Michael Clarke vs the World

[Sea fog]

Number has been troublesome for years, it seems weird that the best batsman never had much of a go there. We seemed to have burnt a lot of debutants there over the past couple of seasons, players that may have been better introduced a bit lower down the order maybe.

That was really the point, a lot of greenhorns got sacrificed on the altar of number three while at one stage the putative best batsman in the world refused to go up the order. His record at four is relatively modest though.

BTW during Steve Waugh's career there were some critics who considered that he hid down the order and that his record was slightly blemished by not testing himself at number three apart from brief relatively unsuccessful stint. As mentioned above, it was not necessary for Sachin to bat higher when Dravid seemed ideally suited to the role.

 

[BruceFromBalnarring]

This is where I have sympathy for Watson. He opened when no one else was willing or able. Got criticised for not turning fifties into hundreds.He batted at 3 when no one else was willing or able. Got criticised for only averaging 35. Seems to me that if he'd had the luxury of a career at 6, like most all rounders, his career would be viewed much more benevolently.

 

[BarneyBent]

This is where I have sympathy for Watson. He opened when no one else was willing or able. Got criticised for not turning fifties into hundreds.He batted at 3 when no one else was willing or able. Got criticised for only averaging 35. Seems to me that if he'd had the luxury of a career at 6, like most all rounders, his career would be viewed much more benevolently.

Except he played his worst cricket at 6.

 

[The_Reaper]

This is where I have sympathy for Watson. He opened when no one else was willing or able. Got criticised for not turning fifties into hundreds.He batted at 3 when no one else was willing or able. Got criticised for only averaging 35. Seems to me that if he'd had the luxury of a career at 6, like most all rounders, his career would be viewed much more benevolently.

He wanted to.

Funnily enough so did Hughes who ended up with a pretty similar average