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Rank your 5 best bats from Australia post-Bradman

ZK$

U19 Cricketer
They likely won't because in their bizarre calculus, it advantages early/mid career peaks while ignoring late career slumps, not the other way around.
I apply it both ways. I don’t personally care about Andersons record before 2010 when comparing him to most bowlers unless they have very long 16+ year careers as well like Walsh and Wasim.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
You either compare careers or you compare peaks. You cant take the peak of one player and compare that to the career of another player. I am sure there are exceptions but they usually only prove the rule.
 

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
You either compare careers or you compare peaks. You cant take the peak of one player and compare that to the career of another player. I am sure there are exceptions but they usually only prove the rule.
Yes even if a player has a longer career, taking a section of that and comparing that with the entire career of another is misleading.
 

Kirkut

International Regular
Smith never put the same kind of fear in my mind as Ponting did. It could be due to the overall aura of the greatest side in the world which made Ponting look a lot more intimidating.

Objectively speaking, Smith is a better batsman than Ponting. His ability to find run scoring opportunities can surpass that of Lara and Tendulkar who are more orthodox in their approach.
 

Gob

International Coach
Smith never put the same kind of fear in my mind as Ponting did. It could be due to the overall aura of the greatest side in the world which made Ponting look a lot more intimidating.

Objectively speaking, Smith is a better batsman than Ponting. His ability to find run scoring opportunities can surpass that of Lara and Tendulkar who are more orthodox in their approach.
I had a friend who was scared of hairy arms. Could be the case here
 

Shady Slim

International Coach
And if batsman b retired with an average of 45? Would you still rate him higher based on the better peak?
well to give what im sure you may find a wholly unsatisfactory answer it's matters of fact and degree right?

you can't just look at stats fullstop, much less a career average, and plug a guess at how you'll rate a player based on that - there is a reason we don't say that voges is as good as barry richards let alone ricky ponting and it's because of qualitative factors... but one could still rate that batsman higher and it would not be unreasonable depending on the circumstances, yes!
 

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
Smith never put the same kind of fear in my mind as Ponting did. It could be due to the overall aura of the greatest side in the world which made Ponting look a lot more intimidating.

Objectively speaking, Smith is a better batsman than Ponting. His ability to find run scoring opportunities can surpass that of Lara and Tendulkar who are more orthodox in their approach.
Because Ponting was more aggressive than Smith. But with Smith there was this inevitability to his run-scoring that was equally demoralizing to opposition.
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
Because Ponting was more aggressive than Smith. But with Smith there was this inevitability to his run-scoring that was equally demoralizing to opposition.
Yeah Smith just grinds teams down, but looks slightly fragile due to his unorthodox technique. Ponting just smashed teams (along with Hayden and Gilchrist).
 

Burgey

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You guys are going in circles as always.

Playing on past there peak won't affect the opinions of people who watched the entire careers.

Generations that follows would rate them lower since they will look at the end stats
Yeah I think this is a very fair point tbh
 

Coronis

International Coach
Would you rate Smith lower than Kohli if Kohli retired today, but Smith played for another 10 years and ended up averaging 45? Let’s assume that Smith is still one of the best batsmen in his team throughout those 10 years even though that doesn’t really matter to me.
I would just be very sad that a mid 30’s averaging batsman would be one of the best batsmen in the Australian side tbh.
 

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
Yeah Smith just grinds teams down, but looks slightly fragile due to his unorthodox technique. Ponting just smashed teams (along with Hayden and Gilchrist).
Smith didn't look fragile to me. In fact, he seemed totally unfussed by whatever was going on. The best example was Wahab Riaz's spell in the 2015 WC quarter final, when Smith seemed completely comfortable and Watson was hopping around.
 

ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
Since I have been advocating assessing Tendulkar's career based on what he did between 20th and 38th birthday (because so many folks go "meh longevity"), I looked at same period for Ponting. It really leads to exclusion of 1 test and reduces his average by less than a fifth of a run. So really, in a standard ATG career, he averages 51.85. That's how I'd assess him. There are no excess years to trim.
 

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
Since I have been advocating assessing Tendulkar's career based on what he did between 20th and 38th birthday (because so many folks go "meh longevity"), I looked at same period for Ponting. It really leads to exclusion of 1 test and reduces his average by less than a fifth of a run. So really, in a standard ATG career, he averages 51.85. That's how I'd assess him. There are no excess years to trim.
Is 18 years a standard ATG career? Maybe 15 perhaps...
 

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