Target 400

[Bapu Rao Swami]

i can only put my money on one chap and that is Graeme Smith (22 yrs)..age is on his side and I expect him to do that yrs later. the problem being Smith is very team oriented, he's rather have his team win (since SA wants to be the next no 1).


Dravid - is too slow for a score of 400. verdict = unlikely!

Hayden - has the scoring power but will only go for the record against a weak opposition not a strong one. verdict = 65 percent likely (tour of Zimbabwe and SL in Oz is ahead)

Ponting - same as with Smith, he's the skipper and has more pressure to bring out a result so I doubt he'll get that score unless he's willing to take risks against a weak opposition. verdict = unlikely.

Sehwag - Fast scoring, but takes too many chances, he was dropped 5 times against Pak, so I doubt he'll get that score, mainly because he simply is different kind of batsman but he may get a chance against a weak opposition. verdict = 40 percent chance.

Tendulkar = can get it against a weak opposition at home but he'll need to a lil faster. His 195 against Pak took too many balls. verdict = 30 percent chance.

Gibbs = has got the scoring power but is prone to making mistakes, cannot adjust himself to negative bowling and more often than not gets trapped when field placings are changed. verdict = unlikely!

J Kallis - although he hasn't hit even a double ton yet, I think he has what it takes to score 400 although it will have to happen against a very weak opposition (and Skipper Smith will have to be lenient with his declaration) also Kallis will have to score at a faster rate. verdict = 20 percent likely

Bottom line - I feel whoever gets the record will most likely be either Pakistani, Indian or West Indian or SL'an mainly because cricket in these countries is more emotional and passionate than straightforward workmanlike and professional. A South African or Australia can only get such a record against a very weak opposition since these countries are more focused towards a result (whether it be whitewash or not)...

At the end like Chris Cairns said, there are many bats who can reach such scores (esp in this batting age) but a lot depends on skippers...eg. Taylor (334 not out) could have most definitely reached 400 against the Pakistani pace attack in 1998, he looked all set and had plenty of stamina and strong arms and legs but the pressure on him to declare was enormous.

 

[Bapu Rao Swami]

PS. i think any man who can bat to 400 not out, anywhere at anytime is simply awesome! (whether it be a dead rubber or not)

like gavaskar said when hayden scored 380, that if it were that easy then why hasn't anyone else done that!

 

[Swervy]

personally I would say someone like hayden would be the most likely to do such a thing,he has scored big runs vs everyone, strong or weak, and scores the runs very quickly.

At the moment Ponting is in stunning form (best in the world at the moment????!!!!) and can score quickly enough to do so.

I would take a guess that Sehwag wont score a 300 again...Tendulkars powers seem to be on the slide (still one of the very best in the world though).You are right, Dravid isnt expansive enough to score 400 in anything less than 3 days.

I dont think Greame Smith will do it,I dont think he has quite the range of shots that someone like Lara has

Someone who could possibly get up there is Vaughan, he can score very quickly,and at his peak is right up there with the best..

To be honest, this type of record is very hard to predict...who on earth would have thought a few weeks ago when WI were all out 47 that lara (who had only scored 100 runs before this innings) would score 400 not out

 

[Beleg]

I can be fanciful and hope that Inzamam does it.
But I honestly believe that he has the ability to do it.
Two other people who IMO might be do it are Greame Smith and Ricky Ponting.

 

[marc71178]

May I remind people that Australia tour a Zimbabwe side that is likely to be shorn of almost all their talent in a couple of months?

 

[Bapu Rao Swami]

May I remind people that Australia tour a Zimbabwe side that is likely to be shorn of almost all their talent in a couple of months?

I won't be surprised if Hayden racks up a 300 against Zimbabwe, this is a Zimbabwe without Ray Price and Streak and Blignaut.


I guess Hondo will be the strike bowler.

 

[Bapu Rao Swami]

personally I would say someone like hayden would be the most likely to do such a thing,he has scored big runs vs everyone, strong or weak, and scores the runs very quickly.

At the moment Ponting is in stunning form (best in the world at the moment????!!!!) and can score quickly enough to do so.

I would take a guess that Sehwag wont score a 300 again...Tendulkars powers seem to be on the slide (still one of the very best in the world though).You are right, Dravid isnt expansive enough to score 400 in anything less than 3 days.

I dont think Greame Smith will do it,I dont think he has quite the range of shots that someone like Lara has

Someone who could possibly get up there is Vaughan, he can score very quickly,and at his peak is right up there with the best..

To be honest, this type of record is very hard to predict...who on earth would have thought a few weeks ago when WI were all out 47 that lara (who had only scored 100 runs before this innings) would score 400 not out

I believe Hayden is most likely to break from the present lot....Smith too. However Smith may break it like some 5 years later.

 

[Bapu Rao Swami]

I can be fanciful and hope that Inzamam does it.
But I honestly believe that he has the ability to do it.
Two other people who IMO might be do it are Greame Smith and Ricky Ponting.

I don't think Inzi could do it, reason being you need a good bat at other end, (like Jacobs being the nightwatchman on this occassion). Its also been ages since Inzi scored big.

 

[Newlands]

Graeme Smith (who is 23 ) could possibly do it but I can't see it happening until later in his career. I think he'll see SA do more before he sees himself do it. He will need to expand on his shots though.

I can see Matty Hayden wanting to do it again though. He still has it in him.

I think that the player who is going to do it hasn't arrived on the scene yet.
I'm off for a few of these! At least one per Lara hundred and maybe one per hundred in the WI total!

Lara

I really love these smilies.

 

[luckyeddie]

Inzy could do it if someone ran in front of him with a hot dog (like a carrot to a donkey).

I'm going to stick my head on the block and say that it (400) will not be broken in my lifetime.

 

[Sudeep]

I guess it will be someone from Lara's grandkids' generation.

 

[Swervy]

Inzy could do it if someone ran in front of him with a hot dog (like a carrot to a donkey).

I'm going to stick my head on the block and say that it (400) will not be broken in my lifetime.

a man of your age saying that....does that mean we will see it broken soon (only kidding)

 

[Lions81]

Aside from the obvious choices to break Lara's 400 (Smith, Hayden, Sehwag, Agarkar), one possibility who comes to mind is Nathan Astle. He scored a double century in less than that many balls if I recall correctly, or at least had a greater than 100% strike rate. Maybe he's dropped off since then, but if he can recapture that kind of form, why not.

 

[Swervy]

Aside from the obvious choices to break Lara's 400 (Smith, Hayden, Sehwag, Agarkar), one possibility who comes to mind is Nathan Astle. He scored a double century in less than that many balls if I recall correctly, or at least had a greater than 100% strike rate. Maybe he's dropped off since then, but if he can recapture that kind of form, why not.

that innings was a no pressure situation, vs an England team who were defending a huge target and were playing quite aggressively. This innings was a gem, but it is very unlikely Astle would ever be able to do that again

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Jacques Kallis has my bet. He's really added an attacking point to his game and that's mixed with perfect defence.

 

[Neil Pickup]

I think that Graeme Smith chance passed last summer when he had a lacklustre England attack bowling right at his strengths.

He is too fallible outside off stump for me to manage to make 400, and I thoroughly expect him not to reach the heights he scaled at Lord's and Edgbaston (don't trust my memory on those grounds) again.

I think it could well go again when Australia tour "Zimbabwe".

 

[twctopcat]

that innings was a no pressure situation, vs an England team who were defending a huge target and were playing quite aggressively. This innings was a gem, but it is very unlikely Astle would ever be able to do that again

He never will get close by my reckoning. I read that that game was played under floodlights for a part, and one of the reason's he scored so big so quickly was that many of the english fielders simply couldn't pick the red ball out in the lights. Bit of a farce i know, but true nonetheless. Good but a bit of a freakish innings.

 

[SquidAU]

I don't think the record can be broken anytime soon. I would rather see a good cricket match than a flurry of runs over 3 days. A result rather than a draw, which the match between England and West Indies may turn out to be.

 

[Newlands]

I don't think the record can be broken anytime soon. I would rather see a good cricket match than a flurry of runs over 3 days. A result rather than a draw, which the match between England and West Indies may turn out to be.

Yes it probably will be a draw but with the series already won and, although England would have liked the whitewash, a lot of people are happy with the series win and having had the chance to see Brian Lara hit 400 not out.
I thought we'd have to wait a long time after Matty Hayden broke the record (we'd waited long enough for that) but we didn't even wait a year so no one can tell.

Would anyone have said last October that the man to beat 380 would be Brian Lara? In October I would have been counting out the money to put it on Graeme Smith.

 

[luckyeddie]

I thought we'd have to wait a long time after Matty Hayden broke the record (we'd waited long enough for that)

(rest snipped)

I'd always looked forward to the day when Sobers' record would be beaten. For a few years, I held out hope that Graeme Pollock would be the man, then Graeme Hick (yes, I know, but he looked really good until he got to the big arena). I was convinced that Gooch would do it when he got to 333, but when Lara came to the notice of the world I wasn't convinced.

Then Lara picked it up in 1994 before the world realised just how great he was, but when Hayden took it from him last year, I had a sneaking suspicion that in this particular game at St John's, history would repeat itself.