Out of all the player's you have seen play (either batsmen or bowlers, or indeed great fielders if you wish), who do you consider to be the easiest on the eye? By this i do not necessarily mean the best batsman you have ever watched, but the one that entertained you most, or the one who played the most fluent shots, or whatever. As you will see from my choices, i haven't chosen only the best.
1. Michael Vaughan: there is no-one i prefer to watch bat. Vaughan had a unique technique, and as much as it sometimes caused technical flaws, particularly with his defensive play, when Vaughan went on the attack, it was awesome. No-one has ever played a cover drive so elegantly in my opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WVQBk5wnPQ
2. Angus Fraser: Had a wonderfully fluent action, and was a pretty decent bowler too! At his best, Fraser Just made bowling look so easy, and i think that is a great skill in itself. the following clip contains Fraser's 5 fer against India in 1990.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro3HrLwEyVY
3. Kumar Sangakkara: A Classy batsman, pure and simple. Technically perfect, has all the shots and he plays them so effortlessly. It is almost as if he taps the ball out of the middle and it flies for four, or indeed 6.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aO3BLDDIFA
4. Phil Tufnell: He may not have been a great test bowler, but he had a nice action. I once heard some journalist put it something like "Tufnell had one of the most beautiful actions for a left arm spinner, whereas Giles was like a man trying to start a chainsaw"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Si-W7ZRLkU
5. Praveen Kumar: He Just gets so much swing. Last summer, he was by far the best of the indian bowlers, and i really admired the conistancy of his bowling. the swing was epic, albeit in favourable conditions. i was unable to find a good video for Praveen, so this'll have to do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw7-AVw3saA
Who do you most like to watch?
posted on 30/12/11
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posted on 30/12/11
The 400 may have been great to watch and it was a moment of glory for the individual but I still think winning or saving a test match against great bowlers in testing conditions and then also scoring run while batting with the tail just has more significance.
posted on 30/12/11
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posted on 31/12/11
Warne's magic
Waqar's banana swing in early 90's
Steve Waugh's typical gritty innings
Imran Khan's jump just before delivering the ball
Lee's yorkers
Wasim bewildering batsmen with his swing.
Laxman's wrist work ( led to his downfall in the last test)
Mark Waugh's effortless cricketing shots.
posted on 1/1/12
Kash, you do talk a lot of rubbish !! A huge innings can mean the difference between a series win and a series loss. Lara's innings was played against an England team that had thrashed WI the previous three tests and they were really on a hiding to nothing and a series whitewash. WI nearly WON it thanks to Lara.
Gooch's innings was in an England series WIN against India. Who is to say what would have happened if he had not scored those runs? (By the way, he scored ANOTHER hundred in the second innings!)
What a load of tosh. You'll be saying Bradman was overrated next!!
posted on 2/1/12
Lara on many occasions single handedly STOPPED the mighty aussies in their tracks. Ask Murali who he rates best.
posted on 2/1/12
Murali,who do you rate best?
posted on 3/1/12
DrB, how am I talking rubbish? In the end the West Indies did not win that match due to time running out, why did time run out? Cos of the length of time it took Lara to score the runs.
As for Gooch's 333, i was merely speculating whether it lead to an England vicortoy which it did in the end so it was a great knock but I think he 154 against West Indies was better. That knock was made in chase on a green wicket against Marshall, Ambrose, Walsh and Patterson.
"What a load of tosh. You'll be saying Bradman was overrated next!!"
I think we all know who is talking rubbish there
posted on 3/1/12
If you look at the match Kash you will see that WI were FULLY on top BECAUSE of Lara's ton - Englands first innings they actually followed on. So don't tell me that they should not have won that game!!
posted on 3/1/12
But DrB West Indies would still have been on top if he scored 250 etc. That was a flat wicket, England were complacent having won the series and may have lost if the West Indies had more time. I'm not saying it was a poor knock, all I was arguing was that if didnt lead to a victory or a match saving innings then it wont go down as one of the best even though it was a world record.