Don't you think Shivnarine ChanderPaul is underrated?
Whenever we have discussion about some of the modern great batsmen here it includes the likes of Sachin,Bradman,Kallis,Lara,Ponting, Dravid,Sanga etc. Brian Lara is unarguably one of the greatest batsman to come from WI,his flamboyounce and style of batting is unmatched but there the little Chanderpaul with his dodged resistance which doesn't have much flair yet effective batting always seems to be in the shadow of great Lara for much of his career. Didn't want to bring up the stats but stats don't lie.He is close to 10,700 runs with an Average of 52 in Test carrer so far and ranked at no.3 in the world now shows his consistency.Somehow it feels like he is not being given due credit or mentioned in same breath as Lara for singlehandedly guiding WI for so long.Infact Lara had Chanderpaul and Hooper when it comes to rescuing team from bad situation but chanderpaul seems all alone when the team is in trouble. In a team of explosive and sometimes erratic batsmen,Chanderpaul is a wonderful test batsman with great temperament for long innings and has been carrying the team on his shoulder since Lara's retirement. No Disrespect to Lara or any other greats here just want your opinion. What do you think about Chanderpaul as a batsman?.Is he only a good enough player or belongs to the greats league?. Decent answers please.
Does it make a change for the aussies to be whingeing?
It's not exactly scintillating entertainment on a good day. I'm sure if somebody asked Nintendo nicely they could come up with something for the wii. The Aussie team all hole up in a Brisbane pub and our lot meet at the Dog & Duck. Couple of pints to lubricate the vocal cords and then let battle commence over the net. No carbon footprint from travelling half way across the world, little chance of a draw and nobody bothered about the result. 15,000 ecstatic fans? Barnsley versus Oldham would be ashamed of that. It's a non event, more English people were interested in a Scotsman playing tennis.
Who is the greatest Aussie batsman ever : Don Bradman or Ricky Ponting!!?
The problem with Bradman's 99.94 average is that it's too large to ignore. If he averaged just 69 in 52 matches with, say 15-20 hundreds, he could have been called as a 15 minute flash in the pan but 99.94 from 52 matches with 30 tons and 2 triple tons...well that's heck of a lot more! He even averaged 50+ in that deadly body line series. If it was SL and IND who started playing cricket first and if an Indian batsman averaged 100 in 50 matches with 30 tons where he played 80% of his matches against SL and the rest against minnows and only in 2 venues (SL and India) would the non subcontinent fans have called him the best and rated him above any of their players who averages in mid 50's after playing nearly 200 tests in this era? Wouldn't they clearly have brought out the fact that he played only in S/C flat tracks against a single good opposition? :) Similarly wouldn't Indians and SLns have defended that player and rated him above any of the modern great? Now we see the other way around here! When it comes to player comparisons most of the fans are biased to a grater and lesser extent. I think it's fair to rate players mostly on their stats and do not give lot of weight towards the external facts such as conditions, era, oppositions and venues etc etc... In this comparison Ponting is not even the greatest in modern era. Hell he was not even among the top 3 in this era IMO. So Bradman is ahead of him by a country mile!