Shane Warne rates the 10 best batsmen he has seen
SHANE Warne has played with and against some of the greatest batsmen of all time. But who was the best? The Test legend rates the top 10 he has seen. VOTE
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CRICKET loves an acronym like DRS and lbw but I want to talk about BSB, which may be the game’s hottest topic right now.
BSB? That’s Best Since Bradman.
The Don stands indisputably as the measure by which all batsmen are judged. He is so far ahead of the pack that we have to put him to one side when we run a rule over those who have excelled with blade in hand.
No disrespect to players from times before the 1970s but I wasn’t born then so it’s hard to judge fairly what you haven’t witnessed with your own eyes.
So for this debate I’m including players that I’ve seen and played with or against.
There are two current batsmen who stack up on the all-time greatest list and one will have another chance to put his case to move up the rankings at the MCG on Boxing Day. That’s Steve Smith.
FIGHTING WORDS: HANDSCOMB HITS CRITICS FOR SIX
MISSING: NO HOMETOWN HEROES IN BOXING DAY TEST
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Smith and his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli are duelling for a spot in my top 10 bats of the past 40 or so years and both are heading up that ladder with a bullet.
The best batsmen since the mid-70s in my opinion is Viv Richards — the Master Blaster is my No.1 followed by fellow West Indian superstar Brian Lara, then the Little Master Sachin Tendulkar along with the graceful and elegant Greg Chappell.
To me, these guys form the rung under Bradman.
Beneath this quartet is a group of more great modern-day players in Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Graham Gooch, Allan Border and AB de Villiers.
I don’t assess greatness by stats, but rather by the way someone played the game, the way they influenced results and the impact they had on all of us. That’s how we remember our heroes.
To me a great batsman has to have made a hundred in three key countries: in England, against the Duke ball on seaming and swinging pitches; in Australia, on our fast-paced, bouncy tracks; and of course, in the dust bowls of India, on pitches that spin and spit.
The very best must be men for all seasons, and all conditions.
Steve Smith has made 200 in England, he’s now got a double ton at the WACA and he’s made big hundreds in India. So in the three toughest environments to perform, he’s done it and hasn’t he done it well, too.
Smith is not as destructive as a Vivvy Richards — there hasn’t been anyone who is — he is more of a quiet assassin. It’s death by a thousand cuts.
He’s not as aggressive as a Ponting, he’s more Gooch and Kallis. He likes to wear the bowlers down, make them bowl to him. Patience is his key.
The thing that puts the Australian skipper up with the very best is a trait shared by them all — just how quickly he picks up the ball out of the bowler’s hand and judges length.
Someone batting with his technique — which is unusual, to be polite — is going to be vulnerable if not for an unerring ability to pick up the length and get into position, which then gives him time and makes it look like the bowlers are bowling slowly.
To me Steve Smith is the best Test batsman in the world.
Virat Kohli is the best across all three formats of the game, but across five days, Steve Smith is the man.
The hole in Kohli’s CV on the Test match stage is in England and the pressure is on the fiery but very likeable Indian to carry over some double-ton magic from home soil to that country when his team tours next year.
I actually think Kohli is easier to bowl to than Smith.
With Virat you can plan to bowl around that off stump and he will be tempted to have a little play, but Smith will leave the ball there all day. He’ll make you bowl to him.
I reckon Joe Root has come up with some good plans for Smith during the Ashes, but he hasn’t had the bowlers to execute them.
One idea for Smith is to bowl at the stumps and ribs with a leg slip and a majority of an on-side field, as well as a catching mid-wicket. Bowl at his hip and his rib, and at the stumps for lbw — good plans.
The old adage of bowling over the top of off stump isn’t a bad idea either when the ball moves, but the big problem for the England attack has been speed, or rather, lack of speed when the wicket has become flat.
Jimmy Anderson has been very accurate but he doesn’t look threatening or have the necessary pace and the Kookaburra ball has swung and seamed for him only once, with the pink ball under lights in Adelaide.
And none of the other English bowlers have either the accuracy or the pace to worry the Australian skipper.
So you can have the best plans in the world, but if you can’t put them into practice, they’re worthless.
England desperately needs some pace and I’ve been surprised the tourists haven’t rushed Mark Wood into the Test team.
I thought Wood was a certainty to play in Adelaide, and if he didn’t play in Adelaide, then he had to play in Perth. He must be injured, otherwise it’s been a huge mistake.
One of the main differences between the teams has been the Australians bowling 10kmh faster than the Poms. It’s really shown up how medium-paced and similar the England attack is.
But whatever England throws up at the MCG next week, you’d back Smith to handle it.
He’ll continue to lead from the front by way of his batting, much like Ricky Ponting and Allan Border did before him.
Smith is not a Mark Taylor type captain — who by the way was the best captain I played under due to his communication skills and aggressive, risk-taking tactics — but captaincy is about getting the best out of his players and Smith is doing it well.
As a person, Steve Smith is a good fella. I don’t know him really well, but I know him well enough. He’s a really level-headed guy.
Although I reckon his fiancee Dani Willis might read cricket books to him at night, that’s how much he loves the game.
He eats, sleeps and breathes cricket and it shows. His Test average as Australian captain is 73. Extraordinary.
From 59 Tests in total he has scored 5796 runs at 62.32.
Look at him on pure numbers and since Bradman, he’s the best. If Smith keeps this form up over 100 Test matches, he will leave the game as an absolute legend and one of the all-time greats.
It’s easy to forget he started out as a leg-spinning all-rounder, batting at seven, eight and nine.
You’d have to think there will be a dip in performance at some stage, but considering his average since he notched his first century, at the Oval in August 2013 — it’s a touch under 72 — maybe not.
Shane Warne ranks the best batsmen he’s seen or shared a ground with
1. Viv Richards (WI)
2. Brian Lara (WI)
3. Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)
4. Greg Chappell (Aus)
5. Ricky Ponting (Aus)
6. Allan Border (Aus)
7. Jacques Kallis (SAf)
8. Graham Gooch (Eng)
9. AB de Villiers (SAf)
10. Steve Smith (Aus), Virat Kohli (Ind)
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