I think I’ll give him a pass on his initial tour of NZ when he was 19 similar to say, not judging Tendulkar’s teenage numbers too harshly.
Still, not including that he has two series and 8 matches, averaging 26.91 and 37.23.
He came into both series very much in form.
His 142 was on quite an easy pitch for batting, and he was also dropped on an easy chance apparently. Also, its a single innings out of 13. In the other 12 combined he scored 179. All in all I’d consider his record vs NZ a bit like Kohli’s series against NZ and Australia this year so far.
It is definitely a hole in his record. However much anyone wants to consider it in their rating of his batting is up to them, but denying that it exists is pure foolishness.
This has bothered me for a while, and because of laziness never took the 2 mins to check it.
Sobers played 7 matches over two tours to New Zealand.
In '56 he was a kid, still a bowling all rounder of sorts and on his first tour. Again, a batsman who never received any form of coaching until he got into the WI team as a teenager, and again as a spinner at that.
He was thrown by the conditions and never recovered that tour. Same way I give Imran a (deserved) pass for that first England tour, think we can do the same here. It's inconsequential.
The '69 tour came immediately (and I mean immediately, the first test started about week after the last Australian test finished) after al long and successful Australian tour where he had tests and a full f/c slate, where he shouldered a ridiculously heavy bowling load, even opening the bowling in some matches. That too on the heels of a full and heavy English county season.
After leaving Australia, he was in NZ within the week. For a tour against the weakest team and bowling of the era. So we look at exhaustion and if the now great man was even up for that "challenge"
NZ is inconsequential on his record
