Coronis
International Coach
Again, read the thread titleEngland.
And I agree de Kallis. While he's more valuable than Headley, the batting is close and literally all the value he beings is covered by Sobers.
Again, read the thread titleEngland.
And I agree de Kallis. While he's more valuable than Headley, the batting is close and literally all the value he beings is covered by Sobers.
Keith MillerWhich bat does Kallis replace?
NO!Keith Miller
Already have Gilly to turn pressure around. Miller isn't in the same ball park as a batsman as Kallis, no not even close; probably 5-6 tiers below. If anything, he is a far superior bowler, but as a 5th bowling option, Kallis is very serviceable.NO!
Sorry for the caps, but I can't stress this enough. Kallis was not equal to Miller. Miller attacked, transfered pressure and loved the heat of the battle. Kallis was an accumulator - a very good one - but he did not strike fear into his opponents, he did not take a game by the neck and impose himself on it. Youngsters these day just go by numbers.
Keith Miller was a different animal. Only Sobers, Beefy and Imran have had that x factor he had as an AR. They made things happen, they imposed themselves on it. Churning another ton at snails pace does not shake the opposition up.
Miller was also an accumulator, he batted more slowly than Kallis fyi.NO!
Sorry for the caps, but I can't stress this enough. Kallis was not equal to Miller. Miller attacked, transfered pressure and loved the heat of the battle. Kallis was an accumulator - a very good one - but he did not strike fear into his opponents, he did not take a game by the neck and impose himself on it. Youngsters these day just go by numbers.
Keith Miller was a different animal. Only Sobers, Beefy and Imran have had that x factor he had as an AR. They made things happen, they imposed themselves on it. Churning another ton at snails pace does not shake the opposition up.
The local Aussies can speak for Miller but I would be flabbergasted if anyone chose Kallis as a fair swap for him.Already have Gilly to turn pressure around. Miller isn't in the same ball park as a batsman as Kallis, no not even close; probably 5-6 tiers below. If anything, he is a far superior bowler, but as a 5th bowling option, Kallis is very serviceable.
Lol. I forgot that due to his whole personality and aura thing.....Miller was also an accumulator, he batted more slowly than Kallis fyi.
In the Australian ATG team, Kallis is just a better fit imo.The local Aussies can speak for Miller but I would be flabbergasted if anyone chose Kallis as a fair swap for him.
Keith Miller doesn't make a good Australia XI. There's no value he beings to offset the depreciation of his batting.Keith Miller
There's no team in earth that would chose Keith Miller over Kallis as a top order test batsman.NO!
Sorry for the caps, but I can't stress this enough. Kallis was not equal to Miller. Miller attacked, transfered pressure and loved the heat of the battle. Kallis was an accumulator - a very good one - but he did not strike fear into his opponents, he did not take a game by the neck and impose himself on it. Youngsters these day just go by numbers.
Keith Miller was a different animal. Only Sobers, Beefy and Imran have had that x factor he had as an AR. They made things happen, they imposed themselves on it. Churning another ton at snails pace does not shake the opposition up.
I rate Lillee slightly above, but who would I chose to take and utilize the old ball? Garner.Joel is a legend, but I rate Akram and Lillee above him.
Yeah Kallis' bigger problem for his exercise is that Sobers makes his bowling almost irrelevant for selection in the WI side so he has to be better than the worst specialist batsman.There's no team in earth that would chose Keith Miller over Kallis as a top order test batsman.
Kallis is a much better fit in an Australian AT XI than Miller.
Yeah, fully agree with all of that.Yeah Kallis' bigger problem for his exercise is that Sobers makes his bowling almost irrelevant for selection in the WI side so he has to be better than the worst specialist batsman.
I rate Kallis' batting way higher than most on here but the consunsus opinion on it probably wouldn't have him *definitely* in over Headley, it'd be reasonable close.
Mostly agree with this. I'd add Warne, Steve Smith and Kallis.Recent post inspired this. So this is assuming the rest of the XI remains the same, but if this extra player was available, they’d make the XI no question.
Batsmen:
Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Hutton, Bradman, Tendulkar, Lara, Viv, Sobers.
Keepers:
Gilchrist
Bowlers:
Marshall, McGrath, Hadlee, Steyn, Ambrose, Imran
The Australian AT XI doesn't need another top order batsman, let alone one as stultifying as Kallis. There's a stack of players who do his job as well if not better with the bat - Smith, Ponting, Chappell, Border, Waugh to name just four I've seen play.There's no team in earth that would chose Keith Miller over Kallis as a top order test batsman.
Kallis is a much better fit in an Australian AT XI than Miller.
Who would you pick as the openers?The Australian AT XI doesn't need another top order batsman, let alone one as stultifying as Kallis. There's a stack of players who do his job as well if not better with the bat - Smith, Ponting, Chappell, Border, Waugh to name just four I've seen play.
In fact, the Aus AT XI probably doesn't need an all rounder either. If one gets in at all it would be a bowling AR like Davo or MIller but they'd bat at eight behind Gilchrist. Their bowling stats are good enough to make it (they average something like 20 and 23 respectively) and their batting is just a bonus. The middle order for an Aus AT team would likely be something like Bradman, Smith, then two of the likes of GChappell/ Ponting/ Border/ SWaugh/ Macartney/ Harvey/ McCabe/ AN Other followed by Gilchrist then Davo or Miller at eight, Warne nine, Lillee ten and McGrath eleven. TBH there's no point any other AT side bothering to walk on the park against it.
I agree an all rounder isn't needed in such a team, but Kallis would bring the flexibility of one while being just as good as Chappell and better than Waugh.The Australian AT XI doesn't need another top order batsman, let alone one as stultifying as Kallis. There's a stack of players who do his job as well if not better with the bat - Smith, Ponting, Chappell, Border, Waugh to name just four I've seen play.
In fact, the Aus AT XI probably doesn't need an all rounder either. If one gets in at all it would be a bowling AR like Davo or MIller but they'd bat at eight behind Gilchrist. Their bowling stats are good enough to make it (they average something like 20 and 23 respectively) and their batting is just a bonus. The middle order for an Aus AT team would likely be something like Bradman, Smith, then two of the likes of GChappell/ Ponting/ Border/ SWaugh/ Macartney/ Harvey/ McCabe/ AN Other followed by Gilchrist then Davo or Miller at eight, Warne nine, Lillee ten and McGrath eleven. TBH there's no point any other AT side bothering to walk on the park against it.
I don't think he could bowl pace in the 50s. That's still minority of career though.The only area I would push back is on the notion that the only only style of bowling Sobers was able to produce during his career was off spin. It was only the over the hand stuff where he was limited to just a few years