Standout player of 2003??

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

But other sides have restricted him by doing it - just because you haven't seen it doesn't change the fact.

No Richard doesn't need to watch cricket. Cricket is only a means of providing printed stats.

 

[iamdavid]

Nope, because I haven't seen anyone else doing it.

AUSTRALIA

in 2002

 

[shankar]

Sachin in ODI's ..he's scored @ 67.0 starting from the WC.

 

[Neil Pickup]

oops:saint:

Neil , fix please

Kind of... couldn't work out how to delete one of the choices so I just replaced one of them with Steve Harmison.

As for Smith - I'm not overly sure Richard places any emphasis on technique :P Just first-chance averages, and people not being out when good catches are taken.

 

[Bazza]

Flintoff:

tests - 566 runs at 40, 4x50s, 1x100, 19 wickets at 42
ODIs - 595 runs at 47, 6x50s, 30 wickets at 28, econ 3.14!

Must be a contender.

I went for Ntini for the same reasons as Eddie - leading wicket taker this year with 56. All the other contenders were already big names - Lara, Ponting, Murali, etc.

Honorable mentions also to Dravid, Smith and Gibbs...

and Streak:

tests - 317 runs at 39, incl maiden ton, 17 wickets at 38
ODIs - 469 runs at 39, 4x50s, 29 wickets at 26

 

[luckyeddie]

Sachin in ODI's ..he's scored @ 67.0 starting from the WC.

Ladies and gentlemen - we have another winner.
Seriously, what have ODIs got to do with 'proper' cricket, i.e. test matches? And in those, Sachin has been absolutely conspicuous by his absence.

 

[krkode]

Yeah, in the absense of all those good Zimbabwean batsman, Streak has really turned into a prospect. He's more of Klusner now, than just a Donald. :P

 

[Langeveldt]

It seems that the West Indian bowlers finally got to see some video tape.

They bowled outside the offstump at Smith and he looked rather streaky. Lara had a couple of unorthodox catching positions behind square on the offside and ultimately Smith got out to one of them. If he really is as poor an offside player as he seems, that's a massive flaw.

Pity they forgot about Herschelle Gibbs!

In 2003, two players stood out for me, not necessarily for the best performances, but the year for me belonged to Makhaya Ntini and Ray Price..

Makhaya has come on so far, My very first day of watching test cricket was at a cold and grey Old Trafford in 1998 with him and Allan Donald bowling in tandem, well the legendary AD retired at the beginning of the year, and although its early days, Makhaya has shown that he is a class performer, and capable of filling the great one's boots.. A great character too, you could almost hear him from my house when the proteas were in Taunton, talk about a wake up call!

Ray Price has struck me as being a very good spinner, not many people know about him, he plays for an unfashionable team, but he is refreshingly agressive for a spin bowler, and set up a couple of near victories for the Zims... I like his style, he is an excellent find.. My vote goes for Makhaya though

 

[marc71178]

Kind of... couldn't work out how to delete one of the choices so I just replaced one of them with Steve Harmison.

With the absense of AA, he'd have got at least 1 vote had you done it earlier!

 

[marc71178]

Ray Price has struck me as being a very good spinner, not many people know about him, he plays for an unfashionable team, but he is refreshingly agressive for a spin bowler, and set up a couple of near victories for the Zims... I like his style, he is an excellent find.. My vote goes for Makhaya though

There is a school of thought that puts him asa the number one left arm spinner in the World.

 

[Craig]

How so? How does that make him number 1 after some performances against WI and Australia?

He's good and accurate, but time will tell.

 

[Craig]

23 wickets in 5 Tests @ 35.39 when his sole aim was to take wickets (with the likes of Pollock around to dry up the runs, he can afford to attack).

How disappointing that must be, 10 wickets in the Lords Test and leading wicket taker in the series.

I dont think he bowled all that well.

He certainly bowled plenty of four balls and was pretty expensive on more then a few occasions. I remember at one point at Lords in the first innings he was going over 6 an over.

Anyway, as per usual most of the England batsmen threw their innings away.

 

[Eclipse]

There is a school of thought that puts him asa the number one left arm spinner in the World.

I agree with that statment on current form anyway.

He really impoved after his tour of Australia were he apparently got a lot of coaching form Greg Mathews and some of the Australian players.

 

[NikhilN]

Ponting and Dravid

 

[Richard]

Ladies and gentlemen - we have another winner.
Seriously, what have ODIs got to do with 'proper' cricket, i.e. test matches? And in those, Sachin has been absolutely conspicuous by his absence.

Yes, but who defines "proper" cricket as First-Class only? What do you oldies find wrong with the one-day game.
I kind of understand it as I have had some resentment for this Twenty20 nonsense, but surely as long as the three games aren't intermixed, there is no problem?
Like I always say, the First-Class and one-day games are different, but in my estimation neither is superior.

 

[Richard]

No Richard doesn't need to watch cricket. Cricket is only a means of providing printed stats.

Well, that's one of it's purposes, but not the only one.

 

[Richard]

But other sides have restricted him by doing it - just because you haven't seen it doesn't change the fact.

Well which sides do you know have done it then?
david reliably informs us Australia did it in the Second and Third Tests of the 2001\02 series (even then they must have made some pretty extensive studies) but apart from that?
And just because he's failed, remember, doesn't automatically mean they used the strategy of bowling outside off.

 

[Richard]

There is a school of thought that puts him asa the number one left arm spinner in the World.

Why just left-arm? Why not simply the best fingerspinner in The World. Why do left and right-arm fingerspinners have to be classed as vastly different.
Personally I don't rate him as good as Vettori, Saqlain and Harbhajan, but in spin-friendly conditions he's not too inferior, as he proved at The SCG and Queen's(?or was it Harare?).
I think people rather overrate his ability to bowl well in non-spin-friendly conditions, just like Harbhajan. People call them "aggressive" and say they can offer a threat in conditions that don't help fingerspin. Well, batsmen might look uncomfortable or unconvincing against them but they still don't get out. Just making a batsman look unconvincing and not getting him out isn't unlucky, as the Flintoff case says.

 

[Richard]

I agree with that statment on current form anyway.

He really impoved after his tour of Australia were he apparently got a lot of coaching form Greg Mathews and some of the Australian players.

Believe me, he bowled no better or worse at The SCG than he did in any of his previous 3 Tests (and probably the previous part of his career).
He simply got conditions that helped him, which appeared to be mirrored against West Indies.

 

[Paid The Umpire]

cough.. cough.. PONTING cough..

Three doubles in a year not a bad effort huh? Not as good as me, but still good.