CW's Ranking of Opening Batsmen (Tests)

[Slifer]

On another note, happy birthday Gordon Greenidge

 

[gftw]

Morris - 2
Cook - 1
Hayden - 5

The List
1. Jack Hobbs
2. Len Hutton
3. Sunil Gavaskar
4. Herbert Sutcliffe
5. Geoffrey Boycott
6. Graeme Smith
7. Bob Simpson
8. Gordon Greenidge
9. Virender Sehwag
10. Barry Richards
11. Matthew Hayden

The vote for the #12 test opener of all-time begins now.

 

[trundler]

Lawry

 

[PlayerComparisons]

Cook

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Morris

 

[Bitmap]

Cook

 

[ataraxia]

Morris

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Gooch

 

[Lillian Thomson]

WG.Dickens.

 

[Bolo.]

It depends on whether you place more emphasis on better of greater.

There’s little doubt that Hayden is a greater test batsman than Richards because of his excellent Test record.

It's a test list.

Pretty much everyone believes Barry to be a better bat than Hayden, but Hayden is a greater test bat that Barry by an order of magnitude... at least.

 

[ImpatientLime]

Cook

 

[Line and Length]

Keep the votes coming for this and the next two openers. I need them for my XIs

 

[Line and Length]

Gooch

 

[CricAddict]

Gooch

 

[Gob]

Usman

 

[OverratedSanity]

Gooch

 

[Nikhil99.99]

A.R Morris

 

[harsh.ag]

Gooch

 

[Raz0r6ack]

Hayden couldn’t get into the Test side when Michael Slater was opening with Tubby Taylor, because the consensus was that Slater was the better batsman. At the time I tended to agree, and I still do.

Hayden did finally come good some time after Ambrose/Walsh retired, and then proceeded to make made his name against India.

But I’ve always felt that his over all technique is slightly inferior to Slater, Greenidge, Smith, Sehwag and Richards.

Matthew Hoggard and most quality swing bowlers would agree.

Hayden averaged nearly 60 in domestic first class cricket in Australia. Slater averaged 40. Slater was picked ahead of Hayden in 1993 on a hunch. Slater did well enough to not get dropped.

By the time Hayden debuted in 1994 he had played 45 odd games and was averaging 64 with 15 hundreds. He didn't get another shot for almost 3 years.

Once Hayden got an extended run in the lineup he reached heights that Slater never came close to reaching.

Between 2000 up until March 2008, Hayden scored more runs and more Test centuries then any other player in the world. Across a 8 year period.

In head to heads, Hayden outperformed Graeme Smith by miles. Both in South Africa and in Australia. An average of 47 vs 32.

In the ICC World XI vs Australia Test Match, Hayden scored a century and 70 odd in the second innings on a bowler friendly wicket. Sehwag scored 80 in the first dig. Smith failed both innings. Hayden was named man of the match.

As far as techniques go, did you not watch Graeme Smith vs bowlers like Mohammad Asif, Glenn McGrath and Zaheer Khan or watch Sehwag bat in South Africa, England or New Zealand? I just don't see how you could say they have better techniques.

 

[Line and Length]

I'm not intending to take over the running of this thread but, to retain interest, I think we need regular input. It's been 2 days since a vote or a comment and with 13 votes lodged (about the usual number) I think we can move on.
W.Lawry 1
A.Cook 3
A.Morris 3
G.Gooch 5
Usman Khawaja 1

Gooch becomes the 12th opener on our list.

The List
1. Jack Hobbs
2. Len Hutton
3. Sunil Gavaskar
4. Herbert Sutcliffe
5. Geoffrey Boycott
6. Graeme Smith
7. Bob Simpson
8. Gordon Greenidge
9. Virender Sehwag
10. Barry Richards
11. Matthew Hayden
12. Graham Gooch

Voting is now open for the 13th name on the list. Let's keep going at least until we have 20 names.