Unpopular Cricket Opinions

[HouHsiaoHsien]

Not highly controversial, but will have a go:
Allan Border is a top 11-12 ATG bat.
Though the trifecta of Marshall-Mcgrath-Hadlee is mentioned almost separately in a tier of their own, I think Dale Steyn is more or less as good as the two except Marshall. Maybe even Imran. These five are noticeably better than Ambrose for me(the best after these guys)
Stokes’ Headingley innings whilst being good is very overrated and doesn’t belong near the Lara, Perera, Laxman etc innings it’s clubbed with.
AB Devilliers ahead of Gilly in an all time test XI since the prior is a clearly superior bat and a pretty good keeper as well.
Kohli circa 2018 when he had those ATG tours in SA and Eng, was prolific at home and scored that hundred at Perth, displayed the highest standard of batsmenship by an Asian bat ever

 

[Chubb]

Believe it or not, Australians believe in fair play. We hold ourselves to a higher standard.

Probably my best post ever was on this exact thing:

There are books to be written on the national psychodrama of the sandpaper incident, why it became so overblown.

I love Australia. I live in Australia and this country has been very good to me. So I say this knowing some people will not like my view of it.

There’s a general assumption across Australian culture, sometimes voiced openly but more often just a background understanding, that its sportspeople win by playing fair and criticism of how they play, or the things some of them do to win, is motivated by jealousy.

In other cases where Australian teams have done something unethical or controversial, there is always some ambiguity about what happened which means this general assumption can be maintained. Even underarm was within the rules at the time.

But in this case, there was no ambiguity. Everyone knew it was wrong. Aussie cricketers cheated. Yes, you can rationalise the reason why they did it and there were other factors involved, such as crowd behaviour, Smith's mental state, Warner's righteous anger, Bancroft's desire to please the older boys. But that can’t change the essential point, that they were caught cheating for everyone to see. That’s why the reaction was so extreme.

Since it happened Cricket Australia have completely botched how they’ve dealt with it and that’s just made it worse.

 

[TheJediBrah]

It was extreme incompetence at the highest levels. They've said to themselves "geez our players got caught, we should make a statement so everyone will think we are better than them by banning our players for a year when the just punishment is 1 game (if that)".
Instead they achieved the exact opposite and the excessive punishments drew more attention to it and made it 100× worse in the eyes of everyone

 

[Burgey]

Allan Border is a top 11-12 ATG bat.

Y so low?

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

The only victims of Mohammed Aamer's supposed crimes were degenerate gamblers and if he was say James Anderson he would've got suspended for a year at most.

 

[Molehill]

It was extreme incompetence at the highest levels. They've said to themselves "geez our players got caught, we should make a statement so everyone will think we are better than them by banning our players for a year when the just punishment is 1 game (if that)".
Instead they achieved the exact opposite and the excessive punishments drew more attention to it and made it 100× worse in the eyes of everyone

The problem was also the behaviour that led up to it. They had pushed the boundaries on what was acceptable on the pitch and when they got caught doing Sandpaper, the Board clearly thought an entire regime change was required too.

That they thought Paine was squeaky clean turned out to be even funnier....

 

[the big bambino]

The problem was also the behaviour that led up to it. They had pushed the boundaries on what was acceptable on the pitch and when they got caught doing Sandpaper, the Board clearly thought an entire regime change was required too.

That they thought Paine was squeaky clean turned out to be even funnier....

None of that was considered in the sandpaper penalties. They weren't even censured for behaviour leading up to the incident. It was an ugly series and there is a possibility that CA was responsible for the team's conduct if not the incident itself. Which made their penalties even more sickening. The team, and particular the 3 banned, took the all the blame for a situation CA created.

If the bowlers did know about then the cover up was the only good thing that came out of it. The severity of the penalties could have benched our entire test team for a lengthy period of time. That's how stupid the penalties were. They created such a ridiculous precedent it basically forced CA to cover up the extent of it. Just the dumbest piece of administration you could ever imagine. Unjust penalties, cowardice in submitting to a vengeful press, a possible cover up, double standards and CA ducking responsibility for the whole shitshow.

 

[the big bambino]

Though sandpapergate proved we played with true grit.

I'm sorry about that. Though if I was truly sorry I'd delete the post.

 

[honestbharani]

I'm sorry about that. Though if I was truly sorry I'd delete the post.

Well, you hardly papered over the cracks there.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Steve Smith fake cried in his post sandpapergate ban press conference.

 

[Ali TT]

High scoring ODIs and T20s are the best version of those formats. I'd much rather see sides pushing to score ball higher, further and faster than scratch around at 4rpo on slow pitches and struggle to hit boundaries.

 

[CricAddict]

Sandpapergate was not limited to Smith, Warner, Bancroft. How could Starc not realise the ball is swinging more? Utterly ridiculous to think only those 3 knew. I'm sure the whole team knew.

Again not an unpopular opinion. It is an open secret.

 

[CricAddict]

High scoring ODIs and T20s are the best version of those formats. I'd much rather see sides pushing to score ball higher, further and faster than scratch around at 4rpo on slow pitches and struggle to hit boundaries.

That's fine. But they should rename that game to hitball or something and not call it cricket.

 

[HouHsiaoHsien]

Y so low?

May even break the top 10 on some days

 

[GIMH]

There shouldn’t have been any bans for the sandpaper. Just a straightforward revoking of the Ashes

 

[Coronis]

There shouldn’t have been any bans for the sandpaper. Just a straightforward revoking of the Ashes

I agree. Same as Murray Mints.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

FTB is a bit of a weird criticism to me because cashing in on flat tracks is actually much more useful for generating wins on balance than being good on spicy decks, even if it doesn't get as much cricket nerd credit

 

[TheJediBrah]

FTB is a bit of a weird criticism to me because cashing in on flat tracks is actually much more useful for generating wins on balance

Nah. A lot flat track games end up as draws. A batsman performing in difficult conditions is going to generate more wins on balance IMO. Unless you're playing an overwhelming majority of your cricket on flat tracks

What's underrated is the ability to score quickly on flat tracks

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

Nah. A lot flat track games end up as draws. A batsman performing in difficult conditions is going to generate more wins on balance IMO. Unless you're playing an overwhelming majority of your cricket on flat tracks

What's underrated is the ability to score quickly on flat tracks

Finding yourself coming in to bat for the English again today

 

[Chubb]

Steve Smith fake cried in his post sandpapergate ban press conference.

I don’t think he did, but Warner did. Not that he didn’t feel sorry, but he was playing up to what Smith had done.