Chris Cairns vs Flintoff?

[sunilz]

Who is the better cricketer?

 

[mr_mister]

Cairns, though Flintoff did have a very mini Botham phase where he was absolutely playing at ATG standards for a season or 2

 

[Athlai]

One thing I highly value in a cricketer is for them to not cheat.

 

[subshakerz]

I think I would choose Flintoff if I was a captain. Once you take out minnows, they are much closer statistically.

Both were fairly mediocre batsmen, but Flintoff once he hit his strides was a more quality bowler capable of good spells even when he wasn't taking wickets. His issue was that he used to bowl back of a length which didn't yield him many wickets but make no mistake, 2003/4 onwards batsmen generally had much more respect for him when he was bowling. That aspect isn't reflected in his bowling stats.

 

[subshakerz]

Without minnows, Cairns is 32 with bat and bowl, pretty much like Flintoff.

All-round records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

 

[GIMH]

Freddie obv

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Slippy did this comparison a few years ago with alarming results.

 

[vicleggie]

Flintoff at his best was a better test bowler.

Cairns in everything else though.

Fantastic cricketer and very handsome bloke- truly had it all. Sad to see what happened with his life.

 

[vicleggie]

One thing I highly value in a cricketer is for them to not cheat.

Must be very hard supporting NZ then.

 

[mr_mister]

One thing I highly value in a cricketer is for them to not cheat.

Flintoff used Murray mints

 

[ImpatientLime]

Cairns, though Flintoff did have a very mini Botham phase where he was absolutely playing at ATG standards for a season or 2

was actually about three years between 03-06 where he was average around 39 with the bat and 27 with the ball. the elusive all rounder putting both facets of his game together etc

flintoffs peak deffo higher but cairns quite clear over his career i feel.

 

[Zinzan]

Cairns quite clearly assuming we're talking Test cricket.

For those who reference Flintoff's Ashes exploits, it ain't Cairns' fault he played in weak NZ sides vs. Australia (bar the 2001/02 side) so couldn't contribute to wins, but he put Warne & co to the sword with the bat enough times to suggest he would have done in stronger sides.

 

[trundler]

Cairns is a worse version of Kapil with half the longevity. Probably still better than Flintoff though.

 

[BazBall21]

Cairns

 

[Zinzan]

was actually about three years between 03-06 where he was average around 39 with the bat and 27 with the ball. the elusive all rounder putting both facets of his game together etc

In 49 tests between 1995-2004 (a 10 year period), Cairns averaged 37 with bat & 27 with ball.

 

[sledger]

Cairns probably a better batter on the whole, Flintfoff's batting was pretty useless for the last few years of his career

But Flintoff was a way better bowler than Cairns

 

[GIMH]

Peak Flintoff was ridiculous and a player any team would want. Post-peak his value to the team probably isn’t reflected in his stats. Took a while to get to his peak though.

If he’d looked after himself during his career as well as he does now then he’d have achieved so much more.

 

[sledger]

yeah I mean 2005-2007/8 Flintoff could have got in any test team in the world purely as a bowler alone, he was that good, and would have been that good for even longer if his body hadn't let him down (or if he hadn't let down his body I guess)

 

[mr_mister]

After the '05 ashes KP just did his explosive batting style better than him while also being able to construct traditional test knocks

 

[SteveNZ]

Flintoff >>>>> Cairns