peternorth
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lol dhoni just smashed a 6 to go from 48 to 54!
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peternorth
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Different selectors for different formats of the game.
National t20 team to feature more spin bowlers.
National t20 team to feature more spin bowlers.
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Some pretty average spinners do pretty well at T20 level. That said, the Scorchers have traditionally done well with just the one spinner. If you have the quality, a pace attack is just as dangerous.
peternorth
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true if you have a pace attack suited to taking wickets in t20 then they are just as effective as a spin attack suited to taking wickets in t20.
it would be cool ace and grouse if we had 2-3 good spinners in the t20 side
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I guess the question is, do we have spinners that would do a better job than Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood, Berhendorff, Coulter-Nile, Tye, Richardson etc.
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Virat Kohli is a better batsman than Steve Smith in test cricket. I know Smith has an overall higher average, but a big part of that has to do with the run inflation at home. Outside their home, there isn't much of a difference between the two players.
But just ignoring the numbers for once, let's examine the performance of both players. Both players are extremely good on flat tracks against any attack (as shown in the 2014 Aus vs Ind test series). The thing that separates the best from the very best is their performance in difficult conditions against top bowling attacks.
The 4 top attacks in test cricket in the current era are:
1. South African attack in South Africa.
2. England's swing bowlers in England.
3. Australian attack in Australia.
4. Indian spin attack in India.
Smith bested the Indian attack in India when he had a great series scoring 3 tons from memory in the last BG trophy in India. He faced the South African pace attack in 2016 at home and while he averaged 40, he didn't make any significant contribution in that series and saw his side go down 2-1 at home against the Saffers. He then toured South Africa in 2018 in that infamous tour, and he struggled averaging around 20 on tracks that were on the dry side. In the last Ashes in England, he failed in all the low scoring matches where there was movement and cashed in on the drier and flatter wickets at London. Even in the last Ashes at home, he was pretty much invincible in nearly all of the matches but was visibly troubled in the pink ball test at Adelaide where the English pacers found swing under lights, and that match was the only failure for him in that series.
Kohli did have success in his first tour to South Africa when he scored a century at Jo'burg and was already averaging 50+ in SA. But his dismal failure in England (the only place where he had failed then) had put serious doubts over his ability to play the moving ball. And India were met with very challenging tracks when they toured South Africa early last year, as has been their (SA's) tactic of preparing drier turning wickets for teams outside asia and green seaming wickets for asian teams. And Kohli ended up becoming the highest scorer from both sides in a very low scoring series where 250 was the par team total and also scored the only century of the series. But England was still the acid test of his career, where he had endured the lowest point of his career. But in a series where the ball was hooping all over the place, and one which had the highest seam movement and swing recorded in over a decade in England (according to the CricViz database), he ended up scoring nearly 600 runs banishing his past demons, scoring almost 3 tons against Anderson, Broad et al. The next highest run scorer (Buttler) was nearly 250 runs behind Kohli's aggregate, such was his performance in what was a difficult series for his side.
The recent Australia series was relatively an underpar series for him according to his lofty standards, where he just averaged 40. But on a wicket that was described as the fastest wicket he had ever seen at Perth by the opposition coach, he peeled off a near flawless century against an intimidating Australian pace attack. He faced a variety of difficult conditions throughout 2018 and succeeded in almost all of them, and he was comfortably the best batsman in a year which was the most bowling friendly year in test cricket history statistically since late 1950s. And the astonishing fact was that he did everything while on the road almost the entire year.
Comparing both Smith and Kohli, Kohli has succeeded against the moving ball under overcast conditions against probably the best swing bowling attack ever, had a very good series against one of the best ever fast bowling quartets assembled in test cricket history in their home and also proven he can score on a fast and bouncy wicket at Perth. I think Smith is a slightly better player of the turning ball than Kohli but he still has questions over his ability to play the moving ball. I'm a huge believer in techniques and their correlation in success (having a perfect technique simply reduces the probability of a batsman nicking/getting bowled/lbw) and I'll always pick Kohli ahead of Smith because he has a much better technique and Smith's unorthodox technique, as wonderful it is, is reliant on incredible hand eye coordination and will not always be successful when the scales are heavily tilted in the favour of pace bowlers.
Kohli is the ultimate percentage cricketer and he eliminates every high risk-reward shot and that's the key to his success along with his tight technique. Probably the only chink in Kohli's technique is that he can be vulnerable on a wearing 4th or 5th day wicket with a decent sized rough patch against an accurate spinner. That's because he very rarely uses his feet against the spinners (unlike say Pujara) and is more comfortable playing them from the crease on backfoot. His run scoring options are from the backfoot and goes on the front foot defense to balls pitched on the rough patch, i.e., he shelves the scoring opportunities to balls pitched on the rough and doesn't drive against the spin (as it's fraught with risk and like always, he eliminates high risk shots). But that strategy is counterproductive against an accurate spinner because it allows the spinner to settle into a rhythm and ultimately one ball will beat his front foot defense and catch either the outside or inside edge and loop to slip or short leg. If he is inferior to the past Indian batsmen in one thing, it is in this aspect when the past Indian greats like Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, etc., used to drive the likes of Warne against the spin using their feet to knock him off his rhythm.
But other than that, he has developed a technique that's near perfect in almost any condition and for this fact, I'll always pick Kohli in a difficult track against a top attack followed by Williamson because both have the best techniques among the present generation. I'm of course not rigid in my opinions and I'll be happy to change my opinion on Smith if -
1. He has a successful Ashes series this year with the conditions aiding swing bowling in England.
2. He has a successful series against the South African pace attack in their home, hopefully with Philander still playing.
But just ignoring the numbers for once, let's examine the performance of both players. Both players are extremely good on flat tracks against any attack (as shown in the 2014 Aus vs Ind test series). The thing that separates the best from the very best is their performance in difficult conditions against top bowling attacks.
The 4 top attacks in test cricket in the current era are:
1. South African attack in South Africa.
2. England's swing bowlers in England.
3. Australian attack in Australia.
4. Indian spin attack in India.
Smith bested the Indian attack in India when he had a great series scoring 3 tons from memory in the last BG trophy in India. He faced the South African pace attack in 2016 at home and while he averaged 40, he didn't make any significant contribution in that series and saw his side go down 2-1 at home against the Saffers. He then toured South Africa in 2018 in that infamous tour, and he struggled averaging around 20 on tracks that were on the dry side. In the last Ashes in England, he failed in all the low scoring matches where there was movement and cashed in on the drier and flatter wickets at London. Even in the last Ashes at home, he was pretty much invincible in nearly all of the matches but was visibly troubled in the pink ball test at Adelaide where the English pacers found swing under lights, and that match was the only failure for him in that series.
Kohli did have success in his first tour to South Africa when he scored a century at Jo'burg and was already averaging 50+ in SA. But his dismal failure in England (the only place where he had failed then) had put serious doubts over his ability to play the moving ball. And India were met with very challenging tracks when they toured South Africa early last year, as has been their (SA's) tactic of preparing drier turning wickets for teams outside asia and green seaming wickets for asian teams. And Kohli ended up becoming the highest scorer from both sides in a very low scoring series where 250 was the par team total and also scored the only century of the series. But England was still the acid test of his career, where he had endured the lowest point of his career. But in a series where the ball was hooping all over the place, and one which had the highest seam movement and swing recorded in over a decade in England (according to the CricViz database), he ended up scoring nearly 600 runs banishing his past demons, scoring almost 3 tons against Anderson, Broad et al. The next highest run scorer (Buttler) was nearly 250 runs behind Kohli's aggregate, such was his performance in what was a difficult series for his side.
The recent Australia series was relatively an underpar series for him according to his lofty standards, where he just averaged 40. But on a wicket that was described as the fastest wicket he had ever seen at Perth by the opposition coach, he peeled off a near flawless century against an intimidating Australian pace attack. He faced a variety of difficult conditions throughout 2018 and succeeded in almost all of them, and he was comfortably the best batsman in a year which was the most bowling friendly year in test cricket history statistically since late 1950s. And the astonishing fact was that he did everything while on the road almost the entire year.
Comparing both Smith and Kohli, Kohli has succeeded against the moving ball under overcast conditions against probably the best swing bowling attack ever, had a very good series against one of the best ever fast bowling quartets assembled in test cricket history in their home and also proven he can score on a fast and bouncy wicket at Perth. I think Smith is a slightly better player of the turning ball than Kohli but he still has questions over his ability to play the moving ball. I'm a huge believer in techniques and their correlation in success (having a perfect technique simply reduces the probability of a batsman nicking/getting bowled/lbw) and I'll always pick Kohli ahead of Smith because he has a much better technique and Smith's unorthodox technique, as wonderful it is, is reliant on incredible hand eye coordination and will not always be successful when the scales are heavily tilted in the favour of pace bowlers.
Kohli is the ultimate percentage cricketer and he eliminates every high risk-reward shot and that's the key to his success along with his tight technique. Probably the only chink in Kohli's technique is that he can be vulnerable on a wearing 4th or 5th day wicket with a decent sized rough patch against an accurate spinner. That's because he very rarely uses his feet against the spinners (unlike say Pujara) and is more comfortable playing them from the crease on backfoot. His run scoring options are from the backfoot and goes on the front foot defense to balls pitched on the rough patch, i.e., he shelves the scoring opportunities to balls pitched on the rough and doesn't drive against the spin (as it's fraught with risk and like always, he eliminates high risk shots). But that strategy is counterproductive against an accurate spinner because it allows the spinner to settle into a rhythm and ultimately one ball will beat his front foot defense and catch either the outside or inside edge and loop to slip or short leg. If he is inferior to the past Indian batsmen in one thing, it is in this aspect when the past Indian greats like Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, etc., used to drive the likes of Warne against the spin using their feet to knock him off his rhythm.
But other than that, he has developed a technique that's near perfect in almost any condition and for this fact, I'll always pick Kohli in a difficult track against a top attack followed by Williamson because both have the best techniques among the present generation. I'm of course not rigid in my opinions and I'll be happy to change my opinion on Smith if -
1. He has a successful Ashes series this year with the conditions aiding swing bowling in England.
2. He has a successful series against the South African pace attack in their home, hopefully with Philander still playing.
eth-dog
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... I don't think you'll find many people that wouldn't argue that Smith and Kohli are very close as test cricketers.
Well thought out post with good arguments.
I think Smith is probably marginally better - as pure as Kohli is to watch and as faultless as he is when he’s in form, I don’t tend to put a lot of weight in techniques alone. If I did, I would probably be resigned to never seeing a better batsman than Jacques Kallis for the rest of my life.
In practical terms there isn’t a lot to separate them. Smith has passed most tests asked of him and I think most of the teams the two players have had around them have been mostly at a similar level so the ‘burden of s**t teammates’ index is at roughly the same point.
Kohli I have a suspicion will go past Smith because - and this is where technique WILL come into it - Smith has arguably the best eye I’ve ever seen and invariably it will start to deteriorate at some stage. A batsman can survive on a rock solid technique for longer than an eye player IMO, unless you’re Gayle or somebody who can just muscle the ball anywhere without having to time it.
I think Smith is probably marginally better - as pure as Kohli is to watch and as faultless as he is when he’s in form, I don’t tend to put a lot of weight in techniques alone. If I did, I would probably be resigned to never seeing a better batsman than Jacques Kallis for the rest of my life.
In practical terms there isn’t a lot to separate them. Smith has passed most tests asked of him and I think most of the teams the two players have had around them have been mostly at a similar level so the ‘burden of s**t teammates’ index is at roughly the same point.
Kohli I have a suspicion will go past Smith because - and this is where technique WILL come into it - Smith has arguably the best eye I’ve ever seen and invariably it will start to deteriorate at some stage. A batsman can survive on a rock solid technique for longer than an eye player IMO, unless you’re Gayle or somebody who can just muscle the ball anywhere without having to time it.
eth-dog
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Jimmy Peirson for me will be the pick of the keeper/bats in limited overs cricket.
Park cricketer
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P.S.: I must acknowledge the fact that Smith played a wonderful lone hand scoring 48 not out in that epic collapse at home in Hobart vs South Africa with the ball moving around.
But I would like to see more of that, in a consistent fashion hopefully in the upcoming Ashes.
But I would like to see more of that, in a consistent fashion hopefully in the upcoming Ashes.
Wedge McManus
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An unpopular opinion would be that Kane Williamson has the hairiest arms mankind has ever seen. I don't know who his dad is but he may or may not have started in planet of the apes
eth-dog
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Maxwell, Ponting?
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Kane Williamson is by definition flawless.
So I'm not so sure about that.
So I'm not so sure about that.
Wedge McManus
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Touche. Their arms would be right up there. Punter had Popeye arms too.
Wedge McManus
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He reminds me of a beautiful wee angel. Too bad the bloke only gets 5 tests a year to make his runs. NZ cricket gets zero respect same as west Australians get zero respect. It's not fair
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If it's bouncing true, and the bowler is putting it in predictable/consistent spots, you just need to get past the fear factor and work with the speed.
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Joe Root is pretty overrated as well. Overrated doesn't mean he's a trash player, he is obviously a very good player. It just means he's rated higher than he should be.
It's incredible how often English fans and pundits knocked down Kohli (until his last series) and Smith for not playing well against the moving ball in England, but Root flies completely under the radar for his underpar performances away from home.
Root has just 4 centuries outside of England from 32 games.
In comparison,
Williamson has 9 from 32 games.
Smith has 10 from 31 games.
Kohli has 14 from 43 games (that's one less than the total number of centuries Root has scored in his career).
Other players who have more centuries away from home than Root: Amla, Azhar Ali, Pujara, Asad Shafiq, Darren Bravo, Rahane, Dhawan, Ross Taylor, David Warner.
Centuries of course aren't everything, he's still a very good player and contributes half centuries even away from home. But he often gets clubbed with Kohli, Smith and Williamson as the fab 4 of this generation and is regarded by many English fans as the best batsman England has ever produced, and that's overrating him imo. It's Kohli, Smith and Williamson followed by a gap and then the rest. Root has a lot to do to get clubbed with the trio imo.
It's incredible how often English fans and pundits knocked down Kohli (until his last series) and Smith for not playing well against the moving ball in England, but Root flies completely under the radar for his underpar performances away from home.
Root has just 4 centuries outside of England from 32 games.
In comparison,
Williamson has 9 from 32 games.
Smith has 10 from 31 games.
Kohli has 14 from 43 games (that's one less than the total number of centuries Root has scored in his career).
Other players who have more centuries away from home than Root: Amla, Azhar Ali, Pujara, Asad Shafiq, Darren Bravo, Rahane, Dhawan, Ross Taylor, David Warner.
Centuries of course aren't everything, he's still a very good player and contributes half centuries even away from home. But he often gets clubbed with Kohli, Smith and Williamson as the fab 4 of this generation and is regarded by many English fans as the best batsman England has ever produced, and that's overrating him imo. It's Kohli, Smith and Williamson followed by a gap and then the rest. Root has a lot to do to get clubbed with the trio imo.
Slightly harsh in some respects.
He actually passes 50 (irrespective of whether he turns it into triple figures or not) more regularly AWAY from home than he does in England.
28 times in 69 innings is impressive.
I agree with the general sentiment that he’s not as good as the other three but I think it’s almosg a statistical anomaly that he doesn’t have more hundreds away from home.
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Agreed. He's still a good player away from home, but my gripe is that he often gets regarded in the same breath as Smith, Kohli and Kane when he hasn't done enough to do so. And I've seen many English fans regarding him as the best batsman England has ever produced and he's not done enough in his career to be seen such imo.
Does he get a place in your England's all time XI?
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Wedge McManus
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God bless David Warner for knocking root out. That single act of beautiful aggression endeared that little ocker bastard to me forever. Root is an arrogant flog imho
royboy2
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Pretty hard to sandpaper a ball with the gloves on
Wedge McManus
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That's gold
