Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

GarlicJam wrote:It's the only use I have found for any/all of the sports betting websites that advertise on my facebook feed. One of them - this one, Sportsbet - does have some funny things from time to time.

Never spent a cent with them yet, though.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:

clubcricketeradi wrote:He was a top class batsman. At certain point of time he was worlds best. Technically he had a good control of forearm while playing on the up strokes. The elbow position complimented it.Only Jaddu troubled him as he picked his wicket 5 times in one tests series versus us in India.

His fielding too was incredible.

Bowling wise i cannot forget his 6 wicket hail in test versus us at Mumbai. He won that test match with his bowling.

As a captain although he did make couple of blunders, but overall he was succesful considering the win:loss ratio. The worst match could be the test in South Africa where his team gof out for 71?

I hope his autobiography is as good as his cricketing skills were.

He had at least two legendary innings, hundreds in Cape Town, at the start of the noughties on a damp wicket to Morkel/Steyn/Philander, and the second at Cape town with a broken shoulder. Players need those kind of knocks to be remembered, and surely these are among the very best innings played by Australians.

Also, as I've mentioned in the past, his stats aren't bolstered at all by games against minnows. If you strip out BD and Zimbabwe, he soars up the averages list. He was a fine skipper and he soldiered on amazingly well with a pretty bad back injury. He carried the Aussie team for a few years, and had a period where he was clearly the best bat in the world, and had one of the best years for runs ever.

I think there's a good case for him being one of the greats. But it sort of doesn't work when you try it. My little Test for taking the hype out of the game is to look at the players above and below in the stats. Minimum 5000 runs since 1990, excluding the minnows, Clarke falls between Dravid and Sehwag. Both are Hall of Famers.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting

I wonder a bit if Aussies just got bored of having great batters. I've lived through Chappell, Border, Waugh and (Aussies say so, but I'm not sure) Ponting. Maybe they're just spoiled for batting legends.