kyear2
International Coach
Yes he had his rough patches, but as his best, he has no peer.
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Steve Smith vs Brian Lara
- Thread starter PlayerComparisons
- Start date
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
Wait, isn't that what you consider trolling then?Can't be that weak to get a reaction.
I think it's been established that I am equal opportunity in who I choose to defend or attack. Kallis, Ambrose, Ashwin, etc.
I rate him 7th on my list as well. Heck, we have the same list I think. However, why is Lara the best if you rate Tendulkar ahead of him?
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
Best in a inning, series or peak?
shortpitched713
International Captain
He's better than even Viv, for mine and being from my childhood, holds a special place in my heart.
h_hurricane
International Vice-Captain
Just for some fun, quoting one of your old posts from this thread.Always rated Viv above both Sachin and Lara.. Dunno, just personal bias towards his style of batting more than any so-called "solid" statistical reasons...
Out before the spreadsheeters are in..
Coronis
International Coach
I mean 35 years only goes back to the very end of Viv’s career, does it not? If he’d said 35 years back in 2011 it’d be a “gotcha” moment.
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
I blame @Coronis for my change of mind on Viv, the test batter.
Coronis
International Coach
Yesssssss. Welcome to the club buddy.
HouHsiaoHsien
International Debutant
Allow me to change your mind on that. The best short term peak ever(or top three atleast), great record across conditions(ATG in England, Aus, great at home and good in the SC), dominated the great bowlers of his time, his attacking play and the psychological aspect of it, perfect record across all 4 innings, and a good home/away split. And the post 1976 theory is wrong, because despite for a certain portion of his peak he was playing the WSC in 1977/79, and with that he would firstly average more than 45 since then. But further Viv was in the second phase of his career, the best bat or one of the top three bats in the world, average 50@ SR of 70+ in tough conditions. His decline in the last three years drags the post 76 average down, but doesn’t mean he was uniformly a 45 average bat post his first peak. And Viv didn’t have any minnows to bash, otherwise his late phase average would probably increase.
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BazBall21
International Captain
Smith had a better peak, better player of pace, and presently has a better record.
I hesitate because it feels like a somewhat disproportionate proportion of his great work came in that golden 2014-2019 period. Been still good if a tad underwhelming since by top 10 batter of all time standards.
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
My counter to that is that Smith averages mid-40s since he peak, which is pretty standard for ATG bats once they decline and fairly good for a better bowling era. And its not like others ATGS like Viv and Imran don't have their ultra best work concentrated in a brief period too.
Lara FYI was even worse in his mid-career phase, averaging less 40 between 96 before his revival in 2001.
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
This is literally the only reason why Viv's rating has been downsliding on this forum.
BazBall21
International Captain
I still rate Viv over Smith. Lara v Smith I can go either way on.
kyear2
International Coach
I can rock with this.
The top 7 (or 8 if you include Hutton) were just a different level of elite, and stand out from the crowd.
BazBall21
International Captain
Hutton's resume is pretty flawless. The only detractions against him are bowlers weren't as fast back then and he was pretty slow after the War.
kyear2
International Coach
Think it's more the slow scoring after the war that detracts. But yeah, agree Hutton is definely in that tier. Just 8th for me, and again, because of the rate of scoring
HouHsiaoHsien
International Debutant
I’m finding that I’ve underrated Lara a bit, and he is for me a contender for best after Bradman. Probably peak Lara would be my first choice to handle any ATG attack, given he could do more crazy things than any other bat bar Bradman. And except his India record, being somewhat hot and cold in the middle phase(which he fixed), and not being the best player of the 150+ guys, doesn’t have a noticeable flaw. For aesthetic reason, Lara’s 1999 series against Aus is the topmost glory of batsmanship.
Slifer
International Captain
And that's his biggest issue, express bowling. He'd probably only face that in an atg scenario vs RSA, and Pakistan. Was Lillee 150+?? I'd expect him to struggle on spicy wkts but at home and on anything neutral he might just get going....Tbf to him, most batsmen aren't making runs vs express pace on spicy wkts.
Patience and Accuracy+Gut
State Vice-Captain
Peak Lillee probably was 150 kmph. Looks absolute fast before surgery.