Does Barry Richards deserve an exemption to be ranked among the greats of the game?

[SeamUp]

Now that's a batting line up one would pay to watch.

Western Province cricket's first 2 real batting prodigies. P Kirsten and Lamb. Barlow, Ackerman & Bruyns weren't Cape Tonians but they were part of growing WP cricket. Barlow particularly.

Interesting looking at that line-up. Like you say, great to watch. Roy Pienaar was another classy operator when at his best.

Lawrence Seeff
Roy Pienaar
Peter Kirsten
Allan Lamb
Ken McEwan
Adrian Kuiper
Stephen Bruce (wk) (Ryall must come soon)
Garth Le Roux
Omar Henry
Stephen Jefferies
Denys Hobson


All would have been Springboks/Proteas bar Bruce the keeper.

Still very much a 2-spinner team at Newlands.

From Bromfield/Chevalier, Chevalier/Morris, Morris/Hobson, Hobson/Henry & Rundle.

 

[bagapath]

no

 

[bagapath]

Well on the one hand, why would you say their Richards' and Cook's FC records are similar? Isn't Barry's just markedly better both for average and longevity?

True... from what one can gauge from the available videos, Barry looks like he is one of the top 5 openers ever. Too bad he didnt play enough test cricket to be tested against the best in the world. In FC cricket he is good to be, and should be, compared with Hutton and Hobbs and Gavaskar and Boycott.

 

[howitzer]

True... from what one can gauge from the available videos, Barry looks like he is one of the top 5 openers ever. Too bad he didnt play enough test cricket to be tested against the best in the world. In FC cricket he is good to be, and should be, compared with Hutton and Hobbs and Gavaskar and Boycott.

If talking about FC cricket then Hobbs bosses the discussion between the five. Richards can definitely compete with the others though. I often find myself wondering how many centuries Hobbs would have made without WW1.

 

[capt_Luffy]

If talking about FC cricket then Hobbs bosses the discussion between the five. Richards can definitely compete with the others though. I often find myself wondering how many centuries Hobbs would have made without WW1.

If we are talking FC cricket; then Grace is the Bradman to the other's Sachin, Smith, Richards and Lara.

 

[howitzer]

If we are talking FC cricket; then Grace is the Bradman to the other's Sachin, Smith, Richards and Lara.

He didn't mention Grace.

 

[howitzer]

In FC cricket Grace is the Bradman to Bradman's Bradman tbh.

 

[SeamUp]

I know he did a lot more in the unofficial/rebel tests as well as succeeding far more in his brief sample size of actual tests, but its intriguing the gap in reputation Barry Richards has over Jimmy Cook considering their similar FC records.

Interestingly just looking at this in more detail.

Jimmy Cook was a middle-order bat who debuted for Transvaal in 1972/73 but seemed to find it tough to break into the team consistently and played a lot for Transvaal B in Division 2.

When he moved to opener it changed things for him.

Don't forget he debuted in 72/73 but hundreds for Transvaal (not B team by decade)

70s: 2
80s: 17
90s: 9

So he was around in the 70s without cracking much yet.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Van Der Bijl's FC record is probably the best of the lot and I've heard him being rated as a McGrath/Ambrose/Jamieson level talent.

Yeah, I heard that too.

 

[trundler]

Yeah, I heard that too.

That's called echo

 

[howitzer]

That's called echo

That's called echo

 

[honestbharani]

That's called echo

That's called echo?

 

[capt_Luffy]

That's called echo?

That's called echo

 

[ankitj]

That's called echo

That's called echo

 

[social]

Richards was unquestionably an ATG and those who claim that the WSC weren’t real tests don’t know what they’re talking about

 

[bagapath]

WSC weren't real tests

 

[GirthQuake]

WSC was the grandest circus of its time but they were not real test, or even cricket.

 

[Coronis]

Richards was unquestionably an ATG and those who claim that the WSC weren’t real tests don’t know what they’re talking about

Well they weren’t recognised as tests at the time and nobody retrospectively recognises them as tests either.

But yeah sure none of us know anything

 

[GirthQuake]

In WSC favor, it had the appearance of cricket.

 

[SeamUp]

Don't even need WSC to consider him an ATG I would argue but let's also just say that every bloke who played WSC said it was the hardest and toughest cricket they played.