Greatest West Indian Batsman?

[Hooper]

Viv is the best smasher.
Sobers is the best all rounder.
Lara is the best batsman.

Viv was great, so dominant. But he wasn't up there with Brian Lara. Lara was a genious. I would rather watch a Lara hundred more then anything else. Sobers was just the absolute cricketer - the best ever. His batting was exceptional so he is probably only a tick behind Lara.

 

[chainsnatcher]

Can't really compare greats from different eras....I like each of those batsmen but haven't really seen George Headley play...

 

[RoboRocks]

Can't really compare greats from different eras....I like each of those batsmen but haven't really seen George Headley play...

I wouldn't rule Headley out at all. He played in a team that was just starting test cricket and against excellent bowling on uncovered pitches.

 

[chainsnatcher]

I prefer watching live rather. In videos Sehwag is as destructive as anyone that has played the game.

Even when you watch highlights,you would notice that Virender Sehwag scores most of his runs on flat tracks with little assistance for the seamers and he hasn't really looked solid against world class bowlers...So you cant really put him in the same page as Richards....He does play exciting cricket no doubt but he is not a complete player like any of the greats we are talking about here...True,he can look dominant on his day and is more dependable with the bat than guys like Afridi but has weaknesses that can be consistently exploited...

If you haven't seen Richards bat seriously buy some DVDs...There are many of those available these days and hey you can even get complete matches and test series....

chainsnatcher added 2 Minutes and 42 Seconds later...

I wouldn't rule Headley out at all. He played in a team that was just starting test cricket and against excellent bowling on uncovered pitches.

I am not ruling him out...I am well aware of his acheivements but haven't really seen him play and theres no way you can watch videos of tournaments featuring west Indies from the 1920s and 30s...

 

[SciD]

In his debut in RSA he made century against quality RSA attack on green wicket. Sehwag was only batter scoring runs in NZ in 2002 green pitches. Its just myth he scores on flat tracks. Has played well everywhere.

 

[chainsnatcher]

Agreed but guys like Richards,Greenidge,Haynes had 20-30 such knocks that I can think of against World class bowling.....The tracks had more life for bowlers those days than the tracks you see today...Also Richards never had any weakness like sehwag...He could play the short ball with ease and had immense concentration to back up his extraordinary skills too...

 

[bill_123]

Brian Charles Lara without a doubt....Lara IMO was and still remains the MOST GIFTED BATSMAN EVER...When Lara was on song nobody could match him...THE GREATEST BATSMAN IN CRICKET...

Viv was a GREAT batsman too....but Sobers is the second greatest batsman produced by West Indies and Viv is probably the third

 

[SciD]

Viv played in dominating side. Lara played in struggling side.

Lara, Sachin, Ponting. That has been my top 3 in order.

 

[chainsnatcher]

Lets not forget that he was one of the main reasons why the side was dominating too....

 

[SciD]

Lets not forget that he was one of the main reasons why the side was dominating too....

Bowling. Bowlers win test matches. Batsman win ODIs.

 

[chainsnatcher]

I cant help it if you prefer Sehwag over Richards....Too bad that you are not able to appreciate one of the greatest batsmen of all time...

 

[sohum]

I cant help it if you prefer Sehwag over Richards....Too bad that you are not able to appreciate one of the greatest batsmen of all time...

He never said that. Why are you putting words into his mouth?

All he said was that he prefers to judge players by watching them live instead of watching video clips of them. He then simply addressed the points you brought up about Sehwag which he found to be faulty. Nowhere has he said that he prefers Sehwag to Viv.

 

[chainsnatcher]

I would still say Viv Richards would have been the most destructive batsmen without those great fast bowlers and players in the side.No point in really bringing Sehwag into the picture and if you read the earlier posts,you would realize who started talking about Sehwag in a thread meant for the West Indian Batsmen.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Umm. You said Viv was awesome, watch videos. Sid said that videos can lie, and that even Viru would look good on video. I think you misunderstood that. You then on to make some fals accusations about Viru, Sid defended Viru, and now you say Sid would rather watch Viru than Viv?

 

[sami ullah khan]

vivian Richards for his ability to plunder the fast bowling. According to Imran Khan, viv was the best players against genuine fast bowling. That wins it for me.