Graeme Smith

[Squeak]

Seems to be in a bit of form, this bloke. Has taken being appointed as a 22-year-old captain in his stride and is making a mark in world cricket with some big innings.

It will obviously drop as he plays more and more tests, but his average is currently 78.63.

 

[Unwritten_Law]

Yes so far he has cut up the brilliant bowling attacks of Bangladesh and England while only playing the current series outside of SA. Before I'm convinced he needs to score runs against Australia/New Zealand or Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan on the sub continent.

 

[Wicked Lester]

Originally posted by Unwritten_Law
Yes so far he has cut up the brilliant bowling attacks of Bangladesh and England while only playing the current series outside of SA. Before I'm convinced he needs to score runs against Australia/New Zealand or Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan on the sub continent.

Fair enough. I doubt anyone really believes his average is going to stay or even near its current level. It's difficult to assess a player until they've played 25 to 30 tests and even then big changes can occur.

Look at Jimmy Adams.

I trust you apply the same rigorous test to Australia's batsmen carving up the terrifying Bangladeshi pacemen? And the English for that matter. And the Windies. And........

 

[red+black]

to be fair though, he is only the second player to score 250+ in consecutive tests. other players have had the same opportunity in the past and have not achieved the same. so i wouldn't say that his form should be disregarded just because of the opposition.

i'm sure ppl will use the opposing argument for Steve Waugh. Two consecutive unbeaten centuries (v Bangladesh), therefore he is in form and should remain in the side.

al i'm saying is that steve waugh is playing well at the moment, as is graeme smith, and good luck to both of them.

 

[Bombers14]

I think he is a good player but he cant keep his moth shut in the media. I dont think he is captain material just yet. Lets see if he can keep up his good form in the tests. 2 big double centuries against England helped his average. Will be interesting to see how he goes in the next test.

 

[ajackett110]

Disregarding opposition, he deserves credit when credit's due!

How many people have scored three double centuries in their first 12 matches? Not many i reckon. He may not keep his form as good as it is now, but he deserves credit!

Also... in the 5 tests Eng v Aus at the start of the year, none of the aussies did as well as he has done, so when people say it's because of the opposition that he scores his runs, then shouldnt there be question marks over everyone who isn't making those scores!?

 

[Dipper]

From what I've seen in these two Tests he's got great cocnentration, obviously huge desire & he's strong upstairs BUT technically he's shonky, no doubts about it.

Both pitches have been belters & the England attack has been pathetic, in the same way that the Australian bowlers dismantled Marcus Trescothick (a batsman who'd done reasonably well against every country he'd faced) & his dodgy technique I fancy that they'd do the same to Smith.

He plays so much to leg it's untrue, the England bowlers just failed to cotton onto this.

Even if you just do the most basic negative thing of bowling wide of the off stump I reckon that you'd have him in trouble more often than not.


Seeing his scores & giving it some thought I'm agreeing more & more with the two threads on here about 50 not meaning much these days & there not being that many good pacemen.

Somebody said on one of them that an average of 40 used to be thought of as very good & I thought of Gordon Greenidge who averaged about 44 in Tests & (unless my memory is playing tricks) I'm sure was a better batsmen than many of these frauds with superior averages.

 

[Wicked Lester]

Your spot on with Greendige Dipper.

I think in his case he is someone who played two to three years beyond his best form. I'm fairly certain his average dipped from around 47-48 to 44 over his last 20-30 tests.

But yes I tend to think of Cuthbert (Gordon) as the equal of a number of batsmen currently going around with considerably higher averages.

 

[P76]

Originally posted by Wicked Lester
Your spot on with Greendige Dipper.

I think in his case he is someone who played two to three years beyond his best form. I'm fairly certain his average dipped from around 47-48 to 44 over his last 20-30 tests.

But yes I tend to think of Cuthbert (Gordon) as the equal of a number of batsmen currently going around with considerably higher averages.

Ian Chappell springs immediately to mind....David Gower......Dean Jones......

 

[dr nick]

i never saw much of greenidge, Dipper, but from what i can remember (ever so faintly in 1988/89) he was scintillating. i'm not sure what his average was in the tests or ODI's, but i just got the impression he could murder attacks much like Richards (and they were in the same side!!! poor Alderman, McDermott and Hughes... and who could forget Matthews being taken to the cleaners LOL). the number of times they used to be 0/100... i remember Marsh and Boon once doing the same, and i thought.. "incredible, they are doing as well as greenidge and haynes."

 

[Dipper]

Originally posted by nicko18
i never saw much of greenidge, Dipper, but from what i can remember (ever so faintly in 1988/89) he was scintillating. i'm not sure what his average was in the tests or ODI's, but i just got the impression he could murder attacks much like Richards (and they were in the same side!!! poor Alderman, McDermott and Hughes... and who could forget Matthews being taken to the cleaners LOL). the number of times they used to be 0/100... i remember Marsh and Boon once doing the same, and i thought.. "incredible, they are doing as well as greenidge and haynes."

When they 'blackwashed us' 5-0 in 1984 we (incredibly) declared in the Lord's Test to set them a chase, I beleive it was about 340 & in those distant days you didn't tend to see as many winning chases as you do now.

Well legend has it that Greenidge was never more dangerous than when he was limping & sure enough he was limping alright on that last day as he butchered us for an unbeaten double ton & they won with only 1 wicket lost.

It's fair to say that it was pretty brutal stuff, the funny thing is that the Chairman of Selctor's had been in Gower's ear telling him that he should have declared earlier.

I was lucky enough to see Greenidge & Marshall play for Hampshire against Essex in '86 on one of the tiniest municipal grounds that you'll ever see & fortunately for Essex they got him out for 20 otherwise I dread to think what he could have done to our attack as it was Allan Border was playing for us & even he managed to hit a few fairly effortless sixes into the tennis courts.

 

[Dipper]

I've just looked up the Windies Lord's victory of 1984 & I was a bit shocked to see that they knocked the runs off in 66 overs.


It's depressingly similar to what went on in this last Lord's Test, personally I think we should stop playing touring teams at Lord's.


Let's play all the games at Headingly or Egbaston.(on substandard pitches )

 

[red+black]

from the look of the scorecard, greenidge was a selfish prick for not letting Larry get his 100!

naah, just kidding, that must have been an awesome last day.

and the only wicket the Poms took was a run out!

 

[The Passenger]

jeez Graeme Smith is gonna be something special - he's a huge guy hey!!

but for all the talent he has, the English bowlers were making him look like Bradman with what they dished up to him......

 

[P76]

Originally posted by DIPPER
I've just looked up the Windies Lord's victory of 1984 & I was a bit shocked to see that they knocked the runs off in 66 overs.


It's depressingly similar to what went on in this last Lord's Test, personally I think we should stop playing touring teams at Lord's.


Let's play all the games at Headingly or Egbaston.(on substandard pitches )

Yeah Dipper, has there ever been another outbreak of Fusarium anywhere EVER in England other than Headingly (just on the pitch mind, not in the outfield....)

 

[Dipper]

Originally posted by P76
Yeah Dipper, has there ever been another outbreak of Fusarium anywhere EVER in England other than Headingly (just on the pitch mind, not in the outfield....)

I'm not sure I like what you're getting at but I think I should just remind you of the Englishmans' well deserved reputation worldwide for fair play & sportsmanship.

 

[P76]

Yes, well......

Quite amusing in retrospect, and I guess at the time they were thinking of fair play and sportsmanship in getting Derek Underwood a game - although he didn't really need fusarium to be a thorn in our sides. He wasn't called "Deadly" for nothing. He was second on my hate list behind Boycott, which indicates how good he was.