65 VVS Laxman 720
66 DI Gower 719
67 VT Trumper 717
68 B Mitchell 717
69 RB Richardson 716
70 PA de Silva 715
71 Saeed Anwar 712
72 JL Langer 711
73 LRPL Taylor 711
74 TT Samaraweera 708
75 MD Crowe 706
76 EJ Barlow 702
77 DL Amiss 702
78 Zaheer Abbas 701
79 AD Mathews 700
80 Misbah-ul-Haq 700
81 GP Thorpe 699
82 AR Morris 696
83 M Azharuddin 695
84 DR Martyn 695
85 IM Chappell 694
86 CH Gayle 694
87 ME Waugh 694
88 TW Graveney 693
89 G Kirsten 692
90 Saleem Malik 692
91 EH Hendren 690
92 JH Edrich 685
93 GR Viswanath 684
94 SM Katich 683
95 NC O'Neill 683
96 HW Taylor 681
97 MA Taylor 681
98 DC Boon 681
99 DB Vengsarkar 679
100 Hanif Mohammad 679

 

[stephen]

One that I firmly disagree with being that high. Also Sehwag over Hayden is another I don't agree with.

Still, it's mostly turned out roughly how one would expect.

 

[aussie tragic]

Seems pretty fitting that extremes are next to each other. Warner and Boycott on same 764 points and #42 and #43 respectively

 

[Logan]

Never expected Jayawardene to be so high in the list.

Looking at the list. Surprised Warner is ahead of Smith and Cook. Very disappointed that Andy Flower is so low in the list.

 

[Days of Grace]

No.30

Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan) 801

Quality Points: 730
Career Points: 71

Career/Runs: 1992-2007, 8829 (rank 22)

Overall average/Runs per innings/Strike-rate: 48.21 (50.16) 42.85 (44.59) 50.47 (54.04) (rank 32)
50 Innings Peak Average/Runs per innings/Strike-rate (2002-2006): 64.07 55.10 53.15 (rank 31)
Non-Home Average/Runs per innings/Strike-rate: 46.24 41.58 51.49 (rank 47)
Quality Opposition Average/Runs per innings/Strike-rate: 49.44 45.18 51.80 (rank 30)

When people search for videos of Inzamam-ul-Haq on Youtube these days, they might first watch some of his hilarious run-outs. But he was a seriously talented batsman, as New Zealand found out in the 1992 World Cup semi-final. As a test player, he straddled two decades, from the 1990s when Pakistan seriously challenged being no.1 in the world to the 2000s when a series of scandals threatened to derail them. Throughout it, he was their most dependable middle-order batsman and a man for a crisis, as evidenced by his 138* against Bangladesh in 2003. He is ranked in the top 50 in every measure of this study, one of only 16 batsmen to achieve this notable feat.

 

[ankitj]

Never expected Jayawardene to be so high in the list.

Looking at the list. Surprised Warner is ahead of Smith and Cook. Very disappointed that Andy Flower is so low in the list.

Of all the batsman so far, no one has exceeded Flower on quality points alone; he is tied with MoYo.