DoG's Top 100 Test Batsmen Countdown Thread

[Burgey]

Lame Larkins should be somewhere in the reckoning. So could Chris Pale and Bill Yawny.

Maybe do your own list then.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Simon Dull takes the cake.

 

[Days of Grace]

No.10

Viv Richards (West Indies) 866

Quality Points: 794
Career Points: 72

Career/Runs: 1974-1991, 8540 (rank 20)

Overall average/Runs per innings/Strike-rate: 49.18 (50.24) 45.94 (46.92) 67.74 (68.67) (rank 17)
50 Innings Peak Average/Runs per innings/Strike-rate (1976-1981): 71.13 68.29 64.90 (rank 2)
Non-Home Average/Runs per innings/Strike-rate: 49.46 46.02 70.01 (rank 10)
Quality Opposition Average/Runs per innings/Strike-rate: 47.16 44.99 68.46 (rank 29)

Like his great rival Dennis Lillee, Vivian Richards came to us in full color on our TV screens, an ultra aggressive batsman of the new age. At his peak, he combined violent stroke play and intimidation with a solid technique, rendering most bowlers around the world helpless. From 1976 to 1981 he was peerless, and he has the highest peak of anyone not named Bradman. That he was unable to sustain this peak and seemed to lose his patience (his strike-rate grew as his average dropped in the 1980s) means that he finishes at the bottom of the top 10. His career resembled Neil Harvey's and Denis Compton's: A stupendous beginning followed by a slow decline with occasional flashes of the old brilliance. But we remember cricketers like Viv Richards because of their peak years. Meanwhile, the various bowlers of the late 1970s might still be having nightmares.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohVumqPnCTc

 

[Logan]

The King has arrived

 

[sunilz]

The Original Master Blaster.

 

[trundler]

Bradman is #1 on the peak measure? Thanks for the spoiler, DoG!

 

[stephen]

A well earned top 10 appearance for the master blaster. One would love to see him with a modern bat, especially in the L/O formats. Would break records for how far a ball can be hit.

 

[ataraxia]

Richards below Barrington is proof that test stats are not the full story, even in a ranking system built for avoidance of this.

 

[stephen]

One of my first ever memories was of the West Indies touring in the late 80s. Viv was probably alongside Garner as one of the first two overseas players I could recognise and name (I'd have been 4 or 5 years old at the time). It was amazing watching them clinically dismantle us at the time.

 

[sunilz]

I simply can't accept Sangakkara is a better test batsman than Viv Richards. Statistical analysis have their limitations. They are not even marginally close.

 

[Coronis]

Wouldn’t quite have him this high, but an impressive batsman nonetheless, such aggressiveness held him in good stead here.

 

[harsh.ag]

Glad he got into the top 10. It shows how good this ranking system is imo

 

[stephen]

I simply can't accept Sangakkara is a better test batsman than Viv Richards. Statistical analysis have their limitations. They are not even marginally close.

Statistically Sangakkara was way better than a lot of batsmen who I rate higher than him. He was a statistical beast of a batsman and I really loved watching him bat. But he was helped out by playing in Asia a lot on surfaces that really only offered something for spinners which he ate for breakfast.

 

[trundler]

There's no objective reason why someone who eats pacers for breakfast is preferable to someone who eats spinners for breakfast though. I know which I'd prefer to have in my team though.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Sanga was a better player of pace than spin so you're both wrong

 

[OverratedSanity]

Some of the shots in this video...

 

[trundler]

Sanga was a better player of pace than spin so you're both wrong

My general point stands regardless though.

 

[Days of Grace]

Unfortunately there are no points for box office and charisma. The strike-rate measure tries to cover that but ultimately is just another quantitative measure.

 

[sunilz]

Sangakkara has total 5 century in AUS, SA, ENG and IND. One can also say that a major reason for this is that he played less test in these countries. In this regard he is similar to Greg Chappell although Sangakkara didn't pick and choose tours. However his CV is not of a top 10 test batsman.

 

[ataraxia]

Sangakkara has total 5 century in AUS, SA, ENG and IND. One can also say that a major reason for this is that he played less test in these countries. In this regard he is similar to Greg Chappell although Sangakkara didn't pick and choose tours. However his CV is not of a top 10 test batsman.

Sunilz what is your top 10/15 of test batsmen? Genuinely curious.