Smith, Root, Williamson, Kohli

Who is/will be the 'batsman of their generation'?

  • Steve Smith

    Votes: 79 52.3%

  • Joe Root

    Votes: 13 8.6%

  • Kane Williamson

    Votes: 27 17.9%

  • Virat Kohli

    Votes: 29 19.2%

  • Other (please specify)

    Votes: 3 2.0%
  • Total voters
    151

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Great article here on the batsmen who have reached (or got close enough to) the incredible average of 60. Ponting reaching the mark after 107 tests is staggering and deserves to be highlighted whenever the Tendulkar / Ponting / Lara / Kallis debate comes up.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/1009335.html

But for the guys still thereabouts:

A look at the young stalwarts of today
Virat Kohli needs to score 1086 runs without being dismissed (twice the current record) or, more practically, 1686 runs in ten dismissed innings to reach an average of 60. This is so difficult that I would go on record by saying that Kohli will never reach 60 in his career.

Kane Williamson has to score nearly 2000 runs in ten dismissed innings to reach an average of 60. Quite a tough task indeed.

Joe Root is the only one of the top four top young batsmen of today to have any chance of reaching an average of 60. To reach this, he has to score 914 runs in ten completed innings (around eight Tests). This is well within the realms of possibility.

Steven Smith himself has to score at around 90 runs per Test to maintain the average of 60. Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers, with averages of around 51 in the 100 or so Tests they have played have very little chance of reaching an average of 60. They need to score around 2000 runs in the next ten dismissed innings to reach this mark.

Adam Voges, who is currently flying at an average of 95.50 needs to score the remaining 1663 runs to cross the qualifying mark in no more than 36 completed innings. This is a relatively easy task since it works to only about 46 runs per innings. However it means that Voges would have to be selected for about 25 Tests more for Australia: Almost impossible to visualise, considering Voges' age.
Click to expand...

Root certainly has the capability of doing it. Would love to see Voges hot run continue for another couple of years yet which would see him get close IMO.
 
Hellgood said:
Great article here on the batsmen who have reached (or got close enough to) the incredible average of 60. Ponting reaching the mark after 107 tests is staggering and deserves to be highlighted whenever the Tendulkar / Ponting / Lara / Kallis debate comes up.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/1009335.html
Click to expand...

I can't help but feel that this part is directed at a certain country's supporters:
This is not a ranking list of the batsmen/bowlers nor is it a ratings exercise. It has to be accepted, however, that the batsmen and bowlers who make this collection are amongst the best ever and could form a terrific team. Those who did not make these lists might form an even better team. A request to the readers: please understand this article properly and avoid making half-baked comments
Click to expand...
 
Hellgood said:
Great article here on the batsmen who have reached (or got close enough to) the incredible average of 60. Ponting reaching the mark after 107 tests is staggering and deserves to be highlighted whenever the Tendulkar / Ponting / Lara / Kallis debate comes up.
Click to expand...

Sangakkara deserves a mention here as his average hit 59.13 after his 127th test.
 
Where does everyone sit on this before our summer starts?
  • 1 - 29| Kohli - 6 Root - 10 Williamson - 8 Smith - 2
  • 30 - 49| Kohli - 2 Root - 3 Williamson - 0 Smith - 2
  • 50 - 74| Kohli - 0 Root - 3 Williamson - 1 Smith - 3
  • 75 - 99| Kohli - 0 Root - 2 Williamson - 4 Smith - 0
  • 100 - 149| Kohli - 0 Root - 1 Williamson - 1 Smith - 2
  • 150 - 190| Kohli - 0 Root - 0 Williamson - 0 Smith - 0
  • 200+| Kohli - 2 Root - 1 Williamson - 0 Smith - 0

That's a break down of their years so far. Root and Kohli seem to either go big or so * all while Williamson and Smith are more consistent.

The way I've typed that out is a bit of a mare to read, can't seem to fix it though.​
 
Kohli is taking a battering atm and melting in the process.

Also interesting that now all four are their countries captains.
 

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PhatBoy said:
Finding it hard to believe the amount of s**t Kohli is copping for two tests without a score.
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Two tests make a career.

It's odd. He's one of my favourite batsmen around (Amla and Williamson fanboy) and i rate Root above him. But I don't think he's mentally there for this test. His leaves have been so misjudged
 
Upgrayedd said:
Two tests make a career.

It's odd. He's one of my favourite batsmen around (Amla and Williamson fanboy) and i rate Root above him. But I don't think he's mentally there for this test. His leaves have been so misjudged
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I thought he really looked up for the fight yesterday before he got a reasonably unlucky decision (not saying I thought it should have been overturned, by the way). I think he woke from his slumber a little bit on day two in the field.

On the subject of the quartet in question, while smith is the best, he benefitted from the fact that he was dropped during a period of his career that, had he stayed in the test side, probably would have seen his amazing record take a bit of a hit. Williamson and Root were never going to be dropped from their respective sides no matter what.
 
how much worse is Smith, Kohli, Root, Williamson than Lara, Tendaulkar, Ponting, Kallis. Normally you'd expect the next generation to be better than the earlier one but that doesn't seem to apply in cricket.
 
Schraderbrau said:
how much worse is Smith, Kohli, Root, Williamson than Lara, Tendaulkar, Ponting, Kallis. Normally you'd expect the next generation to be better than the earlier one but that doesn't seem to apply in cricket.
Click to expand...
Smith's record is better than all of them. Now I'm not saying that automatically makes him better than them, but I think it's a bit silly to be wondering how much worse than them he allegedly is. I think nostalgia might be colouring your view a little.
 
JackOutback said:
Smith's record is better than all of them. Now I'm not saying that automatically makes him better than them, but I think it's a bit silly to be wondering how much worse than them he allegedly is. I think nostalgia might be colouring your view a little.
Click to expand...

Nope no nostalgia. Lara and Tendulkar were clearly a class above and I doubt you'll find many serious people arguing that Smith > Ponting. They faced better bowlers on worse pitches with normal bats.
 
Pogba said:
In the last generation of cricket the conversation was very much 'Ponting, Tendulkar, Lara, Kallis' as to who was the best batsmen of their generation.
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What? There was only Lara.
 
It's reverse nostalgia. We're not fully appreciating it because we're living it.

There's some chance 3 out of the 4 are going to end up the best bats their countries have ever produced.
 
Schraderbrau said:
Nope no nostalgia. Lara and Tendulkar were clearly a class above and I doubt you'll find many serious people arguing that Smith > Ponting. They faced better bowlers on worse pitches with normal bats.
Click to expand...
Nostalgia might be affecting your view of past bowlers, too. Ponting plundered many a mediocre attack. Also, does Smith use a larger bat?
 
JackOutback said:
Smith's record is better than all of them. Now I'm not saying that automatically makes him better than them, but I think it's a bit silly to be wondering how much worse than them he allegedly is. I think nostalgia might be colouring your view a little.
Click to expand...
I think the 'weird'ness of Smiths technique makes it easy to underrate him a little. It's hard to believe he's the best batsman in the world when he's leaving the ball by twirling his bat around.
 
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