shortpitched713
International Captain
You're free to choose another year's filter, if you deem it more appropriate. To me, the game did undergo a great period of transition in the 70s, so that by the start of the 80s I am very confident that the games and players could be transported back and forth in time without too much culture shock (maybe helmets being an exception, but honestly think that's a bit overplayed on match impact, rare instances of extreme bodily harm notwithstanding).
But I couldn't pick a specific point in the 1970s as the "start" of the modern era, and also a 1970 start includes the entirety of the careers of Gavaskar, Richards, and the great allrounders as well (Imran, Hadlee, Botham, Dev), so that's why it's a convenient starting point for me, even though I know it's flawed and there's no "perfect" start point.
As a side note, I also think that the players of now are more skilled overall than in 1970 or 1980 or even from earlier more radically different eras, and that increase in skill progresses over time, in a subtle but real way. Ultimately, I find the comparison exercises a bit futile, as no one knows exactly how the whole time machine experiment would work, barring the invention of such a gadget, but I do have a strong suspicion of this general upward trend holding true.
