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Is Viv Richards an Overrated Test Batsman?

Burgey

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Ya, Any side with Hadlee in full cry is a challenge for any batsman.
They were a good side back then for certain. That serries out here in 85-86 when Hadlee took his 9-fer also saw Martin Crowe and John Reid make some big runs. They were a more than decent side.
 

robelinda

International Vice-Captain
They were a good side back then for certain. That serries out here in 85-86 when Hadlee took his 9-fer also saw Martin Crowe and John Reid make some big runs. They were a more than decent side.
Same can't be said about our batting side, less than abysmally woeful.
 

robelinda

International Vice-Captain
Yeah i was gonna say, 2 test tons that summer, plus another in NZ in the return series, pity his bowling was so average because he always held his own with the bat, 4 tons and an average of 40 with the bat in test cricket was really outstanding.
 

Hit Wicket

School Boy/Girl Captain
Viv Richards is overrated? No one even in this era of quick scoring a T20s has even managed to replicate his ODI record.

Oh yeah, the thread is about tests - depends on where you feel he is rated. For me, he isn't the best batsman of his generation by any significant difference. We can argue till cows come home about whether Gavaskar was better in Tests or Richards. But, regardless there has only been one batsman who has outshone his competition to the extent that there was no room for debate, and it wasn't Richards or Tendulkar, or Lara.

My opinion - at his peak he was as good as they come. What would have enhanced his stature for me, would have been the ability to grit it out against declining abilities like Tendulkar has done or Ponting is trying to do. Having watched the late 80s, when Richards was on a decline, there was this inherent sense that "what if it's day" rather than in the early 80s when it used to be "oh, it's his day". That's quite a fall for someone at the pantheon of batting at his peak. He should have arrested his natural curbs to score runs the ugly way.
 

Burgey

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Yeah i was gonna say, 2 test tons that summer, plus another in NZ in the return series, pity his bowling was so average because he always held his own with the bat, 4 tons and an average of 40 with the bat in test cricket was really outstanding.
A maligned and under-rated player for us in a tough era.
 

ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
The sheer amount of runs he has scored consistently over 20yrs, with the weight of a billion on his shoulders.
Reminds me of cricinfo comment section. How every article about any cricketer ends up into a discussion on Tendulkar :dry:
 

intcricket

U19 12th Man
Reminds me of cricinfo comment section. How every article about any cricketer ends up into a discussion on Tendulkar :dry:
Thats a matter of perspective. You have yours, I have mine. I'm not a Sachin fan, but statistically, he is far more superior.
 

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