Best ever batsmen in facing short pitched bowling at top pace?

[street cricketer]

Harsh Thakor seems to have been a massive Pakistani cricket fan in the 80s and 90s. His lists almost always gets dominated by the yesteryear Pak players, which is fair enough as Pakistan had a very good team in those days. The best ever lists are almost always subjective and so it's fine to influenced by the players you grew up watching and idolising.

But sometimes his selections make no sense. I know that Inzi had a good record vs the Windies but he averaged 31 against Australia and 32 against South Africa, scoring one century from 27 tests against them. And these tests include tests against Aus and SA both home and away and aren't purely away stats. Now I know that the stats aren't the be all and end all of everything but they do certainly have some value, especially when you're dealing with a large sample size.

I've heard a lot about Majid's heroics away from home and his inclusion is fair enough. But I'm not sure if Miandad was the best player of "short pitched bowling at high pace". He, like Steve Waugh, didn't have an orthodox technique but found a way to "deal" with it to varying degrees of success but surely there were far more natural players of the short ball. Take Ricky Ponting for example. Everybody talks about immediately picking the length of the ball when it's pitched short and getting your body in correct position to play it. But the way Ponting immediately picked the 'line' of short deliveries, got his head outside the line of the ball, while swivel pulling it with utter disdain is one of the most iconic shots in cricket. Punter was one of the best ever players of the pull shot and him missing in the list while Inzi making it is just bizarre tbh.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Hein ??
Where is Ricky Ponting?

And do you remember how Clive Lloyd was spitting blood and his broken teeth against Ramesh Ratnayake?


And thanks for borrowing this piece of knowledge from Imran khan when u said

No batsman with better reflexes than Viv

Please see my revised list.Then kindly comment.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Harsh Thakor seems to have been a massive Pakistani cricket fan in the 80s and 90s. His lists almost always gets dominated by the yesteryear Pak players, which is fair enough as Pakistan had a very good team in those days. The best ever lists are almost always subjective and so it's fine to influenced by the players you grew up watching and idolising.

But sometimes his selections make no sense. I know that Inzi had a good record vs the Windies but he averaged 31 against Australia and 32 against South Africa, scoring one century from 27 tests against them. And these tests include tests against Aus and SA both home and away and aren't purely away stats. Now I know that the stats aren't the be all and end all of everything but they do certainly have some value, especially when you're dealing with a large sample size.

I've heard a lot about Majid's heroics away from home and his inclusion is fair enough. But I'm not sure if Miandad was the best player of "short pitched bowling at high pace". He, like Steve Waugh, didn't have an orthodox technique but found a way to "deal" with it to varying degrees of success but surely there were far more natural players of the short ball. Take Ricky Ponting for example. Everybody talks about immediately picking the length of the ball when it's pitched short and getting your body in correct position to play it. But the way Ponting immediately picked the 'line' of short deliveries, got his head outside the line of the ball, while swivel pulling it with utter disdain is one of the most iconic shots in cricket. Punter was one of the best ever players of the pull shot and him missing in the list while Inzi making it is just bizarre tbh.

Greatly appreciate your analysis and response to my view on Pakistani players,particularly Majid Khan..I agree with what you state about Miandad and Waugh but not on Inzamam.Do see the YouTube of Inzamam playing the short ball.Kindly comment on my revised list.

 

[street cricketer]

Greatly appreciate your analysis and response to my view on Pakistani players,particularly Majid Khan..I agree with what you state about Miandad and Waugh but not on Inzamam.Do see the YouTube of Inzamam playing the short ball.Kindly comment on my revised list.

I saw a video where Inzi smashed Ambrose but if I'm being honest, they were more pick up shots off back of length deliveries (typical Ambi length) than proper pull/hook shots against short deliveries.

I was born in the 90s brother and so I can't make a reasonable comment on cricketers of the 70s and 80s who I didn't watch in their prime but mostly read about them in articles.

 

[subshakerz]

I still dont see how anyone can not have Steve Waugh on this list. He was unmoveable against pace and bounce.

Please look at his mid-90s record against the Ws, Ambrose, Walsh and Donald.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

I still dont see how anyone can not have Steve Waugh on this list. He was unmoveable against pace and bounce.

Please look at his mid-90s record against the Ws, Ambrose, Walsh and Donald.

No doubt great-but against short or bouncing ball>

 

[moghul]

My personal favourite would have been Majid Khan in the days when personal protection was pretty minimal

Mine too.

 

[subshakerz]

No doubt great-but against short or bouncing ball>

Have you ever seen Steve Waugh play? He was the least likely player to ever get bounced out. Playing bounce well doesnt just mean hooking and pulling.

 

[Last Monetarist]

Have you ever seen Steve Waugh play? He was the least likely player to ever get bounced out. Playing bounce well doesnt just mean hooking and pulling.

Cricket's not all about survival though. Batsmen that played the short ball well, such as Viv Richards or Ponting, were able to score against it at will.

Waugh often deliberately got hit by the short ball because he was reluctant to attempt any stroke that could result in a top edge. That's more reflective of his bloody-mindedness and tenacity than anything else.

 

[TheNightWatchman]

Ponting the best.
Viv is very close though .
But honestly I have never seen someone more confident and assured playing shots vs the short ball than Ricky Ponting. He was simply built for it.
He played adult cricket at age 12. I'm assuming length balls were bouncers to him.

 

[Pakhs]

Playing the short ball is not the hardest skill in the game and for most players come naturally. There have way too many good players against short pitch bowling specially in SENA countries. Most WI players owing to their height are decent players of short ball.

England, Australia and SA have produced good players of short ball on a regular basis. Every now and then you get a good player who is surprisingly not that great against the short ball such as AB devilliers.

Its getting easier to practice against the short ball sure to better protective equipment that has resulted in even Asian players becoming better at playing the short ball.

Now playing bounce in general on bouncier pitches is a different matter all together.

 

[Majid Khan]

Just a little surprised to see Hafeez’s test averages in Australia and South Africa are not as impressive as I thought , as he always looked like he enjoyed batting on bouncy wickets against genuinely quick bowling.

But otherwise aside from Hafeez and Viv , I would rate Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist of the batsmen I have watched over the years as being exceptional and just too good against express and short pitched fast bowling on bouncy wickets.
Gilchrist in particular could play shots against hostile pace bowling that would make you shake your head in disbelief.

 

[drubwrubnat]

I think Mathew Hayden had a great temparament against short bowling.
Aravinda de Silva, Kallis & Gilchrist also have the game to play short pitched bowling