Second best England Test bat to have debuted post-1970?

[BazBall21]

My probably flaky attempt at sorting the order out:

1) Pietersen
2) Gooch
3) Thorpe
4) Gower
5) Cook

Top 3 very even with Gower ahead of Cook and below KP/Gooch/Thorpe by a small margin.

Thorpe the best of the lot overseas but he probably loses a few points for only one 150+ score. Gooch beats KP for volume of work and also arguably has him covered for gun performances but think even considering very valid era/opener taxes KP edges him for consistency. Think GT is underrated and I may have put him no1 on another day.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

He's also the third seamer so it's more of a workload thingy.

You might even give young Botham the new ball ahead of Willis to utilise swing.

 

[Adders]

Cook getting criminaly underrated here. 12000 + test runs @45 opening the batting in Eng ffs.

Better than KP by a vast margin.

 

[Gob]

Cook getting criminaly underrated here. 12000 + test runs @45 opening the batting in Eng ffs.

Better than KP by a vast margin.

nah

 

[BazBall21]

Think Thorpe’s lack of big hundreds is maybe why he isn’t rated as highly as others. Wasn’t an enduring enough presence for a superstar reputation to develop, both at the time and on reflection. Players who go big a lot perhaps leave a more sustained impression.
Makes up for it though by averaging more than anyone else in the group against better than median attacks, both overall and overseas. Should have put him no1 smh.

 

[Adders]

KP won test matches, Alistair Cook won series.

 

[Coronis]

KP won test matches, Alistair Cook won series.

I sense another Kallis thread approaching

 

[ImpatientLime]

Think Thorpe’s lack of big hundreds is maybe why he isn’t rated as highly as others. Wasn’t an enduring enough presence for a superstar reputation to develop, both at the time and on reflection. Players who go big a lot perhaps leave a more sustained impression.
Makes up for it though by averaging more than anyone else in the group against better than median attacks, both overall and overseas. Should have put him no1 smh.

if memory serves he had big conversion issues in the 90s. didn't turn 50s into 100s enough. this thread has made me realise england do produce some serious players of spin for some reason. cook, thorpe, root and even KP (SLA excluded) all exceptional players of spin bowling.

thorpe frustrated the life out of murali back in the early 2000s.

 

[trundler]

if memory serves he had big conversion issues in the 90s. didn't turn 50s into 100s enough. this thread has made me realise england do produce some serious players of spin for some reason. cook, thorpe, root and even KP (SLA excluded) all exceptional players of spin bowling.

thorpe frustrated the life out of murali back in the early 2000s.

How dare you forget Jennings

 

[BazBall21]

if memory serves he had big conversion issues in the 90s. didn't turn 50s into 100s enough. this thread has made me realise england do produce some serious players of spin for some reason. cook, thorpe, root and even KP (SLA excluded) all exceptional players of spin bowling.

thorpe frustrated the life out of murali back in the early 2000s.

Yeah cashing in seems to be Thorpe’s only big problem. He doesn’t really have any weakness in terms of bowling type or conditions. 50/100 rate is slightly below par and 100/150+ rate is poor. Has a relatively low average against weaker than median attacks too.

You can go back to Boycott, Cowdrey and Barrington too, all good nullifiers of spin. I think England have generally been better against spin than pace post our brief stay at the top though it has been a tough era for playing pace recently.