Aravinda De Silva vs Martin Crowe

[thierry henry]

I’m going to be controversial and say that Martin Crowe, like Victor Trumper, is slightly overrated. Like Trumper was for Australia, Crowe was arguably our most stylish batsman. Of that there is no argument.

But if we just look at the numbers, Crowe made a fair amount of his runs against sub-par teams: 299 vs Sri Lanka, 180-odd against Australia in the mid-80s. Those knocks were incredibly important, but I don’t think we should pretend that the era in question (1985-1995) was full of outstanding bowling attacks outside of the West Indies.

Doesn’t matter how strong the attacks were because did you know statistically Crowe was the best batsman in the world 1985-1995 anyway

 

[_Ed_]

But ....

Crowe's 1980s pre-grill fern-winged helmet was the best.

Google Image Result for https://www.cricketcountry.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/495460828.jpg

That is magnificent.

 

[Days of Grace]

Doesn’t matter how strong the attacks were because did you know statistically Crowe was the best batsman in the world 1985-1995 anyway

I'm not arguing that Crowe wasn't one of the best batsmen in the world between 1985 and 1995. That's a given. But, like any batsman, he made hay against some poor attacks.

 

[Prince Of Ceylon]

I’m going to be controversial and say that Martin Crowe, like Victor Trumper, is slightly overrated. Like Trumper was for Australia, Crowe was arguably our most stylish batsman. Of that there is no argument.

But if we just look at the numbers, Crowe made a fair amount of his runs against sub-par teams: 299 vs Sri Lanka, 180-odd against Australia in the mid-80s. Those knocks were incredibly important, but I don’t think we should pretend that the era in question (1985-1995) was full of outstanding bowling attacks outside of the West Indies.

Pakistan had a formidable bowling attack - Qadir, Waqr, Akram and Imran. AAustralia became better but I felt they were a solid side in the 80s

 

[Prince Of Ceylon]

Just wondering if there is anything De Silva is not the best at, apart from scoring runs of course?

Lol - I did allude to his Mad Max phase. I genuinely believe he was the best batsman against pace and some people feel that about Crowe. For the record Lara is the best player I've seen.

 

[Migara]

Crowe, Aravinda and Dean Jones were the first batsmen to decipher the revers swing. All three are very close in skill. Jones achieved most. Aravinda did more for the team. Crowe is in between.

 

[Migara]

Yeah that struck me odd as well when I first heard him say it. Going to look for where I heard him say it, but I think Sanga said he believed DeSilva would have had a better record than him if SL played more Tests during his career.

This is true. We lost a huge amount of tests during his first peak in 88 - 91 period, where he tore apart attacks even on foreign soils. Dozen more tests during that time would have pushed his test average to high 40s easily.

 

[Prince Of Ceylon]

Well thats not entirely his fault is it>? If those are the team line ups? Exactly what else could he do. The debate here is was he better than De sILVA. iMO both were class but De Silva was superior bcos he could make runs against the big boys for one.

 

[Anil]

two of my favorite players...hugely talented and stylish batsmen...crowe ahead of aravinda for me...but both were significant underachievers...after learning crowe is a right wing ****, he has lost some of his sheen for me in recent years though...

 

[Nikhil99.99]

crowe was better.Aravinda despite being a really good batsman wasn’t as good as Crowe.

 

[TheJediBrah]

after learning crowe is a right wing ****

*was

 

[Days of Grace]

Had no idea he was right-wing. He wasn’t afraid of stating his opinions and wearing heart on his sleeve. Any links?

 

[Fuller Pilch]

I’m going to be controversial and say that Martin Crowe, like Victor Trumper, is slightly overrated. Like Trumper was for Australia, Crowe was arguably our most stylish batsman. Of that there is no argument.

But if we just look at the numbers, Crowe made a fair amount of his runs against sub-par teams: 299 vs Sri Lanka, 180-odd against Australia in the mid-80s. Those knocks were incredibly important, but I don’t think we should pretend that the era in question (1985-1995) was full of outstanding bowling attacks outside of the West Indies.

Well he owned Wasim and Waqar in Pakistan in 1990 when they were ball tampering like crazy (so Chris Pringle copied) and destroying batting lineups. Wasim calls Crowe the best batsman he ever bowled to.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Crowe, Aravinda and Dean Jones were the first batsmen to decipher the revers swing. All three are very close in skill. Jones achieved most. Aravinda did more for the team. Crowe is in between.

Crowe achieved a lot more than Jones. Jones failed against the best bowlers (Windies and Hadlee).

 

[Fuller Pilch]

What does it mean to say someone is right wing? If someone is like Rodney Hide or David Seymour that's fine. If they are like Benito Mussolini or Hitler that's terrible. Likewise someone could be a nice left winger like Jim Anderton or Bernie Sanders (nice even if a bit deluded) or a murderous leftie nutter like Mugabe, Stalin, Pol Pot, or Mao.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

What does it mean to say someone is right wing?

It means they're a complete dumbass op

 

[Zinzan]

This is where I trot out the stat about Crowe being statistically the world’s best test batsman for the 1985-1995 decade

We*

 

[jcas0167]

I’m going to be controversial and say that Martin Crowe, like Victor Trumper, is slightly overrated. Like Trumper was for Australia, Crowe was arguably our most stylish batsman. Of that there is no argument.

But if we just look at the numbers, Crowe made a fair amount of his runs against sub-par teams: 299 vs Sri Lanka, 180-odd against Australia in the mid-80s. Those knocks were incredibly important, but I don’t think we should pretend that the era in question (1985-1995) was full of outstanding bowling attacks outside of the West Indies.

Who Crowe did very well against, no? He had a 188 in the Windies in 1985 and the two centuries and an 83 in the home series in 86/87.

One of the biggest wraps on Crowe comes from Wasim Akram who said he was the best player of reverse swing he came across.