Best Players of a particular shot...

[vic_orthdox]

When the 'keeper's standing up to a medium-pacer and a short ball arrives, the batsman leans back and lifts the ball directly over the 'keeper's head for four, or more often six. Trescothick plays it when he's playing aggressively, as do players like Stuart Law and occasionally Gilchrist, I think.

Douglas Marillier. First I saw to play it, and did it off McGrath, no less, for fun in an ODI at Perth.

 

[ramkumar_gr]

Douglas Marillier. First I saw to play it, and did it off McGrath, no less, for fun in an ODI at Perth.

he scored a fifty against India and in that inning, he scored most of his runs in a similiar fashion.

 

[Zinzan]

I'm keeping it to current players cos otherwise the list becomes pretty meaningless. I'll go clockwise around the field....

Straight Drive: Tendulkar bar none. When he plays that shot, the bat just stops DEAD. No follow through whatsoever, and it just looks so damn brilliant.
Lofted Shot over the bowlers head: Not sure about this one. Maybe Hayden, Cairns....
Front foot Cover Drive: Lara, Michael Vaughan
Back Foot Cover drive: Tendulkar. His shot against Wasim Akram in the 2003 World Cup was HEAVENLY.
Lofted Cover Drive: Andrew Symonds. I once remember Fleming placing 3 fielders at extra cover to block this shot from Symonds.
Square Drive: Lara for flair, Justin Langer for effectiveness, Sourav Ganguly for majestic ease.
Cut: Adam Gilchrist. No contest.
Late Cut: Damien Martyn.
Uppercut over Third Man: Virender Sehwag.
Single down to Third Man: Kallis. He's got a really unique style of playing this shot which means he never gets caught behind playing it.
Reverse Sweep: Andy Flower first, second, third.....99th.....
Forward Defence: Kallis. Technically perfect and so good to watch.
Backfoot Defense: Martyn. Beaaauuuuuuutiful and so pure.
Ducking against bouncers Tendulkar. Just makes it look so easy.
Paddle Sweep: Tendulkar.
Normal Sweep: Hayden.
Slog Sweep: Steve Waugh.
'Ramp': Douglas Marrilier, Brendon McCullum
Back-Foot Leg Glance: Laxman
Back Foot Leg side 'Noodle and Nudge' Justin Langer and Graeme Smith
Front-foot flick to Square Leg: Tendulkar
Pick-up shot over square leg: Jayasuriya
Hook Shot: Ponting
Pull shot: Ponting
Drag from outside the off stump over midwicket: Gibbs
'Cow Corner' shot: Abdul Razzaq
On-drive through midwicket: Laxman

As for other miscellanous stuff....

Best all around the field lofted shot player: Gilchrist
Best footwork against spinners: Lara
Biggest 'BOOOOOM' factor: Chris Cairns
Best baseball slog: Brett Lee
Forward Defensive against spinners: Jason Gillespie. Damn he's annoying........

Straight Drive V Richards, S Fleming, M Crowe, S Tendulkar,
Lofted Shot over the bowlers head: V Richards, C Cairns
Front foot Cover Drive: M Crowe, Vaughan, Attapatu,
Back Foot Cover drive: Andrew Jones (anyone remember his cracking backfoot drives??), D Martyn, Laxman
Lofted Cover Drive: Andrew Symonds.B McCullum, Sehwag, Jayasuria
Square Drive: Justin Langer, Sangakara, S Anwar, Jayasuria
Cut: Adam Gilchrist, G Greenige
Late Cut: Damien Martyn, B Lara
Uppercut over Third Man: Virender Sehwag. B Mccullum
Single down to Third Man: Ponting, Kallis
Reverse Sweep: Andy Flower,
Forward Defence: Kallis, Crowe, M Waugh
Backfoot Defense: Martyn, G Chappell
Ducking against bouncers Tendulkar,
Paddle Sweep: Tendulkar,
Normal Sweep: Hayden.
Slog Sweep: Steve Waugh.
'Ramp': Douglas Marrilier, Brendon McCullum
Back-Foot Leg Glance: Laxman, M Waugh
Back Foot Leg side 'Noodle and Nudge' Justin Langer and Graeme Smith, Ponting
Front-foot flick to Square Leg: Tendulkar
Pick-up shot over square leg: Jayasuriya, Ponting
Hook Shot: Ponting, Richards
Pull shot: Ponting, Crowe, Gibbs
Drag from outside the off stump over midwicket: Gibbs, Gilchrist
'Cow Corner' shot: Abdul Razzaq,
On-drive through midwicket: Laxman

Best all around the field lofted shot player: Gilchrist
Best footwork against spinners: Lara,
Biggest 'BOOOOOM' factor: Chris Cairns, A Flintoff, Richards
Best baseball slog: Brett Lee, L Vincent
Forward Defensive against spinners:

To add....

Best at leaving outside off stump.......M Richarson, J Kallis
Best at give slips catching practise........C Mcmillian

 

[King_Ponting]

From the players i've watched :

Cover Drive Front foot : Lara, Dravid,Vaughan ( from what i am told, Sobers was an exponent of this shot)

Cover Drive backfoot : Sachin, Dravid ( i am told that Lawrence Rowe was a master at this shot)

Cut Shot: Shewag, Gillchrist, Jayasurya, Greenidge
Pull / Hook : Alvin Kallicharan, Roy Fredericks, Gary Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Sachin,Viv ( oddly enough, there have been quite a few players who've been exemplary hook players and pullers and IMO, the West Indies batsmen in general were the best at this shot)

Leg glance : Laxman, Greg Chappell, Azharuddin

On Drive: Sachin, Viv,Gavaskar ( I am told that Sobers played this shot excellently)

Off drive: Sachin, Greg Chappell, Rahul Dravid,Matty Hayden, Lara,Miandad

Sweep: Lara, Zaheer Abbass, Miandad
Slog Sweep: Lehmann,Gillchrist
Paddle sweep: Tendulkar
General Slog over midwicket: Gilchrist, Jayasurya
Best footwork to spinners: Lara, Sidhu,Gavaskar,Zaheer Abbass
Square Drive: Martyn, Dravid, Greenidge,Haynes,Lloyd
Short Arm Jab: Sachin, Chanderpaul,Border,Viv,Laxman
Straight sixes and lofted drives: Sachin(for straight sixes), Viv
Late cut: Gundappa Vishwanath, Kim Hughes,Lawrence Rowe ( i was told that the best practitioner of this art, by far, was Frank Worrell)

Tendulkar a better puller than ponting???? pffft lay off the drugs mate

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

I'm keeping it to current players cos otherwise the list becomes pretty meaningless. I'll go clockwise around the field....

Straight Drive: Tendulkar bar none. When he plays that shot, the bat just stops DEAD. No follow through whatsoever, and it just looks so damn brilliant.
Lofted Shot over the bowlers head: Not sure about this one. Maybe Hayden, Cairns....
Front foot Cover Drive: Lara, Michael Vaughan
Back Foot Cover drive: Tendulkar. His shot against Wasim Akram in the 2003 World Cup was HEAVENLY.
Lofted Cover Drive: Andrew Symonds. I once remember Fleming placing 3 fielders at extra cover to block this shot from Symonds.
Square Drive: Lara for flair, Justin Langer for effectiveness, Sourav Ganguly for majestic ease.
Cut: Adam Gilchrist. No contest.
Late Cut: Damien Martyn.
Uppercut over Third Man: Virender Sehwag.
Single down to Third Man: Kallis. He's got a really unique style of playing this shot which means he never gets caught behind playing it.
Reverse Sweep: Andy Flower first, second, third.....99th.....
Forward Defence: Kallis. Technically perfect and so good to watch.
Backfoot Defense: Martyn. Beaaauuuuuuutiful and so pure.
Ducking against bouncers Tendulkar. Just makes it look so easy.
Paddle Sweep: Tendulkar.
Normal Sweep: Hayden.
Slog Sweep: Steve Waugh.
'Ramp': Douglas Marrilier, Brendon McCullum
Back-Foot Leg Glance: Laxman
Back Foot Leg side 'Noodle and Nudge' Justin Langer and Graeme Smith
Front-foot flick to Square Leg: Tendulkar
Pick-up shot over square leg: Jayasuriya
Hook Shot: Ponting
Pull shot: Ponting
Drag from outside the off stump over midwicket: Gibbs
'Cow Corner' shot: Abdul Razzaq
On-drive through midwicket: Laxman

As for other miscellanous stuff....

Best all around the field lofted shot player: Gilchrist
Best footwork against spinners: Lara
Biggest 'BOOOOOM' factor: Chris Cairns
Best baseball slog: Brett Lee
Forward Defensive against spinners: Jason Gillespie. Damn he's annoying........

That's a superb list, and I struggle to disagree with any of it. Pietersen is worth of mention for the "drag from outside off over midwicket" shot though, as he can't play too well through the off-side he does that a lot, very effectively.

 

[Jono]

LOL @ Noodle and nudge. Great list Toecrusher. Really excellent.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Best at give slips catching practise........C Mcmillian

You could also name him for "best at stuffing up embarassingly against Shane Warne. that moment on the last tour where he got out to Warne was just awful. I felt sorry for the guy.

Warne beat him several times and McMillan was totally on the defensive, then Warne bowled a "hit me" full toss and McMillan blocked it, and Warne laughed at him. Then the next ball was a mile wide of leg stump and doing nothing, and McMillan turned to square leg to face the ball, and blocked it with the face of his bat straight to short-leg.

Then again, Cullinan was pretty good at stuffing up against Warne as well.

 

[Beleg]

Two people I want to mention who IMO played the pull better than both Tendulkar and Ponting.

Arvinda De Silva and Viv Richards

The 'stuffing up most embarassingly to Shane Warne' award goes to Darrell Cullinan.

 

[luckyeddie]

Steve Waugh invented the slog sweep so he's gotta be no. 1

Didn't watch Rohan Kanhai - or even Basharat Hassan?

 

[Chubb]

or even Basharat Hassan?

Is that Basher Hassan who played for Notts or someone else?

 

[howardj]

Forward defence: Kallis
Pull shot: Ponting
Cut shot: Gilchrist
Cover drive: Vaughan
Tuck off the hip: Langer
Backfoot slash: Lara
On-drive: Tendulkar

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Two people I want to mention who IMO played the pull better than both Tendulkar and Ponting.

Arvinda De Silva and Viv Richards

The 'stuffing up most embarassingly to Shane Warne' award goes to Darrell Cullinan.

No way in the world Aravinda played the pull shot better than Ponting, as far as I'm concerned. Viv, of course, has a case, but only because he's the most complete attacking batsman in cricket history.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Here's another one:

Stepping outside off and paddling rubbish Bangladeshi seamers through fine leg repeatedly for 4: Strauss.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

The 'stuffing up most embarassingly to Shane Warne' award goes to Darrell Cullinan.

I disagree. I'd say it's Mark Ramprakash, and all because of "that shot" from the 2001 Ashes.

 

[simmy]

Lehmann no longer plays International cricket but he has a good case... I would still go for Gilly.

Vaughan's looks one of the best if not the best but I don't think it's as effective as some people think and it gets him out a fair bit.

Vaughan's pull shot (the one leg lift over midwicket thing he does) is also a treat to watch... but giving the "pull" to Ponting is more than fair.

As for "the off side".. Jayasuria is stupidly powerful... but alas.. now he is an EXplayer!

 

[superkingdave]

I disagree. I'd say it's Mark Ramprakash, and all because of "that shot" from the 2001 Ashes.

what about Gojo's effort at Trent Bridge?

 

[simmy]

Forward defence: Kallis
Pull shot: Ponting
Cut shot: Gilchrist
Cover drive: Vaughan
Tuck off the hip: Langer
Backfoot slash: Lara
On-drive: Tendulkar

Cant see how Langer is better than about 15 of the Asian batsmen!

Also, Gilchrist has no real control over his cut.. just slashes hard... plus have you seen where his hand are held on the bat?!?! You cant really call it a cut shot as much as a swish outside the off stump.

For me, Tendulkar and Strauss have the two best cut shots.

 

[SquidAU]

Mark Waugh's leg glance........he just caresses(?) it to the boundary

 

[Eclipse]

Cant see how Langer is better than about 15 of the Asian batsmen!

Also, Gilchrist has no real control over his cut.. just slashes hard... plus have you seen where his hand are held on the bat?!?! You cant really call it a cut shot as much as a swish outside the off stump.

For me, Tendulkar and Strauss have the two best cut shots.

Umm Gilchrsit has very good controll over his cut shots, yes he hits them hard but he places them exeptionaly well and or though they often go close to the fieldsman in the air he doesn't get cought there much at all these days. or though he used to.

He scores more runs of the cut than both those players.

 

[GotSpin]

Mark Waugh's leg glance........he just caresses(?) it to the boundary

beat me