Hashim Amla vs Graeme Smith

[PlayerComparisons]

Two modern SA greats

 

[BazBall21]

Amla is a very clear-cut winner here. He did better against Australia. He did better in Asia. He averaged more than Smith when he was the same age as Smith's retiring age, despite less padding against the uncompetitive bowling sides of his time. He has a much better record than Smith in relatively low-scoring games. This was all whilst being a no3 too, which heavily reduces Smith's disadvantage as an opener.

Amla eventually averaged a bit less than Smith because his natural decline coincided with a very tough batting era which exaceprated the hit his numbers took. Smith did not suffer this fate.

 

[PlayerComparisons]

Tough one. Smith did have the harder batting position and a better strike rate tho.

 

[Patience and Accuracy+Gut]

Amla. Had a Kohliesque decline in the end but was on verge of being ATG before that.

 

[sayon basak]

Graeme Smith

 

[Johan]

Amla.

better in Australia and India by far, better and more respectable home record, isn't far off in England at all.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Amla was better for me. The only reason Smith has a better looking overall average is because he retired early and Amla had a pretty prolonged decline in a bowler friendly era. Amla peaked higher too... from 2008 to 2014 or so, he was probably the most complete all conditions batsman in the world and was SA's most impactful batsman in virtually all their big away wins during that time. Smith was terrific but had way more obvious deficiencies as a batsman.

 

[DrWolverine]

Amla


Smith

 

[DrWolverine]

For reference

 

[Johan]

@sayon basak come over to the Amla side

 

[sayon basak]

@sayon basak come over to the Amla side

Smith≥Amla≈Hayden/Sehwag imo.

 

[Johan]

Smith≥Amla≈Hayden/Sehwag imo.

Amla was the best Batsmen of SA for a while though, and his record is a lot more balanced. also, Amla is way better than Sehwag lol

 

[OverratedSanity]

In my memory, there were very few people that thought Smith was better than Amla during the time their careers overlapped? Not that this should necessarily mean that it was the right opinion always but it's interesting how that can change just because one player retired and the other carried on and had a statistical decline.

 

[BazBall21]

Amla

 

[Coronis]

In my memory, there were very few people that thought Smith was better than Amla during the time their careers overlapped? Not that this should necessarily mean that it was the right opinion always but it's interesting how that can change just because one player retired and the other carried on and had a statistical decline.

I believe we are currently also seeing a similar trend with a certain player. Though the others haven’t retired yet. How long til Warner vs Kohli tho?

 

[Johan]

Amla didn't decline nearly enough to get under Smith, even at the end he had skill to work well on some true minefields and at his peak he was obviously a decisively superior Batsmen.

think Amla vs ABD is fairly good as a debate.

 

[Thala_0710]

I believe we are currently also seeing a similar trend with a certain player. Though the others haven’t retired yet. How long til Warner vs Kohli tho?

Debates in 2030 (if both retire now):
Labuschagne is surely a better bat than Virat Kohli. He avgs higher than Kohli whilst playing completely in a bowler friendly era. During the time they both played together, Labuschagne was miles better, Kohli just padded up his stats before on roads.

 

[Johan]

Debates in 2030 (if both retire now):
Labuschagne is surely a better bat than Virat Kohli. He avgs higher than Kohli whilst playing completely in a bowler friendly era. During the time they both played together, Labuschagne was miles better, Kohli just padded up his stats before on roads.

@Narayana tier

 

[sayon basak]

@Narayana tier

Don't give him ideas.

 

[Johan]

though, with someone like Smith, his batting wasn't even that overrated back when he was playing, his captaincy was always praised but he was not viewed as Amla tier, who was marked down as a future ATG just as much as Kohli was, until the 2015 India series.