KP vs AB: Who was the better test bat?

[Adders]

KP gets a lot of credit for "great innings" because his baseline was so much lower than either ABs. For every big Ashes ton there's a solid period of SFA and some sort of scandal to boot.

ABdV has his fair share of great knocks and did the job day in day out too, so he wins this comparison imo.

Seldom do I agree with a Flem cricket chat post but this is spot on imo. It's been said so often but KP played great innings.....he wasn't a great player.

The OP claimed he's the best English batsmen of the modern era.....absolute rubbish. You think of those magical innings he did play, and then see who dominated those series. He won tests from no where off his own bat, did things few if any could do.......but aside from a brief period he wasn't ever the most important bat in the side.

 

[Bolo.]

Very close as bats, but AB is clearly ahead in so many ways, and they are so easily comparable that I am surprised so many people rank KP ahead. Even in cases where I regard the gap between players as bigger, I understand the votes being split better.

Some of the typical CW ranking methods AB is clearly ahead on:

Overall record，peak, longevity, good everywhere, away, consistency, pacing an innings (about equal on attacking but AB better at shutting it down).

I struggle to think of ways KP is clearly ahead. Big hundreds for sure, but it is a a subcategory of a subcategory.

Everything else I have seen raised in this in this thread could go either way. Best point is coming in on a platform, which AB had it easier on a fair bunch, especially at 5. Not sure KP would have found batting at 6 easier though (see previous paragraph), and there is no comparison to opening (which admittedly AB just under half as often as 5, but the difficulty gap between RSA opening and England 4 is massively bigger than the gap between England 4 and RSA 5. Fair play if you still rank KP ahead in this regard, but there is reasonable debate, which doesnt really exist for a bunch of stuff about AB.

 

[Jayro]

KP - he made impossible possible by bringing down almost invincibles like a peak-Aussie side and India at their home soil now that's not even many greats can boast of doing.