by sussexpob » Tue Mar 19, 2024 4:37 pm
People tend to put additional context into modern day achievements, while not doing the same to legends of the past. Ashwin for instance does not average that much more than Murali away (28 to 30), and Ashwin never played a hapless Zimbabwe or Bangladesh side that padded those stats out very favourably. Warne had poor records in India and West Indies (where he only played in the 90s), which were the toughest tours of his day.....
Does anyone survive as a legend when we boil everything down to the nth degree? You could, for instance, say that the 80s Windies fast bowlers who standout as the best averaging bowlers away from home in history.... took a lot of wickets in England, where it would be pretty dubious to say it was an "away" test match seeing as though they all played county cricket most of their careers. Very few bowlers in the modern age match their away and home performances.
Its rare. Averaging 20 home, 30 away is not that much of a statistical outlier. Loads of bowlers have similar career patterns.... Is Jimmy Anderson not an England legend? His away bowling isnt that great... For me, you ask a simple question.... in his home conditions, who can compare. Very few in history of the game can... very, very few.
Out of spinners, Laker and Lock average slightly better..... you then look at who they played against, and their averages are really boosted by playing a SA team that hadn't won a series in over 30 years, and a NZ team who hadn;t won a series...well....ever (and in one case, not a test match either). Murali... well ok, but we face the same problem... taking bags of wickets against two hapless sides, one of which was so hapless they were stripped of their test status.
Jadeja...
No one else.
For me its not even a debate.... facing Ashwin in India is all time tough stuff. Very, very few players can compare in history of the game.... to me, that makes him a great
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