Player's Averages - What will they end with?

[bradman2005]

I think that's what he was getting at wasn't it?

As for Harmison and Lee. I'll refuse to admit Harmison is better because for some reason I hate him (I have no reason to really), in fact I used to hate Lee (pretty obvious reasons though). So that basically sums up the bias...

The only thing I will say though, is Harmison is nowhere near the best test bowler in the world.

I think Bond(if stays fit)will be a better bowler than both of them imo

 

[Cloete]

Nationality no doubt.

No it isn't actually. I used to be Brett Lee's biggest hater, when Harmison came over here in the first Ashes tour I was hoping he'd do really well!

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

No it isn't actually. I used to be Brett Lee's biggest hater, when Harmison came over here in the first Ashes tour I was hoping he'd do really well!

Nationality + success + an urn?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

He isnt now... but he was!

That 7-12... was the best spell I have ever seen. The entire tour he bowled like a man possessed.

I think I've asked you this for the night already, but you haven't seen much cricket, have you? That spell was excellent, but it was glorified further by delightfully crap strokeplay from the West Indies who looked like a bunch of amateurs who had never seen a fast bowler, let alone produced some of the finest the game has seen.

Flintoff and McGrath each produced better spells in last year's Ashes.

 

[Cloete]

Nationality + success + an urn?

Yeah probably

I hated seeing Australia dominate the cricket. But heaps of Aussies on here were very ****y and all the English were bitter towards the Aussie team. I guess the roles have been reversed.

I now find myself partially going for the teams Australia is playing against in the hope of a good contest, but am getting increasingly bitter towards England and am finding alot of the English to be getting very ****y (rightly so, mind you!).

 

[Dasa]

I think Bond(if stays fit)will be a better bowler than both of them imo

If Bond stays fit, this time next year he'll be the best fast bowler in the world by a distance.

 

[Cloete]

If Bond stays fit, this time next year he'll be the best fast bowler in the world by a distance.

Agreed. He's a top quality bowler.

Has it all, Pace, Accuracy, Swing, Seam movement and a decent brain as well! Always been a big fan of Bondy!

I just hope he magically gets injured for 3 matches at the start of every year!

 

[Matteh]

I think I've asked you this for the night already, but you haven't seen much cricket, have you? That spell was excellent, but it was glorified further by delightfully crap strokeplay from the West Indies who looked like a bunch of amateurs who had never seen a fast bowler, let alone produced some of the finest the game has seen.

Flintoff and McGrath each produced better spells in last year's Ashes.

The thing is though - that it's a lot easier to measure how good a spell was by just looking at 7-12....whereas McGrath at Lords put every ball on the dot and took 5 for which doesn't look as impressive...Flintoff didn't get close to getting figures like 7-12 but he still bowled as well as that.
It's the same as looking at batting averages and seeing who's best because of them - it's only an indicator but doesn't tell the whole story
(this isn't a go at you it's just me making a point about it)

 

[honestbharani]

I thought this would be an interesting thread to do, especially after the Boxing Day test when Gilly's batting average fell below 50 when less than a year ago it was around 55. Additionally many believe players are in current decline, such as Tendulkar. Will his average fall at all the longer he plays? It hasn't fallen at the moment. Then there is Inzy, Dravid, Ponting and Kallis who continue piling on the runs year after year. I was watching the India vs. Australia Adelaide test of 2003/04 on tape a week or so ago and noticed at that time Dravid had an average of around 53. Since then, pretty much 2 years later, he's managed to boost it to over 57.

Obviously statistics and averages don't say everything about a player, and it is mostly guesswork and wild predictions, but I think it'll be quite interesting. Especially with peaks and troughs in players careers, and some going on too long, the great Viv being an often mentioned example. So I'll just nominate a few players (I've done 2 batsman and bowlers from each nation I though would be interesting to predict), and you can add whomever you think will be interesting to do as well. I've mostly chosen fairly experienced players who are well into their career rather than young ones, so I guess most guesswork will be in regards to whether the players will heavily decline from here on end. There are some young players also though.

Note: All are test match averages only. I didn’t bother to do non-minnow averages.

Batsmen:
Adam Gilchrist (Current Average: 49.81)
Ricky Ponting (Current Average: 56.27)
Sachin Tendulkar (Current Average: 56.72)
Virender Sehwag (Current Average: 53.55)
Michael Vaughan (Current Average: 42.94)
Marcus Trescothick (Current Average: 45.47)
Inzamam Ul Haq (Current Average: 51.61)
Shahid Afridi (Current Average: 35.83)
Graeme Smith (Current Average: 52.72)
Jaques Kallis (Current Average: 56.45)
Stephen Fleming (Current Average: 39.03)
Jacob Oram (Current Average: 43.57)
Kumar Sangakkara (Current Average: 46.61)
Mahela Jayawardene (Current Average: 47.80)
Chris Gayle (Current Average: 38.79)
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Current Average: 45.94)

Bowlers:
Brett Lee (Current Average: 31.85)
Stuart MacGill (Current Average: 27.82)
Irfan Pathan (Current Average: 26.14)
Harbhajan Singh (Current Average: 27.88)
Andrew Flintoff (Current Average: 31.52)
Stephen Harmison (Current Average: 28.72)
Shoaib Akhtar (Current Average: 24.76)
Danish Kaneria (Current Average: 30.56)
Makhaya Ntini (Current Average: 29.22)
Shaun Pollock (Current Average: 22.40)
Shane Bond (Current Average: 20.80)
Daniel Vettori (Current Average: 34.84)
Murali (Current Average: 22.40)
Chaminda Vaas (Current Average: 28.73)
Dwayne Bravo (Current Average: 33.11)
Corey Collymore (Current Average: 31.37)

no Lara, Jon? u think he will retain his current average?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

The thing is though - that it's a lot easier to measure how good a spell was by just looking at 7-12....whereas McGrath at Lords put every ball on the dot and took 5 for which doesn't look as impressive...Flintoff didn't get close to getting figures like 7-12 but he still bowled as well as that.
It's the same as looking at batting averages and seeing who's best because of them - it's only an indicator but doesn't tell the whole story
(this isn't a go at you it's just me making a point about it)

Ja, I see what you're saying and I agree entirely. A statistic (like age) is but a number.

 

[Jono]

no Lara, Jon? u think he will retain his current average?

I generally tried to choose players who I think should have 3-4 years more cricket left in them. I don't think Lara will go on past the 2007 WC, and hence I don't think his average would be able to change that much, whether it go up or down. That's why I chose Gayle and Chanderpaul as the two batsman from the WI.

 

[honestbharani]

I generally tried to choose players who I think should have 3-4 years more cricket left in them. I don't think Lara will go on past the 2007 WC, and hence I don't think his average would be able to change that much, whether it go up or down. That's why I chose Gayle and Chanderpaul as the two batsman from the WI.

cool

 

[thierry henry]

lmao at predictions of Vettori's average coming down to 31 or 32. Absolutely hilarious. Vettori hasn't looked like averaging less than 40 against anyone other than Australia, Zimbabwe or Bangladesh for at least 5 years. He can't take wickets.

 

[marc71178]

I hated seeing Australia dominate the cricket. But heaps of Aussies on here were very ****y and all the English were bitter towards the Aussie team. I guess the roles have been reversed.

I don't think many of the forum regulars on here were - we accpeted that Australia were a much better side than England were.

 

[cric_manic]

lmao at predictions of Vettori's average coming down to 31 or 32. Absolutely hilarious. Vettori hasn't looked like averaging less than 40 against anyone other than Australia, Zimbabwe or Bangladesh for at least 5 years. He can't take wickets.

Man i havent seen you post 1 positive thing about NZ cricket lately.
Vettori hasnt really played enyone else since his form came back so,sure you can say 5 years but hes bowling at his best rite now imo,so lets see how he bowls against Westindies and SouthAfrica before you say it cant happen

 

[luckyeddie]

Did you watch Dead Ringers recently? If so, the guy standing in the snow without a top on singing "it's bloody cold" was meant to be James Blunt. Hilarious.

This might sound very strange, but what is 'Dead Ringers'?

 

[Scaly piscine]

This might sound very strange, but what is 'Dead Ringers'?

TV and radio show where they impersonate people.

 

[luckyeddie]

TV and radio show where they impersonate people.

Ta.

 

[PY]

Flintoff and McGrath each produced better spells in last year's Ashes.

17 overs unchanged at one end for a whole session while taking 5 wickets? Yeah I reckon so.

Not taking away from 5/not-very-many @ Lord's by McGrath of course.

Best spell of the Ashes....now that would be a thread.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Don't think it was a whole session he bowled the 17 overs straight, I think he bowled 5-6 before a break (as in end of the day, lunch, tea etc.) can't remember it exactly.