That's pretty rough on Stuart Macgill and Nathan Hauritz.
Favourite/least favourite players to watch.
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Favourite you all most likely know from me is Glenn Maxwell,Dean Jones Viv Richards and Ricky Ponting.Bowlers Lillee,Warne and always liked Siddle in has younger days as a bowler when batting conditions were good
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I used to really cringe watching Smith bat years ago, but now he’s a freak. His hand eye coordination is the best I have ever seen.
Despite some comments on here, Handscomb is one of my favourite players to watch. He has his flaws but is possibly the most attacking batsman in Australia with every shot in the book these days (cue the abuse). I think his high risk approach probably rules him out of test cricket now, but he’ll probably still play ODIs.
Loved watching Slater, Warne, Gilchrist and Mitchell Johnson of yesteryear.
Despite some comments on here, Handscomb is one of my favourite players to watch. He has his flaws but is possibly the most attacking batsman in Australia with every shot in the book these days (cue the abuse). I think his high risk approach probably rules him out of test cricket now, but he’ll probably still play ODIs.
Loved watching Slater, Warne, Gilchrist and Mitchell Johnson of yesteryear.
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I agree with your comments about Handscomb,not sure why he has his critics.I forgot about Gilchrist,one of the great players to watch and had to come in at 5 for not to many at time and played the attacking innings and got the team out of trouble.
MacGill was cooked post Warne which is unfortunate as he was an absolute gun for 15 odd years before that and was good to watch. To be honest I forgot he played a few games in the West Indies afterwards.
Hauritz was just deadset average and he only played as many games as he did because of how average the other options were.
The Speaker are you gonna just let this slide?
Nathan Lyon had the exact same record for years, and played under a better captain for spin bowlers in Michael Clarke. Hauritz was dropped for no reason, and for Xav Doherty at that. He was treated terribly, and if he'd had as long as Lyon, he'd have ended up doing approximately as well, though I would say Lyon is better now - thanks to nearly a decade of Test cricket behind him.
To be fair saying that Hauritz was dropped for no reason is actually an understatement. Getting dropped for Doherty as well...
I still think Lyon has and always had much more to offer naturally, Hauritz however had been through the elite systems since he was a teenager, whilst Lyon sort of came from no where and even had to take other jobs in curating along the way.
I'm still trying to get over that period where we went nuts over left arm orthodox "spinners".
Stan Van Gundy
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Bizarre call on Faf? Not the most talented bloke and has technical flaws that prevent him from being a truly great player, but wouldn't say that he can't be arsed. Just look at his test debut against Aus. One of the most mentally tough and resolute innings I've ever seen. Unless you're referring to him being self righteous, which I can't comment on as I don't know the bloke personally and haven't seen a heap of his media interviews.
Wholeheartedly agree on Samuels.
Stan Van Gundy
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As for the thread, I'm a bit of a purist and generally prefer to watch technically sound players and elegant strokemakers. Chanderpaul was an exception. He had a technique that many deemed ugly but that for some reason I just loved to watch.
Most favourite batsmen to watch (in no particular order, except for #1)
Top of the list for me was Kumar Sangakkara, the bloke just oozed class on (and now off) the field.
Mohammad Yousuf
Babar Azam
Mark Waugh
Virat Kohli
Ben Stokes
Ian Bell
Kane Williamson
K.L Rahul (though he's not fulfilling his evident potential)
Jacques Kallis
Ricky Ponting
Adam Gilchrist
Jonathan Trott (believe it or not) - the way he could play anything off middle/middle and leg and clip it away to the boundary was beautiful to watch. Shame he couldn't learn how to handle the short ball.
Just a few that come to mind. Will update the list and add least favs (and can't forget the bowlers!) once I've had some sleep.
Most favourite batsmen to watch (in no particular order, except for #1)
Top of the list for me was Kumar Sangakkara, the bloke just oozed class on (and now off) the field.
Mohammad Yousuf
Babar Azam
Mark Waugh
Virat Kohli
Ben Stokes
Ian Bell
Kane Williamson
K.L Rahul (though he's not fulfilling his evident potential)
Jacques Kallis
Ricky Ponting
Adam Gilchrist
Jonathan Trott (believe it or not) - the way he could play anything off middle/middle and leg and clip it away to the boundary was beautiful to watch. Shame he couldn't learn how to handle the short ball.
Just a few that come to mind. Will update the list and add least favs (and can't forget the bowlers!) once I've had some sleep.
Could respect his immense and often ruthless concentration, but can't say I ever enjoyed Trott bat. Which is an odd one to explain as often had a perverse enjoyment in the similarly ungainly and patient Cook who was in the same batting order!
Bell, yes agreed fully on that was a pleasure.
And Kumar would be very close to the top for me as well.
RedmanWasHere
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Watching Gilly and Hussey bat was fun.
Ridiculous hand eye coordination from both.
Ridiculous hand eye coordination from both.
Oh, I forgot one. I bloody loved watching Matthew Hayden bat. The arrogance of him walking down the pitch to opening bowlers was fantastic to watch. And there was something special about him changing to the floppy widebrimmed hat once he was comfortable in his innings.
I think this is a bit of a myth about Trott. He never learned how to play a hook shot, but then neither did Steve Waugh. In reality Trott handled the short ball extremely well in the 2010-11 Ashes, pushing anything at his ribs round the corner and blithely ducking under anything higher. It was an immense source of frustration for Australia's fast bowlers, especially during his 168* in Melbourne, and was arguably a major reason why Mitchell Johnson got dropped for the Adelaide Test.
I have no idea what happened to him later on. It makes me very sad because at one time he looked like being the best English batsman since Herbert Sutcliffe.
I can understand that but a lot of it was bluster.
His efforts against SA and the West Indies (and in his defence I guess a lot of those struggles came before he’d established himself) when they were hostile were sub-par. Later on England in England were similar.
he was as good at dismantling mediocre bowling as ive ever seen but to me his one true contribution against adversity was India in 2001.
been thinking about the things that make me like watching certain players.
To me there are a couple of things that make me sit up and enjoy watching someone.
metronomic technique that fits the bill of ‘if you were teaching someone how to play this shot, that’s what you’d show them.’
So for me Kallis, Jason Holder (bias but seriously - the guys attacking shots are as pure as it gets), Sachin and probably Sangakkara all fulfilled that criteria.
the timers - the guys who just effortlessly hit balls like tracer bullets. So Martyn, Amla, Marvan Attapattu - basically anyone who can play a back foot cover drive.
the flashy guys - Lara, Sehwag, De Kock, the blokes who you can bowl anywhere to and they can just smoke you on their day.
the brutes, those guys who just stand and deliver with utter power, like Gayle, Stokes, and though he had a lot more going for him than just power, AB de Villiers. I loved it when he went into full on slog mode. Andre Russell is another one.
the absolute mental giants like Faf, Nasser Hussain - guys who just squeezed every last drop from their limited ability.
mand the freaks - Katich, Chanderpaul. I found their techniques fascinating. Smith is just TOO far the other side of that for me to really enjoy
Stan Van Gundy
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Yeah, perhaps I should have said "learned to hook" instead. He was capable of dealing with short bowling by ducking and parrying, like you say; but when faced with truly hostile (145kph+) and accurate bowling to the ribs/throat it was a different story. He still had the concentration to survive, but he could barely score a run. In the 2010/2011 Ashes, this weakness was not really exploited. The Australian attack - and Johnson in particular - would relieve pressure waaay too often with inaccurate bowling and fullish balls on leg stump, which was Trott's bread and butter.
As we all know, Mitch Johnson was a completely different animal in the 13/14 Ashes. He was relentless and brutal with his short bowling to Trott. They'd identified it as a definite chink in his armour and set their fields accordingly: leg gully, short leg, short square leg etc. This prevented Trott from even tucking balls off his ribs for a single. Probably most importantly, Trott would no longer be bailed out by a poor ball or 2 from Johnson.
Trott left the tour due to poor mental health as the reason from memory. He would play just 3 more test matches in his career.
According to his wiki: "he cites his increasing struggles facing the short ball as a principal cause of his problems: "I felt I was being questioned as a man. I felt my dignity was being stripped away with every short ball I ducked or parried. It was degrading."
RohitSharma
Club Legend
Most favorite - watching my highlights
Least favorite - Root (boring in all formats)
Least favorite - Root (boring in all formats)
Golumless
A bigger deal out west.
Didn't he get hit by Johnson in an ODI a year eariler which well and truly shook him up?
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Favorite of all time.
M.Hussey
Least:
Zampa, bowls rubbish.
M.Hussey
Least:
Zampa, bowls rubbish.
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