Usman Khawaja vs Justin Langer vs David Warner vs Mark Taylor?

[Tejretics]

Curious who you think the better opener for Australia was!

 

[Nintendo]

I voted usman on gut instinct but hard to split them looking at statsguru.

Warner definitely the worst. Good player but his home away split is bad. Taylor has similar numbers to Warner on paper, but upon deeper inspection all of his Cricket came in the 90's where batting was hard as it gets. Also averages 45 home and away. Warner's home numbers are nice but I prefer a player who's a consistent top tier opener no matter the conditions.

Usman has nearly 3000 runs @54 and a wonderful home/away split despite playing most of his opening innings post 2016 when batting conditions got harder globally, but he's got less than half the runs Taylor and langer do. Hard to call him the undisputed best on 33 tests.

Langer averages 48.5 opening and has a good home/away split and twice the runs usman has, but he also only opened post 2000's in a batting friendly era.

I think you either need to look at some more in-depth numbers that I can't be ****ed searching up, or wait for usmans career to finish to see if his average drops off a bit. Usman was way below his best last home summer and in the recent NZ tour. If that drops off for another year we have a very different discussion.

TLR Taylor=Usman=Langer>Warner

 

[Coronis]

atm probably Usman>=Langer=Taylor>Warner

I do find it hard to rate current players but yeah. Langer I may be slightly biased to over Taylor since I was 4 when Taylor retired and grew up on Langer.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Hate to say it, but probably Warner

Objectively speaking the best, I expect he'll be considered the worst on Cricket web where we fetishize away records to an absurd degree and disregard incredible home records as if they're worth less

My heart says Langer though

 

[honestbharani]

Watson
Katich

 

[Coronis]

Hate to say it, but probably Warner

Objectively speaking the best, I expect he'll be considered the worst on Cricket web where we fetishize away records to an absurd degree and disregard incredible home records as if they're worth less

My heart says Langer though

Look I actually really like Warner, he’s a **** sure, but the kind of **** I kinda like fsr.

But I’m dropping the bloke unless we’re playing in Australia or South Africa, and that’s just not good enough compared to the rest of these guys.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Look I actually really like Warner, he’s a **** sure, but the kind of **** I kinda like fsr.

But I’m dropping the bloke unless we’re playing in Australia or South Africa, and that’s just not good enough compared to the rest of these guys.

You're not wrong, but more than half the games are in Australia or South Africa, where he's the best of the bunch. Have to think logically

 

[Nintendo]

You're not wrong, but more than half the games are in Australia or South Africa, where he's the best of the bunch. Have to think logically

He's not that much better than them in those games though. Taylor averages 45 in AUS, langer and uzzie average 50. Ide rather have that gap at home then Warner's averaging 31 the other half the time vs Taylor at 45, langer at 47 and usman at 54.

 

[BazBall21]

Langer I think.

 

[TheJediBrah]

He's not that much better than them in those games though. Taylor averages 45 in AUS, langer and uzzie average 50. Ide rather have that gap at home then Warner's averaging 31 the other half the time vs Taylor at 45, langer at 47 and usman at 54.

Average isn't the be all and end all. Warner in Aus ended games in a session, destroyed opposition morale and tore plans asunder. And on the flatter wickets, scoring faster is very important in getting results

 

[Socerer 01]

He's not that much better than them in those games though. Taylor averages 45 in AUS, langer and uzzie average 50. Ide rather have that gap at home then Warner's averaging 31 the other half the time vs Taylor at 45, langer at 47 and usman at 54.

i would go for Khawaja if he stays on current pace for the next 2-3 years but till then its probably either Warner or Taylor

 

[social]

Easy to pick holes in most people’s records including Taylor

England were generally poor when he played, best record is against Pakistan and that’s owed to one innings on a road, failed against SA, barely played against India etc

Warner is a better player than Tubby

 

[Nintendo]

Average isn't the be all and end all. Warner in Aus ended games in a session, destroyed opposition morale and tore plans asunder. And on the flatter wickets, scoring faster is very important in getting results

If this is an aus all time side you've most likely got Gilchrist at 7 and some kind of faster scoring middle order 5/6 like miller or chappell. You've also got Bradman at 3 who had a test Sr of 70 from memory. If you need to score fast to ensure a result, those guys should be more than enough.

 

[HouHsiaoHsien]

Khawaja. Excellent away tours of Ind and Eng in recent times. I hope he ends as better than Hayden

 

[Coronis]

If this is an aus all time side you've most likely got Gilchrist at 7 and some kind of faster scoring middle order 5/6 like miller or chappell. You've also got Bradman at 3 who had a test Sr of 70 from memory. If you need to score fast to ensure a result, those guys should be more than enough.

fwiw, ATG Australian middle order contenders by SR:

Bradman 61.0
Ponting 58.72
Smith 53.50
Chappell 51
Waugh 48.64
Miller 43
Border 41.0

Warner struck at 70, Viv at 69, Trumper at 67 and Hayden at 60, for reference.

 

[trundler]

fwiw, ATG Australian middle order contenders by SR:

Bradman 61.0
Ponting 58.72
Smith 53.50
Chappell 51
Waugh 48.64
Miller 43
Border 41.0

Warner struck at 70, Viv at 69, Trumper at 67 and Hayden at 60, for reference.

Any idea what Ponsford, Lawry and Morris struck at?

 

[capt_Luffy]

Any idea what Ponsford, Lawry and Morris struck at?

Ponsford - 46
Morris - 42
Lawry - 39

Based on the calculations by Charles Davies I believe. Coronis had posted them before.

 

[Coronis]

Speaking of Ponsford.. does anyone know if he was an opener in FC and pushed down to middle order at times in tests or what? His timeline (similar to Trumpers) doesn’t line up with a switch between opening and middle order batting - though of course they are opposite, Ponsford was much more successful opening than in the middle order.

 

[trundler]

Speaking of Ponsford.. does anyone know if he was an opener in FC and pushed down to middle order at times in tests or what? His timeline (similar to Trumpers) doesn’t line up with a switch between opening and middle order batting - though of course they are opposite, Ponsford was much more successful opening than in the middle order.

He formed a famous partnership with Woodfull for Victoria too. Was a regular opener in FC. His middle order stint seems to have come early on in his career when Australia had 2 established openers in Collins and Bardsley already.

 

[BazBall21]

Ponsford very good at going big, a bully v spinners, and seemed more vulnerable against pace. Would have enjoyed the 2000s subcontinent.