Todays Batsmen - Weaker??

It is tough / impossible to compare eras for sure.

But there must be an element of truth in it. The reality is that there are less all time great bowlers now. Mitch has only been relevant in the last series really and is not near Steyn quality career wise.

In general I think batting averages are up by about 5 - 10 than in the 90's and early 20's.

This is very obvious too when looking how much better the 'tail wags' for teams these days.

Back then an average of over 40 was amazing and the top players achieved that and over 50 was hardly heard of. Thinking of Prior's average of 40+ and Trott of 45+ and others like them illustrates this. This is not to discredit them but I think that they would average low to mid 30's in the 90's. Equally Lara or Sachin would probably be averaging in the 60's if starting their careers now.

Players like de Villiers, Cook, Clarke and Amla who are obviously freakishly talented and can be acknowledged as very good players in any era.

It's difficult to gauge properly but Graeme Smith is averaging close on 50 while Gary Kirsten ended his career at 45. How would Smith and his technique have faired under an examination from the bowlers Kirsten faced. As I said, it's generally a 5 to 10 average difference between eras.

Faackin hell, Lefty. It took me a half hour to decipher through your shitte spelling.

comment by mirpur__machine (U18790)
posted 1 minute ago
Faackin hell, Lefty. It took me a half hour to decipher through your shitte spelling.
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And your thoughts?

Times change. You have your era of your bowlers then batsman then bowlers again. Since Mcgrath, Warne, Murali and co. its the batsman who seem to have the upperhand over the bowlers. I'm sure it will change again a few years down the line.

Viv Richards batted against Lillee, Thommo, McDermott, Willis, R Hadlee, and Imran without helmet, and faced high quality spinners in Underwood, Chandra, Prasanna, and Bedi.

So, it wasn't as if he battered mediocre bowlers.

Sobers faced Lindwall, Miller, Davidson, McKenzie, Trueman, Statham, Snow, and Fazal Mehmood. Also batted against classy spinners - S Gupte (Sobers rated him as the best), Chandra, Bedi, Prasanna, and Benaud.

Please don't ever question Sobers' credentials. I will force you to eat tofu all day, 7 days a week.

The modern era is all about technology. Batsman can watch every angle and variation of a bowler. It's very hard for bowlers to disguise what they are about to do now.

Technology also assist the bowlers as they know batsman weak spots but at the moment the technology favours the batsman more and they can get there homework done.

The one and only exception to this rule is Dale Steyn. I'm still not buying this Mitchell Johnson hype and I see Philander and Harris as better all round bowlers.

But what a batsman Kohli is. Unbelievable.

Don't forget the quality of bats nowadays compared to old times

Spot on Kash.