Your favorite batsman to watch bat!!!

[jimmy101]

For me, BC Lara will never be surpassed. Highlights of his classic digs have infinite rewatchablilty.

Viv would come a close second, even if he was before my time. I once read a lovely description of Viv's batting that really resonated with me. Went something like: "Viv didn't just hit the ball, he dismissed it from his presence."

Also love Afridi, Gayle, Martyn, Kohli, Jayasuriya, Laxman, Hooper &, of course, Tendulkar.

 

[Red]

M.Waugh, Lara and Viv for me.

 

[Bolo.]

Tests: Chris Martin
ODIs: AB
T20s: Gayle?

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

And sometimes you have super elegant guys like Carl Hooper averaging in the 30s.

Meanwhile, you look at the 10,000 run club, and they're mostly not that aesthetically pleasing. Shiv, Gavaskar, Cook, Dravid, Kallis, Waugh....over two third's of that list is pure uggos.

Not Younis Khan though

 

[TestMatch]

I always found Khan too lanky and ungainly. But my yardstick is usually Lara - every little Lara gesture and shot just seemed a little bit more exaggerated, swaggy and stylish - so everyone tends to just look less cool in comparison.

Does anyone actually enjoy watching Steve Smith? IMO the guy's batting looks totally ugly, any yet you're constantly dumbfounded at his range and the ease at which he plays each shot. It's like every shot is simultaneously perfect and absolutely mangled (and followed up with weird tics and lightsaber flourishes for good measure).

 

[honestbharani]

While Steve Smith is ugly against the seamers, his footwork against the spinners is always worth the entrance money. Seems to cut out a lot of his frills against the spinners too when batting. And his shots square on the off side look pretty good inspite of all that jumping around with his technique.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Does anyone actually enjoy watching Steve Smith?

Absolutely. Nothing more boring than watching a textbook batsman. Smith is beautiful to watch.

 

[bagapath]

I'm a great Barry Richards fan. He doesn't seem to be very highly regarded in this forum, mainly because most posters never saw him bat and he never had the opportunity to play much Test cricket. I've seen suggestions that he might have become another Graeme Hick. Those of us who were around in the 1970's view matters very differently.

Barry played every shot in the book and could also improvise, but what I remember most about his batting is its sheer technical perfection. Observers who saw cricket before the war generally agreed that he had fewer weaknesses than any batsman since Hobbs. It's hard to imagine much higher praise than that. I tend to agree, however, with Trevor Bailey when he wrote that Barry "did not generate as much excitement as did the brutal strokeplay of his namesake Vivian, but his strokes had the elegance and discipline of a Keats sonnet." If consistent excitement is the metric, I still believe that Viv narrowly shades Barry and Sobers, as well as Lara and Tendulkar, my favorite batsmen of the past thirty years.

i am one of those members of this forum who doesn't want to see barry's name brought up in most of the discussions about great batsmen, because those discussions are usually about test cricket and he did not play enough tests to be in the mix. however, his elegance and appeal and his greatness as a first class cricketer cannot be questioned.

 

[Flem274*]

i love watching smith bat. nothing is more boring to me than the ian bell type.

i respect and love kane for what he has done for us, but i want him in our team scoring tons rather than 'love' watching him for its own sake, if that makes sense.

my answer to the thread is lord colin de grandhomme.

 

[Isura]

Don Bradman, Peter May, Colin Cowdrey(Snr), Ken Barrington, Greg Chappell, David Gower,Norm O'Neill, Barry Richards, Neil Harvey,Mark Waugh, Steve Smith.

There an eleven of the finest stroke makers I have ever seen in our game.

You saw Bradman play?

 

[CharlesLara]

Lara

Martyn
Laxman
Ponting

Williamson
Pietersen
Atapattu

My older brother was HUGE Mark Waugh fan (V800 (1996 version) orange with the scoops out the back), bizarre actually considering we were living in Durban, South Africa at the time, but it always stuck with me. I guess Martyn is to me what Waugh is to my older brother.

On that note, I've gone back and watched Roy Fredericks bat as Lara mentions him as a huge influence, as well as the fact that everyone says Sobers THAT guy, and Lara is like a mix of the 2. Watching Sobers footage (that 254 for ROW) is absolutely ridiculous, some of the shots with those bats and HUGE boundaries....

My old man also was at the Pollock 274 against Australia in Durban and witnessed THAT partnership with Richards, tells me prob the finest display of batting he has ever seen.

EDIT: For personal thrill and humour factor, Herschelle Gibbs when on song. Also, for some reason I liked Tresocthicks play inside of the line style of leave HA!

 

[CharlesLara]

It's bizarre cause I feel the same. He goes against every other "type" of player my general Test aesthetic goes for, but for some reason watching Smith bat in my mind, gives me a nice little window into batting from yesteryear / uncovered pitches type technique. All ball watching and playing late generally off the wicket, quite instinct based. I dunno I find him very fascinating to watch, also as a counter to the "textbook" ways which always gets used an as argument the higher up you go against players, good to see someone prove the "experts" wrong.

 

[CricAddict]

Sachin Tendulkar

 

[andruid]

Tendulkar, Lara, Inzamam Ul Haq, and for some reason Shiv Chanderpaul.


For specific shots
Michael Vaughan's cover drive

 

[DriveClub]

Lara, Tendulkar, Saeed Anwar, Azharuddi love the wrists

 

[DriveClub]

And always loved watching Flintoff bat whenever he scored runs

 

[DriveClub]

Also Trescothink for his languid upright stance and minimal footwork

 

[honestbharani]

Lara, Tendulkar, Saeed Anwar, Azharuddi love the wrists

TMI man. ISR. Mods...

 

[Isura]

Sachin Tendulkar

Good call out. Might sound bog standard but Sachin was truly a joy to watch in his prime when in full flight. Aesthetically he's underrated by non-Indian fans.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Good call out. Might sound bog standard but Sachin was truly a joy to watch in his prime when in full flight. Aesthetically he's underrated by non-Indian fans.

I enjoy watching the way he ducks stump-height deliveries at Adelaide Oval