kyear2
International Coach
I rate Punter higher than most. It's not close between him and Sachin. It's just not.
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Viv Richards vs Sunil Gavaskar
- Thread starter PlayerComparisons
- Start date
kyear2
International Coach
I must say I don't think these two are far apart, but...Any reasons why you think Kallis is “far” behind Ponting?
Don’t say boring
You watch them, and it's not about being boring. It's about being able to put the opponent on the back foot, change the game plan / rotation and to set up the game, if not turn it on its head in a session.
It's about being able to get the bowlers to change their lines and even fields and putting them on the defensive.
And it's objectively harder to do that than it is to remain in your bubble and score at your own rate. The bailey to dominate is priceless, more difficult, and more impactful.
Not about aesthetics.
kyear2
International Coach
And you've gone too far.
No, Kallis isn't close Lara.
Are you just looking at averages?
Yes. Imran said that of all the cricketers he had played with or against "Richards stands head and shoulders above everyone else."
Several of those who thought Richards was the best batsman of their experience also considered Gavaskar the best opener.
kyear2
International Coach
The head and shoulders above thing though, comes up more for Richards though, than for anyone bar probably Hobbs and Bradman.
Re the Gavaskar point, yes several did,.I have no doubt. Several more also thought Barry was, so there's that. They were the two greatest openers of the 70's, Greenidge being easily behind those two.
HouHsiaoHsien
International Debutant
Imran, Lillee, Akram, Thommo, Botham, Willis, Holding all considered Richard the undisputed supreme and waxed lyrical to great extents about him(Lillee called him the Supreme player, Botham and Willis were unwilling to believe that Bradman was better than Viv, Holding considers Viv even better than Lara and Sachin, same for Imran, Akram also rated him the best etc)
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
Couldn't dominate bowlers.Any reasons why you think Kallis is “far” behind Ponting?
Don’t say boring
Slifer
International Captain
Wait wait wait just a minute. Since when did you rate Smith that highly?? Is this even Subz??
capt_Luffy
Cricketer Of The Year
IIRC, he rated Smith no. 2 after Don before his decline (I may very well be remembering wrong though, was very new to the forum back then).
far fewer innings of consequence
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
Yes Kallis did have fewer such innings.
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
Yes. I said that by the end of 2022 he would be no.2 if he kept his scoring up and many here agreed. He didn't though and has had a dip so I rate him no.6 after Bradman, Sachin, Hobbs, Sobers and Viv. However, many here have downgraded him far too much.
I used to bash Smiths home record as inflated and he has relatively less exposure to ATG pacers (still believe that) but still believe that being the top bat of this era and near flawless record gives him the top tier secured.
Smith is a notch above Lara, etc and the rest.
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
Yes. I will also say, for great bowlers, unless you attack them, the chance of grinding them down is much lower.
Australia weren't losing sleep over Kallis batting them out of the match.
Asif said how he preferred to play Dravid more than Sehwag since he let him set his plans.
Coronis
International Coach
Impressive that he noticed that in all 2 matches he played against them. One where the two faced a combined 25 balls and the other where Dravid scored a ton.
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
This isnt that hard. Sehwag in the second test hammered the opening partnership and Asif got both guys out in the next test.
Coronis
International Coach
If 9 runs off 14 balls is enough to ruin your bowling plans then I don’t take Asif’s opinion that seriously. Much worse than Dravid hitting 6 off 16 balls off Asif in the same time period.
Slifer
International Captain
Well you could've fooled me. But yes, unless he completely nose dives, Smith is the test batsman of his generation.
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
I think as the bowler we can trust who he finds more difficult to bowl to. Unless you think he is lying.
Swamp Witch Hattie
School Boy/Girl Cricketer
There's no way that Asif was lying as he was a completely honest cricketer.
