Sir Vivian Richards - master or myth?

[Senile Sentry]

Viru has top notch knocks against each of Warne, Murali, MacGill and Saqlain. Not sure if there is anyone else truly special in the spin department from the era. Mushtaq Ahmed was before Viru's time.Certainly has a claim to be considered one of the best ever against spin.

Siddhu's name appearing in these discussions regularly is kinda random.

Siddhu had no respect for spinners. Used to troll them by blocking ball after ball and then casually stepping out and hitting sixes

He was the original Warne killer in the 90s.

 

[Burgey]

"I don't consider off spinners bowlers" LMAO

Always said he was a great judge

 

[ankitj]

Siddhu had no respect for spinners. Used to troll them by blocking ball after ball and then casually stepping out and hitting sixes

He was the original Warne killer in the 90s.

Yes, but only Warne. His resume lacks good knocks against other good to great spinners. Also, he usually scored 70s or 80s, not big daddy hundreds. It's bizarre how many times his name comes up.

 

[Senile Sentry]

Yes, but only Warne. His resume lacks good knocks against other good to great spinners. Also, he usually scored 70s or 80s, not big daddy hundreds. It's bizarre how many times his name comes up.

Used to open and do his job to create good platforms for Sachin and Co. Averaged 53 at home vs 33 away (and unfortunately played a majority of games overseas).

He used to also average 63 against spinners vs 28 against pacers. Did well vs Murali and Warne. A

 

[ankitj]

OK, I am happy for us to go back to Viv Richards

 

[_00_deathscar]

Lara would've never seen Sobers bat, or if he had, it would have been at the extreme twilight of his career. Have you heard Warne's opinions on who should play for India? I don't trust his word at all.

Lol - "Can Ishant Sharma get back into this bowling line up?"
5 minutes later: "Kartik Tyagi should be in this line up".

 

[_00_deathscar]

Ooh yes people will enjoy this comparison.

If only someone made that same comparison only a few posts above that...but seriously - is that sort of it? Having never seen him bat 'live' (even on TV I mean - only in highlights etc) - is he basically a more alpha Sehwag batting in the middle order?

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

is he basically a more alpha Sehwag batting in the middle order?

As someone who didn't watch Viv live I've tended to think of de Villiers as the closest modern day equivalent. I.e. someone who scored thousands of Test runs at an average of 50 and usually made it look very easy, yet still kinda leaves the nagging feeling that he could have scored even more given his talent. De Villiers could look head and shoulders above everyone when faced with truly great fast bowling (e.g. peak Johnson) or great spin bowling (e.g. Ashwin + Jadeja in India) but didn't run up career numbers to match the absolute best. If you were to make a Greatest XI just of the 21st century he probably wouldn't quite make the cut based on output, but if you were to imagine a theoretical, higher level of cricket than Tests being played he's someone you'd think could make a step up as easily as anyone. Of course like Richards he was also an outrageously good ODI batsmen which adds to the aura around him (and no doubt his standing with contemporary players).

Obviously Viv is regarded in even higher esteem than de Villiers and was the clear best batsman in the world for much longer than AB was, so while I think of de Villiers as analogous I'm not saying the two of them were equally good. I guess Sehwag is probably an even better comparison for Viv than AB when it comes to their strike rate and #intent - de Villiers gave the impression that he could take the bowling apart at will more than he actually played like that (in Tests), whereas Sehwag was always gonna Sehwag.

 

[Migara]

Was that before he developed it or after he was told not to bowl it because it was >15 degrees?

Last match Sidhu played Murlai was in that 1998 run fest series. So yes, well before the 15 degree or steroid era.

 

[Coronis]

Last match Sidhu played Murlai was in that 1998 run fest series. So yes, well before the 15 degree or steroid era.

We should just let everyone take steroids and see who’s better.

 

[Chrish]

We should just let everyone take steroids and see who’s better.

Switch to Baseball,.

 

[Migara]

I don’t think he was better than average but this thread is a Viv thread so

 

[Red]

None of these change my opinion that he was just an average fielder.

 

[Gob]

If you are in to Sri Lankan fielders, Roshan mahanama was easily the best. Very underrated in my opinion

 

[Chrish]

Question: are stats from Packer’s WSC counted toward official First class record?

 

[jimmy101]

Pretty sure they aren't.

 

[Daemon]

None of these change my opinion that he was just an average fielder.

Haha I obviously never saw much of him in those days but yes for someone who’s played that much of cricket, it’s a decent collection of catches nothing more. #1 is awesome and those caught and bowleds are good too. Pretty sure I would take #7 like 8/10 times myself lol.

 

[Migara]

None of these change my opinion that he was just an average fielder.

I never expected as well. It was too obvious

 

[Migara]

If you are in to Sri Lankan fielders, Roshan mahanama was easily the best. Very underrated in my opinion

Mahanama, Chandana, Kalpage, Jayasuriya, Murali and Dharmasena formed the core fielding group for SL in late 90s. Yes that group was massively underrated in this forum as well as by oppositions. Oppositions did pay heavily or the complacency though.

 

[Burgey]

Can’t believe you left out Arjuna as a gun fielder as well. Or the Guru and Aravinda. All as good or better than Murali