Rank and rate these England batsmen out of 10

[Ab Fan]

Graham Gooch
Goeffrey Boycott
Graham Thorpe
David Gower
Alec Stewart
Kevin Pietersen
Alastair Cook

 

[Hasan123]

Gooch 8
Boycott 8
Thorpe 7
Gower 8.5
KP 9
Cook 9.5

 

[Ted123]

Gooch 8.5
Boycott 8.25
Thorpe 7.75
Gower 8
KP 8.5
Cook 8

 

[Robert]

Graham Gooch 8 over his career, but 10 during his last three years.
Goeffrey Boycott 8
Graham Thorpe 8
David Gower 8
Alec Stewart 8
Kevin Pietersen 9
Alastair Cook 7

 

[Ab Fan]

Graham Gooch 8 over his career, but 10 during his last three years.
Goeffrey Boycott 8
Graham Thorpe 8
David Gower 8
Alec Stewart 8
Kevin Pietersen 9
Alastair Cook 7

If you have to rank them??

 

[Ab Fan]

Gooch 8
Boycott 8
Thorpe 7
Gower 8.5
KP 9
Cook 9.5

Most consider Gooch a better opener than Cook. He is one of those few batsmen who did well against genuine top quality pace attack (hundreds Vs the WI quartet) and was also good Vs spin.

 

[Robert]

If you have to rank them??

Difficult. I would put KP first and Cook last. KP had outrageous levels of skill.

Boycott was technically the best against all-comers, but a slowcoach and England needed shot-players to follow him.

Gooch was excellent for his last three years but fairly average before, other than against WI. He had some difficulty against medium pace swingers.

It's difficult to place Stewart as he only played fifty tests as a batter, but he was excellent against West Indies and Pakistan in that role. Brilliant timing. He had trouble against good spinners such as Warne, but to be fair so did a lot if people.

Gower was arguably the most complete of all with timing that had to be seen to be believed. But one got the impression that he could have averaged 50, with a bit more focus, than the 44 he ended on. Excellent against spin.

Thorpe was quietly impressive and averaged 50 in the reactive position at #5. He was key to England's come-from-behind win in SL, nullifying Murali.

Cook has piled the runs up in an era of less strong bowling but struggles against top quality quicks. Much better against spin.

My top six would be

Boycott
Gooch
Stewart
Gower
KP
Thorpe

 

[ToeCrusher2]

Graham Gooch 6.5
Goeffrey Boycott 6
Graham Thorpe 6.5
David Gower 6.5
Alec Stewart 4
Kevin Pietersen 8
Alastair Cook 7

 

[Dios]

Kumar Sangakkara is the best batsman I've seen in my years of watching cricket and I'd rate him a 9.5.

Therefore, using Sangakkara as the benchmark:

Pietersen - 8
Cook - 8.5

Note this is for Tests only. If this was across all formats (excluding T20s), Cook's ranking would fall to a 7 and Pietersen's would rise to a 8.5 or even a 9.

Haven't seen the other people on the list.

 

[Ab Fan]

Difficult. I would put KP first and Cook last. KP had outrageous levels of skill.

Boycott was technically the best against all-comers, but a slowcoach and England needed shot-players to follow him.

Gooch was excellent for his last three years but fairly average before, other than against WI. He had some difficulty against medium pace swingers.

It's difficult to place Stewart as he only played fifty tests as a batter, but he was excellent against West Indies and Pakistan in that role. Brilliant timing. He had trouble against good spinners such as Warne, but to be fair so did a lot if people.

Gower was arguably the most complete of all with timing that had to be seen to be believed. But one got the impression that he could have averaged 50, with a bit more focus, than the 44 he ended on. Excellent against spin.

Thorpe was quietly impressive and averaged 50 in the reactive position at #5. He was key to England's come-from-behind win in SL, nullifying Murali.

Cook has piled the runs up in an era of less strong bowling but struggles against top quality quicks. Much better against spin.

My top six would be

Boycott
Gooch
Stewart
Gower
KP
Thorpe

KP definitely had the potential to become one of England's best ever if not for his consistency and his attitude in the dressing room.

I think Gooch was slightly better than Boycott because latter was a bit selfish cricketer as he cared a lot about his averages and was among those who took defensive batting to a completely different level while former has great record vs really top quality pace attack.

Stewart is a top quality cricketer. Opened the innings for 50 tests, kept for his team and has batted at different positions.

Cook is poor against quality pace attacks which is but has still done well to achieve a really really good test career.

 

[Ab Fan]

Graham Gooch 6.5
Goeffrey Boycott 6
Graham Thorpe 6.5
David Gower 6.5
Alec Stewart 4
Kevin Pietersen 8
Alastair Cook 7

Stewart was a wicket keeper batsmen for a long period of time.His record as an opener is very good too. Avgs 46 at close to 50 tests.

 

[Robert]

Graham Gooch 6.5
Goeffrey Boycott 6
Graham Thorpe 6.5
David Gower 6.5
Alec Stewart 4
Kevin Pietersen 8
Alastair Cook 7

Sehwag -200

 

[Ab Fan]

Looks like very few posters have seen all of them bat. Seems like most of us in this forum is in our 20s. Expecting more answers anyways.

 

[Robert]

I saw Boycott. At Bradford Park Avenue in a Sunday League match. Kapil Dev was there too IIRC.

 

[Chrish]

Why have they never considered cook to bat down the order? He is a brilliant player of spin and not so great against pace.. It only makes more sense

 

[Ab Fan]

Why have they never considered cook to bat down the order? He is a brilliant player of spin and not so great against pace.. It only makes more sense

Maybe because they never had a good enough opener at the top of the order.Cook is their best since Graham Gooch. And really no point in changing Cook's position given how they have struggled to find a single decent opening pair of Cook in last few years.

With putting Cook in the middle order, it gets even worse at the top.

Btw how would you rank them?

 

[Chrish]

Maybe because they never had a good enough opener at the top of the order.Cook is their best since Graham Gooch. And really no point in changing Cook's position given how they have struggled to find a single decent opening pair of Cook in last few years.

With putting Cook in the middle order, it gets even worse at the top.

Btw how would you rank them?

Admittingly I haven't watched much English Cricket or researched their modern day players. So, I am not in a right position to evaluate these players. KP and Cook are the two players I have seen enough of and I would give 8/10 to KP and 7/10 to Cook.

I reckon I am slightly biased against Cook as I have never been a fan of his style of batting.

 

[Ab Fan]

Graham Gooch
Goeffrey Boycott
Graham Thorpe
David Gower
Alec Stewart
Kevin Pietersen
Alastair Cook

Bump!

 

[bujhee kom]

Looks like very few posters have seen all of them bat. Seems like most of us in this forum is in our 20s. Expecting more answers anyways.

A person can only truly judge those he saw live. In the flesh or on tv, but you then get a sense of context and atmosphere. KP is the most gifted player of the lot by far, but if I was in the trenches, you'd want Gooch batting. Brilliant player.

I am in my 50s - so saw all these gents.

 

[Robert]

If you have to rank them??

I'll tell you who my top six is:

Gooch
Boycott
Stewart
Gower
Pietersen
Thorpe

Leaving Chef out as the others were all better against top quicks.

But against spin based attacks I would sub Chef in for Stewie.

 

[andy0204]

I'll tell you who my top six is:

Gooch
Boycott
Stewart
Gower
Pietersen
Thorpe

Leaving Chef out as the others were all better against top quicks.

But against spin based attacks I would sub Chef in for Stewie.

Robin Smith was also better than Cook when facing against top quicks.

 

[sweep_shot]

Graham Gooch - never saw him live.
Goeffrey Boycott - never saw him live.
Graham Thorpe - 6/10.
David Gower - never saw him live.
Alec Stewart - 6/10.
Kevin Pietersen - 8/10.
Alastair Cook - 9/10.

 

[Last Monetarist]

Graham Gooch 8
Geoffrey Boycott 8
Graham Thorpe 7,5
David Gower 7,5
Alec Stewart 7
Kevin Pietersen 8,5
Alastair Cook 8,5

It's really hard to separate them. Stewart would get a 7,5 too if you only consider the matches in which he didn't have to keep wicket.

Gower was the most talented out of that lot, so you can make a case that he underachieved the most and should have been an all-time great.

 

[Robert]

Why on Earth are people rating Cook higher than the others?

 

[sweep_shot]

Why on Earth are people rating Cook higher than the others?

Cook has the most runs in England's history. Other batsmen might've looked pretty but Cook was the only one who actually accomplished something statistically meaningful.

 

[Robert]

Cook has the most runs in England's history. Other batsmen might've looked pretty but Cook was the only one who actually accomplished something statistically meaningful.

Aggregate is a not a good indicator, not by itself. Else Jimmy Anderson is a better bowler thean Malcolm Marshall and Wasim Akram. All that means is that Cook played more innings due to a lot more tests played post-2000. Boycott and Gooch were better in terms of whom they faced.

 

[sweep_shot]

Aggregate is a not a good indicator, not by itself. Else Jimmy Anderson is a better bowler thean Malcolm Marshall and Wasim Akram. All that means is that Cook played more innings due to a lot more tests played post-2000. Boycott and Gooch were better in terms of whom they faced.

England indeed played a lot more Tests post-2000 but how come no other England batsman crossed 10,000 runs? It was only Cook who did it. He must've been doing something right.

At the end of the day, it is all about work ethics and performance. Talent is irrelevant.

Cook was a disciplined and hardworking cricketer and what he accomplished was a reflection of that.

Statistically, Cook is one of the ATG batsmen in Test format.

 

[Manunited18]

Gower 9.5
Kp 9
Gooch8.5
Boycott 8.5
Cook8.5
Stewart 8.0
Thorpe8.0
Atherton7.5

 

[Manunited18]

Gower was a artist when batting, he made it look effortless

 

[Ab Fan]

Why on Earth are people rating Cook higher than the others?

Because he has 12000 test runs as an opener at an excellent average of 47. If you are on opener, you will face the music more often than middle order.

Gower and Thorpe are middle order players who average 44.

Gooch an opener averages 42, Atherton and Stewart have 38 and 40 as their career averages.

 

[Ab Fan]

England indeed played a lot more Tests post-2000 but how come no other England batsman crossed 10,000 runs? It was only Cook who did it. He must've been doing something right.

At the end of the day, it is all about work ethics and performance. Talent is irrelevant.

Cook was a disciplined and hardworking cricketer and what he accomplished was a reflection of that.

Statistically, Cook is one of the ATG batsmen in Test format.

If you notice well, KP didn't even had a long enough career. His career stands a total of 8 years from 2005-2013. The likes of Cook, Amla, AB and Clarke had 12-13 year's total career.

All the mentioned players have around 8K total runs and have played 100-120 tests. Cook played 160 tests and has 12000 runs.

 

[sweep_shot]

If you notice well, KP didn't even had a long enough career. His career stands a total of 8 years from 2005-2013. The likes of Cook, Amla, AB and Clarke had 12-13 year's total career.

All the mentioned players have around 8K total runs and have played 100-120 tests. Cook played 160 tests and has 12000 runs.

That was fault of KP. He was a troublemaker and hence he didn't get to play for long. Cook was a down to earth guy who only focused on getting job done.

In the end, Cook achieved more than KP and rightly so.

 

[Robert]

Because he has 12000 test runs as an opener at an excellent average of 47. If you are on opener, you will face the music more often than middle order.

Gower and Thorpe are middle order players who average 44.

Gooch an opener averages 42, Atherton and Stewart have 38 and 40 as their career averages.

Those guys all played in times of stronger fast bowling than Cook did.

Cook was very good against medium pace and spin, but the quicks sorted him out too many times.

Among English openers I have seen, I would put him behind Boycott, Gooch and Stewart, and a bit ahead of Strauss and Atherton.

 

[Robert]

England indeed played a lot more Tests post-2000 but how come no other England batsman crossed 10,000 runs? It was only Cook who did it. He must've been doing something right.

At the end of the day, it is all about work ethics and performance. Talent is irrelevant.

Cook was a disciplined and hardworking cricketer and what he accomplished was a reflection of that.

Statistically, Cook is one of the ATG batsmen in Test format.

He did a lot right but I am not comparing his with other English openers of his period, but with some others from the seventies, eighties and nineties.

Talent is relevant - work ethics polish natural ability. Plenty of guys have the work ethic but not the raw ability for internationals and these guys stay in County cricket.

 

[Ab Fan]

Those guys all played in times of stronger fast bowling than Cook did.

Cook was very good against medium pace and spin, but the quicks sorted him out too many times.

Among English openers I have seen, I would put him behind Boycott, Gooch and Stewart, and a bit ahead of Strauss and Atherton.

I agree with this as well, although Stewart didn't had a huge sample set.

Btw, how would you rate KP and ABDV who were also from Cook's era?

 

[Robert]

I agree with this as well, although Stewart didn't had a huge sample set.

Btw, how would you rate KP and ABDV who were also from Cook's era?

Pietersen is the best batter I ever saw in an England shirt in terms of sheer skill. Of course as [MENTION=141306]sweep_shot[/MENTION] points out there is discipline too.

Not seen that much ABDV but what I saw reminded me closely of Viv Richards in terms of the extreme innate ability.

 

[Rellu_Katta]

some of my fav Englishmen were
1)Alec Stewart (most stylish)
2) Atherton (his courage vs the Walshez,Akramz,Waqaz,Ambrozez,Donaldz was amazing)
3)Hussain (thght he was excellent)

but the best hs to be KP bcz he was KP