Ricky Ponting vs Ian Botham

[PlayerComparisons]

.

 

[Johan]

Good match, two peak merchants

 

[DrWolverine]

Ricky Ponting
Top 15 batsman
Longer peak

 

[sayon basak]

Botham for me.
Better peak than Ponting (Though for a shorter period of time).

 

[kyear2]

Ponting was better for longer.

 

[Thala_0710]

Ponting for me

 

[Johan]

Botham for me, Ponting only wins on the longevity account for me.

 

[Thala_0710]

Botham for me, Ponting only wins on the longevity account for me.

Is Beefy's batting enough to cover the gap in primary + great fielding and pretty good captaincy too? Not imo.

 

[Johan]

Is Beefy's batting enough to cover the gap in primary + great fielding and pretty good captaincy too? Not imo.

Yes imo, Botham himself was an amazing fielder. 32 extra runs every inning is no small deal.

a big thing however is, the fact that Ponting played for one of the Greatest teams of all-time, He didn't have to play Australia while Beefy had to constantly play an even stronger West Indies, there are only 3-4 sides of that calibre in the 150 year history of Cricket, again normal sides of the era Beefy's numbers are definitely clear of Ponting.

 

[PlayerComparisons]

@Migara Thoughts on this one?

 

[Migara]

Ponting.

Batting + Fielding nails it.

Add captaincy and you have a different beast.

 

[Migara]

Actually there are only handful of all rounders who can be selected over top class batsmen or bowlers. All of them are top tier in their primary discipline.

Imran and Sobers are difficult to replace. Kallis is the same unless we have above two in the side. Gilchrist or Sangakkara automatically choose themselves over better keepers or batsmen (Sanga as a pure bat is an automatic choice)

So it is beneficial to a side to play a batsman averaging 55 than an AR averaging 35 with bat and 30 with ball.

 

[kyear2]

Punter was an ATG top 15 batsman and arguably top 15 slip,.and fielder over all.

I'll take that over Botham for my team any day.