Controversial opinions

[ImpatientLime]

Smith is light years ahead of root, Kohli and Williamson aren’t at all. Root is such a consistent player around the world. He averages 51.55 in England for gods sake, it’s such a difficult country to bat in as India found out in 2018. He gets **** on because of his poor conversion rate, but he regularly makes decent scores. Rarely has Kohli type series’. I feel like his batting has regressed since becoming captain. He’s still such a brilliant batsmen. Williamson and Kohli have been failures in England to be honest. I know Kohli scored a century in England in 2018, but it was one of the worst centuries you’ll ever see. I mean, he was dropped about 7 times. Kane averages 30 in England ffs, 20 in South Africa, 25 in Sri Lanka and of course about 95 in Zimbabwe (to inflate his average). While I’m on about Williamson, I’d just like to point out how overrated he is. To call him light years ahead of root is laughable, root is probably a better batsmen overall tbh. Kane obviously the better captain though.

you kinda kebunked your whole argument with root is a great batsman but doesn't convert enough. fella doesn't score enough centuries. doesn't need to go further than that really.

 

[Flem274*]

**** me and you accuse other posters of being biased. I can't even remember the last time I saw a post from you that wasn't massively overrating a NZ cricketer in some form.

anyway as others have said McGrath & Philander aren't successful because they're slow. They're good because they bowl **** all bad balls and move the ball optimally. They are as skilful as it gets.

you're a bit dim if you think im putting them on the same level as bowlers instead of broadly the same pace category, but everyone already knows that. you're a nice guy though despite your determination to appear the edgelord.

 

[Cabinet96]

Smith is light years ahead of root, Kohli and Williamson aren’t at all. Root is such a consistent player around the world. He averages 51.55 in England for gods sake, it’s such a difficult country to bat in as India found out in 2018. He gets **** on because of his poor conversion rate, but he regularly makes decent scores. Rarely has Kohli type series’. I feel like his batting has regressed since becoming captain. He’s still such a brilliant batsmen. Williamson and Kohli have been failures in England to be honest. I know Kohli scored a century in England in 2018, but it was one of the worst centuries you’ll ever see. I mean, he was dropped about 7 times. Kane averages 30 in England ffs, 20 in South Africa, 25 in Sri Lanka and of course about 95 in Zimbabwe (to inflate his average). While I’m on about Williamson, I’d just like to point out how overrated he is. To call him light years ahead of root is laughable, root is probably a better batsmen overall tbh. Kane obviously the better captain though.

Root was probably the second best test batsman of the four for a decent while. But he averages 38 in tests in the last two years (equating 50 innings). Pretty simple and fair to say he's a way off the other three as of right now.

 

[cnerd123]

strike rotation is more important than ever in the modern game

i wonder if the challenge of facing medium pacers is amplified because every long term medium pacer in international cricket has always bowled to the percentages? mcgrath, philander, clark and even someone more mid range like cdg always keep every mode of dismissal in play. cdg and philander in particular seem to find nip in almost every game even if the other bowlers can't, so one mistake is all they need to get the lbw/caught behind/bowled.

a lot of 135kph blokes often bowl back of a length or in the 'unlucky but not' length or in wide channels. if you're 130kph or less and you do this, you get dropped real quick for looking innocuous, but if you're a 135kph englishman with a kookaburra it's the balls fault and the pitches are too flat.

so basically the shorter leash = medium pacers bowl to the percentages = long career medium pacers are a nightmare to face because they're always threatening your wicket.

okay but your initial assertion was 'assuming bowler skill is equal'

I think everyone will agree that top-tier medium pace bowlers are more difficult than run-of-the-mill medium-fast bowlers. I don't buy that all medium pacers with long careers are nightmares to face - some of them have long careers just because their countries don't have much depth in options (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe).

I do think that more bowlers at the professional level now are able to bowl quicker than ever before (due to modern coaching/knowledge/S&C/nutrition), and so there might be an argument to be made that medium pacers have become a bit more effective due to the novelty factor. Professional batsmen face so much pace that a slower seamer actually takes them out of their comfort zone. That could explain CdG?

 

[Neptune]

you kinda kebunked your whole argument with root is a great batsman but doesn't convert enough. fella doesn't score enough centuries. doesn't need to go further than that really.

Not having that sorry. He doesn’t convert well, but he still contributes good scores to the team consistently. It’s not all about conversion rates and statistics. The bloke is still one of the best and most consistent test batsmen around. His 226 in New Zealand a couple of months ago was pretty good :/

 

[Neptune]

Root was probably the second best test batsman of the four for a decent while. But he averages 38 in tests in the last two years (equating 50 innings). Pretty simple and fair to say he's a way off the other three as of right now.

Yeah his average isn’t great but unfortunately for him he had to play in the West Indies and in England (difficult conditions) in 2019 and not India and New Zealand (much easier batting conditions) like Kohli and Williamson.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Speed guns are literally just made up

 

[TheJediBrah]

you're a bit dim if you think im putting them on the same level as bowlers instead of broadly the same pace category, but everyone already knows that. you're a nice guy though despite your determination to appear the edgelord.

not only referring to this one post buddy

don't get me wrong, I really like you and there are plenty on here as biased, or more biased than you. Just pointing out the irony

 

[Athlai]

Marnus Labuschagne is actually an extra-dimensional alien seeking the worlds most skilled cricketers to play in his home dimensions version of the Kerry Packer's World Series.

 

[Nintendo]

Smith is actually the second best of the fab 4 in odi cricket, only behind Kohli.

 

[trundler]

http://www.cricketweb.net/forum/cricket-chat/78335-unpopular-opinions-thread.html

Please post in the appropriate existing thread

 

[jimmy101]

David Saker had the best goatee in Australian domestic cricket during the 90's.

 

[Flem274*]

not only referring to this one post buddy

don't get me wrong, I really like you and there are plenty on here as biased, or more biased than you. Just pointing out the irony

you just h8 me coz im always right mate. ive been bang on with my predictions all summer, one of the few to give your lot the 3-0 before a ball was bowled. nz smash england, aus smash nz, nz smash india, wagner is a world class bowler. truth hurts.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah his average isn’t great but unfortunately for him he had to play in the West Indies and in England (difficult conditions) in 2019 and not India and New Zealand (much easier batting conditions) like Kohli and Williamson.

This is a bad take.

 

[TheJediBrah]

you just h8 me

I just told you that I like you

 

[jimmy101]

Flem playing hard to get here.

 

[sphynx]

Kohli has peaked as a test cricketer.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Kohli has peaked as a test cricketer.

Can't see why that would be controversial either

 

[Flem274*]

you'd hope his peak would be better than an average of 9.5 or whatever it is

 

[CricAddict]

Yeah his average isn’t great but unfortunately for him he had to play in the West Indies and in England (difficult conditions) in 2019 and not India and New Zealand (much easier batting conditions) like Kohli and Williamson.

Do you mean to say Anderson and Broad are worse than Ishant and Umesh as bowlers?