Roar Guru
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Robbed of certain victory by ongoing inclement weather throughout both of the first two tests of the 2001-02 home series against New Zealand, Australia…
I find it a great shame that with this historic return to Pakistan, most trips down memory lane regarding Australian series there are inevitably…
As a school teacher, I would write the following summation on the batting section of Alex Carey’s report card at the completion of his…
The real value of runs made lies in how they ultimately influenced your team’s chances of actually winning the match. Consider these four imaginary…
Tim Paine is out of the Ashes and he may not play Test cricket again after taking an indefinite break. While it's a loss…
Despite Australia’s wonderful performance in crushing England 4-0 in 1989, there were actually three occasions when they approached the situation in an extremely negative…
For Ashes cricket comparisons between the Waughs, peers have to be included because Mark and Steve did not stand out from the pack compared…
For most of the first decade of the new century and millennium I was a TESOL teacher, mostly in Jakarta, but also nearly one…
Originally, I was going to add Mark Taylor for a three-way comparison, given his outstanding series at home in 1989-90 and his very good…
We have seen how the twins were comfortably the best performing Australian batsmen against the West Indies in the 1979-97 period when they had…
I have drawn up four tables as a comparison between all Australian batsmen who faced the fearsome four-pronged West Indian pace attacks tween 1979…
I have been granted special minimal powers to slightly alter cricket history in order to elevate Mark Waugh into the echelon of Australian batting…
It is probably fair to say that, so far, the majority of fellow cricket fanatics on The Roar remain unconvinced on the concept of…
Criticism is frequently made of legitimately great batsmen from time to time that the one thing lacking in his game is that he hasn’t…
Aussie cricket fans believing there is some sort of voodoo hovering over our Test team chasing small fourth-innings targets is similar to a small…
Imagine we have an object about the size of a dining table weighing 200 kg and it needs to be moved. There are 11…
Here are just a few sundries to make a more complete total in the fourth and final innings of comparisons between the dominance displayed…
To complete the series of the next best of the 1980s and '90s, I shall now do a comparison of the dominance of the…
Moving onto the 1990s, the front runner for second best in the 1990s is actually the West Indies since they clung onto their crown,…
The West Indies were the dominant Test team of the 1980s, while Australia were clearly the best in the 1990s, taking over from late…
Sure, but not in a case like Faisalabad early 1983 – a lost cause is a lost cause. Same with the 147, 121 and 236 the same year. In none of those three series, did he make runs often enough when it mattered. He wasn’t a bad player by any means, but we don’t need to overhype him.
Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat
No idea but prolly pretty good. I said earlier he was best Indian bat prior to mid 80s.
Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat
So is Two Slips and a Gully actually a full cordon of three people?
West Indies all-time Test XI
Did you know that around about that same time, Richie swam some dangerous waves somewhere or other to save Viv’s life after he had been dragged out by an under current?
Allan Border's greatest knocks in defeat
Nope. It’s a team game. While I adore Cummins, delaying the declaration in Sydney just so that Usman could progress from low-mid 80s to 100 cost us the test.
Allan Border's greatest knocks in defeat
Gavaskar certainly gorged himself. 22 of his tons were in draws many of them high scoring ones, including both tons at home against the west Indies in 1983-84. There was the 147 not out in the west Indies earlier the same year in a test alredy doomed when he went in with India finishing 3 for 284 in reply to 470. There is no way those windies pacemen got over 3rd gear in that situation, in fact Gomes and Richards bowled 18 of the 79 overs. Immediately prior to that he made 155 against minnows Sri Lanka and in the series prior 127 not out in a lost cause 3rd innings in Faisalabad. Also, at home against a weak Australian attack in late 1986, he made a ton in a high scoring draw in the 3rd test.
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I used to have Gavaskar in my all-time world team on account of the rather superficial statistic of being the only player to have made a test ton in all 7 countries at the time of retirement, but not any more. My rating of him has dropped in a similar way to Matthew Hayden.
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The big myth about Gavaskar that needs destroying is the idea he scored 13 tons against the mighty west indies. In fact he scored only three against them, the three aforementioned non-impacting ones, the other 10 were against the far from mighty west indies of the early 1970s and a tiny number against the emerging west indies of the mid-70s when they still only played two pace bowlers.
Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat
I also meant to add that it cannot be understated how much greenidge, Haynes and Richardson were helped by Viv Richards’s mere presence in the line-up even after Lloyd had gone and he (Viv) was no longer at his absolute peak.
West Indies all-time Test XI
While I no longer regard Langer and Hayden as our best, I also do not regard Simpson and Lawry as being indisputably superior to Taylor and Slater.
West Indies all-time Test XI
That sounds impressive and maybe it is when scratching below the surface, but I like this kind of detail:
Mark Waugh made 6 tons that were the only ton of the match, another 2 were the only one in the match for his team and another 5 that were the only one in the innings – this is 65% of his test tons and in those 13 aforementioned tons, on average only 1.4 team mates reached 50.
We can dismiss the runs in Adelaide against saffies in 1997-98 because they weren’t chasing the target but that still leaves only 1.5 for the other 12. And in that Adelaide innings he batted a mere 16 minutes shy of 7 hours, no team mate lasted 2, he faced 305 balls no team mate absorbed 100.
Six of those innings were in deciding tests, only one in a loss and the four draws were all deciders that finished 1-1, 3-1, 1-0 and 1-0.
I never meant to imply Haynes was ordinary, I only questioned his overall impact like described above. I regard Haynes as one of those batsmen who if he’s your 4th or 5th best, then you’ve got an extremely powerful line-up but if he’s your best then you have a relatively ordinary one.
West Indies all-time Test XI
He was India’s best prior to the mid 1980s, but Azharuddin, Tendulkar, Laxman and Kohli are better and Dravid at least just as good. I would rate Sehwag lower because he was predominantly a flat track bully.
Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat
People like Dujon, Healy, Knott, Rod Marsh … they are pragmatists with willow in hand. They know they can bat, but they also know they need their energy for keeping. So with willow in hand, they will care more when going in at 5 for 150 than 5 for 350. Keepers rightly don’t care one little bit for their superficial raw batting average.
West Indies all-time Test XI
Greg Chappell’s exact words in pen were “Gibbs’s high tally of wickets was more due to number of overs bowled rather than exceptional ability”. There is more context around it, so anyone can feel free to ask me to elaborate further.
West Indies all-time Test XI
Apparently Rose Stevenson (think that was his name) was pretty good. Never played an official international match but went on a rebel tour to saffie land as a youngster/fringe dweller.
West Indies all-time Test XI
The late (from the roar) Renato Carini and I agree the greatest individual batsman performance in a test series is a near tie between Lara against us in 1999 and Steve Smith in 2019.
West Indies all-time Test XI
Garner was 6 8, Ambrose 6 7 McGrath also. Willis was 6 6 and Steve Harmison always seemed like a giant of a man though i don’t know his height. There was Sulaiman Benn out here in 2009 but again I don’t know hos exact height.
West Indies all-time Test XI
Seriously I doubt Gibbs was any better a spinner than Roger Harper. I wonder who the better fielder was if we are talking about being in the 12 …
West Indies all-time Test XI
Sobers and Richards can bowl spin. Greg Chappell himself more or less said in a polite refined way that Gibbs was overrated and I can see why.
West Indies all-time Test XI
Did you get to Lanka Land by now I meant to ask?
Sunil Gavaskar's greatest knocks in defeat