Top 20 greatest batsmen of all time

[Coronis]

Because his era was a weak one.

Was it? Aside from Sobers and Barrington nobody with a decent amount of tests was averaging 50 then. You had Trueman, Gibbs, Benaud, Statham, Hall, Davidson, Snow, Underwood, Lock, Laker, Fazal and Pollock all playing throughout his career, quite a few formidable names there.

But you have to put facts and statistics in perspective. Almost 400,000 British cricket playing aged males died in WW2 compared to 40,000 Australians. If you don’t understand what impact that has on a nation’s ability to field a sporting team then there is nothing I can do to help you. Should we judge the Ukrainian football team on their capabilities now?

Yeah but if they died they probably weren’t good enough to be quality test cricketers anyway, and despite the number differential Australia has always produced more quality cricketers than England despite the population deficit.

 

[Adorable Asshole]

Don’t be silly. If you didn’t bat in the 70s/80s/90s you batted on roads against **** bowlers

No. 50s were a tough era to bat on but the 60s and early 70s were rather dull and was much easier than latte 70s and 80s

 

[Slifer]

Was it? Aside from Sobers and Barrington nobody with a decent amount of tests was averaging 50 then. You had Trueman, Gibbs, Benaud, Statham, Hall, Davidson, Snow, Underwood, Lock, Laker, Fazal and Pollock all playing throughout his career, quite a few formidable names there.



Yeah but if they died they probably weren’t good enough to be quality test cricketers anyway, and despite the number differential Australia has always produced more quality cricketers than England despite the population deficit.

Also, Bradman played 37 or 70% of his tests prior to the outbreak of WW2. Why that guy is using that as an excuse is really weak imo

 

[Adorable Asshole]

Was it? Aside from Sobers and Barrington nobody with a decent amount of tests was averaging 50 then. You had Trueman, Gibbs, Benaud, Statham, Hall, Davidson, Snow, Underwood, Lock, Laker, Fazal and Pollock all playing throughout his career, quite a few formidable names there.

I meant to say weaker one. They are good but Gavaskar played better.

Weekes, Walcott and Pollock were averaging 50+ during period. Worrell almost 50.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Yeah but if they died they probably weren’t good enough to be quality test cricketers anyway

uh wut

 

[ataraxia]

uh wut

i mean it's correct

maybe the conditional is a lil unnecessary though

 

[TheJediBrah]

i mean it's correct

let me get this straight, you think that if a soldier dies in war they must be not physically capable in some way? Or am I missing something

 

[ataraxia]

Person dies.
then: Probably wasn't good enough to play test cricket anyway

For any large group of people, a random individual probablistically likely wouldn't be good enough to be a quality test cricketer.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Very good point

I misunderstood

 

[Shady Slim]

let me get this straight, you think that if a soldier dies in war they must be not physically capable in some way? Or am I missing something

i read it this way as well ahahahahah

a win for keith miller if true though

 

[Whistler]

Huh? What does war deaths have to do with anything? Were those 400k cricketers? As a matter of fact apart from Verity no notable cricketers died during the 2nd world war. This is grasping at straws or trolling if I ever saw it. And fun fact, WW2 last I checked was from 1939 to 1945. The Don did most of his damage before the war even broke out.

There is nothing “fun” about WW2 and this is clearly something you will never understand. When a nation is funneling all their resources to defending themselves militarily, cricket takes a back seat. This should be obvious to someone of moderate intelligence.

 

[TheJediBrah]

That's a shocker from Slifer. Imagine thinking a world war isn't going to affect the quality of cricket or cricketers

 

[Burgey]

Yah but Lillee is green here. Lillee prime was 77-81

He'd just taken 8/20 odd against the same line up a few weeks earlier. He was no mug at that stage either.

 

[Burgey]

But you have to put facts and statistics in perspective. Almost 400,000 British cricket playing aged males died in WW2 compared to 40,000 Australians. If you don’t understand what impact that has on a nation’s ability to field a sporting team then there is nothing I can do to help you. Should we judge the Ukrainian football team on their capabilities now?

There were 40 million or so citizens in the UK in 1939 and six million in Australia. Both countries paid a heavy price during WW2 though the UK's was much larger, particularly for the civilian population. This would obviously have a massive effect on their sport in the aftermath of the war.

I think one of the other things which is sometimes overlooked is the ongoing rationing of so many essentials in the UK post-war. Was a grim time in an already grim place.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Cricket Chat plummeting right into the sewer here.

 

[TheJediBrah]

There were 40 million or so citizens in the UK in 1939 and six million in Australia. Both countries paid a heavy price during WW2 though the UK's was much larger, particularly for the civilian population. This would obviously have a massive effect on their sport in the aftermath of the war.

I think one of the other things which is sometimes overlooked is the ongoing rationing of so many essentials in the UK post-war. Was a grim time in an already grim place.

We should be very grateful to hear first-hand experiences like this

 

[Burgey]

We should be very grateful to hear first-hand experiences like this

T'was a very hard time.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

I think one of the other things which is sometimes overlooked is the ongoing rationing of so many essentials in the UK post-war. Was a grim time in an already grim place.

NZ actually had rationing during WW2 right up to 1950. We actually had plenty of food, but wanted to create a surplus to kindly feed the Poms and the Yanks. And what thanks did we get? Britain and the US knew the French were going to bomb the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland 1985 and never told us.

 

[Burgey]

We did here too, but not to the extent it affected people in the UK. It would have been a very tough time tbh.

 

[Slifer]

There is nothing “fun” about WW2 and this is clearly something you will never understand. When a nation is funneling all their resources to defending themselves militarily, cricket takes a back seat. This should be obvious to someone of moderate intelligence.

Bradman played 37 tests out of 52 before the war. Are you really going to critique him for literally 30% of his career? Does this line of argument make sense to anyone?