At their respective peaks, Lara was better than Smith and Tendulkar but overall career-wise, they are both ahead of him. Smith’s trajectory in tests is higher than Tendulkar right now but his slowdown in recent years suggests he isn’t a lock (yet) to finish ahead of Tendulkar.
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Steve Smith vs Brian Lara
- Thread starter PlayerComparisons
- Start date
The_CricketUmpire
U19 Captain
Of course Lara played more Test matches. In total he played 131 Test matches.
However up until the last time he scored his final "500+ runs in a Test series" he had played 116 Test matches where he scored 500+ runs in a Test series 7 times.
In comparison, Smith has played 102 Test matches and has scored 500+ runs in a Test series 4 times.
The_CricketUmpire
U19 Captain
Thats why for me, in my opinion, I have Lara ahead of Smith. Stronger era collectively of world Test cricket that he played in as well. The bowlers he had to face.
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subshakerz
International Coach
No. What peak are you talking about? Lara averaged 60 in his early peak until 95, 40 between 96 to 2000 and 60 between 2001 to 2006 in his second peak.
Smith averaged mid-70s in his peak between 2014 to 2019.
subshakerz
International Coach
Lara faced better bowlers by far. Donald, Pollock, McWarne, 2Ws, Murali, Bond, etc. It's not even a comparison.
The_CricketUmpire
U19 Captain
Imagine if Lara was playing now..
The_CricketUmpire
U19 Captain
That's why I have Lara ahead of Smith
subshakerz
International Coach
Well it's complicated because Lara didn't necessarily thrive against the pacers, he had a lot of ups and downs. But Smith has only really faced Steyn early in his career and Rabada who is hit and miss. I think he is technically stronger against pace than Lara but also less tested too relatively.
The_CricketUmpire
U19 Captain
Interesting comments. I just think talent wise Lara is better. All good points though.
ankitj
Hall of Fame Member
Why people keep saying this? Smith's peak has coincided with what is statistically the best era for pace bowling in about 50 years. Lara faced good attacks in his early 90s peak too but his 2nd peak was in what was statistically the easiest era to bat in about same number of years.
Patience and Accuracy+Gut
State Vice-Captain
Would be viewed as half a league below Smith.
subshakerz
International Coach
Smith's peak was from 2014 to 2019. The rise in pace standards was from 2018 onwards.
Most of Smith's peak was against goodish attacks and scoring heavily at home. The only exception was SA which had worldclass pacers in this time.
ankitj
Hall of Fame Member
This article is instructive: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/why-this-is-the-greatest-age-for-fast-bowling-in-60-years-1224236
We often think of strength of eras based on how many names of ATGs roll off the tongue. But ATGs are in play for a fraction of all time spent playing test cricket. Packs matter more and Smith has played in an era where packs across teams operated better than they did in a long long time.
We often think of strength of eras based on how many names of ATGs roll off the tongue. But ATGs are in play for a fraction of all time spent playing test cricket. Packs matter more and Smith has played in an era where packs across teams operated better than they did in a long long time.
ankitj
Hall of Fame Member
subshakerz
International Coach
I think this is somewhat true but again the era identified is the tailend of Smith's peak. Also batting quality seems to have affected by T20 techniques and pacers end up looking better but I would say there is more depth in back up bowlers than before.
In the mid-nineities, you had four teams, Pak, SA, WI and Australia, with worldclass opening bowling pairs. That is quite a bit of time facing quality. Let us also not forget that Lara's era was a golden age for spin bowling too.
When it comes to playing goodish bowling attacks, Smith is superior to both Tendulkar and Lara in run amassing. But not so sure against top end quality bowlers since Smith has been less exposed.
ankitj
Hall of Fame Member
Yeah fair enough about attacks faced by Lara.
On spin - if you look at the table in that article you'd see that spin attacks as a whole improved from about Warne (and Murali) debut and have remained at about the same level. Again packs vs. ATG phenomenon explains this.
I think the difference is how nuch Australia has become a batting paradise in Smiths time which skews averages up. Don’t get me wrong. Smith is an ATG who has scored everywhere against the best, but I am not sure that average is truly representative compared to other ATGs such as Lara.
subshakerz
International Coach
I think that may be obscured by India's spin success recently?
Aside from Ashwin-Jadeja and Lyon, I really don't see any indication spin quality is what is was from mid-90s to mid-2000s, in which Lara faced Warne, MacGill, Murali, Saqlain, Mushtaq Ahmed, Kumble and others.
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The_CricketUmpire
U19 Captain
Really? Why.