Johan
State Vice-Captain
He is better than two there, and it's obvious which two
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Where will Steve Smith end up being ranked?
- Thread starter subshakerz
- Start date
Well that's your opinion. Having seen Chappell, Ponting and Smith play for most of their careers I'll stick with my choice
Johan
State Vice-Captain
fair enough Ig
sayon basak
International Debutant
Smith for Ponting if he doesn't face a similar downfall.
This really grinds my gears. Why are people not able to acknowledge that elite players get old and their eyes and reflexes suffer. ATG players should never be judged on their last years just because they chose to play on when technically past it.
Ricky Ponting, Viv Richards and Ian Botham would be rated 3 of the greatest players ever, except people just seem to look at their final stats after playing years too long destroying their averages
sayon basak
International Debutant
What if someone produces ATG performances in those last years? Should we completely overlook that? Shouldn't he be rated even higher as he overcame those limitations?
Johan
State Vice-Captain
Botham fell off very early tbh
sayon basak
International Debutant
Maybe he aged a bit early.
Doesn't change how great he was before he got too fat
Johan
State Vice-Captain
he got fat in 85-86 now?
sayon basak
International Debutant
If a player gets fat, it's a "him" problem.
Here's an example. People are fanboying over how much of an ATG Bumrah already is.
Bumrah has 41 Tests, 181 wkts @ 20.06, 11 5fers, 0 10fers
Botham at 41 Tests, 202 wkts @ 21.20, 17 5fers and 4 10fers. He also had 1977 runs @ 32.40 with 8 centuries
You tell me who should be considered greater?
Bumrah has 41 Tests, 181 wkts @ 20.06, 11 5fers, 0 10fers
Botham at 41 Tests, 202 wkts @ 21.20, 17 5fers and 4 10fers. He also had 1977 runs @ 32.40 with 8 centuries
You tell me who should be considered greater?
sayon basak
International Debutant
Don't think a lot of people rates Bumrah ahead of Botham as an overall cricketer yet.
But, if Bumrah continues like this, he definitely should be.
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
Why not? Smith is the top bat of his era and doesn't have the weaknesses that Lara has but does have his strength in terms of ATG series.
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
Peak Viv was better.
kyear2
International Coach
Yeah, people forget what Ponting's comparable averages were before his decline.
If I recall correctly he was in the 60's, and absolutely brutal.
kyear2
International Coach
I agree, but not an argument I want to engage in.
Ponting only topped 60 average in one innings from memory but definitely Ponting and Viv were thought of as brutal high 50's batting gods for most of their career, nothing like their low 50's averages they ended up with because of age
At 35 it's all down hill for Smith from here. Even now at the same number of innings Smith averages 56.40 whereas Ponting was averaging 58.72
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Arachnödouche2.0
School Boy/Girl Cricketer
A career has to be judged wholly and bookends absolutely matter. There's no maturing on the job or a romantic walk into the sunset in international sport; every time you flop your team suffers, regardless of whether you've barely sprouted pubes or have old shriveled prunes for balls. Having said that, Smith slots in nicely between Sachin and Lara; makes me retch a little to say it but the guy did monumental things in his pomp.