Harsh Thakor
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In this list I am ranking in order of merit the best batsmen against express or genuine pace bowling who averaged over 50 in test cricket.I have corrected and revised list including the great Barry Richards who on 2nd thoughts I felt should be added although he played only 4 official and overall 11 unofficial international games.
1.Viv Richards
2.Sunil Gavaskar
3.Gary Sobers
4.Barry Richards
5.Alan Border
6.Don Bradman
7.Ricky Ponting
8.Sachin Tendulkar
9.Brian Lara
10.Rahul Dravid
11.Len Hutton
12.Graeme Pollock
13.Greg Chappell
14.Steve Waugh
15.Javed Miandad.
16.Kumar Sangakaara
17.Younus Khan
Viv Richards was the king treating even the likes of Lillee like a spinner.No batsmen intimidated great paceman more than Viv who posessed reflexes of lightning.The fastest bouncer or express pace delivery would be sent over the fence before you could say Jack Robinson.On his day made the fastest men look like cattle walking to a slaughterhouse.Lillee rated him the greatest batsmen he ever bowled to and so did Imran.In WSC supertests against great pace he looked in a different class from even the Chappell brothers,literally mowing down opponents.
Gavaskar broke many a batting record facing the most hostile pace bowlers of all time without the aid of a helmet ,revealing technical skill ,temperament and concentration reaching depths of the divine.He weathered the most lethal pace with the solidity of a boulder.No batsmen was more compact than Gavaskar in Imran Khan's view.Difficult to conceive even Bradman or Hobbs opening the batting without a helmet against the greatest West Indian pace attack,with the same fortitude as Sunil.
Gary Sobers tore apart the likes of Alan Davidson, Trueman,John Snow and later Lillee in 1972.No left-hander ever pulverized great pace with such skilL and audacity.Both Chappell brothers rate him the bets batsmen they ever saw.At Melbourne in 254 he played what was close to the best cricket innings ever against paceman like Dennis Lillee.
Barry Richards demolished genuine pace on fast wickets in World series Packer cricket from 1977-78 more than any opening batsmen before including scores of 207 and an unbeaten 125,both in winning causes.Arguably no opener has every taken domination of bowling to such depths of divinity as Barry who overshadowed even Viv when scoring his 2 WSC centuries.
Border weathered the storm against the best pace attack ever in West Indies in 1984 averaging over 74 revealing combat at it's highest zenith.No left-hander ever was better at batting for your life against express pace as Border.
Bradman was never sufficiently tested against express pace and in the bodlyline series could not sustain the same form averaging around 56.I have paced him 3rd respecting law of averages whereby even in the 1970's he would have been prolific against genuine pace.
Ricky Ponting often looked like a white Viv Richards displaying mastery of the pull and hook shot more than anyone of his time. Played the bouncing ball better than Tendulkar or Lara and relished the fast tracks.At his best could even murder Shoaib Akhtar.No left-hander ever pulverized great pace with such skilL and audacity.
Tendulkar displayed great technical skill wnen scoring his best centuries against Alan Donald in 1996-97 and Dale Steyn in 2010-11.His 98 against the great Pakistan bowling attack in the 2003 world cup is technically the best world cup innings I have ever seen .Rated below some because he curbed his dominating style in the 2nd part of his career and scored the bulk of his runs against fast-medium or spin bowling.Sachin also had the advantage of protective headgear unlike Gavaskar,Viv or Sobers.
Brian Lara had natural talent more than anyone but displayed marginal flaws against the short ,rising ball.He scored many centuries against the great Glen Mcgrath who was fast-medium but not genuinely fast.Lara has no test century to his credit against Akram,Shoaib Akhtar,Donald,Waqar or Steyn. It was a photo-finish between Tendulkar and Lara but I gave Sachin the benefit as he had centuries against great genuine quickies in test matches like Alan Donald,Curtly Ambrose unlike Brian Lara .Sachin was more technically accomplished against great pace even if Lara was more artistic and mercurial.
Rahul Dravid could bat for his life better than any batsmen of his era aginst genuine pace and after getting his eye in could be harder to dislodge than even Tendulkar or Lara.Dravid's record in Australia in 2003-04 is a testimony to this and in West Indies in 2006.
Graeme Pollock could be classical and unbowlable against genuine quickes but never proved his prowess against short-pitched bolwing.No doubt great abundance of talent on fast pitches but not at his best in Australia in 1972 against Lillee.For sheer talent he could be right at the top with Viv.
Len Hutton was successful against Lindwall and Miller at their best in 11952 in Australia on the most difficult wickets.
Greg Chapell statistically would have been at the top of the tree morally averaging more than any batsmen of the 1970's against the best West Indies pace attack if you count WSC supertests.Greg has the highest batting average by any batsmen against the great attack in the Caribean when averaging 69 with 3 centuries in a 5 supertest series in 1979 but the bulk of his runs came against the slower bowlers and on the slower wickets of Trinidad and Georgetown.He averaged 117 v West Indies with an aggregate of 702 run sin 1975-76 which was outstanding but again mainly capitalising on the slower bowlers.However morally he ranked lower than others because he often was vulnerable to the short,bouncing ball.The West Indies paceman exposed this weakness and worked out a formula to dismiss him in 1979-80.On a slow wicket he could be the best against pace but on fast wicket often he was overshadowed by brother Ian.
Javed Miandad could niggle great opponents more than anyone and could improvise like a magician at times.
Steve Waugh was a more refined and agressive version of Alan Border who could ressurect a team from the grave better than nay batsmen of his day against the most brutal pace.
Sangakaraa had a flowing style and feline grace even if the bowling was express pace.
Younus Khan could turn a match more than anyone in his era even if the ball was traveling like a bullet.
I have excluded Weekes,Headley,Walcott,Barrington,Hobbs,Compton etc as however brilliant they were they never proved it against genuine express pace.Bradman was placed only on scaling average and even that was debatable.If I had only taken into account Inzamam Ul Haq's test avergae playing for Pakistan and not ICC XI then I would have ranked Inzy at either 4 or 5 as he was genius against great pace at his best.
1.Viv Richards
2.Sunil Gavaskar
3.Gary Sobers
4.Barry Richards
5.Alan Border
6.Don Bradman
7.Ricky Ponting
8.Sachin Tendulkar
9.Brian Lara
10.Rahul Dravid
11.Len Hutton
12.Graeme Pollock
13.Greg Chappell
14.Steve Waugh
15.Javed Miandad.
16.Kumar Sangakaara
17.Younus Khan
Viv Richards was the king treating even the likes of Lillee like a spinner.No batsmen intimidated great paceman more than Viv who posessed reflexes of lightning.The fastest bouncer or express pace delivery would be sent over the fence before you could say Jack Robinson.On his day made the fastest men look like cattle walking to a slaughterhouse.Lillee rated him the greatest batsmen he ever bowled to and so did Imran.In WSC supertests against great pace he looked in a different class from even the Chappell brothers,literally mowing down opponents.
Gavaskar broke many a batting record facing the most hostile pace bowlers of all time without the aid of a helmet ,revealing technical skill ,temperament and concentration reaching depths of the divine.He weathered the most lethal pace with the solidity of a boulder.No batsmen was more compact than Gavaskar in Imran Khan's view.Difficult to conceive even Bradman or Hobbs opening the batting without a helmet against the greatest West Indian pace attack,with the same fortitude as Sunil.
Gary Sobers tore apart the likes of Alan Davidson, Trueman,John Snow and later Lillee in 1972.No left-hander ever pulverized great pace with such skilL and audacity.Both Chappell brothers rate him the bets batsmen they ever saw.At Melbourne in 254 he played what was close to the best cricket innings ever against paceman like Dennis Lillee.
Barry Richards demolished genuine pace on fast wickets in World series Packer cricket from 1977-78 more than any opening batsmen before including scores of 207 and an unbeaten 125,both in winning causes.Arguably no opener has every taken domination of bowling to such depths of divinity as Barry who overshadowed even Viv when scoring his 2 WSC centuries.
Border weathered the storm against the best pace attack ever in West Indies in 1984 averaging over 74 revealing combat at it's highest zenith.No left-hander ever was better at batting for your life against express pace as Border.
Bradman was never sufficiently tested against express pace and in the bodlyline series could not sustain the same form averaging around 56.I have paced him 3rd respecting law of averages whereby even in the 1970's he would have been prolific against genuine pace.
Ricky Ponting often looked like a white Viv Richards displaying mastery of the pull and hook shot more than anyone of his time. Played the bouncing ball better than Tendulkar or Lara and relished the fast tracks.At his best could even murder Shoaib Akhtar.No left-hander ever pulverized great pace with such skilL and audacity.
Tendulkar displayed great technical skill wnen scoring his best centuries against Alan Donald in 1996-97 and Dale Steyn in 2010-11.His 98 against the great Pakistan bowling attack in the 2003 world cup is technically the best world cup innings I have ever seen .Rated below some because he curbed his dominating style in the 2nd part of his career and scored the bulk of his runs against fast-medium or spin bowling.Sachin also had the advantage of protective headgear unlike Gavaskar,Viv or Sobers.
Brian Lara had natural talent more than anyone but displayed marginal flaws against the short ,rising ball.He scored many centuries against the great Glen Mcgrath who was fast-medium but not genuinely fast.Lara has no test century to his credit against Akram,Shoaib Akhtar,Donald,Waqar or Steyn. It was a photo-finish between Tendulkar and Lara but I gave Sachin the benefit as he had centuries against great genuine quickies in test matches like Alan Donald,Curtly Ambrose unlike Brian Lara .Sachin was more technically accomplished against great pace even if Lara was more artistic and mercurial.
Rahul Dravid could bat for his life better than any batsmen of his era aginst genuine pace and after getting his eye in could be harder to dislodge than even Tendulkar or Lara.Dravid's record in Australia in 2003-04 is a testimony to this and in West Indies in 2006.
Graeme Pollock could be classical and unbowlable against genuine quickes but never proved his prowess against short-pitched bolwing.No doubt great abundance of talent on fast pitches but not at his best in Australia in 1972 against Lillee.For sheer talent he could be right at the top with Viv.
Len Hutton was successful against Lindwall and Miller at their best in 11952 in Australia on the most difficult wickets.
Greg Chapell statistically would have been at the top of the tree morally averaging more than any batsmen of the 1970's against the best West Indies pace attack if you count WSC supertests.Greg has the highest batting average by any batsmen against the great attack in the Caribean when averaging 69 with 3 centuries in a 5 supertest series in 1979 but the bulk of his runs came against the slower bowlers and on the slower wickets of Trinidad and Georgetown.He averaged 117 v West Indies with an aggregate of 702 run sin 1975-76 which was outstanding but again mainly capitalising on the slower bowlers.However morally he ranked lower than others because he often was vulnerable to the short,bouncing ball.The West Indies paceman exposed this weakness and worked out a formula to dismiss him in 1979-80.On a slow wicket he could be the best against pace but on fast wicket often he was overshadowed by brother Ian.
Javed Miandad could niggle great opponents more than anyone and could improvise like a magician at times.
Steve Waugh was a more refined and agressive version of Alan Border who could ressurect a team from the grave better than nay batsmen of his day against the most brutal pace.
Sangakaraa had a flowing style and feline grace even if the bowling was express pace.
Younus Khan could turn a match more than anyone in his era even if the ball was traveling like a bullet.
I have excluded Weekes,Headley,Walcott,Barrington,Hobbs,Compton etc as however brilliant they were they never proved it against genuine express pace.Bradman was placed only on scaling average and even that was debatable.If I had only taken into account Inzamam Ul Haq's test avergae playing for Pakistan and not ICC XI then I would have ranked Inzy at either 4 or 5 as he was genius against great pace at his best.
