Cricket's 3 best batsmen

[Donny]

Like Katich, for instance ?
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Anthony,

The great Sir Don died 3 years ago so whatever he said about Sach doesn't apply to this topic. In any case he was referring to his style.

There are many very stylish batsmen who don't rate well on other aspects of what makes a batsman great. Mark Waugh, Stephen Fleming, Anthony Ciconte and Michael Vaughan for instance.

Other than the top 3 and Bradman, all the others below are still playing.

Name - Tests - Inns. - N.O. - Runs - HS. - Ave. 100s - 50s - Ctchs - Team

AR Border - 156 265 44 11174 205 50.56 27 63 156 - AUS
SR Waugh - 168 259 46 10847 200 50.92 32 49 112 - AUS
SM Gavaskar - 125 214 16 10122 236* 51.12 34 45 108 - IND
SR Tendulkar - 111 180 18 9265 241* 57.19 32 37 70 - IND
BC Lara - 101 177 5 9031 375 52.50 24 42 135 - WI
G Kirsten - 96 167 13 7003 275 45.47 20 33 83 - RSA
DG Bradman - 52 80 10 6996 334 99.94 29 13 32 - AUS
Inzamam-ul-Haq - 91 150 16 6680 329 49.85 18 35 70 - PAK
R Dravid - 74 128 15 6417 233 56.78 16 31 93 - IND
CL Hooper - 102 173 15 5762 233 36.46 13 27 115 - WI
RT Ponting - 74 117 15 5749 257 56.36 20 21 88 - AUS
GP Thorpe - 83 151 19 5552 200* 42.06 12 33 88 - ENG
N Hussain - 91 162 14 5430 207 36.68 13 30 59 - ENG
MJ Slater - 74 131 7 5312 219 42.83 14 21 33 - AUS
ST Jayasuriya - 83 140 13 5258 340 41.40 10 26 63 - SL

[couragous cloke]

Lets not forget that Sachin has just made 241 and he's out of form. That spells the best batsmen in the world, no Doubt about it.

[Donny]

No, sorry mate, that innings doesn't count.

JLC will soon tell you that.

It was against a weak attack with only 1 world class bowler. You know, just like Hayden's 380 against Zimbabwe.

Hell, those two attacks were nearly as bad as the English pie chuckers Lara got his 375 against.

[JLC]

Thats true it was a very ordinary looking Sheffield Shield NSW attack that played Tendulkar back into form with the exception of Dizzy.

That is the apparent future for Australia. The Indians for the match ammassed 9-915.

Bracken, Lee and MacGill were clearly exposed.

Tnedulkars real test will come when he faces Pakistan and Ahktar.

I am sure Sachin Tendulkar cannot wait to face the Australians on his home track in India.

jlc

[Sultan of spin]

Warne and McGrath will be back for that series so the attack will be far stronger.

I fing it intersting that everyone is bagging out the Australian attack all of a sudden, You all claim that Gillespie is world class(which i think has been proven once again is a myth) and a few weeks ago people were trying to compare MacGill to Warne. Lee was clearly underdone and was a questionable selection and Bracken is not good enough to play test cricket for the world's best team but most pace bowlers probably look ordinary compared to McGrath.

[JLC]

I think Gilesspie did pretty well on wickets that probably didnt suit him that much. It would have helped Dizzy if McGrath or Warne was at the other end taking wickets or at worst keeping the pressure on.

The big mistake was not playing a test in Perth. I thought that was the obvious ground to beat the Indians.

jlc

[Sultan of spin]

I think everybody including Cricket Australia thought we would beat them comfortably on the grounds they chose so they wouldn't need a test in Perth, that looks like a fairly arrogant decision now.

Re Gillespie my point exactly he can't cut it if he dosen't have Warne and or McGrath to hold his hand. He is a good team player but as an individual he is not going to win you matches.

[commonwombat]

Arrogance has some possibilities. There is another consideration that you have overlooked. That of the almighty dollar.

Test crowds in Perth have generally been disappointing over the past decade. Therefore is it not financially sensible to hold these key matches on the larger grounds where the crowds will be consistently larger, ergo higher gate receipts.

Case in point those seasons with 2 touring teams (ie 3 tests agst each). The poorer relation team has the earlier Tests generally on the smaller grounds (Hobart, Perth and gen Brisbane) and the more popular side gets Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. Was interesting however that Sth Africa had never been scheduled a Test in Perth esp in the 90's with Donald & co firing.

[Donny]

The main draw for the summer was Oz v. India.

Of course they were played in Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.

Perth got one of the Oz v Zimbabwe Tests. Probably Hobart should've got the other one instead of the unfortunately scheduled second Test in Sydney during the RWC.

[London Dave]