Michael Clarke wouldn’t even need to use his hands. Pretty happy with himself, Michael.
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The great AB Devilliers has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
Where does he rate amongst the modern greats?
Lara
Tendulkar
Ponting
Smith
Kohli
Kohli and Devilliers are a level down.
Poor old Kallis.
Oh, oh, Tendulkar has 51 tons!
Well…you know…Kallis has 45.
And he’s taken 292 wickets.
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Lara, tendulkar, kallis and Ponting are unmatched (well, it’s them 4 then the rest)
Smith, kohli and devilliers next (ABD better than them 2 at the moment)
Yeah Kallis is definitely up there also.
That wasn’t my list in order. Just a few off the top of my head
The knock on Kallis was that he batted too slowly to the detriment of his team in certain instances.
But 45 tons, 290 wickets and aboutaa trillion catches in the slips, yeah he gets picked in every world XI
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Devilliers is below Hayden.
Easily.
And I have Smith above Hayden and Kholi, begrudingly, about equal.
Devilliers isn’t in the top tier conversation.
Kholi and Smith either are or will be.
sigh
Geez, Ponting played too long/batted at 3 too long.
Should have spent his last three years at six.
If not longer.
Agree with this.
Why isn’t De Villiers?
Are we just talking tests?
His ODI record is phenomenal
Fair enough. I’m not a huge DeVilliers fan, but I think he is as good as Hayden was if not better.
Would like to see Smith do it for a couple more years though.
You bring up a good point about batting at number 6. But he has a great record at batting 4 and 5 as well.
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I’m just talking Tests.
I don’t think the two games should be compared.
Hi, Bevan, hi.
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Fair call. I can’t argue with any of that then
I’m not saying Devilliers record is pumped up by where he batted.
His record stands, and it’s a pretty good one.
I’m saying Ponting’s record was smashed by his last five years.
He went from a tick under 60, which is elite-elite, to low 50s.
He could have improved his average/number of tons if he’d been placed sensibly.
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Yep, agreed. Now we remember how great he was, but will they in 20 years when they just see his average around the 50 mark
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In pure tests i would go:
1.Sachin
2.Lara
3.Ponting
4.Kallis
5.AB Devilliers
Kohli and Smith haven’t retired yet, so its hard to put them in. If Kohli keeps on going the way he is, and Smith gets back to his form after the suspension they would both go top 5. Kohli could very well edge out Ponting by the time his career is done.
Laxmen doesn’t get the credit he deserves for mine. Great batsmen.
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Below Hayden easily??
Geez that’s a massive statement. Not many scribes would agree with you there.
Hayden was great, but De Villiers in full flight was untouchable.
Played test shots like he was playing T20
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Yep.
And Hayden destroyed opening bowlers.
I wouldn’t have Tendulkar up the top. Too many runs against minnows, although he did have some good performances here.
And Laxman was so inconsistent that I wouldn’t have him in my top 20.
Yep Laxman is miles off. I reckon we’ve had 10 bats better than him in the last 20 years