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Cricket Discussion - Part 3

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JimmyBC said:
Smith is as good & in some cases better than the big names in the modern era.

I'd rather watch Lara bat than anyone else I've seen tbh it's based on what's pleasing to my eye his backlift was cricket sex.
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The other thing about Lara was that he would win you a test match, almost singlehandedly, more likely than anyone else in that top 10 list.

I have a great mate who is Indian, cricket mad, an old prof of mine, and he regularly used to ask me who was the best batsmen I have seen? I would say, if I wanted someone to win a test match, I'd pick Lara, I've seen him do it a number of times, and he loves scoring double and triple centuries, but if I wanted someone to set up a test, or win an ODI it would be Tendulkar.

He for a long time was stumped why I would pick Lara over Tendulkar, but I said I hadn't seen Tendulkar win tests like I had seen Lara do it.

The stand out is his 153 not out in Barbados 3rd test in 1999 when the Windies were chasing 310 to win and they won by 1 wicket and gave the Windies a 2-1 lead in a 4 test series. I stayed up all night at a mates place to watch it on Foxtel. The wicket was crumbling and Oz made 140 odd in their second innings after making 450 in their first innings.

In the 2nd test he made a double century and helped win it by 10 wickets after they were 4 for 30 odd and Oz had made 490 and Steve Waugh 199. This was after they were smashed the 1st test and bowled out by the Aussies for 51 and they lost by 300+ runs.

Lara was skipper and had been skipper on the South African tour a couple of months earlier and were whitewashed 0-5. That white wash by mainly white South Africans cut deep in the Caribbean. He was under massive pressure after the first test capitulation, but he delivered after that and also made a 100 in a session in the first innings of the 4th test. I went to my mates to watch that, but went home shortly after he got out. He didn't get much support in either innings and Oz won by about 160 runs. Oz made low 300s in both innings and Windies made low 200s in both innings.
 
RussellEbertHandball said:
The other thing about Lara was that he would win you a test match, almost singlehandedly, more likely than anyone else in that top 10 list.

I have a great mate who is Indian, cricket mad, an old prof of mine, and he regularly used to ask me who was the best batsmen I have seen? I would say, if I wanted someone to win a test match, I'd pick Lara, I've seen him do it a number of times, and he loves scoring double and triple centuries, but if I wanted someone to set up a test, or win an ODI it would be Tendulkar.

He for a long time was stumped why I would pick Lara over Tendulkar, but I said I hadn't seen Tendulkar win tests like I had seen Lara do it.

The stand out is his 153 not out in Barbados 3rd test in 1999 when the Windies were chasing 310 to win and they won by 1 wicket and gave the Windies a 2-1 lead in a 4 test series. I stayed up all night at a mates place to watch it on Foxtel. The wicket was crumbling and Oz made 140 odd in their second innings after making 450 in their first innings.

In the 2nd test he made a double century and helped win it by 10 wickets after they were 4 for 30 odd and Oz had made 490 and Steve Waugh 199. This was after they were smashed the 1st test and bowled out by the Aussies for 51 and they lost by 300+ runs.

Lara was skipper and had been skipper on the South African tour a couple of months earlier and were whitewashed 0-5. That white wash by mainly white South Africans cut deep in the Caribbean. He was under massive pressure after the first test capitulation, but he delivered after that and also made a 100 in a session in the first innings of the 4th test. I went to my mates to watch that, but went home shortly after he got out. He didn't get much support in either innings and Oz won by about 160 runs. Oz made low 300s in both innings and Windies made low 200s in both innings.
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The other thing about Lara was his appetite for runs. When he reached triple figures, he wasn't satisfied with making 101 - he invariably wanted 200+. If the Aussies hadn't run him out for 277 at the SCG, he would have made 400.
 
philreich said:
The other thing about Lara was his appetite for runs. When he reached triple figures, he wasn't satisfied with making 101 - he invariably wanted 200+. If the Aussies hadn't run him out for 277 at the SCG, he would have made 400.
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I remember at one stage before he had retired, looking up double century makers and it was headed by Bradman 12, Lara 9, Hammond 7 and Attapatu 6. One other player had 6 think Javed and the rest had 5 or less.

The Atapattu shocked me, but when I looked it up 5 of the 6 were against Zimbos and Bangers and think all but 1 of those 5 was in Sri Lanka, and the other one was against india or Pakistan.

But it didn't surprise me that Lara was 2nd to Bradman at that stage. Since then Sangakarra has gone to 11, Kholi 7 and several others are at 6 including Tendulkar and Ponting. Tendulkar never had the hunger of Lara, to just keep on scoring runs at a fast rate.
 

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The Sri Lankans spinners are bowling well today. They were terrible yesterday the last 3 hours or so, bowling to Smith and Carey. They bowled like you would in the backyard off a 2 or 3 step run up. It helps the skipper has put some fieldsmen in close today to let them attack the batsmen compared to last night.
 
Unpopular opinion Im sure but I actually think my favourite batsman of all time to watch might be Usman, especially during that couple of years when he was just on all the time.

Others are more exciting for sure but he was close to a perfect batsman at one point.
 
EskimoPAFC said:
Unpopular opinion Im sure but I actually think my favourite batsman of all time to watch might be Usman, especially during that couple of years when he was just on all the time.

Others are more exciting for sure but he was close to a perfect batsman at one point.
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Easy on the eye a bit like Mark Waugh they seem to have a fortnight to caress their shots.
 

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philreich said:
If the Aussies hadn't run him out for 277 at the SCG, he would have made 400.
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That innings. Was like The Matrix when Neo works out he’s effectively a god and nothing can hurt him.
 
Steve Smith certainly employing some variation in his attack. Four different bowlers in seven overs is keeping the batsmen guessing, I cannot recall the last time Australia did that.

****ing SEVEN, their coverage is shithouse, I have to surf to find what channel the telecast is on. One minute it is on 7 then it switches to 7Mate. Then there are the ads after almost every over. The commentary is also ordinary as we have spent most of the afternoon listening to Greg Blewett trying to talk up a contest. with the FOXTEL coverage we get a highlights package to recap the day's play. Thus far I have not been able to find one on SEVEN.

Had a quick look at 7+ and while that solves the surfing issue it does not solve the ads issue.

Sri Lanka now 3/39 with Kuhnemann and Lyon doing the job.
 
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The ball that should have bowled Smith yesterday was the closest thing I've seen to a literal coat of varnish between out and not out. As soon as he missed it he closed his eyes waiting for the death rattle but it never came.
 

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Alex Carey had a horror patch that session. He missed a difficult stumping, dropped a sharp catch and and on top of that he let 4 byes through. Both were hard chances but another day he might have held on.

I am with the commentators, it maybe time to give Mitchell Starc another over or two.
 

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Cricket Discussion - Part 3

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