Who Is Your Country/Team's Second Best Left-Handed Batsman?

[SillyCowCorner1]

Risabh Pant has had a better Test career I think

The underrated GOAT, in Sadagoppan Ramesh, disagrees.

 

[Burgey]

Probably Hayden for Aus.

 

[Adorable Asshole]

Probably Hayden for Aus.

Probably Gilchrist

 

[Himannv]

So Sanga is not the best batsmen after Bradman?
lol

@Himannv

Not even among the top left handed bats from Sri Lanka as trundler rightly concluded. I'm just glad that more people are now aware of what a fraud he is - nothing but a glorified HTB with a couple of decent away knocks. Decent keeper in limited overs though.

On a slightly different note, I did catch an old game where Sanath got going. Not many batsmen control the game and dominate proceedings like that guy did. Wouldn't like to be a bowler when it's his day.

 

[Burgey]

Probably Gilchrist

Same era, but I give Hayden a bit more cred for opening

 

[Adorable Asshole]

Same era, but I give Hayden a bit more cred for opening

yeah but Gilchrist also had to keep wickets.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Australia has crazy depth in lefthanded bats:

Averages over 40 (min 10 tests):

Hussey
Hayden
Border
Harvey
Gilchrist
Jaques
Lawry
Head
Khawaja
Cowper
Morris
Warner
Langer
Katich
Lehmann
Taylor
Wessels* (ave 43 for Aus & 38 for SA - overall 41)
Rogers
Yallop
Matthews
Bardsley

I can't see that Clement bloke's name anywhere though.

 

[Adders]

Australia has crazy depth in lefthanded bats:

So I heard once and no idea if this is true or not. There is a school of thought that it's preferable for right handers to bat left handed and vice versa (I suppose making the stronger hand on the top of the bat?) Anyway, it's something that Australian coaches have been more proactive in with juniors than other countries.

Would explain the out of whack left dominance of Aussies and I'm tipping a large chunk of them are actually right handed?

 

[Krypto]

Being a South African this was something I'm unsure about Some players spring to mind immediately Graeme Smith , Gary Kirsten , Quinton de Kock and David Miller .

The reason is for me the best ever left hander is Graeme Pollock .

The above is already a great list but there is one other than i don't know to much about however was very highly rated Trevor Goddard which might be the greatest South Paw we ever had due to his all round ability .

 

[Burgey]

So I heard once and no idea if this is true or not. There is a school of thought that it's preferable for right handers to bat left handed and vice versa (I suppose making the stronger hand on the top of the bat?) Anyway, it's something that Australian coaches have been more proactive in with juniors than other countries.

Would explain the out of whack left dominance of Aussies and I'm tipping a large chunk of them are actually right handed?

The late Peter Roebuck used to espouse this theory when he was on ABC radio in between fiddling with kids.

Mike Hussey switched from right to left handed but only because he grew up understandably loving Australia's greatest left handed batsman TOTAB.

 

[Line and Length]

For me it's Border just behind Harvey

 

[Starfighter]

So I heard once and no idea if this is true or not. There is a school of thought that it's preferable for right handers to bat left handed and vice versa (I suppose making the stronger hand on the top of the bat?) Anyway, it's something that Australian coaches have been more proactive in with juniors than other countries.

Would explain the out of whack left dominance of Aussies and I'm tipping a large chunk of them are actually right handed?

There is such an idea, though the supporting studies for it are, shall we say, tendentious. But it's not going to account for anyone from before the last few decades.

 

[The Sean]

Neil Harvey.

 

[Adders]

Off the top of my head

Michael Clarke rhb/lhb
Adam Gilchrist lhb/rhb
Mike Hussey lhb/rhb
Matthew Hayden lhb/rhb

That is surely a disproportionate amount from the same team and they were all in the junior system more than 2 decades ago

 

[Bolo.]

So I heard once and no idea if this is true or not. There is a school of thought that it's preferable for right handers to bat left handed and vice versa (I suppose making the stronger hand on the top of the bat?) Anyway, it's something that Australian coaches have been more proactive in with juniors than other countries.

Would explain the out of whack left dominance of Aussies and I'm tipping a large chunk of them are actually right handed?

Grain of salt, cos I was utterly rubbish, but I tried switching to left as a kid. Offside shots (anything from cut to cover drive) felt a lot more natural batting left, and leg shots were better right. Straight felt better on the ground left and in the air right.

 

[Bolo.]

Yeah let's go with that explanation for why I forgot Sanga. I had Dimuth down as 2nd best, then realised Jayasuriya was better and ultimately put Jayasuriya down as #1, forgetting Sanga altogether. Leyland Vs Gower is close surely though I'd be betraying my own principle there if I didn't reward Gower for being the better top order player of the two. Longevity question marks over G Pollock potentially.

You aren't exactly comparing him to Sachin. He played 7 years. The others were 11 and 12. There would be a fair case for putting him on top if he had retired after 7. As is, I think I'm more tempted to dock the other guys for longevity than him.

 

[Molehill]

The late Peter Roebuck used to espouse this theory when he was on ABC radio in between fiddling with kids.

Mike Hussey switched from right to left handed but only because he grew up understandably loving Australia's greatest left handed batsman TOTAB.

Totally different sport, but it kind of worked out ok for Nadal.

 

[peterhrt]

Leading England left-handers:

Test runs: Cook, Gower
Test hundreds: Cook, Strauss
Test average: Paynter, Mead
Test average v Australia (1000 runs): Leyland, Edrich
Test checklist by host country: Thorpe, Gower

First-class runs: Woolley, Mead
First-class hundreds: Mead, Woolley
First-class average: Burns, Ballance

Reputation/style: Woolley, Gower

Would probably go for Gower then Cook.

 

[Dendarii]

You aren't exactly comparing him to Sachin. He played 7 years. The others were 11 and 12. There would be a fair case for putting him on top if he had retired after 7. As is, I think I'm more tempted to dock the other guys for longevity than him.

The tricky thing with assessing South African cricketers whose careers were affected by isolation is how much stock to place in their first-class careers as we all know that you can never absolutely certain that someone will be able transfer those performances into the test arena. However, I would say that Pollock's test career was just about long enough to be able to say that he was able to do so and therefore his first-class stats can form part of the discussion.

 

[Bolo.]

The tricky thing with assessing South African cricketers whose careers were affected by isolation is how much stock to place in their first-class careers as we all know that you can never absolutely certain that someone will be able transfer those performances into the test arena. However, I would say that Pollock's test career was just about long enough to be able to say that he was able to do so and therefore his first-class stats can form part of the discussion.

Ya, agreed. I don't think you can be confident either way when comparing him to elite bats, but when it comes to comparing him to someone like kirsten, there is plenty to go off.