Alastair Cook vs Michael Atherton

[Johan]

Better Batsmen against fast bowling?

 

[BazBall21]

Atherton. Home and away heroics v Donald&Pollock's SAF, very good v a decent seam attack in New Zealand, solid returns v a strong Australia before McGrath became elite.

 

[Johan]

Atherton. Home and away heroics v Donald&Pollock's SAF, very good v a decent seam attack in New Zealand, solid returns v a strong Australia before McGrath became elite.

also, a 510 runs from 9 inning series in Windies against 1994 Ambrose though had a stinker series against him as well also singlehandedly ruined Ambrose's retirement game.

 

[Sliferxxxx]

Atherton has to be one of the most unfortunate openers in cricket history.

 

[BazBall21]

also, a 510 runs from 9 inning series in Windies against 1994 Ambrose though had a stinker series against him as well also singlehandedly ruined Ambrose's retirement game.

Yeah the mid-90s was his peak. Cook was a better overall player but the lack of games in Asia coupled with so many tests v ATG quicks would leave him stranded.

 

[Johan]

Yeah the mid-90s was his peak. Cook was a better overall player but the lack of games in Asia coupled with so many tests v ATG quicks would leave him stranded.

I can't really see Cook averaging 40 in Atherton's shoes Yeah, only real ATGs he had to face he did horribly against and Atherton had to face better pacers regularly

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Some serious revisionism here. Atherton had some terrible technical flaws to the quicks that often saw him edging to the slips whilst squared up and facing directly down the wicket. His decent scores came despite that. Cook vastly superior for my money; I would have killed to have an opener like Cook instead of Atherton throughout the 90s.

 

[Johan]

Some serious revisionism here. Atherton had some terrible technical flaws to the quicks that often saw him edging to the slips whilst squared up and facing directly down the wicket.

this is true, but so does Cook, and at the end, Cook's output against the good pacers of his time is also kind of dissapointing.

 

[BazBall21]

Some serious revisionism here. Atherton had some terrible technical flaws to the quicks that often saw him edging to the slips whilst squared up and facing directly down the wicket. His decent scores came despite that. Cook vastly superior for my money; I would have killed to have an opener like Cook instead of Atherton throughout the 90s.

Cook had one good (and it was great) series v Australia, which also happened to be the mildest Australian attack he faced. He wasn't hopeless against them outside that and could be serviceable, but they consistently got the better of him. Fairly modest record v SA&NZ and struggled v Pakistan in 2010 which was a dangerous new ball pair in seam-friendly conditions. Ditto India in 2018.

Cook was a better overall player and excelled heavily at his strengths, but I think Atherton was a moderately better player of pace.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Cook was a better overall player and excelled heavily at his strengths, but I think Atherton was a moderately better player of pace.

Atherton had to continually fight against his technique against the pacers. For every 'success' against Donald, there was an embarrassment of dismissals against McGrath or Walsh or Ambrose. There were whole series in the 90s where I had to watch through my fingers as Atherton struggled against the new ball. Kudos to Atherton for his tenacity, but his weaknesses were glaring and exploited to a much broader extent.

 

[BazBall21]

Atherton had to continually fight against his technique against the pacers. For every 'success' against Donald, there was an embarrassment of dismissals against McGrath or Walsh or Ambrose. There were whole series in the 90s where I had to watch through my fingers as Atherton struggled against the new ball. Kudos to Atherton for his tenacity, but his weaknesses were glaring and exploited to a much broader extent.

So did Cook.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

So did Cook.

Not to anywhere near the extent that Atherton did. No way.

 

[BazBall21]

Not to anywhere near the extent that Atherton did. No way.

It appears that way because Cook played mostly in a far more forgiving era. He had a flawed technique just as Atherton did. Excessive weight on the front foot in his stance as the bowler came running in led to hanging back and struggling to get off the crease in a natural motion, a very late trigger made him vulnerable to well-directed pace and bounce, a heavy bottom hand grip hampered his off side game etc.

Better all round player than Atherton for sure, but he wouldn't have done great in the 90s either. His record v quality pace and the eye test both suggest that.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

One thing the two players had in common was that there was very little ability to rest either when out of form due to the paucity of alternative options. Cook has extended periods of poor form where he laboured under some of the issues you refer to - however, when he got his eye in he could look a darn sight more comfortable. Atherton's constraints whilst sometimes related to form, were also somewhat physical - there were extended lengths of time where even if he had scored runs, he still did not look comfortable against pace. Granted, this was often considerably better than the first half hour of any Atherton innings of the play and miss, the late pendulum of the bat inwards to evade the ball and the sheepish look to the bowlers end but having sat through heart palpitations due to both batsmen in this thread over a period of 20+ years then my categorical view is that Atherton brought me much closer to cardiac arrest than Cook.

 

[BazBall21]

Cook had a better scoring tempo which contributed to his effectiveness v middling attacks outside Asia and he was a far superior player of spin. Gun player in Asian conditions. But I don't think he would have done better than Atherton v the gun 90s attacks.

 

[subshakerz]

Atherton has to be one of the most unfortunate openers in cricket history.

He was solid against 2Ws, Donald and Ambrose Walsh, but I've never seen someone look so helpless as he did against McGrath.

 

[shortpitched713]

Cook easily, even though he's a posh **** and all that.