Placing our bets on "Test Cricket's Young Fab Four"

[Slifer]

It's amazing that I point out Smith's relatively good performance in England and all of a sudden the wickets are flat and the balls aren't swinging anymore. I guess the wickets he made runs in RSA were flat as hell too. And if by some miracle he makes runs in India ditto the flat pitches argument.

 

[Spark]

It's amazing that I point out Smith's relatively good performance in England and all of a sudden the wickets are flat and the balls aren't swinging anymore. I guess the wickets he made runs in RSA were flat as hell too. And if by some miracle he makes runs in India ditto the flat pitches argument.

Honestly who are you even arguing with here? This is weird as hell.

His tour in RSA was fantastic btw, that Centurion knock is all the proof you need that he knows how to score runs on seaming pitches.

 

[Jono]

Yeah Slifer I think you've made a fight with no one here

 

[Slifer]

Not at you per se, but certain prior posters who tried to portray Smith as some home track flat track bully, when in fact the guy has made runs all over the world. And to those same posters who fail to recognize that Smith is the man atm and clearly above the other 3 in the so called fab 4.

 

[Johnners]

it's fun reading though.

 

[Slifer]

Ok let me clear, my posts are mostly directed at blocky and zin. Was trying to avoid naming names but there you go...

 

[Zinzan]

Ok let me clear, my posts are mostly directed at blocky and zin. Was trying to avoid naming names but there you go...

Did I do something wrong suggesting Smith and Root are equal 1st atm lol?

 

[honestbharani]

That's what I said above, Kohli and Smith both get to bat in such favorable conditions, especially Kohli considering he faces Gareth Batty when sides wrongly think **** spinners are going to be useful in India.

Of course, the reverse does not apply when Root and KW cash in against **** seamers who play against them...

 

[Spark]

Well. That was all very odd, but I'm glad that's all been cleared up

 

[Spark]

Did I do something wrong suggesting Smith and Root are equal 1st atm lol?

Yeah I think this is a perfectly reasonable position right now, because while I don't think you can reasonably claim that anyone's output is > Smith's, you could argue that Root gives you something unique in his ability to counterattack from almost any position in the game, and it comes down to what you value more I guess.

I still think that he gives it away a bit too often, though.

 

[ImpatientLime]

there is no logical way you can rate root as smiths equal right now.

smiths output is just insane.

limited overs stuff, i'd take root everytime.

 

[vcs]

Just ignore Blocky, it's just him against the world.

 

[Slifer]

Did I do something wrong suggesting Smith and Root are equal 1st atm lol?

Yes you did. When one averages 60 odd and 50+ away (very good series in RSA and England) and 17 tons in 49 games. Vs a lad who couldn't buy a run the last time he was in Oz and who failed miserably in Bangladesh.

 

[vcs]

Anyway, the Smith vs. Kohli build up to the India-Aus series is going to get nauseating pretty quickly. Not to mention the knee-jerk judgements after every single innings.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Over the last 3 years, apart from Smith, the other three have all had some middling stretches... Kohli wasn't elite before these last few series and was poor in England, Root didn't have good returns in Bangladesh and has genuine conversion issues and KW has had 2-3 mediocre series on the trot.

But Smith hasn't had that at all. The "worst" series he's had were: In SL where he still averaged 40 odd, home to SA where again, he averaged 40, and the 2015 Ashes, where he atleast scored two big tons on the flatter decks. I think he's a clear number 1 atm. He's not had any real lows at all.

 

[ImpatientLime]

Anyway, the Smith vs. Kohli build up to the India-Aus series is going to get nauseating pretty quickly. Not to mention the knee-jerk judgements after every single innings.

gonna be banter when they both average sub 30.

 

[Slifer]

Kinda reminds me of the Sachin/Lara days or the Dravid/Ponting days. Only difference now, we have 4 relative contemporaries going at it.

 

[Spark]

tbh one of the things I miss about Smith from 2013-4 England/RSA tours is how he would randomly dong one over the fast bowler's head for six out of nowhere. Did that a few times to Morkel IIRC, and he was bowling seriously well in that series.

 

[honestbharani]

love that this is coming from you



literally a week ago we had a guy heavily arguing for hours that the slow and low Australian wickets from India's last tour helped Australia's bowlers more than fast and bouncy wickets would

cant let it go even after copping a ban, huh?



It was fun for a while seeing Blocky Vs TJB. It is the usual heel vs heel throwaway match for no reason where you are enjoying the fact that they are beating the crap out of each other and you dont care who wins as long as they tear each other to pieces and then Blocky went too far, and I ended up liking ****ing TJB posts. What has CW come down to?

 

[honestbharani]

FWIW, I have been guilty of under rating Smith a lot as well. Not that I did not recognize how good he was but like Zinzan said, maybe his technique made me rate him lesser than I ever should have. But in my defence, I have been singing that he will be a good test bat since late 2012 and esp. since his first two innings against India in India in that 2013 tour. I do not want to get into details of what weakness dogs which of these 4 but ultimately batsmen are rated on their output. Smith can only perform against the attacks and on the pitches he is playing and he has done that better than anybody. He is like a superior model of Sehwag and God knows how high I rate Sehwag inspite of the holes in his resume. Smith is easily the best batsman currently going based on output so far. I do not give a damn as to what Root and KW did in more "difficult" conditions when the fact remains that Smith still would have faced much better bowling that is suited to those conditions than those two gentlemen do, given their home games are in England and NZ respectively. All 4 have the potential to retire as ATG batsmen and I expect there to be some merry go rounds on who is #1 at a particular time. But it is absolutely silly to think Smith is not the clear #1 now.