Slifer said:
Well of course he's puttin more breathin room between himself and Lara, he's still playing ODIs and Lara has cut back significantly. This is not unlike Murali and Warne where Murali IMO was the better ODI bowler, but he has opened up the gap because simply put he's still playin ODIs and Warne is not.
As for startin off slow and finishin strong, i thought u were one who considered a players entire career and not just specific periods? Over their entire careers the Stats and actually seeing the 2 play myself tell me that SRT is the slightly better ODI batsman and nothing more.
Actually Lara has curtailed his ODI participation for the last one year or so...thats till the end of 2004. What i meant was, Tendulkar was already ahead of Lara by 98 in ODIs and all the while the gap has grown bigger, not smaller.
And yes, i am considering their whole careers- over their whole careers, Tendulkar has essentially been on par with him since 94/95 and significantly better than Lara since 1998.
Thats essentially, being a worse performer for 2-3 year period, on par for 3-4 years and superior to Lara(sometimes significantly so) for another 6 years.
He is more consistent than Lara, scores at a quicker pace and scores more tons. Thats pretty categoric to me.Essentially what seperates the Greg Chappells and Doug Walters of the world...or the difference between Viv and Greenidge.
Lara is a great ODI batsman in my books and a very likely pick for my alltime ODI XI too. Lara is one of the greatest ODI batsmen, no doubt but i put Viv, Bevan and Tendulkar above him or anyone else in cricket. Perhaps what you define as a slight advantage, i define as a distinct one.
But in my ODI team, five names get put down, no questions asked - Viv, Tendulkar, Gillchrist, Bevan and Garner Then i weigh the options for the other six.