Where does AB de Villiers rank in history?
- Thread starter The_Reaper
- Start date
- Tagged users None
eth-dog
Tier 1 WW Player
Border and Waugh very stiff to miss.
Garfield Sobers was a handy spinner.
Bradesmaen
TheBrownDog
Not enough David Warner as opener.. thought he was GOAT?
That's because he's still playing, people will figure it out at the end of his career. Agreed on Kallis, stats wise I think he'd stack up very well against Sobers but I'm sure many old campaigners wouldn't have that comparison.
PaddyO
Cancelled
He will be, will replace Morris soon if he hasn't already.
Then all you w***ers who love Hayden can eat each others dicks.
PaddyO
Cancelled
Sobers was so much better than Kallis it's not even comparable. Unless you base it on stats.
Bradesmaen
TheBrownDog
Arthur Morris is turning in his grave.
PaddyO
Cancelled
Over Warner replacing him?
Cricket is a very stats driven game, this is how we compare players and rate their input. How else would you compare them?
Kallis averaged 55 with the bat and 32 with the ball, Sobers 57 with the bat and 34 with the ball. There's no way you can say Sobers was "so much better" other than for nostalgia reasons.
Stats are relative to the time in which they were accumulated. I don't try and compare stats between eras because between Sobers and Kallis so many things changed. What I would look at over and above that was the players ability to influence a match and whilst Kallis is a great player - I would not have him in the same class as G.S. Sobers on that measure. Does that make me a campaigner? If so that's ok with me.
eth-dog
Tier 1 WW Player
One could mount an argument to put them both in the same side.
PaddyO
Cancelled
Scoring rates, the load each of them took when bowling, and the way Sobers was used as a bowler. None of that's nostalgia.
Nah that's cool, in the end it's personal opinion. I just think it's dumb to say that Kallis is nowhere near as good as Sobers, where I think the comparison is fair. To be honest I'd probably have Sobers ahead very marginally but there's stuff all in it imo.
Your point about it being hard to compare eras is valid for sure. Would be interesting to do an analysis of all rounders in Sobers' era as compared to Kallis' era and see how far each was ahead of number 2, I'll do it if I have a slow day at work this week. Of course the modern era also brought about the wicketkeeper batsman "all rounder" which would be hard to compare to a bowler-batsman, but clearly Gilchrist and Sangakarra should be recognised in some way.
What do you mean "scoring rates", as in teams scored quicker in Kallis' era? Maybe that would translate to Sobers' 57 average probably being relatively higher than Kallis', would also be interesting to do an analysis on what an "average average" is for modern era. As for Sobers' bowling you mean he took more of a load with bowling pace and spin?
Many more tests played by players in Kallis era and many against indifferent opposition than in Sobers era
eth-dog
Tier 1 WW Player
Kallis and Sobers are so far ahead of the rest it isn't funny. You could justifiably put both in an all time XI.
PaddyO
Cancelled
No, Sobers scored at a much rapider rate than Kallis did- strike rate. Gave his team time to win tests.
With regards to Sobers' bowling, I've read he often bowled seam in spin friendly conditions to allow his team to play two proper spinners, and bowled spin as the sole spinner on pace friendly pitches. I know this seems counterintuitive, but it was for team balance. Sobers as a proper quick was fast and I really don't think his bowling figures do him justice.
"He's got the ball, I've got the bat. We'll see". Love that quote! Sobers was a gun.
Kallis was great too, don't hear me wrong here.
PaddyO
Cancelled
Just as a final thing on Kallis vs Sobers as bowlers, Sobers- bowled 22 overs per innings on average, while Kallis bowled 12 on average. So Sobers was a true all rounder, taking about a quarter of the overs bowled in the innings, while Kallis was a bit more part time.
If you look at how much other all rounders who batted top 6 have struggled to combine a bowling workload with a high batting average (Miller/Botham/Flintoff) is shows again what an outstanding athlete/cricketer Sobers was.
If you look at how much other all rounders who batted top 6 have struggled to combine a bowling workload with a high batting average (Miller/Botham/Flintoff) is shows again what an outstanding athlete/cricketer Sobers was.
Bareth Garry
Team Captain
- Jan 20, 2014
- 592
- 960
- AFL Club
- Adelaide
Incredible batsman. I think his place in history will be that as a revolutionary player whose skillset of mastering all three formats by being able to score runs quickly in every direction of the field will rub off on a new generation of players. He could play all the textbook shots in the cricketing manual but also innovate and play unorthodox shots. The youngsters love that. He's this generation's Viv Richards.
- Mar 25, 2003
- 35,681
- 28,334
It's crazy to think when he was 23/24 there were rumblings that the finished product was never going to match the talent.
He matched the talent and then a little bit more for good measure.
Incredibly unique batsmen. So much fun to watch.
He matched the talent and then a little bit more for good measure.
Incredibly unique batsmen. So much fun to watch.
Carbine Chaos
The Gaff-er
- Apr 1, 2009
- 63,858
- 93,946
- AFL Club
- West Coast
- Other Teams
- Perth FC, Everton, Delhi
Amazing player. Lucky enough to see him crack a big 100 live.
magpiemaniac44
Club Legend
- Aug 19, 2020
- 2,372
- 2,380
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
- Other Teams
- San Antonio, Melbourne Stars
My favourite non Australian player, incredible talent and will go down as one of the greats. Top 3 South African cricketer of all time at least.
Watched him live at the 2015 WC against the windies at the SCG.
He was 89 not out with 4 overs to go and ended up with 162 it was outrageous. It was like watching somone play cricket 07 on ps2 and tonking every ball but it was actually real life.
He took Jason Holder and whacked him into sydney harbour. I think he had 34 and 32 run overs against him in the spell. Luckily we were at long on where some of the sixes were headed as well.
His ability to just change gears was the best thing about him he goes from full on tonk mode to being able to bat all day without playing a stroke.
The Adelaide drawn test where Faf saved the game. De Villiers faced something like 260 balls without hitting one boundary.
He was 89 not out with 4 overs to go and ended up with 162 it was outrageous. It was like watching somone play cricket 07 on ps2 and tonking every ball but it was actually real life.
He took Jason Holder and whacked him into sydney harbour. I think he had 34 and 32 run overs against him in the spell. Luckily we were at long on where some of the sixes were headed as well.
His ability to just change gears was the best thing about him he goes from full on tonk mode to being able to bat all day without playing a stroke.
The Adelaide drawn test where Faf saved the game. De Villiers faced something like 260 balls without hitting one boundary.
Zach Package
Prespakis2Tsatas
Sneakily a very good test record given he’ll be remembered primarily as a white ball player
Similar threads
