Thilan Samaraweera: a victim of black magic?

[Furball]

He did that! Sorry Mahela, now you'd be at #3 as SL greats of this era.

 

[Jono]

I am not following. Is Migara saying Samaraweera will go down as the better test cricketer compared to Mahela?

 

[Furball]

Yes. Which is clearly bollocks.

 

[Jono]

Migara come on man :-/

 

[Migara]

I am not following. Is Migara saying Samaraweera will go down as the better test cricketer compared to Mahela?

Yes. His play outside SC is clearly superior to Mahela's, and most of those came when the team is under the pump.

 

[Senile Sentry]

No Migara, that's just not fair on Jaya. I like all the three. Smashing blokes. But Jaya is clearly eons ahead of Samaraweera.

 

[Satyanash89]

Yes. His play outside SC is clearly superior to Mahela's, and most of those came when the team is under the pump.

I have my own pretty strong opinion on Mahela, that he's not an ATG by any means because of his pathetic overseas performances. Rating Samaraweera higher than Mahela would surely raise some eyebrows and I too find it very strange. Mahela has produced some amazing knocks and numerous genuinely great ones on dustbowls. The only thing Sam has over Jaya is the fact that towards the end of his career he produced 2-3 genuinely superb knocks against tough opposition overseas.

Mahela= vastly overrated and Samaraweera = underrated but if you think that means Sam> Mahela I've got to disagree, even though I think the gap between them isn't as large as most here.

 

[Jono]

Scoring runs at home is a pretty nice thing to do as well

 

[Prince EWS]

Scoring runs at home is a pretty nice thing to do as well

Haha doesn't it seem ironic that Samaraweera has ended up on the side of the discussion that he's on now?

 

[Satyanash89]

Scoring runs at home is a pretty nice thing to do as well

Exactly. It's ridiculous how people completely brush off anything a batsman does at home as "meh... Let's see him do it overseas".

 

[Jono]

Haha doesn't it seem ironic that Samaraweera has ended up on the side of the discussion that he's on now?

Haha indeed, was thinking that!

 

[Howe_zat]

I had thought we all assumed Samaraweera was a ridiculous home track bully after seeing he averaged 50 and not watching any tests in Sri Lanka

Stick to principle people

 

[Migara]

Mahela is only second to Sehwag when it comes to batting on dustbowls. But you'd appriciate that Sam has been not much behind when it comes to playing on dustbowls. Additionally Sam played some breathtaking knocks on seaming wickets as well. All the rating Mahela has got due to his strokeplay in limited over matches and his grace in making teh runs. Sam is borderline ugly when he makes runs, but makes them when no one else makes them.

 

[Furball]

Samaraweera was rubbish in England, 50 average or not.

 

[Coronis]

At least we can all agree they're both far ahead of Sanga.

 

[Jono]

Chandimallllllllllla >>>>>> Sanga >>>>>> home track boys Mahela and black magic thilan

 

[stumpski]

Samaraweera was rubbish in England, 50 average or not.

Interesting signing for Worcs then, I can't imagine he'll be used much in the T20.

You could say the same about Laxman of course, who IIRC only ever made one Test 50 here, but he did OK in county cricket.

 

[Furball]

Interesting signing for Worcs then, I can't imagine he'll be used much in the T20.

You could say the same about Laxman of course, who IIRC only ever made one Test 50 here, but he did OK in county cricket.

Laxman was rotten against England home and away for some reason.

 

[Dan]

Thilan Samaraweera will probably be best remembered as home-test bully as far as test cricket is concerned; averaging a tick over 56 at home compared to his 26.29 away. I'm sure most of us will agree that he probably should have been given more of an extended run in the test team as a batsman despite his limitations, but if you look a little deeper into his career, it makes for very interesting viewing. Given his limited test opportunities, particularly with the ball, it'll be hard to ever get a full grasp of exactly what he was or wasn't capable of doing at the highest level given his career seems to be winding down as he enters his mid thirties. But purely at first class level, he could well be one of the greatest allrounders ever amidst a shocking lack of appreciation.

His batting, known as his stronger suit, has been absolute immense in Sri Lankan conditions. Those who have seen a bit of him will confess that he really doesn't look much at the crease, but his technique is so sound that just clocks up the runs by picking off the bad balls. At his best, he scores a remarkable percentage of his runs in boundaries, just defending the good balls and waiting for something lose to pounce on. So simple, yet so very, very effective. His first class batting record of 8484 runs @ 42.42 looks good, yet nothing breathtaking. That is, though, until you actually stack it up against his peers at the time. Pitches in Sri Lankan domestic cricket have been far from easy to bat on during his career: a fact that many on this forum (including myself, until recently) fail to grasp just how batsmen stack up under these conditions. If you take a quick look at the records of the Sangakkaras and of the world, you'll see a first class average in the mid 40s, but that is of course propped up by the high number of tests they have played averaging near 50. Of recent times, only Jayawardene and Atapattu have really racked up the first class numbers (excluding test matches) that one would generally expect from someone pushing from higher honours.

Assorted Sri Lankan first class batting averages (excludes test matches):

Marvan Atapattu 56.10
Mahela Jayawardene 51.08
Thilan Samaraweera 42.57
Sanath Jayasuriya 37.91
Tillekeratne Dilshan 37.12
Chamara Silva 36.97
Kumar Sangakkara 33.55
Michael Vandort 33.11
Jehan Mubarak 31.32
Upul Tharanga 29.56

This group is the group of those who have been test regulars of Sri Lanka of late - obviously scoring runs is not easy in domestic cricket at all and hence Samaraweera's average of 42.57 would probably be akin an average of around 50 in England or India, for example. He was amongst the three best batsmen in his country in his time and this is obviously nothing to sneeze at. He backed this up in tests by averaging over 50 at home in conditions that suited him and unfortunately was never really given many opportunities abroad to shake his label as a home-track bully. Though, I guess, his career is not over as a test batsman so he may just do so eventually, as doubtful as it may be looking now given his age. Personally I have no doubt he would have achieved more away from home if given more chances or possibly a bit more luck; for a Sri Lankan he actually has one of the better suited techniques I've ever seen for bouncier wickets and the moving ball - I feel he's just been a victim of poor form at the wrong times.

Now, granted, there is a huge leap to make from being a prolific first class batsman in the top echelon of a country's batting stocks to being a truly great allrounder at first class level. And those who have merely seen him bowl the odd over at test level will certainly raise a few eyebrows here. But the fact is, his bowling record is absolutely brilliant in first class cricket. He has been poorly used in test cricket with the ball AFAIC, especially at home, as he clearly had the potential to be much more than the part-timer he was used as. Obviously, the same poor pitches previously mentioned in relation to his batting will be the ones he bowled on, but you don't take 348 first class wickets @ 23.34 bowling rubbish. From what I've seen of his bowling even at test level where he has a poor record, he certainly had all the tools to be a genuinely good off spinner providing the pitch suited - in fact, I'm adamant he was/is a better bowler than Nicky Boje, Omari Banks, Paul Wiseman, Dan Cullen and several others we've seen at test level lately. His bowling, if used correctly, could have been much more effective at test level for mine and his record, although not quite as good as some specialist spinners around in first class cricket during his time, was of certainly of the frontline standard, and he was amongst the top few spinners in a country that produces them by the bucketload for some time during the early part of his career. As his batting progressed, his bowling did indeed decline, but was always still a threat at first class level.

So, for all the supposed *********** Sobers has supposedly dazzled the public with regarding his test performances, Samaraweera has seemingly been the victim of *********** regarding his first class exploits and the limited opportunities he has received at test level, especially as a bowling option. While he's still playing, his limitations as a stroke player may be constantly brought up, but I think he'll be a player people will look back at in the years to come to give far more appreciation to than he's received while actually playing.

1. Ok.

2. Maybe don't be racist next time.

3. lol Colombo first grade

 

[Prince EWS]

2. Maybe don't be racist next time.

Title was a spoof of another thread we had here about another player (Viv I think).

EDIT: It was Sobers.

Garry Sobers-A master of black magic?

I am just wondering about one point here. The main contention of guys like Kazo here is that Sobers averaged 27 with the ball at his peak and that it is not good enough. Warney averages around 25 while Murali averages around 22 or 21. The difference there is greater than between Sobers at...

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