Is Jacques Kallis the Most BoRing Cricketer in the History of Cricket?

[sledger]

I can remember watching various innings of his where he scored loads of runs, but I can never actually remember any of the actual innings themselves. Ergo, yeah, dour and forgettable.

 

[Starfighter]

Bapu Nadkarni must surely deserve a shout as the most boring cricketer. Economy rate of 1.67, strike rate of 104, and from the partial available data, a batting strike rate of 34.

Left arm spinner of course. The most boring cricketer ever has to be a left arm spinner.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Adam Dale

 

[tinytmp]

Not even close. There are so many turgid English batsman that don't even have a particularly high level of competence. Like sure, you may snooze your way through a Kallis century, but that century will probably make the game more interesting.

Atherton? Gooch? Strauss? Hussain? Vaughan? Lamb? Gatting? Collingwood?

You'd get more pleasure from reading the phone book.

And I don't want to hear any of this "but Vaughan was an attractive stroke maker". He only averaged about 5 per inning. If we're kind and give him the replays too, is probably about a minute's worth of satisfaction per inning.

He is one of the best all-rounders till now.

 

[Prince EWS]

Trevor Goddard was a famously defensive cricketer. Stonewalling opening batsman and spoiling left arm seamer who averaged 26 with the ball through an economy rate of 1.6 and a strike rate of 95.

Ray Illingworth similarly turgid in his approach but arguably even more boring as he bowled finger spin and batted in the middle order where he didn't have the excuse of seeing off the new ball.

I love both, naturally.

 

[karan_fromthestands]

Bapu Nadkarni must surely deserve a shout as the most boring cricketer. Economy rate of 1.67, strike rate of 104, and from the partial available data, a batting strike rate of 34.

Left arm spinner of course. The most boring cricketer ever has to be a left arm spinner.

Also, just how boring were the guys facing him? He has a strike rate of 104, I mean if the guy was bowling absolute darts you'd eventually find a way to score off him instead of just blocking.

 

[Adorable Asshole]

Trevor Goddard was a famously defensive cricketer. Stonewalling opening batsman and spoiling left arm seamer who averaged 26 with the ball through an economy rate of 1.6 and a strike rate of 95.

Ray Illingworth similarly turgid in his approach but arguably even more boring as he bowled finger spin and batted in the middle order where he didn't have the excuse of seeing off the new ball.

I love both, naturally.

You are evil

 

[OverratedSanity]

Bapu Nadkarni must surely deserve a shout as the most boring cricketer. Economy rate of 1.67, strike rate of 104, and from the partial available data, a batting strike rate of 34.

Left arm spinner of course. The most boring cricketer ever has to be a left arm spinner.

He bowled 190 overs for 220 runs in a series once. No prizes for guessing what the scoreline of that 5 match series was.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Also, just how boring were the guys facing him? He has a strike rate of 104, I mean if the guy was bowling absolute darts you'd eventually find a way to score off him instead of just blocking.

Probably just looking to score at the other end

 

[karan_fromthestands]

Probably just looking to score at the other end

Probably, but still can't let a bowler get away for so long right?

Either he is good enough to strike or just bowls very defensively in which case at least scoring a few singles regularly should be an option.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Probably, but still can't let a bowler get away for so long right?

Depends entirely on the other bowlers, and state of the game

 

[SteveNZ]

**** this thread. Boring cricket is bloody awesome.

 

[Starfighter]

He bowled 190 overs for 220 runs in a series once. No prizes for guessing what the scoreline of that 5 match series was.

India's failure to win at Brabourne against a ten-man England side with only two specialist batsman was perhaps the most shameful match of an era of exceptionally turgid cricket.

 

[karan_fromthestands]

**** this thread. Boring cricket is bloody awesome.

Boring = no drama. Pretty sure people would've remembered him a lot differently if he was being a complete ****.

 

[SteveNZ]

Boring = no drama. Pretty sure people would've remembered him a lot differently if he was being a complete ****.

Probably didn't help himself by batting the wrong way in certain situations. But no team of any era would turn him down for their XI

 

[OverratedSanity]

India's failure to win at Brabourne against a ten-man England side with only two specialist batsman was perhaps the most shameful match of an era of exceptionally turgid cricket.

There was that time India needed 126 to win off 19 overs (granted, not a cakewalk even today) on the 5th day but only managed 23-1.

 

[Krypto]

I just stumbled upon this thread due to main areas being quiet , Kallis is criminally under rated and yes he was boring however more due to consistency and that meant minimal risk taken . This opinion is due to the fact that everyone states he is the greatest all rounder of all time however this takes away from how good of a batsman he was .

Remember watching him between 2004 to 2007 in absolute aww of how technically correct and solid a batsman he is , there wasn't anyone close and this was in a era that you would be watching Tendulkar/Sangakkara/ Lara/ Ponting and many more skilled batsman that can go into most discussions of greatest ever and then there was Kallis just doing the same thing over and over with the same results , a cheatcode of sorts .

The general argument I've heard is that as South Africans we do not celebrate our cricketing heroes like we should and thus I feel the current state of his legacy is due to us the fans as strangely it seems he is getting less rated as time passes which is criminal. This adds to it when you get other countries fans speaking up and defending Kallis, please ask yourself the question if he wore your countries colors what would your opinion of him be if you look at his achievements .


As a batsman he is amongst the greatest ever and should always be in that conversation and to bring it back to OP question , yes he was boring , in the same sense as a lifelong surgeon operating is or explosive expert disarming a bomb without explosions . He was the most technically sound/Consistent/patient and unassuming batsman of his time and if you look at who played then its unbelievable .

This doesn't even cover is all around abilities however if we want to celebrate him we should start at how excellent of a batsman he was as that is his greatest achievement IMO .

 

[kyear2]

I just stumbled upon this thread due to main areas being quiet , Kallis is criminally under rated and yes he was boring however more due to consistency and that meant minimal risk taken . This opinion is due to the fact that everyone states he is the greatest all rounder of all time however this takes away from how good of a batsman he was .

Remember watching him between 2004 to 2007 in absolute aww of how technically correct and solid a batsman he is , there wasn't anyone close and this was in a era that you would be watching Tendulkar/Sangakkara/ Lara/ Ponting and many more skilled batsman that can go into most discussions of greatest ever and then there was Kallis just doing the same thing over and over with the same results , a cheatcode of sorts .

The general argument I've heard is that as South Africans we do not celebrate our cricketing heroes like we should and thus I feel the current state of his legacy is due to us the fans as strangely it seems he is getting less rated as time passes which is criminal. This adds to it when you get other countries fans speaking up and defending Kallis, please ask yourself the question if he wore your countries colors what would your opinion of him be if you look at his achievements .


As a batsman he is amongst the greatest ever and should always be in that conversation and to bring it back to OP question , yes he was boring , in the same sense as a lifelong surgeon operating is or explosive expert disarming a bomb without explosions . He was the most technically sound/Consistent/patient and unassuming batsman of his time and if you look at who played then its unbelievable .

This doesn't even cover is all around abilities however if we want to celebrate him we should start at how excellent of a batsman he was as that is his greatest achievement IMO .

People state he's the greatest all rounder of all time?

 

[BazBall21]

Bapu Nadkarni must surely deserve a shout as the most boring cricketer. Economy rate of 1.67, strike rate of 104, and from the partial available data, a batting strike rate of 34.

Left arm spinner of course. The most boring cricketer ever has to be a left arm spinner.

Love him.

 

[Coronis]

People state he's the greatest all rounder of all time?

I’m sure its a relatively popular opinion amongst certain fandoms (particularly online) due to recency bias - i.e many young fans not having seen even pre 00’s cricket - he’s clearly ahead of anyone in the 21st century right?

cue Jadeja