The Sean
Cricketer Of The Year
I was pondering cricket (as is often the case) and my thoughts drifted to opening batsmen, specifically their quality and the way in which they have been judged over cricket history. Thinking back to the early generations of Test cricket – from the first Test match until the Second World War, for example – were I to compile a list of the ten greatest batsmen of that period, I reckon half would be openers including arguably four of the top six or seven (Grace, Trumper, Hobbs, Sutcliffe).
Then compile that equivalent top ten for the first few post-war generations – say, from 1945 to 1989. I reckon only two of the top ten batsmen in that period – Hutton and Gavaskar – would be openers, though both men are absolute all-timers and would probably rate not just in the top ten but the top five. There could also be a mention for Barry Richards who – notwithstanding all the caveats attached to him – is almost universally rated by everyone who watched him play as one of the best they ever saw.
Finally, coming to rank the top ten batsmen of the past 30 years post-1990 and you could make a fair case that there wouldn’t be an opening batsman in that list at all, and if there was one he’d be at the bottom end of it. We’ve seen some fantastic openers over the past three decades – Hayden, Sehwag, Smith, Cook (plus late-career Gooch) the best of them IMO – but I think it’s fair to say that none of them are rated at the same level of those uber-greats who came before. In fact, for the most part they are rated at best alongside and often slightly below even the openers from the past on the next level down – the likes of Hanif, Simpson, Boycott and Greenidge.
So are the very best opening batsmen simply not as good as they used to be and have declined in quality over cricket history? Linked to that, is it more to do with the evolution of team structure, whereby in the early days teams were more likely to send their best batsmen in first whereas over time this ceased to be the case? Are openers in fact every bit as good as they ever were but we now judge them more harshly and underrate them? Is it a combination of some or all of the above? Is my posting just another example of self-indulgent musing where I ask questions that no-one else gives a **** about? (Yeah ok, I think we have found our answer)
Anyway, thoughts and discussion welcomed for those with any to contribute.
Then compile that equivalent top ten for the first few post-war generations – say, from 1945 to 1989. I reckon only two of the top ten batsmen in that period – Hutton and Gavaskar – would be openers, though both men are absolute all-timers and would probably rate not just in the top ten but the top five. There could also be a mention for Barry Richards who – notwithstanding all the caveats attached to him – is almost universally rated by everyone who watched him play as one of the best they ever saw.
Finally, coming to rank the top ten batsmen of the past 30 years post-1990 and you could make a fair case that there wouldn’t be an opening batsman in that list at all, and if there was one he’d be at the bottom end of it. We’ve seen some fantastic openers over the past three decades – Hayden, Sehwag, Smith, Cook (plus late-career Gooch) the best of them IMO – but I think it’s fair to say that none of them are rated at the same level of those uber-greats who came before. In fact, for the most part they are rated at best alongside and often slightly below even the openers from the past on the next level down – the likes of Hanif, Simpson, Boycott and Greenidge.
So are the very best opening batsmen simply not as good as they used to be and have declined in quality over cricket history? Linked to that, is it more to do with the evolution of team structure, whereby in the early days teams were more likely to send their best batsmen in first whereas over time this ceased to be the case? Are openers in fact every bit as good as they ever were but we now judge them more harshly and underrate them? Is it a combination of some or all of the above? Is my posting just another example of self-indulgent musing where I ask questions that no-one else gives a **** about? (Yeah ok, I think we have found our answer)
Anyway, thoughts and discussion welcomed for those with any to contribute.
