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Best cricketer right now.

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
FaaipDeOiad said:
If your motivation for not wanting Lee to succeed is based on being an England fan, I can understand that, but that wasn't my assumption at first as you rarely seem that motivated to have England win.
Let me assure you, I enjoy any England triumph as much as the next fan - and other teams' I like, too.
I just don't make the song-and-dance so many do.
Lee's 29 actually, and I'd say given the fact that he is a supremely fit cricketer (in fact I'd say he's close to the fittest guy in the sport, all things considered) he's got at least 2 or 3 years at the top level pace wise before the inevitable decline. Then there's the question of whether he'll become a Lillee or a Donald in terms of losing his pace, of course.

Either way, Lee's a guy I've admired for a long time because of his attitude towards the game and his obvious talent and dedication, so I'm very happy to see him succeed. He's pretty well liked in England anyway, so far as I'm aware.
Oh, yes, but he wouldn't have been if he'd helped Austalia win The Ashes. England always likes a gallant loser, and Lee played that part pretty well.
I'd say with his action (most bowlers whose action has been cut-and-thrust rather than metronome have fallen-off in the early rather than mid-late 30s - Donald being one) he'd probably not make much dent past 32-33.
Isn't Lee's 30th before too long?
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
BoyBrumby said:
played the game in the right way.
You seem far too much concerned with that! :p
As long as you don't cheat, IMO you're playing the game the right way.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
PY said:
Seems pretty good-natured too with his beaming smile about the field.
I've a huge amount of like for Adam Gilchrist as a person and cricketer - think he plays the game as well as anyone - but it doesn't stop me being hurt when he pulverises attacks.
Incredibly nice guy (and we're constantly assured McGrath and Langer are, too - doesn't stop them being two of the biggest sledgers of all) but that doesn't often affect me when the bat and ball are in hand.
 

Dick Rockett

International Vice-Captain
Richard said:
It doesn't matter - the comparison wasn't similaic, it was metaphoric.
You said something about me that's said in the story of Mr. Uppity. You don't need to have seen the video to say what you said.
I could continue to argue semantics with you, but it's pointless.
Richard said:
They're one and the same.
Clearly I had not consulted Lee's strike-rate in the year 2005, and suggested it was something it was not.
That's better!
 

Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
Richard said:
Is it really likely I'd write anything if I didn't think it was right?
If you "laugh and smack your forehead" that's up to you - but really, that's a bit pointless from where I'm sitting. Why not actually reply, and suggest why you find it so uproarious?
Because I can crap on dear Richard, and you've proven without a doubt that you can too. The point I was making is that, if so many people react toward a comment you say, it's wiser to revise yourself than to keep making such generalisations over and over again. If anything, learn to be wrong.

I have two quotes for you:

“Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything. 14% of people know that.” - Homer Simpson

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
KaZoH0lic said:
I have two quotes for you:

“Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything. 14% of people know that.” - Homer Simpson

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle
In any case 93.476 % of all stats are made on the spot :)
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
You mean as of close of play yesterday evening, right ?

You realise the greatest could change tomorrow ?
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Pedro Delgado said:
Shoaib Malik :)
Exactly.

In three years I have seen the greatest batsman in the world title swing between Waugh, Lara, Tendulkar,Hayden, Ponting and even touched Kallis, Dravid, Inzemam.

Current form, seems to heavily influence people. maybe our great grand children will look at today's cricketers more objectively than we are able to.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
I'd say all of those players (or at least most of them) have been able to claim the best batsman in the world title at one time or another, though. There's no doubt at all in the minds of most that Ponting is the top batsman in world cricket based on the last 6-12 months, while before that it was probably Dravid, go back a bit further and it might have been Lara, before that Hayden, and so on.

It helps of course to have a reasonable definition of "now". The best batsmen in the world yesterday was obviously Malik, but if you were to judge across the last week you'd have to throw Sangakkara and Ponting in to the mix. ;)
 

Matt79

Hall of Fame Member
FaaipDeOiad said:
Yeah, Lee didn't have a particularly great 2005, although I don't think it was as crap as people make out either. Basically he had an up and down Ashes where he was occasionally very good (Lords, day 3 at Edgbaston, day 5 at Old Trafford etc) and occasionally extremely poor (day 1 at Edgbaston, and he fell to bits on the final day at The Oval as well). It's a bit simplistic to say his Ashes was rubbish because he averaged 40, because going into the last test his average for the series was 32 or so, which is about par in a fairly high scoring series, certainly not shocking. It declined badly when Pieteresen belted him, but it's worth keeping in mind that Lee could have had Pietersen out a few times earlier in that day. I don't actually disagree with your criticism of him in the year as a whole, but it's pretty dumb to make a series of complaints and just move on to something new when someone contradicts you, and it doesn't make people very inclined to hear your opinions.

On the subject of Lee generally, after the Ashes he had a poor Super Series and with Australia dismantling their team he sought some help from a few people, mainly Mark Taylor, and made a big deal about reviewing his approach to bowling in test cricket, concentrating more on line and length and so on. Since then he's taken 42 wickets @ 24.19 in 8 tests, with an economy rate of 3.17 and a strike rate of 45.86. Not dominant or anything, but solid figures against some decent opposition all-round. More importantly, he's actually deserved the wickets and bowled extremely well for them, and if anything been a little unlucky, particularly in the MCG and SCG tests against south Africa. He's turned a pretty big corner I think, and if he keeps it up (which obviously he might not), he'll be a class bowler in the future.
And recently he's done it without McGrath bowling at the other end.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Because in the last two weeks, Flintoff has surpassed even his own previous high standards of performance with mature batting (he finished with a series average which was double his entire amount of runs on his last visit to Indis), excellent bowling that his figures (which are good anyway) do not reflect, and solid leadership, everyone "in the know" has always said Strauss will be Vaughan's successor, but it seems unanimous now that if Vaughan were to retire or step down, Flintoff should succeed him.

I am biased, but for me Andrew Flintoff is the best cricketer in the world, and is giving himself all-time great status. I believe only injury could possibly stop him getting even better.
:( How unfortunately right you were! And how unwittingly you foresaw some of the problems!
 

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