Phillip Hughes or JP Duminy?

[King Pietersen]

Ravi Bopara > all 3 of 'em

 

[Dare]

Yuvraj >> All

 

[CoolzEng45]

A.Cook > all

 

[aussie_ben91]

Hughes has only played 20 odd fc games while duminy has played 55. Lets see if hughes can keep that average up. He has started really well but something about his technique leaves me unconvinced.

His technique leaves you unconvinced? How? His been able to play swing bowling and seam bowling against one of the best bowling attacks in world cricket! Not matter how ugly his technique looks, it has no flaws against vertical movement off the seam or in the air. The only problem his got is gloving the ball down the legside, which can be easily avoided.

All of those first-class matches Hughes has played has been as a teenager in the best domestic competition in the entire world and his comes out of it all with an average of over 60! Hughes is something special.

Ravi Bopara has played 3-4 Tests and he has already bagged a pair. :laugh

Hughes, Duminy & Pietersen = Future Tendulkar, Lara & Ponting

 

[venom2011]

His technique leaves you unconvinced? How? His been able to play swing bowling and seam bowling against one of the best bowling attacks in world cricket! Not matter how ugly his technique looks, it has no flaws against vertical movement off the seam or in the air. The only problem his got is gloving the ball down the legside, which can be easily avoided.

All of those first-class matches Hughes has played has been as a teenager in the best domestic competition in the entire world and his comes out of it all with an average of over 60! Hughes is something special.

Ravi Bopara has played 3-4 Tests and he has already bagged a pair. :laugh

Hughes, Duminy & Pietersen = Future Tendulkar, Lara & Ponting

Sure that's because he is in a great form right now, and he started his test career while he was in great form, the real evidence of his technique will come when his form fades away ala Michael Hussey. From what I've seen of Hughes in a short space of time is that he has the worst balance in the Aussie top 6 (bad head position and footwork on occassion) and his hand-eye is not the best, he plays a high percentage of balls around the edges of the bat.

He does look like a very gritty and determined bloke though, reminds me of Langer.

 

[karnog]

Big call to say Hughes, Duminy and Pietersen will be the future Tendulkar, Lara and Ponting. The latter the 3 are once in a generation type players. I personally don't think they'll reach such heights. Nearly 100 centuries in all forms will probably be the death of one or two players. Ability and fitness are key. KP has shown he can play for long periods of time (hasn't missed a test since his debut and had that cracked rib which was the only injury blemish). Duminy and Hughes have a long way to go. Long way. I can see them being the best of their era but i can't imagine them gaining all time greatness.

 

[Slowcoach]

Because I am Australian I think Hughes is the best batsman ever.

 

[King Cricket]

And I'm an Indian and I think Yuvraj Singh is the best batsman ever. 200 times greater than Hughes, 400 times than KP, and 900 times than Matty Haydos. This doze is more than enough to wind up three guys of this site.

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

ZOMG, UV, KING OF SIXES, 6*6! Hughes, Duminy? What are you talking about?

It seems fun.

To be on topic, I think both of these are just starting out their careers, with Duminy being much more senior. Its only fair to compare two people of same cricketing age, especially if you're focusing on just the stats.

 

[King Pietersen]

His technique leaves you unconvinced? How? His been able to play swing bowling and seam bowling against one of the best bowling attacks in world cricket! Not matter how ugly his technique looks, it has no flaws against vertical movement off the seam or in the air. The only problem his got is gloving the ball down the legside, which can be easily avoided.

Hmm, I'm not too sure. I don't think it's just the ugliness of his technique that looks wrong, but there's something not right about it. I think it's the fact he just throws his arms at the ball when it's wide of the off-stump, something you will not get away with early season in England. South Africa may be a harder place to bat in the middle of the 2 countries summers, but early season England is a harder place to bat than anywhere. It'll swing, there'll be alot of green on the surfaces and it'll be mightily cold and get quite dark towards the end of the day as well. I'm not convinced he'll average anywhere near 60 early season in England.

Ravi Bopara has played 3-4 Tests and he has already bagged a pair. :laugh

I wasn't being completely serious about Bopara, I rate the guy immensely highly, but not as highly as I rate Duminy or Hughes. Ravi will be a star though, I'm sure of that. I've seen alot of him, as he plays for my county and there's just something about him I really like. He's a very competent FC player and can adapt his game brilliantly to the OD game. He arrived in the West Indies after a 17 hour plane journey, didn't sleep, so was jetlagged, and made a fantastic hundred in a tour game. Then in the Test match he made his 2nd hundred in consecutive innings.

He may have had a poor first Test series, but Sri Lanka is possibly the hardest place for an English batsman to play their first tour in. Facing Murali, Vaas and Malinga in their home conditions isn't going to be easy for any batsman, and the fact that KP failed in the series as well should prove how well they bowled in that series. Rav's going to be a class act. He scores hundreds in both forms (has a List A double hundred to his name) and can adapt to varying conditions. He's a good player of pace and is wristy enough to be good against the spinners. He's going to be a class player.

 

[aussie_ben91]

Hughes - 170 odd Tests, average 50-52
Duminy - 140 odd Tests, average 50-54
Pietersen - 125 odd Tests, average 50-52
Bopara - 120 odd Tests, average 40-43

Hughes will be the best batsman.

aussie_ben91 added 1 Minutes and 43 Seconds later...

Hmm, I'm not too sure. I don't think it's just the ugliness of his technique that looks wrong, but there's something not right about it. I think it's the fact he just throws his arms at the ball when it's wide of the off-stump, something you will not get away with early season in England. South Africa may be a harder place to bat in the middle of the 2 countries summers, but early season England is a harder place to bat than anywhere. It'll swing, there'll be alot of green on the surfaces and it'll be mightily cold and get quite dark towards the end of the day as well. I'm not convinced he'll average anywhere near 60 early season in England.

Graeme Smith hit 2 double hundreds in England against arguably a better side. His styile is just as ugly, if not uglier then Hughes. Smith has some serious technique faults against swing bowling, Hughes doesn't.

 

[King Pietersen]

You think Duminy will average higher than Pietersen? Can't say I agree with that. If Pietersen develops a Bradman-esque more selfish/sensible approach to batting he could easily bump his average up to 55-56 by the end of his career. He's getting better and better each year technique wise, and his average is starting to be on the up again. His technique could improve though, I saw a good little review of his technique in some newsletter I get, pointed out some quite big technical flaws in KP's batting, be interesting to see if he makes any changes.

I can see Bopara averaging higher than 40-43 as well, I can see him being a 45-47 average batsman. His FC average may only be 41, but he made his debut aged 17, and was nowhere near the player he is now. His average has been steadily on the increase, and in 2-3 years he'll have a FC average of around 44-45, and if he gets a chance in the Test side at 4 with KP moving up to 3 then I can see him having a fantastic Test career. He's probably the most talented young batsman in England.

As for Smith, he may have a very ugly technique, but he doesn't throw his arms at the wide ball like Hughes does. I can see Hughes dominating in the Subcontinent, like Sehwag, where you can get away with doing that, but as proven by Sehwag's record in New Zealand, it's far harder to play that style of cricket in places like New Zealand and England. Early season for Hughes will not be easy. There'll be uneven bounce, green wickets, extravagent seam movement and swing and the conditions will be extremely cold. Have to see how he goes, but I cannot see him averaging 60 for Middlesex in the County Championship.

 

[aussie_ben91]

Hughes debuted at 18 in the strongest domestic competition in the world and averaged 60. If Bopara averages in the mid 40s then Hughes will average in the mid 60s! Oh wait, he already does...

Also Dan, towards the end of batsman's careers, their averages drop not rise. KP will have to experience a golden period if his going to finish with a Test average of over 55. The likes of Ponting & Tendulkar will finish their careers with averages of 52-54 but they'll probably end up playing 180 odd Tests.

 

[King Pietersen]

The standard of bowlers may be stronger in Australia, but I don't think the difference when taking everything into consideration is too large at all. Australia's an easier place to bat early season than England is. It still swings and seams in Australia, but not as much as England, and the temperatures are also far lower. Then you've got rain delays which mess up a batsman's concentration and then uneven bounce in the wickets which always have abit of moisture in them.

If Hughes averages 60 in England then I'll rate him as highly as you do, but it's not going to be easy for him at all. Australian players tend to struggle when they come over here for their first season. The work load is far more intense. Graham Thorpe was saying that in Australia teams have a few days to prepare for matches, in a very similar fashion to preparing for a Test match, we don't have that here. There are so many matches in the County Season that it's impossible to properly prepare for match as games are so close together. It's going to be difficult for Hughes. I'm not saying he's going to fail, but he's going to find it difficult and mentally draining.

Bopara's last 2 seasons he's averaged 60.00 and 54.60 from 27 games. A record not far off Hughes.

 

[aussie_ben91]

Mate, Hobart has equally bad conditions as England when England's at it's worse. Late last year, Hughes made 2 brilliant scores of 93 & 108 in horrid bowling friendly conditions against Geeves, Hilfenhaus, Denton & Butterworth. All great exponents of swing. Hughes made the core of NSW's score much like he did in the 2nd innings of the 1st Test and both innings' in the 2nd Test. Hughes is a great exponent and makes bad conditions look flat. It's a testerment to how good he truly is.

Cricinfo - Tasmania v New South Wales at Hobart, Dec 2-4, 2008

In Sydney (Hughes home ground), the ball swings around. Why do you reckon Doug Bollinger has had so much success?