In a full Test career, would Barry Richards have been the second best to Don Bradman?

[Harsh Thakor]

Arguably at his best Barry Richards even overshadowed Sir Viv Richards.He displayed this when scoring 207 in 1977-79 and 125 not out in 1978-79 ,both against Australian xi's.Above all both his hundreds won matches and his 2nd century was in challenging run chase.No batsmen ever could blend attacking agression and technical skill as perfectly as Barry like a bulldozer and surgeon moulded into one.Barry was like a Viv Richards and Sunil Gavaskar rolled into one.

Barry was chosen in the all time world xi by Bradman which excluded Viv Richards and Sunil Gavaskar.Barry averaged the highest amongst all batsmen in Kerry Packer world series cricket with 79.14.

I would have still liked to see Barry on the turning pitches of the sub-continent in India and Pakistan and play the foursome West Indian quartet.I would also have loved to see Barry the uncovered wet pitches Trumper and Hobbs played on in the earlier part of the lats century.First-class cricket no doubt has to be considered but one has to give priority to International Cricket.In 1st class cricket Geoff Boycott averaged 56.94 and Zaheer Abbas 51.54 which is better than that of Viv Richards .Thus it could be misleading.Vijay Merchant had the 2nd best 1st class average of all but could never be rated as better than Tendulkar or Lara.


Still cricket is not only about statistics but the manner in which runs have been scored.No batsmen posessed as many ingredients that composed the most consumate of batsmen .However I think critiques are unfair to rate Barry ahead of Viv Richards.I feel Barry still would not equal or surpass Viv's imagination or prowess against great fast bowling. Certainly Barry was more organized and correct but I doubt would have surpassed Viv's destructive ability or overshadowed his impact on the crease.I think Viv would have put bowling attacks marginally more into submission than Barry.Remember Dennis Lillee found it more challenging to bowl to Viv and rated him the best batsmen he ever bowled to.Many contemporary players like Graham Gooch rated Barry the most perfect batsmen they saw.Dickie Bird rated Barry the best he ever saw.Gary Sobers in 1979 placed him at 3rd place behind Ina Chappell and Viv Richards and ahead of Sunil Gavaskar and Greg Chappell.John Woodcock ranked Barry as the 14th bets cricketer of al ahead of even Gavaskar,Len Hutton,Imran Khan and George Headley which is very controversial.Cristopher Martin Jenkin sranks Barry at 26th place just below Hadlee and Gavaskar and ahead of Weekes,Greg Chappell and Graeme Pollock.Fascinating that many great West Indians do not place Barry in the all-time xi but include Greenidge to partner Gavaskar.Martin Crowe and Richard Hadlee chose Barry.17 experts chose Barry in their all-time xi.All time cricinfo viewers chose Bary to accompany Sunil Gavaskar.

Personally I would have backed Barry to have been the best batsmen after Bradman in a full career.He had more confidence against genuine pace than Lara or Tendulkar.Still I think Barry would make it as an opener in the all-time xi as he was the best match-winner amongst opening batsmen.I would trust the eyes of the experts who played or officiated the game.

 

[Slog]

I think so

Most definitely the greatest opener ever

Any level of cricket he played he was usually streets ahead of his peers like Bradman was (not same gulf obv).

And while he unfortunately missed out on a Test career, there is enough evidence of his class and ability from Packer WSC, counties and rebel tours

 

[Harsh Thakor]

I think so

Most definitely the greatest opener ever

Any level of cricket he played he was usually streets ahead of his peers like Bradman was (not same gulf obv).

And while he unfortunately missed out on a Test career, there is enough evidence of his class and ability from Packer WSC, counties and rebel tours

better than Gavaskar or Viv Richards?

 

[Slog]

better than Gavaskar or Viv Richards?

possibly. there is no data to conclude either way how well he would have done in asia but you also have to see that over a full career in those days he would have made 2 test tours in Asia combined so that wouldnt be defining feature of his legacy

viv wasnt primarily an opener though

 

[Snatch]

The main problem with this argument is that his own countryman Graeme Pollock was a better batsman than Richards.

But he was a wonderful player and def an ATG.

 

[Junaids]

The main problem with this argument is that his own countryman Graeme Pollock was a better batsman than Richards.

But he was a wonderful player and def an ATG.

No. I watched them both.

Pollock had amazing strength and timing: once he had got his eye in he scored at an almost T20 rate. When he hit the ball it sounded like a gunshot. Like a better version of Clive Lloyd.

But Pollock hardly moved his feet - no more than Sharjeel Khan! So for the first 20-30 balls he could be made to fish outside off-stump.

Barry Richards was a much better All-Round batsman. He couldn't be bothered to concentrate in boring or unimportant matches, but when he was trying he was much harder to dismiss yet he scored almost as fast.

 

[Bewal Express]

We will never know!

 

[cricketjoshila]

We dont know.Its hard to guess as well. But his FC avg is 54.54 not 70 or 80 so dont know why people make such assumptions as the OP.

 

[jeetu]

We will never know!

My views exactly. He wasn't fully tested in International arena. Would love to know how he fared against someone like Underwood on a sticky wicket.

 

[cricketfanfirst]

Not enough sample size to judge. I don't give much rating to county cricket /unofficial tests, the pressure of playing of test match and representing your country is different, challenge of playing different bowlers on variety of pitches and consistently playing at the highest level is totally different compared to county match cricket.

He was simply unlucky to have his career cut short.

By many accounts, he is not even the best player produced by South Africa, many old timers rate Graeme Pollock as SA's best bat.

 

[Bewal Express]

But from what the players of the era have said, he must have been brilliant.