bagapath
International Captain
not taking anything away from barry richards but it is one thing to assume that a terrific first class cricketer would have succeeded in test cricket and a totally different thing to say a 4 test wonder would have been better than someone who scored 10000 runs in tests. not that you said it explicitly but i kind of got that sense from your post. i know it is not richards' fault that SA got banned from international cricket; and it is most definitely not sunil gavaskar's fault either. as a test opener sunny should only be compared with trumper, hobbs, sutcliffe, hutton, boycott, greenidge, hayden, sehwag and smith. there are many other good/very good openers other than these but they were either not good enough for comparison with gavaskar or didnt play enough to be judged properly; barry richards belongs there.I'm convinced that he was clearly a greater batsman than Gavaskar, since he was at least as sound technically and a much more brilliant strokeplayer as well. Richards did not have the chance to demonstrate this in Test cricket, and as such is rarely mentioned when openers for various all-time teams are chosen.
g.pollock is a different case though. played 20 odd tests, scored 2000 plus runs and seven centuries at a 60+ avg over 5+ years of international cricket. surely one of the best middle order bats of all time. still i dont believe most of the cricket fraternity would rate him above sobers and lara. CMJ's list is one useful example.
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